Robert McQueen, Lord Braxfield (4 May 1722 – 30 May 1799) 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 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 ...

and judge.

Life

McQueen was born at Braxfield House near

Lanark Lanark ( ; ; ) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, located 20 kilometres to the south-east of Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton. The town lies on the River Clyde, at its confluence with Mouse Water. In 2016, the town had a populatio ...

on 4 May 1722, son of John McQueen. He studied law at

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the town council under the authority of a royal charter from King James VI in 1582 and offi ...

and was admitted to the

Faculty of Advocates 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 const ...

in 1744. In 1759 he was appointed 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 ...

appearing for the Crown in prosecutions. He often appeared in more than 15 cases per day and earned £1900 in a single year. He became a judge in 1776 and took the title Lord Braxfield. In 1788 he became

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 ...

, the second most senior judge in Scotland. Explicitly taking the view that "Government in this country is made up of the landed interest, which alone has a right to be represented" he took an active role in the suppression of the Friends of the People Society in the trials and sentences passed on Thomas Muir and others. To accomplish this he "invented a crime of unconscious sedition". A famous quote of his in this respect was "Let them bring me prisoners, and I will find them law." In 1795 he oversaw the trial and imprisonment of Sir Archibald Gordon Kinloch of Gilmerton for the murder of his half-brother Sir Francis Kinloch. This rare event saw one man kill another at least in part to inherit his baronetcy. He died at home in

George Square, Edinburgh George Square () is a city square in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is in the south of the city centre, adjacent to the Meadows. It was laid out in 1766 outside the overcrowded Old Town, and was a popular residential area for Edinburgh's better-off c ...

, on 30 May 1799, aged 77, and was buried in the family vault at Lanark on 5 June. After his death his widow moved from George Square to 97

Princes Street Princes Street () is one of the major thoroughfares in central Edinburgh, Scotland and the main shopping street in the capital. It is the southernmost street of Edinburgh's New Town, Edinburgh, New Town, stretching around 1.2 km (three quar ...

. Braxfield House was later the home of

Robert Owen Robert Owen (; 14 May 1771 – 17 November 1858) was a Welsh textile manufacturer, philanthropist, political philosopher and social reformer, and a founder of utopian socialism and the cooperative movement, co-operative movement. He strove to ...

and

New Lanark New Lanark is a village on the River Clyde, approximately from Lanark, in Lanarkshire, and some southeast of Glasgow, Scotland. It was founded in 1785 and opened in 1786 by David Dale, who built cotton mills and housing for the mill workers. D ...

was built nearby.

Family

He married, firstly, Mary Agnew, daughter of Major James Agnew of the 7th

Dragoon Guards Dragoon Guards is a designation that has been used to refer to certain heavy cavalry regiments in the British Army since the 18th century. While the Prussian and Russian armies of the same period included dragoon regiments among their respective I ...

, and niece of Sir Andrew Agnew of Lochnaw, Wigtownshire, bart. They had four children: * Robert Dundas, who died on 5 August 1816, * John, captain in the 28th regiment of foot, who died on 2 February 1837, * Mary, who married in 1777 Sir William Honyman, Lord Armadale, * Katherine, who married John Macdonald, chief of Clanranald, in 1786. Lord Braxfield married secondly, Elizabeth Ord, daughter of Robert Ord, Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer for Scotland. They had no further children.

Influence

Sir

Henry Raeburn Sir Henry Raeburn (; 4 March 1756 – 8 July 1823) was a Scottish portrait painter. He served as Portrait Painter to King George IV in Scotland. Biography Raeburn was born the son of a manufacturer in Stockbridge, on the Water of Leith: a f ...

painted his portrait shortly before his death. Braxfield has a notoriety in Scotland, due to the harsh way that he dealt with those who appeared before him, most famously in telling a defendant that "Ye're a vera clever chiel, man, but ye wad be nane the waur o' a hanging". In a recent survey of Scottish historians, Braxfield was identified as one of the "vilest villains" in Scotland's history. He is thought to be the model for the judge, Lord Weir, in

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...

's unfinished novel '' Weir of Hermiston''. Braxfield Row in

is named after his estate. He was Trustee for the University of Edinburgh and South Bridge.

References

;Attribution

External links

Portrait by Raeburn in the National Galleries of Scotland

Braxfield's testament
{{DEFAULTSORT:Braxfield, Lord 1722 births 1799 deaths People from South Lanarkshire Braxfield Members of the Faculty of Advocates People educated at Lanark Grammar School 18th-century Scottish judges Alumni of the University of Edinburgh