John Wilson, Lord Ashmore (1857 – 8 July 1932) was a Scottish lawyer, a unionist parliamentary candidate, a sheriff principal and a judge.[1]
Early life
Wilson was born in 1857 in Falkirk, where his father James Wilson was a solicitor. He was educated at the Royal High School of Edinburgh and the University of Edinburgh.[1]
Career
After graduating from university, Wilson initially joined his father's practice in Falkirk.[2] However, in 1885 he was admitted as an advocate in Scotland,[1] and set up a large practice.[2] He was particularly skilled in examining witnesses, and undertook a lot of parliamentary cases.[2]
Politics
Wilson was a parliamentary candidate twice in the 1890s, both times as a Conservative Party or Liberal Unionist (it is not clear which),[3] and both times unsuccessfully. At the 1895 general election he contested the Leith Burghs against the Liberal Ronald Munro Ferguson (later Lord Norvar).
He was defeated again at the by-election in 1896 for the Montrose Burghs,[1][3] where the sitting Liberal MP John Shiress Will had resigned in order to create a vacancy for John Morley, the Chief Secretary for Ireland.[2]
Legal career
Wilson took silk in Scotland in 1900.[4] He was called to the English bar in 1900 at the Inner Temple, and became a King's Counsel in England in 1901.[1]
He was appointed in March 1900 as Sheriff of Caithness, Orkney and Shetland,[5]
and transferred in May 1905 to become Sheriff of Inverness, Elgin and Nairn.[6]
He held that shrievalty until 1912, when he became Sheriff of Renfrew and Bute, when he transferred again to become Sheriff of Perth.[1]
During his two decades as a sheriff, Wilson held numerous other public offices. He was a Commissioner of Northern Lights from 1900 to 1917, and at various times was Prison Commissioner for Scotland, a Commissioner of the General Board of Control for Scotland.[1]
To fill the vacancy created by the death of Lord Guthrie,[7] Wilson was appointed in 1920 as a Senator of the College of Justice, taking the judicial title Lord Ashmore.[1] He was installed as judge on 8 June in a ceremony presided over by the Lord Justice General, Lord Clyde.[8]
His judgments included a 1924 case of a couple who had been married at Gretna by the village blacksmith, in his smithy. They sought a declarator that their marriage was legal, which Ashmore granted, allowing hem to register their marriage.[9]
After 8 years on the bench, Lord Ashmore resigned as a judge in 1928. He was succeeded by Alexander Morrice Mackay, styled Lord Mackay.[10]
Personal life
Wilson's brothers included Gregg Wilson, who became Professor of Zoology at Queen's University Belfast from 1909 to 1931,[11] and David Mackay Wilson (died 1929) an advocate who became a King's Counsel and a sheriff-substitute.[12]
In 1884 he married Lillias Hartley from Ruthwell in Dumfriesshire, and together they had one daughter and two sons, one of whom was killed in World War I.[2]
Lord Ashmore died on 8 July 1932 at Radlett in Hertfordshire, aged 75.[2]
References
