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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Aberdeenshire Lookup Requests => Aberdeenshire => Scotland => Aberdeenshire Completed Lookups => Topic started by: Elizajb on Thursday 10 May 12 23:45 BST (UK)
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Hi,
Today I came across a will for someone on a genealogy site which mentions the witnesses as being apprentices to John Boyd, Writer, of J&J Boyd, Writers. One of these witnesses is a relative who, family story says, studied law as a young man in Scotland. I have copies of several essays he wrote, probably as a student, in 1862-63 and the will in which his name is mentioned is 1864. Can anyone tell me exactly what "writers" were and whether I would be able to find any record of my relative in university records? However I don't know which one he attended, only that he must have been in Glasgow in 1864. Would there be apprentice records for these writers?
Any info or ideas appreciated.
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Writers to the Signet.
See this website
http://www.thewssociety.co.uk/
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Thankyou very much Jim, I've just emailed them to see if they have any historical records. Having read their website info, it looks like being an apprentice writer was the same as being a trainee solicitor.
Thanks again,
Eliza.
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Hi Eliza
You can check here for previous students up to 1911 at Glasgow University www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/alumni/
Monica
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A writer is simply a lawyer, or notary, or solicitor - there are lots of names but basically they're all similar.
By no means all writers were members of the Society of Writers to His/Her Majesty's Signet, however.
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Thankyou Monica and Forfarian for your input. Unfortunately my relative doesn't show in the alumni of Glasgow university. I have received a reply from the Writers Society and they had no record of him either but were able to give me the information that his father was a member of the Faculty of Procurators for Paisley from 1829. They found this info on the Scottish Law List.
Could my relative, Arthur Chillas Henderson, have trained as a solicitor or writer without attending university in the early 1860s? Meaning purely by apprenticeship? He must have moved to London in, or shortly after 1864 as he married a merchant's daughter there in 1867 then emigrated to New Zealand in the same year.
Eliza
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Could my relative, Arthur Chillas Henderson, have trained as a solicitor or writer without attending university in the early 1860s? Meaning purely by apprenticeship?
Yes, I believe that was the conventional route, rather than a university degree.
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Aha, thankyou Forfarian. So would Arthur have had some sort of certificate or other form of written credential that he would have presented to the court, or firms of solicitors in London and New Zealand in order to gain employment within the legal field?
Eliza.
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would Arthur have had some sort of certificate or other form of written credential that he would have presented to the court, or firms of solicitors in London and New Zealand in order to gain employment within the legal field?
I don't know. I speculate that he would have had some sort of testimonial or reference from the firm where he served his apprenticeship, but I do not know whether or not he would have had to get a formal qualification involving a certificate at that time, which is long before the establishment of the Law Society of Scotland.
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Yes, I see. I think I'll try and search the New Zealand court records on the offchance that they will have a historical record for him or his qualification.
Thankyou Forfarian.
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Having searched the New Zealand records, this is a strange one.
The Army papers and census's throw up conflicting dates as to how old, where and when born.
The Ancestry trees show a death in 1903, but a result from a search for the death in the records is eluding me.
Hmmmmm?
Regards
Malky
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Yes, he did die in 1903 and was born in Scotland. He has a number of descendants and as you saw, is recorded in several family trees. There's quite a bit of info on him but I was hoping to pin it down a bit further and find a record of his qualification in Scotland to add to what we already know. I think there is at least one, possibly more, descendant of the same name which would account for you seeing some conflicting records.
Regards Eliza.
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I found him in the Scottish census's for Scotland, mentioning "Occupation" "Of Law", then declared bankrupt in Invercargill, New Zealand, 20 September 1888.
http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=ST18880921.2.26.2
He also turns up as returning officer for 2 districts in 1879.
http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=ST18790823.2.23.2&l=mi&e=-------10--1----0--
Looking at the Scottish census's, his father was a Sheriff's clerk, then a "Procurator before the courts in Renfrew". That may explain his legal background.
There is a further bit here :-
http://www.myheritage.com/person-1000154_22754371_22754371/arthur-chillas-henderson
Regards
Malky
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Thankyou for your added input :) There's quite a bit of info available about him, partly due to the number of his descendants, so that has been fortunate for me. Some people's details are not so easy to solve so it's always nice to get one which goes well.