Born in Glasgow on 20th February 1910, Mary Elizabeth Rankin would become one of the first hundred women to graduate in Law from the University of Glasgow. Her father, John, who died before she finished her education, was a lawyer. It’s significant that so many of the first hundred women were the daughters of lawyers when one of the first hurdles was to find an apprenticeship and contacts helped. Mary showed an early aptitude for the subject and carried a good pass in Constitutional Law and History from her M.A.. degree (graduated 1930) to the Law Faculty, in which she enrolled in 1932. She was a very good student, evidenced by winning the Stair Prize for Public International Law, an Honours designation in Scots Law and Distinctions in Jurisprudence and International Private Law. After graduating LL.B. in 1935 she continued her career in Law and in December 1947 petitioned the Court of Session for admission as a solicitor. This was twelve years after graduating and it seems that it was not uncommon to go on in effect doing the job for some years before securing the formal professional qualification as a solicitor. She was, like Janet Whyte (M.A.LL.B.) a partner in Buchanan and McIlwraith. Mary Rankin died in 1987, aged 76.
Sources
University of Glasgow Registry and General Council Records
Scotlands People
Law Lists
CoSS Petitions List CS46 1947/12/121
