Solicitor General for Scotland

Her Majesty's Solicitor General for Scotland (Àrd-neach-lagha a' Chrùin an Alba) is one of the Law Officers of the Crown, and the deputy of the Lord Advocate, whose duty is to advise the Crown and the Scottish Government on Scots Law. They are also responsible for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service which together constitute the Criminal Prosecution Service in Scotland.

Until 1999, when the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Executive were created, the Lord Advocate and the Solicitor General for Scotland advised Her Majesty's Government. Since their transfer to the Scottish Government, the British Government has been advised on Scots Law by the Advocate General for Scotland.

List of Solicitors General for Scotland

List from 1696. Until 1764, the office was at times held jointly.

Pre-Union

• 1696–1700: Sir Patrick Hume
• 1701–1706: Sir David Dalrymple of Hailes
• 1701–1709: William Carmichael

Post-Union

• 1709–1714: Thomas Kennedy* & Sir James Steuart, Bt.
• 1714–1716: John Carnegie of Boyseck
• 1714–1717: Sir James Steuart, Bt.
• 1717–1720: Robert Dundas, the elder*
• 1720–1721: Walter Stewart
• 1721–1733: John Sinclair
• 1721–1725: Charles Binning
• 1725–1737: Charles Erskine*
• 1737: William Grant of Prestongrange*
• 1742: Robert Dundas, the younger*
• 1746: Patrick Haldane of Gleneagles & Alexander Hume
• 1755: Andrew Pringle of Alemore
• 1759: Thomas Miller*
• 1760: James Montgomery* & Francis Garden
• 1764: James Montgomery*
• 1766: Henry Dundas*
• 1775: Alexander Murray
• 1783: Ilay Campbell* & Alexander Wight
• 1784: Robert Dundas*
• 1789: Robert Blair
• 1806: John Clerk
• 1807: David Boyle
• 1811: David Monypenny
• 1813: Alexander Maconochie*
• 1816: James Wedderburn
• 1822: John Hope
• 1830: Henry Cockburn
• 1834: Andrew Skene
• 1834: Duncan McNeill*
• 1835: John Cunninghame
• 1837: Andrew Rutherfurd*
• 1839: James Ivory
• 1840: Thomas Maitland
• 1841: Duncan McNeill*
• 1842: Adam Anderson*
• 1846: Thomas Maitland
• 1850: James Moncreiff*
• 1851: John Cowan
• 1851: George Deas
• 1852: John Inglis*
• 1852: Charles Neaves
• 1853: Robert Handyside
• 1853: James Craufurd
• 1855: Thomas Mackenzie
• 1855: Edward Maitland
• 1858: Charles Baillie*
• 1858: David Mure*
• 1859: George Patton*
• 1859: Edward Maitland
• 1862: George Young*
• 1866: Edward Strathearn Gordon*
• 1867: John Millar
• 1868: George Young*
• 1869: Andrew Rutherfurd-Clark
• 1874: John Millar
• 1874: William Watson*
• 1876: John Macdonald*
• 1880: John Balfour*
• 1881: Alexander Asher
• 1885: James Robertson*
• 1886: Alexander Asher
• 1886: James Robertson*
• 1888: Moir Tod Stormonth Darling
• 1890: Sir Charles Pearson*
• 1891: Andrew Murray*
• 1892: Alexander Asher
• 1894: Thomas Shaw*
• 1895: Andrew Murray*
• 1896: Charles Dickson*
• 1903: David Dundas
• 1905: Edward Theodore Salvesen
• October 1905: James Avon Clyde*^[1]
• December 1905: Alexander Ure*^[2]
• February 1909: Arthur Dewar^[3]
• April 1910: William Hunter^[4]
• December 1911: Andrew Anderson^[5]
• October 1913: Thomas Brash Morison*^[6]
• 1920: Charles David Murray*^[7]
• March 1922 – July 1922: Andrew Constable^[8]
• July 1922 – November 1922: William Watson*^[9]
• November 1922: David Fleming^[10]
• April 1923: Frederick Thomson^[11]
• February 1924: John Charles Fenton^[12]
• November 1924: David Fleming^[13]
• 1925: Alexander Munro MacRobert*^[14]
• 1929: Wilfrid Normand*^[15]
• 1929: John Charles Watson^[16]
• 1931: Wilfrid Normand*^[17]
• 1933: Douglas Jamieson*^[18]
• 1935: Thomas Mackay Cooper^[19]
• 1935: Albert Russell^[20]
• 1936: James Reid^[21]
• 1941: Sir David King Murray^[22]
• 1945: Daniel Blades^[23]
• 1947: John Wheatley^[24]*
• 1947: Douglas Johnston^[25]
• 1951: William Rankine Milligan^[26]*
• 1955: William Grant^[27]*
• 1960: David Anderson^[28]
• 1964: Norman Wylie^[29]* (April to October)
• 1964: James Graham Leechman^[30]
• 1965: Henry Wilson*^[31]
• 1967: Ewan George Francis Stewart^[32]
• 1970: David William Robert Brand^[33]
• 1972: William Stewart^[34]
• 1974: Lord McCluskey^[35]
• 1979: Nicholas Fairbairn^[36]
• 1982: Peter Fraser*
• 1989: Alan Rodger*
• 1992: Thomas Dawson
• 1995: Donald Mackay*
• 1995: Paul Cullen
• 1997: Colin Boyd*
• 2000: Neil Davidson
• 2001: Elish Angiolini*
• 2006: John Beckett
• 2007: Frank Mulholland*
• 2011: Lesley Thomson^[37]

