Letter: A pedigree defended

I refer to the “Legal pedigree” column at Journal, September 2012, 6, and its intriguing vignette of Andrew Jameson McCulloch of Gatehouse-of-Fleet. The article speaks of Andrew being “the eighth generation of his family to enter the law, all through the eldest son”.

This awe-inspiring record was known to his fellow students in the Faculty of Law at the University of Edinburgh in the 1950s. I recall Andrew at a very tall, erect gentleman of kindly and courteous disposition, a highly regarded student and member of the University’s OTC.

After graduation, Andrew joined the long-established Edinburgh firm of Murray Beith & Murray WS. Unhappily, while on holiday in the Caribbean, Andrew was charged with attempting to injure a male companion during an argument over their respectable female companion. Andrew was persuaded to resign from Murray Beith & Murray prior to his trial, something which at the time I and others considered ill judged.

Andrew was tried in the Caribbean, and found guilty. However, on the basis of the newspaper reports of the trial, I and others were, and are, satisfied that the proper verdict should not have been one of guilty. When, a little while later, I bumped into Andrew back in Edinburgh, he still evinced his characteristic military bearing but, understandably, seemed a little bewildered.