Obituary: Jim Brydie WS - Edinburgh lawyer who became great advocate for sport and the city he loved

JIM Brydie was an Edinburgh lawyer who, in his student days, was a noted athlete and who later participated in a wide range of sporting activities. He was a partner in the Edinburgh firm of Shepherd & Wedderburn from 1964 to 1995 and a respected figure in Scottish legal circles.

As well as having an extensive private client connection, he built up a substantial practice in rural property – representing several large landed and sporting estates. He also acted for a number of household names as they expanded into Scotland’s high streets and shopping centres in the 1970s and 1980s.

Tom Drysdale, a fellow partner at Shepherd & Wedderburn, recalls his colleague as “a prolific worker, always very methodical. Jim would take a load of work home most weekday evenings and it invariably came back finished the next morning. Except Thursday evening: that was golf night, at the Royal Burgess and Bruntsfield on alternate weeks.”

He added: “I think he was quite a demanding taskmaster for his legal team, but they respected him greatly, were fiercely loyal to him and learnt a lot under his watchful eye. He was painstaking in all his legal work and he set standards to which others aspired.”

Brydie was secretary of the Charlotte Square Proprietors’ Association, which owns and manages the Charlotte Square gardens and, as such, was closely involved in the 1983 negotiations which led to the creation of the hugely successful Edinburgh International Book Festival.

He was closely involved in Shepherd & Wedderburn’s relocation from Charlotte Square in 1993. He was the legal adviser to the Edinburgh Sports Club; he served there as a director and also served on the council of the Society of Writers to the Signet.

James Wilson Brydie was the son of David Wilson Brydie WS, an Edinburgh solicitor. In 1939, the family moved to Dollar where Brydie attended Dollar Academy. He was an outstanding athlete, winning the school’s cross country championship. A contemporary, Dr George Beveridge, also a keen athlete, remembers that “Jim was a talented sportsman and had extraordinary stamina and energy. He had a natural body for a middle distance runner. At school he trained with total enthusiasm and commitment. Jim was always a grand competitor.”

Brydie read law at Edinburgh University from 1951 to 1954 and was East of Scotland three-mile champion in 1951. For three consecutive years from 1951 to 1953, he was Edinburgh University and Scottish three-mile champion and won his blue in each of his first three years at university.

He ran in a memorable cross-country race over the Braid Hills in 1953, representing Edinburgh University against a team from Oxford and Cambridge universities which contained three of the great names of British athletics: Roger Bannister, Chris Chataway and Chris Brasher.

Dr Beveridge recalls: “I was one of the pace makers but I was soon overtaken. It was a thrilling event.”

Another race that gave Mr Brydie great satisfaction was the annual university Arthur’s Seat race in October 1951. It was run over a three-mile course from George Square, to the summit of Arthur’s Seat and back. Brydie won the race in a remarkable time of 20 minutes and 27 seconds.

After graduating, Mr Brydie did his national service in the RAF, including a spell in Cyprus.

Following his apprenticeship in J&RA Robertson, he joined his father’s firm, Macpherson & Mackay, in 1958. They merged with Shepherd & Wedderburn the following year, and Brydie became a partner of the firm in 1964. Throughout his working life, he remained an active sportsman, participating at a high level in golf, squash, mountaineering and skiing. He was a lover of the hills of Scotland. He had a house in Carrbridge, his base for skiing in the winter and hill walking in the summer. He climbed all the Munros, the 99th person to do so. He was devoted to family, introducing them to the sports he loved himself and following their fortunes on the lacrosse pitch in Edinburgh and the rugby field in Perthshire.

Brydie was an enthusiast in all he did and was remembered at his funeral as “energetic, mischievous, caring, supportive, adventurous, unassuming and modest despite his achievements”.

Jim Brydie was due to retire in 1995. In February of that year he was struck with viral encephalitis and spent the rest of his life in Corstorphine Hospital. He had married Judith Carrie in 1971. She predeceased him and he is survived by their two sons and a daughter and by five grandchildren. ALASDAIR STEVEN