On 8th July 1825, the Society of Procurators in Perth was formally instituted. In 1857, the members petitioned for a Royal Charter, and here we are, in 2025 providing quality CPD at affordable prices, encouraging the collegiality that makes the Perth Faculty special, and advocating the views of the profession locally to government and to national organisations like the Law Society of Scotland. Still relevant, still important, still vital.

It all started with the opening of the new County Buildings in 1819. In the splendid building designed by Robert Smirke, provision was made for council offices, offices for the sheriff clerk and the procurator fiscal, jury rooms, witness rooms, and the County Hall, a grand ballroom for civic functions and meetings of the county elite. But it also housed an agents’ library.

The local bar started to purchase books for their new library, and in time a committee was formed to manage that library. This ad hoc arrangement existed until it was decided that the committee should be placed on a surer footing. A meeting was called and, by general assent and consent, the Society of Procurators in Perth was instituted 200 years ago.

The first president was James Patton, senior, the joint sheriff clerk. He held the office of sheriff clerk alongside his eldest son, James Murray Patton. His middle son, Thomas, was a WS in Edinburgh, and the youngest, George, was an advocate in Edinburgh. George ended his life as Lord Justice Clerk with the judicial title Lord Glenalmond.

James Patton served as president of our Society until his death in 1830, when he was succeeded by his son, James Murray Patton, who served until his own death in 1853. I claim a family connection to the Pattons, and as the current vice president, God willing and all that, I will become president in November, in succession to my five-times-great-uncle and my first cousin five times removed. I like the continuity of that!

Since the death of James Murray Patton, 77 men and two women have held the office of president of the Society of Procurators and Solicitors in the City and County of Perth. The first after the royal charter was granted was John Conning, who served until 1858. 

I will finish with a brief note about the president in office exactly 100 years ago, Duncan Macnab.

Macnab was born on 1st October 1857 in Carpenter Street in Perth, and served an apprenticeship in the sheriff clerk’s office in the 1870s. He then worked as an assistant to Robert Mitchell. He qualified as a solicitor in 1891 and joined the staff of Condie and Co. In 1908 he entered partnership with his friend Charles H Gordon to found the firm of Macnab and Gordon. Macnab became Lord Provost in 1909. He served as president of our Society between 1923 and 1925, and died at his home at 95 Glasgow Road on 29th October 1944 at the age of 87.

I wonder what the provision of legal services in Perthshire will look like in 2125! Here’s to the next 200!