Muriel McLay, one of the first hundred women to graduate in Law from the University of Glasgow, was born in Uddingston on 15th July 1910 to Ada and James Rose McLay. Her father was a lawyer. Muriel grew up at the family home, ‘Rose Lea’ in Uddingston. She was academically able and graduated M.A. in 1931, matriculating in Law in 1930. As an Arts graduate she was able to take the three year LL.B. degree. Like the B.L. it was also a part time degree, combining university classes with an apprenticeship in a law firm, but it gained more exemptions from Law Society requirements and carried greater prestige. She passed all her exams well and graduated LL.B.in 1933. She married James Thomson in 1941. She appears to have worked initially as a law clerk but on 13th January 1939 her name is listed in the London Gazette as a successful candidate in Civil Service open competition for a position as second class clerk in the Sasines Office. Her career thereafter has not yet been revealed and the General Council records stopped listing a woman’s occupation when she married. Muriel McLay died in Edinburgh in 2000, aged 90.
Sources
University of Glasgow Registry & General Council Records
Scotlands People
