John Inglis, Lord Glencorse

Who was John Inglis, Lord Glencorse?

John Inglis, Lord Glencorse FRSE was a Scottish politician and judge. He was Lord President of the Court of Session.

The youngest son of John Inglis, a Church of Scotland minister, Inglis was born in August 1810 in Edinburgh, where he attended the Royal High School. From the University of Glasgow he went to Balliol College, Oxford. He was admitted a member of the Faculty of Advocates in 1835, and in 1852 he was made Solicitor General for Scotland in Lord Derby's first ministry, three months later becoming Lord Advocate, a post he held from May to December of that year. In the summer of 1857, he famously served as counsel for Madeleine Smith, a Glasgow socialite who was the defendant in a sensational murder trial. Smith was freed with a verdict of "not proven".

In March 1858 he resumed this office in Lord Derby's second administration, being returned to the House of Commons as member for Stamford. Again his tenure was brief, leaving office in July 1858. He was responsible for the Universities Act 1858, and in the same year he was elevated to the bench as Lord Justice Clerk, with the judicial title Lord Glencorse.