James Lumsden

JAMES Lumsden, or Hamish as he was more generally known, who has died aged 98, was one of Scotland's best-known lawyers and businessmen.

He was born at Arden House, the family home on Loch Lomondside, to James Robert Lumsden, who was later knighted, and Henrietta Macfarlane Lumsden, nee Reid. His grandfather was Sir James Lumsden, a former Lord Provost of Glasgow.

He was educated at Cargilfield School, Edinburgh, where he was head boy and from where he won a scholarship to Rugby School. From there he went on to win a further scholarship to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Handsome, urbane and hugely intelligent, he studied Classics and Law at Cambridge and secured degrees in both, including a First Class Honours in Law for which he won the Bishop Green Cup in 1936.

He completed his studies with an LLB postgraduate degree at the University of Glasgow while also working as a law apprentice with the firm of Mackenzie, Roberton, where his great uncle, Robert Mackenzie of Caldarvan, had been a senior partner until his death in 1936.

During his second year at the University of Glasgow he joined the 74th Heavy Anti Aircraft regiment as a second lieutenant. His unit was mobilised just days before the declaration of war and thus his three-year apprenticeship with Mackenzie Roberton was deemed to have been completed.

His unit was initially deployed to cover the ICI works at Mossend, Lanarkshire, and subsequently at vulnerable and important sites around the Clyde basin, including Rosneath Peninsula and Cardross.

He was posted as part of a cadre to train a new AA battery at Oswestry, where he was swiftly promoted to the rank of captain before moving to Wick and from there, within just a few weeks, to brigade major in King's Park, Glasgow.

It was while in this post at the headquarters of 42 AA Brigade that he was in charge of the Operations Room during two nights of the Clydebank Blitz in 1941.

A year later, he was posted to Edinburgh, where he served as an intelligence officer before being transferred to Southampton to command the AA regiments deployed in that area to cover the Normandy invasion, which took place in June, 1944. He also had to deal with the VI flying bombs aimed at London and it was at that time he was awarded the MBE (Military).

He was demobilised on his 31st birthday.

In April 1946 he joined the Glasgow law firm Maclay Murray and Spens on secondment from Mackenzie Roberton to gain experience in company and commercial law before returning to Mackenzie Roberton as a partner. However, later that year he was offered a partnership by Maclay Murray that he readily accepted.

In January 1947, while on a skiing holiday in Davos, he became engaged to Sheila Cross from Kirkcudbrightshire. They were married in Borgue Parish Church in June, 1947.

It was the start of 61 years of a very happy marriage and partnership. They made their home at Bannachra, near Helensburgh, on the Arden Estate and it was there that they raised three sons, James, Ian and Michael who (together with nine grandchildren and one great grandchild) survive them today.

Bannachra was their home for 54 of these years until they moved to a smaller house at Craigendoran, near Helensburgh.

Hamish Lumsden had a remarkable career in the law and in business. Having become a partner in the Maclay Murray and Spens in 1947, he stayed with the firm, in which he became the senior partner, until 1982 when he retired aged 67.

With his undoubted legal talent and high standards, both moral and ethical, came the privilege of serving in many different areas. He was a member of the Jenkins Committee on Company Law Reform in 1960 as one of two representing Scotland. He was a Fellow of the Law Society of Scotland and a member of the Royal Faculty of Procurators, Glasgow.

He served as a director of a variety of companies from about the mid 1950s until he resigned on his 70th birthday, including Scottish Union and National Insurance Company, which was taken over by Norwich Union when he was chairman; Bank of Scotland, the Weir Group, William Baird, Scottish Provident, Murray Johnstone and many others including many of the Investment Trusts managed by Murray Johnstone.

He served as chairman of many of them.

In 1959 he joined Burmah Oil and rose to chairman and saw that company through some very difficult times.

He was chairman of the General Commission of Income Tax for many years, a Deputy Lieutenant of Dunbartonshire since 1966, a member of the Royal Company of Archers since 1963, and the oldest and longest-serving member of Prestwick Golf Club.

He was a staunch supporter of the Conservative Party since his Cambridge days. Locally he was a very active member of the Dunbartonshire constituency including various stints as constituency chairman and latterly honorary president.

Hamish Lumsden was a popular figure in the community on Loch Lomondside. He was an elder of Luss Parish Church since 1950 and treasurer for about 30 years and also a member of Dumbarton Presbytery of the Church of Scotland.

He was the driving force behind the Dunbartonshire County Agricultural Show, where he was an enthusiastic MC on the megaphone and where his wife, Sheila, organised the Scottish Women's Rural Institute stalls filled with beautiful craftwork and delicious home baking.

He was also a family man and family and family life were very important to him. He and Sheila were married for 61 years until she pre-deceased him in 2008.

Luss Parish Church was filled by family and friends for a thanksgiving service last Saturday, when his eldest son James paid tribute to his father's life and work.