John Fullerton, Lord Fullerton, (16 December 1775 – 3 December 1853) was a Scottish judge.

Early life

He was born in

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 ...

on 16 December 1775 one of 12 children and second son of Isabella and William Fullerton Esq of

Carstairs Carstairs (, Scottish Gaelic: ''Caisteal Tarrais'') is a village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. Carstairs is located east of the county town of Lanark and the West Coast Main Line runs through the village. The village is served by Carstairs r ...

. He was raised in a large house on Nicolson Street in Edinburgh's Southside. His elder sister Elizabeth married William Fullerton-Elphinstone a Director of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

. He attended the High School in Edinburgh and 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 ...

, qualifying as an advocate on 17 February 1798. In 1816 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

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 ...

, Thomas Thomson, Sir

David Brewster Sir David Brewster Knight of the Royal Guelphic Order, KH President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, PRSE Fellow of the Royal Society of London, FRS Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, FSA Scot Fellow of the Scottish Society of ...

and John Gordon. He became a

Senator of the College of Justice 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 ...

on 17 February 1829, and adopted the title Lord Fullerton, succeeding

John Clerk, Lord Eldin John Clerk, Lord Eldin FRSE FSA (1757– 30 May 1832) was a Scottish judge based in Edinburgh. Life He was the eldest son of Susannah Adam, the sister of John Adam and Robert Adam, and John Clerk of Eldin, son of John Clerk of Penicuik. He ...

. He then lived at 27 Melville Street in a newly built townhouse in Edinburgh's west end. In the

Disruption of 1843 The Disruption of 1843, also known as the Great Disruption, was a schism in 1843 in which 450 evangelical ministers broke away from the Church of Scotland to form the Free Church of Scotland. The main conflict was over whether the Church of Sc ...

Fullerton spoke largely in the defence of the established

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...

within the lengthy legal debates. His arguments failed, therefore permitting the split. He died at home 33 Moray Place on the

Moray Estate The Moray Estate, also known as the Moray Feu, is an early 19th century building venture attaching the west side of the New Town, Edinburgh. Built on an awkward and steeply sloping site, it has been described as a masterpiece of urban plannin ...

on 3 December 1853 in

. His biography was written by Lord Strathclyde.

Family

In 1817 he married Georgina Hay Macdowall. They had eight children. Their children were Isabella Graeme Fullerton, William Fullerton, James Fullerton, Mary Fullerton, Elizabeth Elphinstone Fullerton, George Ferguson Fullerton, Georgina Fullerton and Henry Monteith Fullerton.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fullerton, John 1775 births 1853 deaths Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Lawyers from Edinburgh 19th-century Scottish judges