Obituary: Nigel Thomson, sheriff who was honoured for services to the arts and worked energetically for charity

Published on Wednesday 25 January 2012 00:35

Born: 19 June, 1926, in Aberdeen. Died: 28 December, 2011, in Edinburgh, aged 85.

Sheriff Nigel Thomson was best known to the Scottish public for his “funny sentences”. For his colleagues in the law he was a learned, respected, amiable and dependable friend. He was widely known and much loved in church circles. He made a significant and outstanding contribution to the charities to which he gave his energetic support. For many, he was, above all, an entertainer. Not for nothing was he commissioned to write the article on “entertainment” in the Stair Encyclopaedia of the Laws of Scotland.

The “funny sentences” for which he was famous were not in fact sentences at all, but conditions he would attach, in appropriate cases, to a deferred sentence. The idea was that the offender would do something to make amends for his offence, or show that he understood why he did what he did and how that had affected him and others.

Compliance with the conditions would result in a lesser penalty when the case came back to court. He believed in treating each offender as an individual and searched for a disposal of the case that would benefit the offender and society in equal measure.

An appendix to his book of memoirs, In and Out of Court, contains the text of an article in which Sheriff Thomson sets out his philosophy of sentencing. It should be required reading for anyone with an interest in the subject. The book also contains some illuminating selections from essays written by offenders in compliance with a condition of their deferred sentence.

Nigel Thomson was a son of the manse. His father was minister of Mayfield Church, Edinburgh, where in the 1960s Nigel became a long-serving and innovative Sunday school superintendent.

His father died of a heart attack when Nigel was 12. His mother had died when he was just two years old. After the death of his father, Nigel and his brothers moved to live with their grandfather, a retired minister, and with them went “Aunt Lucy” who had joined the household when the mother died. To apply to Nigel a phrase he used of someone else, he grew up to become “a muscular Christian”.

Nigel attended George Watson’s College in Edinburgh and won a scholarship to St Andrews University. His studies there were interrupted by service in the army. He was commissioned just as the Second World War ended, serving in India for while and then in Scotland. He regarded that period of his life as his “gap year”. “I liked giving orders and I liked having orders given to me,” he wrote.

Believing, rightly or wrongly, that his commitment to Christian doctrine was less than he thought was necessary in a minister, Nigel elected not to follow in his father’s footsteps, but instead entered the law.

He passed advocate in 1953. Thirteen years later, he was appointed sheriff at Hamilton and from 1976 until 1996 he was sheriff at Edinburgh.

When he was sheriff at Hamilton, Nigel and his family lived in Strathaven. While there, he was heavily involved in the creation of the Strathaven Arts Guild and converting the derelict Town Mill into a theatre and arts centre. He described the five or so years of raising the necessary funds as “one of the happiest periods of my life”.

Sheriff Thomson was, among other things, a member of the Scottish Arts Council and chairman of its music committee. He was honorary president of the Strathaven Arts Guild and Scottish Association for Counselling, as well as vice president of the British Association of Counselling.

He was chairman of the Edinburgh committee of the medical charity Tenovus-Scotland. He was convener of the Council for Music in Hospitals in Scotland and chairman of the Edinburgh Youth Orchestra Society.

He is particularly fondly remembered by the playing members of the orchestra, many of whom he took on a memorable tour of California. He was awarded his CBE for his contribution to the arts.

On his return to Edinburgh, Sheriff Thomson served there for 20 years, ultimately as senior sheriff. In that role, he had sometimes to act as an intermediary between his fellow sheriffs, on the one hand, and the Sheriff Principal or Sheriff Clerk, on the other. He seemed to some to be slightly uncomfortable in that role. He was non-confrontational in all his relationships, and preferred to lead by example, rather than try to have the work of the court adapted to suit his own or indeed his colleagues’ preferences.

Where there was discord, he sought harmony. It was even suggested that the reason behind his appointment to Hamilton, where the two sheriffs in post did not always see eye to eye, was to keep the peace between them.

As a sheriff, he was probably happiest sitting in his own court at Peebles, as he did once a week during his time as senior sheriff in Edinburgh. His avuncular but serious-minded attention to duty earned the affectionate regard of all who worked or appeared there, including the recipients of some of his “funny sentences”.

While sheriff of Peebles, he willingly agreed to speak at local dinners and festivals, a hard act for his successors to follow.

Nigel Thomson gave enormous pleasure to many in his role of entertainer. He sang, acted, played the piano and made witty, whimsical after-dinner speeches. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, he was a leading light in the revue group known as The Harpic Players (“Clean Round the Bend”). The group’s performances were invariably met with acclaim from the small invited audiences assembled in a New Town townhouse.

Among other light compositions, he wrote the words and music of Little Sister, a musical comedy/romance inspired by Chopin’s visit to Edinburgh in 1848.

Such was his popularity as a speaker that after he retired he turned professional, in an unsuccessful attempt to price himself out of the market. He had a mine of both poetry and popular song at his disposal and could, and often did, come out with an apt quotation or snatch of song in almost every social situation.

He had more than his share of ill health, which he endured with uncomplaining stoicism, persistent good humour and a huge determination not to give in.

Nigel Thomson is survived by his wife Lolo (sister of the late Magnus Magnusson), with whom he had a long and very happy marriage, his children Ingalo and Diggi, and four grandchildren.

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Snoopy1

Saturday, April 7, 2012 at 07:17 PM

Sheriff N Thomson will be sadly missed by all who had the good fortune to have met and to have spoken to him on many occasions when we sat in the barber chair having a quick trim. We spoke on many subjects which we held a common intrest in,one of these was the "Border Sevens",which both of us had the pleasure of being at on many ocasion,i found out that he was a "Watsonian Supporter",also we spoke of his time in the Scots Gaurds,and his love of music,which was one of his great passions. I saw him just a few days before his passing,comming out of Mayfield Church,sadly i was unable to speak to him. To his family and many friends and colleagues i give my heart felt condolences at his passing,"May god enjoy his music,banter and wit".

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