Last town clerk of Peebles; Born October 21, 1919; Died 2007. EDWARD Laverock, who has died aged 87, was the last town clerk of the Royal Burgh of Peebles, one of the many posts abolished in the local government reforms of 1975.
For a Glasgow man educated at Hutchesons' Boys' Grammar School, Laverock was the ultimate adopted son of Peebles, and thanks to a family link with the most distinguished pupil of his old school, he maintained a Glasgow connection.
As a recently qualified solicitor, he had moved to Peebles aged 26 in 1945, to take up a post with local legal firm J&W Buchan, a practice founded by Walter Buchan, brother of author and statesman John.
Just as Walter had long been a son of Peebles, with John spending many holidays there from boyhood on, so Laverock became part of the fabric of the town. In 1948, three years into a Tweeddale legal practice, he was appointed town clerk, a role he held for 27 years until Lord Wheatley's act brought an end to civic tradition in Scotland's 33 old counties and 201 burghs.
In those days, smaller burghs such as Peebles met in the evening, and Laverock combined this work with the role of procurator-fiscal for Peeblesshire for 27 years from 1949. His outstanding contribution to the county's legal life was recognised in 1983 when he was made honorary sheriff.
Laverock bore the honorific "Mr Peebles" with grace. As well as lawyer, town clerk, procurator-fiscal he also jointly managed Peebles Building Society with colleague John Gibb, a friend from university days.
That was the era when individual small-town building societies existed all over Scotland, and long before the Peebles society was swallowed up by the Dunfermline Building Society. He was also closely involved in upgrading Peebles gasworks.
Laverock's lifetime passion was the Riding of the Marches in Beltane Week each June, a festival of local heritage and tradition.
Laverock would be out there "crying the boundaries" at each Riding, while during winter he sourced and administered the repair of more than 700 costumes required for each Beltane. In gratitude, Peebles Beltane elected him a life member in 1985.
Laverock attended Hutchesons in the days of the Boys' School in Crown Street, Gorbals. A graduate of Glasgow University in Arts and Law, his strict parents had him down for divinity. But on the day he appeared to matriculate, the door to register for law appeared first on his horizon. He signed up for law, and never looked back.
Boyhood polio left him with a minor lifetime limp, and also caused him to miss war service, something he regretted. He died in a care home in nearby Biggar, having been predeceased by his wife Ella, nee Mackison, and is survived by twins Helen and Eddie.
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