Adam Gifford, Lord Gifford

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

(; 29 February 1820

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

– 20 January 1887) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

advocate and judge. He was the founder of the

Gifford Lectures The Gifford Lectures () are an annual series of lectures which were established in 1887 by the will of Adam Gifford, Lord Gifford at the four ancient universities of Scotland: St Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh. Their purpose is to "pro ...

Life

Gifford was born in

on 29 February 1820 to Katherine Ann (née West) (1786–1873) and James Gifford (1780–1862), an affluent grocer and Treasurer of the

Merchant Company of Edinburgh The Royal Company of Merchants of the City of Edinburgh, previously known as the Merchant Company of Edinburgh is a mercantile company and Guild officially recognised in 1681, but dating back to at least 1260. The Company, or Confraternity, was ...

. His twin brother was John Gifford (1820–1895). His childhood home was at 22 Union Place in the east end of the

New Town New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz (South Korean band), The Boyz * New (album), ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** New (Paul McCartney song), "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * New (EP), ''New'' (EP), ...

. He went to school at Edinburgh Institution (now known as Stewart's Melville) and in 1835 was apprenticed to be a solicitor with his uncle, Alexander Gifford SSC at 2 Hill Square on the south side of the city. He then studied law at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

and was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

as an

advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. List of country legal systems, Different countries and legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a ba ...

in 1849. He was a Radical in politics, and expected no appointment from Government, until he was made an

advocate depute The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service () is the independent public prosecutor, prosecution service for Scotland, and is a Ministerial Department of the Scottish Government. The department is headed by Charles III of the United Kingd ...

in 1861, under Palmerston. He prosecuted cases for the Crown including Jessie McLauchlan in the 1863 Sandyford murder case. He was appointed Sheriff of Orkney and Shetland in 1865, but delegated his duties to a resident sheriff-substitute and continued his private practice as an advocate. In 1870 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

his proposer was Sir Charles Neaves. At this stage in his life he lived at 4 Lower Joppa with his brother John on the eastern coastline of the city. His lucrative private practice as an advocate made him a fortune, which he bequeathed towards the endowment of the four

hips on

natural theology Natural theology is a type of theology that seeks to provide arguments for theological topics, such as the existence of a deity, based on human reason. It is distinguished from revealed theology, which is based on supernatural sources such as ...

in connection with each of the four universities in Scotland then extant (

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

and

St Andrews St Andrews (; ; , pronounced ʰʲɪʎˈrˠiː.ɪɲ is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourth-largest settleme ...

); he was a man of a philosophical turn of mind, and a student of the works of

Spinoza Baruch (de) Spinoza (24 November 163221 February 1677), also known under his Latinized pen name Benedictus de Spinoza, was a philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, who was born in the Dutch Republic. A forerunner of the Age of Enlightenmen ...

. He held office as a judge from 1870 to 1881, despite symptoms of paralysis from 1872 onwards. On his resignation, due to ill-health, he was replaced by Patrick Fraser thereafter known as Lord Fraser. He died at his home, Granton House in Granton, EdinburghEdinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1887 on 20 January 1887 and is buried in Old Calton Cemetery with his parents.

Family

In 1863 he married Margaret Elliot Pott (1842–1868), 22 years his junior. They had one son, Herbert James Gifford

(born 1864) who became a civil engineer. Margaret died aged 26 (probably in childbirth). He was the uncle of

Sir Walter Raleigh Sir Walter Raleigh (; – 29 October 1618) was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebellio ...

(1861–1922), the professor of English at the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

References

Oxford DNBGifford Lectures
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gifford, Adam 1820 births 1887 deaths Lawyers from Edinburgh Senators of the College of Justice Scottish Christians Burials at Old Calton Burial Ground Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 19th-century Scottish judges Members of the Faculty of Advocates People educated at Stewart's Melville College Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Scottish sheriffs