Obituaries. 
13 
1918-19.] 
most highly prized, was his Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 
to which he was elected in 1886 in connection with his research in musical 
history. He died on September 27, 1917. 
William Caldwell Crawford was born in Glasgow on December 2, 
1842. He was educated at the Collegiate School, Glasgow, and graduated 
Master of Arts in Glasgow University, where he distinguished himself as 
a prizeman under both Professor Edward Caird and Lord Kelvin. He 
subsequently studied in Berlin with Helmholz and Gian, and also spent 
some time at Heidelberg and Jena studying physics and chemistry, but 
finally attended many courses at the Sorbonne. He was a good linguist 
in German and French, and was particularly interested in zoology, botany, 
and microscopy, and was an enthusiastic member of the Edinburgh Field 
Naturalists’ Club. 
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1887, 
and died on June 21, 1918. 
[ Contributed by Lord Salvesen.] 
Alexander Smith Kinnear, first Baron Kinnear, was born Novem- 
ber 3, 1833. After studying at the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh 
he became in 1856 a member of the Faculty of Advocates. He acquired 
a large practice at the Scottish bar, especially as a senior counsel ; and 
by 1878 he had attained such a recognised position that he was retained 
as one of the counsel for the liquidators in the series of litigations arising 
out of the liquidation of the City of Glasgow Bank. In 1881 he was 
elected Dean of Faculty, and in the following year was appointed a Lord 
of Council and Session. In that capacity he served until 1*913, when he 
resigned his seat; but during the next three years he took a prominent 
part in the disposal of appeals in the House of Lords, especially in con- 
nection with Scottish cases. As a practising lawyer he was especially 
distinguished for his mastery of legal principle and his facility of 
expression in exposition, and was unrivalled in his knowledge of the 
Scottish system of land rights. As a judge he proved himself one of the 
most eminent of his day, which was rich in great lawyers ; and many of 
his judgments are masterly expositions of the law on the subject to which 
they relate. While acting as a judge of the First Division he rendered 
notable public service by acting as Chairman of the Universities Commis- 
sion under the Universities Act from 1889 to 1897 ; and also as a member 
of the Church Commission of 1905, which was appointed to regulate the 
distribution of the assets of the Free Church of Scotland between the 
