Muriel Renwick was one of the first hundred women to graduate in Law from the University of Glasgow, one of a minority of whom went on to become a professionally qualified, practising solicitor and one of only a handful to become a partner in a law firm. It helped that she was born into and later married into a family of solicitors. Muriel was born on 5th July 1914 in Glasgow, where her father John practised in the firm of Lowndes, Renwick and Stewart. Her path through her legal education was straightforward, with occasional resits in the early years, not at all unusual in a timetable that combined part-time academic study with apprenticeship. She began her law studies in 1933 and graduated B.L. in 1936. While at university she became involved with the Free Legal Dispensary, set up through the work of the Queen Margaret Settlement. She and other volunteers offered legal advice to disadvantaged clients, predominantly women in the Anderston district served by the Settlement’s many social projects. Madge Anderson had become its first convenor in 1920 and Muriel became its convenor in the Thirties when it was revived under the auspices of Glasgow University Law Society. She continued her involvement after graduation. In this decade she was also making her way professionally. In 1941 she married Roger George Manson and the couple had two sons. Roger had also been an undergraduate in the Law Faculty and had been an outstanding student. He joined Muriel’s father and became a partner in the firm of Lowndes, Renwick and Manson of Bath Street. Muriel also worked in the firm, though curiously did not petition for admission as a solicitor until 1961, perhaps having returned to practise after a gap. She died on 9th February 2011, aged 97.
Sources
University of Glasgow Registry and General Council Records
Scotlands People
Law Lists
CoSS Petitions List 1961
