Robert Cunningham Graham Speirs

Robert Cunningham Graham Speirs or Spiers FRSE (1797–1847) was a 19th-century Scottish advocate and prison reformer. In later life he is largely referred to simply as Graham Speirs.

Robert Cunningham Graham Speirs (front)

Life

He was the second son of Peter Speirs of Culcreuch, founder owner of a Mill at Fintry and his wife Martha Harriet Graham, daughter of Robert Cunninghame Graham of Gartmore (1735–1797) near Lake of Menteith.

He studied law and qualified as an advocate in 1820. In 1835 he became Sheriff of Elgin. In 1840 he became Sheriff of Edinburgh and remained in that role until his death.

In 1841 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposer was David Welsh.[1]

In the Disruption of 1843 he is listed as one of the church elders who left the Church of Scotland to join the Free Church of Scotland.[2]

The grave of Robert Cunningham Graham Spiers, Grange Cemetery, Edinburgh

He lived his final years at Granton House in north Edinburgh.[3]

He died on Christmas Eve, 24 December 1847. He is buried in Grange Cemetery in south Edinburgh. The grave lies in the centre of the north wall.

Family

In 1820 he married Catherine Ann Grant (1804-1871) daughter of Francis Grant of Kilgraston (see grave), and left a daughter, Anne Oliphant Speirs (1833 - 1907), who married George Home of Blackadder and inherited Culcreuch Castle from her uncle, which she sold in 1890. Speirs lived at a very large Georgian town house at 46 Great King Street.[4]

Artistic Recognition

He was photographed by Hill & Adamson around 1845.[5]

References
  1. Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
  2. Acts of the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland 1843
  3. Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1846 p136
  4. Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1825 p200
  5. "Robert Cunningham Graham Speirs, 1797 - 1847. Advocate; Sheriff of Midlothian; leading Free Churchman and elder; prison reformer [a]".


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