Catherine was born on 12th September 1903 to Margaret and Andrew Robertson Seton Harper (B.L. Glasgow, 1887). Her father was a lawyer and the town clerk of Renfrew. She graduated M.A. from Glasgow in 1925 and LL.B. in 1927. On her smooth passage through the Law Faculty she earned a first class certificate in Mercantile and Constitutional Law, took 9th place in Evidence and Procedure and 6th in Forensic, as well as an Honours place in Scots Law. She completed her apprenticeship and fulfilled the professional requirements of the Incorporated Society of Law Agents. Catherine was one of the first women to hold a practising certificate in Scotland. She continued to work as a solicitor in Renfrew, in the firm of Harper and Harper where she became a partner. She was also a pioneer in an area of legal practice which was exclusively a male domain when she became the first and only Burgh fiscal, thus having a role in prosecuting criminal cases. She died in Renfrew, aged 63, in 1967.
Sources
GU Archives Registry, General Council
Law List
Scotland’s People
CoSS Petitions List CS46 1929/2/66
