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Solicitor General for Scotland facts for kids

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Solicitor General for Scotland
Crest of the Kingdom of Scotland.svg
Official Portrait of Ruth Charteris QC.png
Incumbent
Ruth Charteris KC

since 22 June 2021
Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service
Appointer Monarch on the advice of the First Minister
Salary £115,700 per annum (2023)
Website Scottish Government | Solicitor General

His Majesty's Solicitor General for Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Àrd-neach-lagha a' Chrùin an Alba) is one of the Law Officers of the Crown, and the deputy of the Lord Advocate, whose duty is to advise the Scottish Government on Scots Law. They are also responsible for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service which together constitute the Criminal Prosecution Service in Scotland.

Until 1999, when the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Executive were created, the Lord Advocate and the Solicitor General for Scotland advised Her Majesty's Government. Since their transfer to the Scottish Government, the British Government has been advised on Scots Law by the Advocate General for Scotland.

The current Solicitor General is Ruth Charteris KC, who is the deputy to the Lord Advocate, Dorothy Bain KC since June 2021. This is the first time in history both offices have been filled by two women.

List of Solicitors General for Scotland

List from 1696. Until 1764, the office was at times held jointly.

Pre-Union

  • 1696–1700: Sir Patrick Hume
  • 1701–1706: Sir David Dalrymple of Hailes
  • 1701–1709: William Carmichael

Post-Union

  • 1709–1714: Thomas Kennedy* & Sir James Steuart, Bt.
  • 1714–1716: John Carnegie of Boyseck
  • 1714–1717: Sir James Steuart, Bt.
  • 1717–1720: Robert Dundas, the elder*
  • 1720–1721: Walter Stewart
  • 1721–1733: John Sinclair
  • 1721–1725: Charles Binning
  • 1725–1737: Charles Erskine*
  • 1737: William Grant of Prestongrange*
  • 1742: Robert Dundas, the younger*
  • 1746: Patrick Haldane of Gleneagles & Alexander Hume
  • 1755: Andrew Pringle of Alemore
  • 1759: Thomas Miller*
  • 1760: James Montgomery* & Francis Garden
  • 1764: James Montgomery*
  • 1766: Henry Dundas*
  • 1775: Alexander Murray
  • 1783: Ilay Campbell* & Alexander Wight
  • 1784: Robert Dundas*
  • 1789: Robert Blair
  • 1806: John Clerk
  • 1807: David Boyle
  • 1811: David Monypenny
  • 1813: Alexander Maconochie*
  • 1816: James Wedderburn
  • 1822: John Hope
  • 1830: Henry Cockburn
  • 1834: Andrew Skene
  • 1834: Duncan McNeill*
  • 1835: John Cunninghame
  • 1837: Andrew Rutherfurd*
  • 1839: James Ivory
  • 1840: Thomas Maitland
  • 1841: Duncan McNeill*
  • 1842: Adam Anderson*
  • 1846: Thomas Maitland
  • 1850: James Moncreiff*
  • 1851: John Cowan
  • 1851: George Deas
  • 1852: John Inglis*
  • 1852: Charles Neaves
  • 1853: Robert Handyside
  • 1853: James Craufurd
  • 1855: Thomas Mackenzie
  • 1855: Edward Maitland
  • 1858: Charles Baillie*
  • 1858: David Mure*
  • 1859: George Patton*
  • 1859: Edward Maitland
  • 1862: George Young*
  • 1866: Edward Strathearn Gordon*
  • 1867: John Millar
  • 1868: George Young*
  • 1869: Andrew Rutherfurd-Clark
  • 1874: John Millar
  • 1874: William Watson*
  • 1876: John Macdonald*
  • 1880: John Balfour*
  • 1881: Alexander Asher
  • 1885: James Robertson*
  • 1886: Alexander Asher
  • 1886: James Robertson*
  • 1888: Moir Tod Stormonth Darling
  • 1890: Sir Charles Pearson*
  • 1891: Andrew Murray*
  • 1892: Alexander Asher
  • 1894: Thomas Shaw*
  • 1895: Andrew Murray*
  • 1896: Charles Dickson*
  • 1903: David Dundas
  • 1905: Edward Theodore Salvesen
  • October 1905: James Avon Clyde*
  • December 1905: Alexander Ure*
  • February 1909: Arthur Dewar
  • April 1910: William Hunter
  • December 1911: Andrew Anderson
  • October 1913: Thomas Brash Morison*
  • 1920: Charles David Murray*
  • March 1922 – July 1922: Andrew Constable
  • July 1922 – November 1922: William Watson*
  • November 1922: David Fleming
  • April 1923: Frederick Thomson
  • February 1924: John Charles Fenton
  • November 1924: David Fleming
  • 1925: Alexander Munro MacRobert*
  • 1929: Wilfrid Normand*
  • 1929: John Charles Watson
  • 1931: Wilfrid Normand*
  • 1933: Douglas Jamieson*
  • 1935: Thomas Mackay Cooper
  • 1935: Albert Russell
  • 1936: James Reid
  • 1941: Sir David King Murray
  • 1945: Daniel Blades
  • 1947: John Wheatley*
  • 1947: Douglas Johnston
  • 1951: William Rankine Milligan*
  • 1955: William Grant*
  • 1960: David Anderson
  • 1964: Norman Wylie* (April to October)
  • 1964: James Graham Leechman
  • 1965: Henry Wilson*
  • 1967: Ewan George Francis Stewart
  • 1970: David William Robert Brand
  • 1972: William Stewart
  • 1974: Lord McCluskey
  • 1979: Nicholas Fairbairn
  • 1982: Peter Fraser*
  • 1989: Alan Rodger*
  • 1992: Thomas Dawson
  • 1995: Donald Mackay*
  • 1995: Paul Cullen
  • 1997: Colin Boyd*
  • 2000: Neil Davidson
  • 2001: Elish Angiolini*
  • 2006: John Beckett
  • 2007: Frank Mulholland*
  • 2011: Lesley Thomson
  • 2016: Alison Di Rollo
  • 2021: Ruth Charteris
* = served later as Lord Advocate
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