George Craig of Galashiels

What was it like to practise as a lawyer and bank agent in a rural Scottish community on the cusp of modernity? George Craig was Sir Walter Scott's local banker, a writer, insurance agent, election agent and baron bailie of Galashiels. Based on thousands of recently discovered letters, this is the first study of a provincial nineteenth-century Scots lawyer and the community he served. Craig's many correspondents, from manufacturers, bankers, lawyers and law agents in London, Dublin, Jamaica and the US to weavers, tenant farmers and town clerks reflect Borders life in all its intensity and his letters paint a detailed picture of everyday existence. His story affords a fascinating glimpse of legal practice and estate management across the Borders, during a time of economic and political change, as Galashiels grew from a village into an important manufacturing centre.

John Finlay is Professor of Scots Law at the University of Glasgow. He is author of: Men of Law in Pre-Reformation Scotland (Tuckwell Press, 2000), contributor to The Edinburgh History of the Book in Scotland, volume 1 (Edinburgh University Press, forthcoming) and author of 'Women and legal representation in early sixteenth-century Scotland' in Women in Scotland 1100–1750 (Tuckwell Press, 1999). He has published numerous papers on Scottish legal history in journals such as the Scottish Historical Review, Edinburgh Law Review and the Juridical Review.