Elsie Ritchie was one of the first 100 women to graduate in Law from the University of Glasgow. She was born on 14th September 1906 in Fraserburgh to Elsie Ironside and James Ritchie, a fisherman. She was a graduate (B.Comm) of the University of Aberdeen before beginning her Law studies in Glasgow. Combining study with an apprenticeship she worked her way through the curriculum and passed degree exams in Law of Scotland, Mercantile Law and Forensic Medicine in her first year (1927-28). The following year she added passes in International Private Law, Civil Law and Evidence and Procedure. She graduated B.L.in April 1930. Seventeen years later, in 1947, she successfully petitioned the Court of Session and was admitted to be a law agent (solicitor) in Scotland. In this Elsie Ritchie was among a minority of the first 100 women graduates in Law. Many continued to work in law firms without completing that last stage and some did so eventually after many years of working in an essentially similar capacity. When she died in Fraserburgh on 6th May 1965 she was 58 and had retired from practice as a solicitor.
Sources
University of Glasgow Registry & General Council Records
Scotlands People
CoSS Petitions List CS46 1947/9/10
