Thomas Shaw, 1st Baron Craigmyle

Thomas Shaw, 1st Baron Craigmyle, PC (23 May 1850 – 28 June 1937), known as The Lord Shaw from 1909 to 1929, was a Scottish radical^[1] Liberal Party politician and judge.

Life

The son of Alexander Shaw of Dunfermline, Fife, Craigmyle was educated at the Dunfermline High School and at Edinburgh University. He was appointed an advocate in 1875 and became a Queen's Counsel in 1894. He gained an LLD from St Andrews University in October 1902^[2] and from the University of Aberdeen in 1906 and was also Hamilton Fellow in Mental Philosophy at Edinburgh University.

Craigmyle sat as Member of Parliament (MP) for Hawick Burghs from 1892 to 1909^[3] and served as Solicitor General for Scotland from 1894 to 1895 and as Lord Advocate from December 1905^[4] to 1909. He resigned from parliament and ministerial office and was created a life peer as Baron Shaw, of Dunfermline in the County of Fife, on 20 February 1909,^[5] so that he could sit in the House of Lords and serve as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary. He retired from this office in 1929 and was made an hereditary peer as Baron Craigmyle, of Craigmyle in the County of Aberdeen, on 7 March 1929.^[6]

Lord Craigmyle married Elspeth, daughter of George Forrest, in 1879.^[7] He died in June 1937, aged 87, and was succeeded in the hereditary barony by his son Alexander. Lady Craigmyle died in 1939.

Arms

Coat of arms of Thomas Shaw, 1st Baron Craigmyle
Crest A demi-savage holding in his dexter hand a club resting on his shoulder Proper. Escutcheon Ermine a fir tree growing out of a mount in base Proper between two piles Azure issuing from a chief Gules charged with a scroll Argent with seal pendant Proper. Supporters Misericordia Fidelitas Jus (Mercy Fidelity Right)^[8]

Notes

^ Fry, M. (5 February 1987). Patronage and Principle: A Political History of Modern Scotland. Aberdeen University Press. ISBN 9780080350639.
^ "University intelligence". The Times. No. 36906. London. 23 October 1902. p. 9.
^ Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1974]. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 511. ISBN 0-900178-27-2.
^ "No. 27864". The London Gazette. 15 December 1905. p. 9008.
^ "No. 28238". The London Gazette. 2 April 1909. p. 2589.
^ "No. 33493". The London Gazette. 10 May 1929. p. 3124.
^ "SHAW, Rt. Hon. Thomas". Who's Who. Vol. 59. 1907. p. 1591.
^ Debrett's Peerage. 1921.

References

Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990, ^{[page needed]}

External links

Works by or about Thomas Shaw, 1st Baron Craigmyle at the Internet Archive
Works by or about Thomas Shaw, 1st Baron Craigmyle at Wikisource
Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Thomas Shaw

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Alexander Laing Brown	Member of Parliament for Hawick Burghs 1892–1909	Succeeded by Sir John Nicholson Barran
Legal offices
Preceded by Alexander Asher	Solicitor General for Scotland 1894–1895	Succeeded by Andrew Murray
Preceded by Charles Scott Dickson	Lord Advocate 1905–1909	Succeeded by Alexander Ure
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation	Baron Craigmyle 1929–1937	Succeeded by Alexander Shaw