Mary Pettigrew was among the first 100 women to graduate in Law from the University of Glasgow. She was born in Airdrie on 23rd April 1909 to Jenny and James, a silk merchant. Mary began studying for a B.L.degree in 1927, probably undertaking an apprenticeship in a law firm at the same time. She struggled in some subjects but passed Constitutional Law and Civil Law in her first year, and took fifth place in Forensic Medicine a year later. She completed the curriculum with passes in Jurisprudence and the Law of Scotland in her final year. She graduated B.L. in 1931. Many graduates worked as law clerks in the years immediately after graduating. It’s likely that Mary did so too but did not go on to petition for admission to the profession as a solicitor. In 1935, aged 26, she married Peter Scott Murray, a timber merchant and lived in Coatbridge, where she died in 1997, aged 87.
Sources
University of Glasgow Registry and General Council Records
Scotlands People
