David Williamson, civil servant; born January 13, 1920, died May 21, 1998
The death of retired senior civil servant David Williamson in the Wester Ross hills shocked friends and colleagues, many of whom had known him through his work as Keeper of the Register of Scotland.
The body of 78-year-old David Williamson CBE, of Mount Grange, Edinburgh, was found on Thursday by a helicopter after a three-day land and air search.
Mr Williamson, a widower since his wife Agnes died in 1994, left the Conchra House Hotel near Dornie on Saturday on an ambitious plan to walk 17 miles over the hills to Achnashellach, which he had loved since his childhood.
Members of Kintail, RAF Kinloss mountain rescue teams and the Stornoway coastguard helicopter began a search on Monday when his car was found empty at Killillan School.
His body was found in the search area by Stornoway
coastguard helicopter on Thursday afternoon below Sgurr Coinn Tich.
Mr Williamson, who had no children, was described as
being very fit for his age, and
his greatest love along with
the Scottish hills was follow-
ing rugby.
He was the Keeper of the Register of Scotland between 1973 and 1982, and supervised the introduction of the Land Register into Scotland in 1981.
Edinburgh-born, he was educated at George Heriot's School and Edinburgh University. He served in the Royal Artillery and the Seaforth Highlanders during the Second World War rising to the rank of captain.
He was also an honorary
president of the Scottish Schoolboys Club and was made a
CBE for his work with boys' clubs, a subject on which he wrote two books.
He spent 45 years in the Department of Registers, having joined as a clerk in 1937. He became an assistant keeper in 1970 and was promoted two years later to take charge of some of Scotland's most important legal documents.
It was during his time with the Department of Registers that he took a law degree, and later was made an honorary member of the Law Society of Scotland.
The current Keeper of the Registers of Scotland, Alan Ramage, said: ''He was a very influential figure in the introduction of the new Land Register of Scotland in 1981.
''Many of us here remember him with great fondness. He was a leading authority, and his erudition was matched by a warm and an approachable manner.''
Family friend, Highland councillor Bryan Beattie, said: ''He was awarded the CBE for his services to Scottish schools and youth clubs.
''He had a very nimble brain for a man of his age, and was very fit. He knew the Highland hills like the back of his hand. It is a great sadness to have lost such a knowledgeable and friendly man.''
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