Charles Hope, Lord Granton,
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 June 1763 – 30 October 1851), was a Scottish politician and judge.
Life
Hope was born on 29 June 1763, the eldest son of Mary Breton, the only daughter of Eliab Breton of Forty Hill, Enfield (a granddaughter of Sir William Wolstenholme) and
John Hope, Member of Parliament (MP) for
Linlithgowshire
West Lothian, also known as Linlithgowshire (its official name until 1925), is a counties of Scotland, historic county in the east central Lowlands of Scotland. until 1925. It is bounded geographically by the River Avon, Falkirk, Avon to the wes ...
, and a grandson of
Charles Hope, 1st Earl of Hopetoun
Charles Hope, 1st Earl of Hopetoun, Order of the Thistle, KT, Privy Council, PC (1681 – 26 February 1742) was a Scotland, Scottish nobleman.
Early life
He was the son of John Hope of Hopetoun by a daughter of the John Hamilton, 4th Earl of Had ...
. He was educated at
Enfield Grammar School
Enfield Grammar School (abbreviated to EGS; also known as Enfield Grammar) is a boys' comprehensive school and sixth form with Academy (English school), academy status, founded in 1558, situated in Enfield Town in the London Borough of Enfield ...
, and later at the
Edinburgh High School
The Royal High School (RHS) of Edinburgh is a co-educational school administered by the City of Edinburgh Council. The school was founded in 1128 and is one of the oldest schools in Scotland. It serves around 1,400 pupils drawn from four feeder pr ...
, where in 1777 he was the
Latin dux. After studying 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 ...
he was admitted 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 ...
on 11 December 1784, and on 25 March 1786 was appointed a
Deputy Advocate.
In 1788 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 proposers were
Allan Maconochie, Lord Meadowbank,
James Gregory, and the mathematician
John Playfair
John Playfair FRSE, FRS (10 March 1748 – 20 July 1819) was a Church of Scotland minister, remembered as a scientist and mathematician, and a professor of natural philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. He is best known for his book ''Illu ...
.
Though not conspicuous as a lawyer he was an accomplished public speaker, and in this capacity made himself useful at the Tory political meetings. On 5 June 1792 he became
Sheriff of Orkney, and in June 1801 was appointed
Lord Advocate
His Majesty's Advocate, known as the Lord Advocate (), is the principal legal adviser of both the Scottish Government and the Crown in Scotland for civil and criminal matters that fall within the devolution, devolved powers of the Scottish P ...
in the Addington administration in the room of
Robert Dundas of Arniston
Robert Dundas of Arniston (6 June 1758 – 17 June 1819) was a Scottish judge.
Dundas served as Solicitor General for Scotland between 1784 and 1789 and as Lord Advocate from 1789 to 1801. He sat as Member of Parliament for Edinburghshire fr ...
. Shortly afterwards he was presented with the freedom of the city of Edinburgh, together with a piece of plate, for his assistance to the magistrates in obtaining a poor's bill for the city.
At the general election in July 1802, he was returned to the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...
for Dumfries district, but resigned his seat when
Henry Dundas's elevation to the upper house, and was returned unopposed for the city of Edinburgh (January 1803). During his service as Lord Advocate, Hope conducted through the House of Commons the Scotch Parochial Schoolmasters' Act (
43 Geo. 3. c. 54), by means of which authorities building schools were also obliged to erect houses with at least two rooms for the schoolmasters.
The only speech of his reported in the 'Parliamentary Debates' was one delivered in his own defence in the debate on Whitbread's motion for the production of papers relating to Hope's censure of a Banffshire farmer named Morison, who had discharged his servant for attending drills of a volunteer regiment. Hope made an ingenious defence, and gave a lively description of the multitudinous duties of his office but though the case against him was strong, the motion, after a great party debate in which both Pitt and Fox took part, was defeated by 159 to 82.
On 20 November 1804, Hope was appointed an ordinary
Lord of Session
The senators of the College of Justice in Scotland are judges of the College of Justice, a set of legal institutions involved in the administration of justice in Scotland. There are three types of senator: Lords of Session (judges of the Court ...
and Lord Justice Clerk in the place of
Sir David Rae, Lord Eskgrove, and assuming the title of Lord Granton took his seat on the bench on 6 December 1804. On 12 November 1811, he succeeded
Robert Blair, Lord Avontoun
Robert Blair of Avontoun FRSE (1741–1811) was a Scottish advocate and judge who served as Solicitor General for Scotland from 1789 to 1806, Dean of the Faculty of Advocates from 1801 to 1808, and Lord President of the Court of Session from 180 ...
as
Lord President of the Court of Session
The Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General () is the most senior judge in Scotland, the head of the judiciary, and the presiding judge of the College of Justice, the Court of Session, and the High Court of Justiciary. ...
