David Pinkerton Fleming, Lord Fleming (11 February 1877 – 20 October 1944) was a Scottish politician and judge, rising to be Senator of the College of Justice.

Life

He was born in

Rutherglen Rutherglen (; , ) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, immediately south-east of the city of Glasgow, from its centre and directly south of the River Clyde. Having previously existed as a separate Lanarkshire burgh, in 1975 Rutherglen lo ...

near

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 ...

on 11 February 1877, the son of John Fleming

Writer to the Signet The Society of Writers to His Majesty's Signet is a private society of Scottish solicitors, dating back to 1594 and part of the College of Justice. Writers to the Signet originally had special privileges in relation to the drawing up of documen ...

and his wife, Isabella Wark Pinkerton. He was educated at Glasgow High School, 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

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 ...

, and graduated MA in 1895, LLB in 1896. He was called to the

Scottish Bar The Faculty of Advocates () is an independent body of lawyers who have been admitted to practise as advocates before the courts of Scotland, especially the Court of Session and the High Court of Justiciary. The Faculty of Advocates is a consti ...

in 1902. He was on active service with the Cameronians (he had originally been commissioned into the volunteer battalion of the

Highland Light Infantry The Highland Light Infantry (HLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army formed in 1881. It took part in the First World War, First and World War II, Second World Wars, until it was amalgamated with the Royal Scots Fusiliers in 1959 t ...

) during World War I, for which he was awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level until 1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) Other ranks (UK), other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth of ...

and the Belgian

Croix de Guerre The (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awarded during World ...

. He

took silk A King's Counsel ( post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarch is a woman, the title is Qu ...

in October 1921. He served as

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 1922 to 1923 and from 1924 to 1926, and was Unionist Member of Parliament for

Dunbartonshire Dunbartonshire () or the County of Dumbarton is a Shires of Scotland, historic county, lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area and registration county in the west central Lowlands of Scotland lying to the north of the River Clyde. Dunbar ...

from 1924 to 1926. He was appointed to the

Court of Session The Court of Session is the highest national court of Scotland in relation to Civil law (common law), civil cases. The court was established in 1532 to take on the judicial functions of the royal council. Its jurisdiction overlapped with othe ...

bench on 19 December 1925, with the judicial title Lord Fleming. He replaced Lord Cullen, who had retired. He was appointed an Honorary Bencher of

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

in 1940. He chaired the 18-man committee that produced the Fleming Report in 1944. It defined a public school as a member of the

Governing Bodies Association The Association of Governing Bodies of Independent Schools (AGBIS) is the supporting and advisory organisation for governing bodies of independent schools in the UK, and is a member of the Independent Schools Council. History The Association of G ...

or the

Headmasters' Conference The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC), formerly known as the Headmasters' Conference and now branded HMC (The Heads' Conference), is an association of the head teachers of 351 private fee-charging schools (both boarding schools an ...

. Based on the recommendations of this report, the

Education Act 1944 The Education Act 1944 ( 7 & 8 Geo. 6. c. 31) made major changes in the provision and governance of secondary schools in England and Wales. It is also known as the Butler Act after the President of the Board of Education, R. A. Butler. Histori ...

offered a new status to endowed

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

s receiving a grant from central government. The

direct grant grammar school A direct grant grammar school was a type of selective secondary school in the United Kingdom that existed between 1945 and 1976. One quarter of the places in these schools were directly funded by central government, while the remainder attracted ...

would receive partial state funding in return for taking between 25% and 50% of its pupils from state primary schools. Members of the HMC accounted for 58 of the 178 direct grant schools, of which the vast majority were day schools. On average, nearly half of their places were funded by the state. A few local students were admitted to public schools, but that experiment petered out.

Death

He died at home, 19 Drumsheugh Gardens in Edinburgh's West End (now demolished) and is buried with his wife in the south-west corner of the north section in

Dean Cemetery The Dean Cemetery is a historically important Victorian cemetery north of the Dean Village, west of Edinburgh city centre, in Scotland. It lies between Queensferry Road and the Water of Leith, bounded on its east side by Dean Path and o ...

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 ...

, next to Arthur Henry Havens Sinclair.

Family

He married Beatrice Joan Swan (1880-1965) in

North Berwick North Berwick (; ) is a seaside resort, seaside town and former royal burgh in East Lothian, Scotland. It is situated on the south shore of the Firth of Forth, approximately east-northeast of Edinburgh. North Berwick became a fashionable holi ...

on 4 September 1913.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fleming, David 1877 births 1944 deaths People educated at the High School of Glasgow Alumni of the University of Glasgow Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies Fleming Members of the Faculty of Advocates Solicitors general for Scotland UK MPs 1924–1929 Cameronians officers Highland Light Infantry officers British Army personnel of World War I Recipients of the Military Cross British recipients of the Croix de guerre (Belgium) Unionist Party (Scotland) MPs People from Rutherglen Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh