Thomas Mackay Cooper, 1st Baron Cooper of Culross OBE, PC, FRSE (24 September 1892 – 15 July 1956) was a Scottish Unionist Party politician, a judge and a historian, who had been appointed Lord Advocate of Scotland.[1]
Background and education
edit
Cooper was the son of John Cooper, of Edinburgh, a civil engineer, and Margaret, daughter of John Mackay, of Dunnet, Caithness. In 1915 he applied to George Watson's College, Edinburgh, and the University of Edinburgh[2] where he completed an MA in 1912[3] and a Law LLB.
Political, legal and judicial career
editCooper was admitted a member of the Faculty of Advocates in 1915 and created a King's Counsel in 1927.[4] He was the Unionist Member of Parliament (MP) for Edinburgh West from a by-election in 1935 to 1941.[2][5] In 1935 he was appointed Solicitor General for Scotland[6] and later that year he was appointed as Lord Advocate.[7][8] He also became a Privy Counsellor in 1935.[9] In 1941 he became Lord Justice Clerk with the judicial title of Lord Cooper[10][11][12] and in 1947 Lord Justice General and Lord President of the Court of Session.[13][2]
He resigned in 1954 and was made a peer as Baron Cooper of Culross, of Dunnet in the County of Caithness.[14]
Personal life
editCooper was married to Margaret Mackay.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1936, his proposers being John Alexander Inglis, Thomas Henry Holland, Thomas Hudson Beare and Ernest Wedderburn. He served as the society's vice president from 1945 to 1948.[15]
Death
editLord Cooper of Culross died in July 1956, aged 62, at which point the barony became extinct.[2] He is buried with his parents near the centre of the SW section of the original Grange Cemetery in south Edinburgh.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Taylor, Alice (2016). The Shape of the State in Medieval Scotland, 1124-1290. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198749202.
- ^ a b c d "Person Page". thepeerage.com.
- ^ Mackay, Cooper, Thomas (1912). "History of the island of Rhodes". hdl:1842/20913.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "No. 33264". The London Gazette. 8 April 1927. p. 2310.
- ^ "Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page". leighrayment.com. Archived from the original on 1 May 2008.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "No. 15174". The Edinburgh Gazette. 17 May 1935. p. 424.
- ^ "No. 15222". The Edinburgh Gazette. 1 November 1935. p. 913.
- ^ "No. 34215". The London Gazette. 1 November 1935. p. 6900.
- ^ "No. 34224". The London Gazette. 29 November 1935. p. 7575.
- ^ "No. 15820". The Edinburgh Gazette. 13 June 1941. p. 305.
- ^ "No. 35190". The London Gazette. 13 June 1941. p. 3376.
- ^ "Lord Justice Clerk Appointed". The Times. No. 48945. London, England. 6 June 1941. p. 4. Retrieved 18 January 2016 – via The Times Digital Archive.
- ^ "No. 16401". The Edinburgh Gazette. 7 January 1947. p. 7.
- ^ "No. 40246". The London Gazette. 3 August 1954. p. 4523.
- ^ Waterston, C. D. (2006). Former fellows of The Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1783-2002 : biographical index. A. Macmillan Shearer, Royal Society of Edinburgh. Edinburgh: The Royal Society of Edinburgh. ISBN 0-902198-84-X. OCLC 83595094.