, being succeeded as
Lord Justice Clerk
The Lord Justice Clerk is the second most senior judge in Scotland, after the Lord President of the Court of Session. The current Lord Justice Clerk is Lord Beckett, who was appointed to the position on 4 February 2025, succeeding Lady Dorr ...
by
David Boyle, Lord Boyle. In 1820, he presided at the special commission for the trial of high treason at Glasgow, and on 17 August 1822 was admitted to the
Privy Council at
Holyrood House. On 29 July 1823, Hope was appointed, together with his eldest son John, on the Commission of Inquiry into the forms of process and the course of appeals in Scotland. On the death of
James Graham, 3rd Duke of Montrose, in December 1836, Hope became
Lord Justice General
Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...
, by virtue of the
Court of Session Act 1830, by which it was enacted that 'after the termination of the present existing interest' that office should 'devolve upon and remain united with the office of lord president of the court of session.' Hope retired from the bench in the autumn of 1841, and was succeeded as Lord President by David Boyle.
He died at his home on 12 Moray Place, Edinburgh on 30 October 1851, aged 89. He was buried in the mausoleum at
Hopetoun House
Hopetoun House is a country house near South Queensferry owned by the Hopetoun House Preservation Trust, a charity established in 1974 to preserve the house and grounds as a national monument, to protect and improve their amenities, and to pre ...
on 4 November 1851.
Assessment
Hope was a man of imposing presence, with a magnificent voice, which, according to
Lord Cockburn
Henry Thomas Cockburn of Bonaly, Lord Cockburn ( ; 26 October 1779 in Cockpen, Midlothian – 26 April/18 July 1854 in Bonaly, Midlothian) was a Scottish lawyer, judge and literary figure. He served as Solicitor General for Scotland between 1 ...
, 'was surpassed by that of the great Mrs. Siddons alone', and a wonderful gift of declamation.
Though a violent political partisan, and greatly wanting in tact and judgment, 'his integrity, candour, kindness, and gentlemanlike manners and feelings gained him almost unanimous esteem'. His charges to juries were singularly persuasive and impressive. Lockhart gives a graphic account of Hope's majestic bearing on the bench in 'Peter's Letters to his Kinsfolk' (1819, ii. 102–8), while recording what he describes 'as without exception the finest piece of judicial eloquence, delivered in the finest possible way by the Lord-president Hope.'
When the volunteer movement began, owing to the French war, Hope enlisted as a private in the first regiment of Royal Edinburgh Volunteers.
He was afterwards appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the Corps, and performed the duties of that office with enthusiasm for several years, until the regiment was disbanded for the second time in 1814.
In December 1819, when the 'old blues' were once more summoned together, he made them 'one of the most eloquent addresses that ever was heard', and daily inspected the volunteers on duty at
Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle is a historic castle in Edinburgh, Scotland. It stands on Castle Rock (Edinburgh), Castle Rock, which has been occupied by humans since at least the Iron Age. There has been a royal castle on the rock since the reign of Malcol ...
while the regular troops were despatched to the western counties.
Hope's famous regimental orders of 18 October 1803, containing most curious and minute details, are given at length in Cockburn's 'Memorials'.
Family
On 8 August 1793 Hope married his cousin Lady Charlotte Hope, second daughter of
John Hope, 2nd Earl of Hopetoun
John Hope, 2nd Earl of Hopetoun (7 September 1704 – 12 February 1781) was a Scottish people, Scottish aristocrat. Early life
Hope was born on 7 September 1704. He was the son of Charles Hope, 1st Earl of Hopetoun and Lady Henrietta Johnstone. ...
, by his third wife, Lady Elizabeth Leslie, second daughter of Alexander, fifth earl of Leven and Melville, by whom he had four sons- of whom the eldest,
John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second E ...
(1794–1858), was
Solicitor General for Scotland
His Majesty's Solicitor General for Scotland () is one of the Law Officers of the Crown, and the deputy of the Lord Advocate, whose duty is to advise the Scottish Government on Scots Law. They are also responsible for the Crown Office and P ...
from 1822 to 1830- and eight daughters. His daughter Ann Wilhelmina was married to
Hercules Robertson, Lord Benholme and his eighth and last daughter,
Louisa Octavia Augusta Hope, was a promoter of domestic education.
His wife died at Edinburgh on 22 January 1834, aged 62.
David Hope, Baron Hope of Craighead
James Arthur David Hope, Baron Hope of Craighead (born 27 June 1938) is a retired Scottish judge who served as the Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General, Scotland's most senior judge, and later as first Deputy Presid ...
,
Lord President of the Court of Session
The Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General () is the most senior judge in Scotland, the head of the judiciary, and the presiding judge of the College of Justice, the Court of Session, and the High Court of Justiciary. ...
from 1989 to 1996, descends from Lord Granton's third son.
[The Secret History of Our Streets, series 2, episode 1- The Moray Estate, Edinburgh, BBC, first broadcast 25 July 2014]
References
;Attribution
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hope, Charles
1763 births
1851 deaths
Charles
Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''* ...
Granton
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies
UK MPs 1802–1806
Lords President of the Court of Session
Lords Justice-General
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Lord advocates
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Edinburgh constituencies
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom