The mortification boards commemorate donations made to the Faculty’s charitable funds. These funds continue to support members of the legal profession in times of hardship, fund legal education, and uphold the Faculty’s longstanding tradition of public service. While the boards today hang in the library gallery, their story begins elsewhere.

Before the early 1800s, law books were kept in the Cathedral Library, and court meetings took place in the southwest tower of Glasgow Cathedral – a space that had legal as well as religious importance. That same tower was home to the earliest version of the Faculty’s library, and is where the mortification boards originally hung. In 1846, the tower was destroyed, and the boards were displaced. When the current Faculty building was constructed, they found a new, and permanent, home in what is now the members’ coffee lounge of the Faculty.

They remain there today, lining the gallery with quiet dignity, each one a reminder of the intertwined history of Glasgow’s legal profession and its charitable mission.

John McUre: historian, lawyer, and character

One of the most colourful names on the mortification boards is John McUre, a Faculty member who donated 200 merks – a generous gift by the standards of the time. But McUre is remembered for more than his philanthropy. He was the author of the first history of Glasgow (a rare first edition of which is still preserved in the Faculty library).

McUre’s practice mostly served farmers, who frequently paid their legal fees in kind. It was not unusual to see him navigating the streets of Glasgow with poultry sticking out of his coat pockets or driving cattle across Dalmarnock Bridge. His life captures a vivid portrait of early 18th-century legal practice: part lawyer, part community figure, and fully Glaswegian.

A living connection to Glasgow’s past

The mortification boards are not relics of a forgotten past – they are enduring symbols of continuity. Through them, we glimpse the lives of lawyers who believed in a profession that was not only intellectual but moral, and who saw charitable giving as part of their legal duty.

Today, the Royal Faculty’s Charitable Funds remain active, quietly supporting practitioners in need and ensuring that the values painted onto the wood of those boards continue to shape the legal community in the present.

Visit and reflect

Next time you visit the Faculty’s historic library, take a moment to visit the coffee lounge library and read the names. Think of the generations who gave not only their time and skill to the law, but also their resources to one another.

In an age of rapid change, these boards speak to something enduring: a legal profession rooted in community, collegiality, charity, and tradition.