J&J Boyd "writers" COMPLETED" QUERY with thanks

[Elizajb]

Hi,
Today I came across a will for someone on a genealogy site which mentions the witnesses as being apprentices to John Boyd, Writer, of J&J Boyd, Writers. One of these witnesses is a relative who, family story says,  studied law as a young man in Scotland.  I have copies of several essays he wrote, probably as a student, in 1862-63 and the will in which his name is mentioned is 1864. Can anyone tell me exactly what "writers" were and whether I would be able to find any record of my relative in university records? However I don't know which one he attended, only that he must have been in Glasgow in 1864. Would there be apprentice records for these writers?
Any info or ideas appreciated.

[Jim I]

Writers to the Signet.

See this website
http://www.thewssociety.co.uk/

[Elizajb]

Thankyou very much Jim, I've just emailed them to see if they have any historical records. Having read their website info, it looks like being an apprentice writer was the same as being a trainee solicitor.

Thanks again,
Eliza.

[MonicaL]

Hi Eliza

You can check here for previous students up to 1911 at Glasgow University www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/alumni/

Monica

[Forfarian]

A writer is simply a lawyer, or notary, or solicitor - there are lots of names but basically they're all similar.

By no means all writers were members of the Society of Writers to His/Her Majesty's Signet, however.

[Elizajb]

Thankyou Monica and Forfarian for your input. Unfortunately my relative doesn't show in the alumni of Glasgow university. I have received a reply from the Writers Society and they had no record of him either but were able to give me the information that his father was a member of the Faculty of Procurators for Paisley from 1829. They found this info on the Scottish Law List.

Could my relative, Arthur Chillas Henderson, have trained as a solicitor or writer without attending university in the early 1860s? Meaning purely by apprenticeship?  He must have moved to London in, or shortly after 1864 as he married a merchant's daughter there in 1867 then emigrated to New Zealand in the same year.

Eliza

[Forfarian]

Could my relative, Arthur Chillas Henderson, have trained as a solicitor or writer without attending university in the early 1860s? Meaning purely by apprenticeship? 

Yes, I believe that was the conventional route, rather than a university degree.

[Elizajb]

Aha, thankyou Forfarian. So would Arthur have had some sort of certificate or other form of written credential that he would have presented to the court, or firms of solicitors in London and New Zealand in order to gain employment within the legal field?

Eliza.

[Forfarian]

would Arthur have had some sort of certificate or other form of written credential that he would have presented to the court, or firms of solicitors in London and New Zealand in order to gain employment within the legal field?

I don't know. I speculate that he would have had some sort of testimonial or reference from the firm where he served his apprenticeship, but I do not know whether or not he would have had to get a formal qualification involving a certificate at that time, which is long before the establishment of the Law Society of Scotland.