Rights of the writer

Published on Saturday 22 July 2006 02:50

Several 19th-century ancestors are described in census records as writers or writers in practice, or in one instance, Writer to the Signet. What training was involved in becoming a "writer"? D Turner (by e-mail)

"Writer" in this context is an old word for lawyer or attorney in Scotland and solicitors in Scotland would have been known as "writers". Writers to the Signet had special privileges in relation to certain types of documentation requiring the Signet. The Signet was the private seal of the early Scottish kings, and the Writers to the Signet were authorised to supervise its use and, later, to act as clerks to the Courts. You will find many solicitors or writers listed in The Register of the Society of Writers to Her Majesty's Signet, with dates of parents, birth, marriage and death. The names of lawyers also appear in law lists or directories, most notably the Scottish Law List, which was previously called Index Juridicus and dates from 1848.

Solicitors in the 17th and 18th centuries qualified by apprenticeship followed by an oral examination. In the 19th century attendance at Scottish university law courses in Edinburgh, Glasgow or Aberdeen became a common feature in a Scottish solicitor's education. An Act of Sederunt of the Court of Session in 1865 said all procurators, writers and law agents must apprentice for at least three years and satisfy the examination requirements of their society or faculty. Attendance at university was often the best way to acquire the knowledge for the exams, and for Writers to the Signet and Solicitors of the Supreme Court, it was compulsory. This often meant no more than showing up for the classes, as more normally it was the society's own exams that were sat rather than those offered by the university. More information on the training of solicitors can be found in The Laws of Scotland: Stair Memorial Encyclopaedia, Vol 13.

I had a grandfather working on the railways in Shropshire and Glasgow. Where can I get information on this topic? M Herring (by e-mail)

Consult a booklet compiled by Tom Richards, Was Your Grandfather A Railwayman? (Federation of Family History Societies). This is a directory of railway archive sources. It gives useful advice on how railway staff records were kept and lists railway records held by different institutions. Most surviving records will be held by either the National Archives of Scotland (for those railway companies that operated in Scotland) or The National Archives in London (for those railway companies that operated in England and Wales), see www.nas.gov.uk and www.nationalarchives.gov.uk for more.

If you have a question for the Genealogy Clinic e-mail the team at [e-mail] We will endeavour to deal with all enquiries as quickly as possible, but we regret that we cannot enter into personal correspondence.

• ScotlandsPeople is a partnership between the General Register Office for Scotland, the National Archives of Scotland and the Court of the Lord Lyon.