Florence Yellowlees was one of the first hundred women to graduate in law from the University and one of a minority who went on to practise as a solicitor. She was born in Stirling on 22ndJune 1916 to Agnes Hope Sturdy and Robert Moffat Yellowlees. Her father was a solicitor, probably a partner in the local firm of Thomson and Yellowlees, and a member of the family of Robert Yellowlees, the Provost. Florence began her studies for a B.L. at Glasgow in 1933. After taking six attempts to pass Civil Law in that first year, nothing was ever such a trial again though only Law of Scotland brought the reward of a first-time pass. She graduated in 1938. Florence successfully completed her apprenticeship and worked as a law clerk in Stirling. It wasn’t until 1948 that she petitioned the Court of Session for admission as a solicitor. This decade’s gap was not unique, perhaps especially among the first hundred women and bears further research. Florence appears to have remained unmarried. She had an Edinburgh address in the lists of the General Council in the 1950s and was a member of the Law Society in Edinburgh. She died in Perthshire in 2006, aged 90.
Sources
University of Glasgow Registry and General Council Records
Scotlands People
Law Lists
Coss Petitions list CS45/1948/2/41