* = served later as Lord Advocate

Source

• Most of the above list is taken from Haydn's Book of Dignities, 12th edition (1894, reprinted 1969) and from Oxford Companion to Law, Clarendon Press, 1980.

References

1. The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 11770. p. 1001. 20 October 1905. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
2. The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 11787. p. 1313. 19 December 1905. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
3. The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 12118. p. 173. 19 February 1909. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
4. The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 12242. p. 444. 26 April 1910. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
5. The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 12414. p. 1293. 8 December 1911. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
6. The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 12613. p. 1143. 4 November 1913. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
7. The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 13583. p. 1008. 2 April 1920. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
8. The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 13797. p. 511. 21 March 1922. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
9. The London Gazette: no. 32728. p. 5193. 11 July 1922. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
10. The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 13867. p. 1779. 17 November 1922. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
11. The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 13909. p. 579. 13 April 1923. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
12. The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 14000. pp. 291–292. 26 February 1924. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
13. The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 14076. p. 1439. 18 November 1924. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
14. The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 14193. p. 1. 1 January 1926. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
15. The London Gazette: no. 33492. p. 3007. 7 May 1929. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
16. The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 14558. p. 650. 21 June 1929. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
17. The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 14809. p. 1226. 17 November 1931. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
18. The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 15005. p. 809. 3 October 1933. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
19. The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 15174. p. 424. 17 May 1935.
20. The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 15231. p. 1021. 3 December 1935. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
21. The London Gazette: no. 34301. p. 4225. 3 July 1936. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
22. The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 15820. p. 30. 13 June 1941. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
23. The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 16266. p. 323. 21 September 1945. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
24. The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 16424. p. 123. 28 March 1947. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
25. The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 16486. p. 453. 31 October 1947. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
26. The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 16906. p. 565. 9 November 1951. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
27. The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 17251. p. 19. 14 January 1955. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
28. The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 17822. p. 295. 17 May 1960. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
29. The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 18240. p. 271. 28 April 1964. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
30. The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 18292. p. 671. 23 October 1964. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
31. The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 18398. p. 713. 29 October 1965. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
32. The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 18612. p. 887. 7 November 1967. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
33. The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 18892. p. 567. 30 June 1970. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
34. The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 19151. p. 993. 7 November 1972. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
35. The London Gazette: no. 46248. p. 3898. 26 March 1974. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
36. The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 20497. p. 559. 25 May 1979. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
37. "First minister Alex Salmond unveils enlarged cabinet". BBC News. 19 May 2011. Archived from the original on 22 May 2011. Retrieved 8 January 2016.