On the 20th September 1869, George Patton, Lord Advocate and Solicitor-General for Scotland [who a few weeks before had appointed himself as Lord Justice Clerk], took his life. He did so by cutting his throat and then fell into falling into the river Almond. His body was recovered a few days later at the Spout of Buchanty.
What is known of the backdrop to the suicide of the Lord Justice Clerk is carried in the following newspaper reports. Notable among which was the wrongful report of his death in the week before he took his life [it was his older brother Thomas who had died]. Just as troubling, the Lord Justice Clerk was facing serious bribery charges in relation to recent electioneering.
