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. He held the offices of Sheriff of Elgin and Moray from 1835 to 1840 and subsequently was Sheriff of Midlothian from 1840 until his death in 1847. He joined the Free Church at the Disruption of 1843. He was then involved in the Sites Committee trying to persuade landowners to allow the denomination to build churches and schools on their land.

Early life and career
Robert Cunningham Graham Speirs was born on 15 June 1797. 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. His early  education  was  conducted  partly  at  the  High  School  of  Edinburgh,  and  partly  at  a  school  in  Warwickshire,  where  he  remained  until  December  1811. He then  entered  the  Royal  Navy,  and  continued  in  the  Naval  Service  for  five  years,  when,  directing  his  attention  to  the  study  of  law,  he  was  called  to  the  Bar  of  Scotland  in  1820.

Roles as sheriff
His professional career was distinguished by steady but not rapid progress. In 1830, Lord Advocate Jeffrey appointed Speirs an advocate-depute, and soon afterwards Speirs was appointed sheriff of Elgin and Nairn. Subsequently, in 1840, on a vacancy occurring in the metropolitan sheriffdom, he was offered and accepted the office of sheriff of Edinburgh, which he held until his death. He was thus, for a time at least, removed from practice at the bar.

In 1835 he became Sheriff of Elgin. In 1840 he became Sheriff of Edinburgh and remained in that role until his death.

Church of Scotland elder
Preceding the Disruption of 1843, at the  time  of  the  Convocation  of  ministers  which preceded  the  Assembly  of  1843,  when  it  was  thought  right  that  the laymen  attached  to  the  principles  then  upheld  by  the  majority  of  the Assembly,  and  especially  the  eldership,  should  come  forward  and  at  once strengthen  the  hands  of  the  ministers,  and  provide  means  for  their  sustentation  on  the  Disruption  taking  place. The  meeting  of  the  eldership  occurred  on  the  1st  February  1843. It was  mentioned  at  the  time  in  the Witness  newspaper. Speirs proposed  the  first  resolution,  and  in  doing  so  he  is  reported  to  have  represented  the  Church  of  Scotland  "as  she  has  existed  since  the  Reformation,  as  by  far,  he  would  venture  to  say, without  any  comparison  whatever,  the  cheapest  institution  for  good  government  that  ever  any  nation  had  to  boast  of;"  and  to  have  been  affected  even  to  tears  when  he  uttered  the  words,  "I  cannot  look  forward  without  dismay  to  the  prospect  of  the  Disruption  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,"  which  he  so  characterised  and  loved. The Committee  formed  at  this  meeting  was  united  to  another  appointed  by  the  Convocation,  under  the  auspices  of  Thomas Chalmers. This body,  organised  under the  title  of  the  "Provisional  Committee,"  held  its  first  meeting  the  following  day;  and  to  its  labours  the  Free  Church  mainly  owes  the organisation,  by which  the  days  of  the  Disruption  were characterised. This is explained  in  Dr  Chalmers'  Life  and  Correspondence  by  William Hanna.

Free Church roles
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. Speirs heading up the Sites Committee set up because landlords across the country refused to give sites for the Free Church to build churches and schools.

A renewed  application  to  Parliament  was  made  in  the  spring  of  1847, and  a  select  Committee  was  then  appointed  to  inquire  in  what  parts  of  Scotland,  and  under  what  circumstances,  sites  had  been  refused. A great  deal  of  evidence  was  laid  before  the  committee,  and,  amongst  others,  Thomas Chalmers,  and Graham Speirs,  as  Convener  of  the  Sites  Committee, were  especially  under  examination.

It was reported to  the  House  of  Commons,  was  that  the  Committee  held  it to  be  proved  that  there  were  a  number  of  Christian  congregations  in  Scotland  who  have  no  place  of  worship  within  a  reasonable  distance  of  their  home,  where  they  can  unite  in  the  public  service  of  Almighty  God,  according  to  their  conscientious  convictions  of  religious  duty,  under  convenient  shelter  from  the  severity  of  a  northern  climate. And the  Committee  farther  reported  to  the  House  that  they  had  heard  with  pleasure,  in  course  of  the  evidence,  that  concessions  had  been  made  and  sites  granted ;  and  they  expressed  an  earnest  hope  that  those  which  have  hitherto  been  refused  may  no  longer  be  withheld.

At the Assembly in 1846 Speirs gave voice to the fear that proprietors were “sending away or ejecting the Free Church population, in order that they may in that way take away the pretext for asking sites”. Sheriff Speirs had by this time produced at least a partial answer in the shape of an iron floating church, or churches — for he set no limit on the number which might be produced. Addressing the Commission of the Free Assembly in November 1845, he revealed that he had placed a contract with Mr John Wood of Port Glasgow for an iron church capable of containing 700 sitters. No destination had yet been fixed on for it though in the course of his speech Kilmalie, Strachur and Lochcarron were mentioned as suitable. After delays one was completed and towed into place in Loch Sunart near Strontian starting on Wednesday 8 July 1846. At the cost of slight inconvenience to the congregation, a mooring was chosen below the township of Ardnastang, in the bay of Eilean a’Mhuirich, about 1.25 miles west of Strontian.

Other interests
Speirs had other interests besides the law and the church. In connection, with  Prison  reformation  and  discipline,  he  was  an  active  member  of  the society  formed  in  1835  on  that  subject,  which  by  its  efforts  materially contributed  to  the  enactment  of  1839,  by  which  the  jails  of  Scotland, once  described  as  "nurseries  of  vice  and  crime,"  became  placed  in a more satisfactory  condition. In this  work  his  associates  were  men of  all  classes  and  denominations — Dr  Kaye  Greville, John  Wigham  junior,  Dr  David  Maclagan,  Mr  George Forbes, and  other  like-minded  citizens. Afterwards under  the  Statute  as chairman  of  the  Edinburgh  Prison  Board,  and  as  member  of  the  General Board  of  Prisons  in  Scotland,  Speirs  was  in  a  position  to  give  his aid  in  carrying  through  this  national  reform. In defence  of  the observance of  the  Sabbath,  the  establishment  of  Ragged  Schools,  and  in the cause  generally  of  education,  he  was  also engaged. In 1841 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposer was David Welsh.



Death and legacy
He lived his final years at Granton House in north Edinburgh. A salt print photograph of him was taken by Hill & Adamson around 1845, in the early years of photography. He died on Christmas Eve, 24 December 1847. and is buried in Grange Cemetery in south Edinburgh. The grave lies in the centre of the north wall.

Ritchie suggest that Speirs's legacy to the Free Church was threefold. As was constantly emphasised, by birth he came from among the best families in the land. This was reinforced by the social connections he made to other gentry families from his schooldays, through his naval service, when called to the bar and through marriage. Previously, it had been characteristic of seceding churches that their adherents came from the more humble ranks of Scottish society.

While the Free Church could glory in its ministers, with men of the calibre of Chalmers, Cunningham, Candlish and Guthrie, Speirs made it clear that the church's moral authority was not restricted to its ministry. There was a powerful eldership as well and this was a strong consideration as the Free Church sought the moral high ground in its relations with the Church of Scotland.

There was also the practical aid Speirs had given through his service to the sites committee. By the time of his death the sites issue was not resolved, but it was clear that the trend of events was moving in a direction he would favour. The mixture of skilled advocacy and patient negotiation was bearing fruit. In parallel with that policy Speirs had acted decisively to win the propaganda battle, through the construction of an iron floating church and by the lithographs he commissioned of scenes of site-refusal.

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, which she sold in 1890, from her uncle. Speirs lived at a very large Georgian town house at 46 Great King Street.