Dr Doris Littlejohn

From a humble background, she successfully combined a full family life with an impressive legal career. Her decades of public service were recognised in 1998 when she was made a Commander of the British Empire and also in 2015 when she received the Saltire Society Outstanding Women of Scotland Award. In 1993 she was awarded an honorary degree by Stirling University.

Dr Littlejohn was appointed an Industrial Tribunal chairman in Glasgow in 1976 and went on to serve as president of Employment Tribunals from 1990 to 2000.

In a very active retirement, she served as chairperson of the Forth Valley Primary Care NHS Trust and chaired the Review Team into Policing and Race Relations in Scotland.

She was a founding member of Law at Work and served on the BBC Advisory Council, the Human Genetics Advisory Commission, the Leggatt Committee review of UK Tribunal System, the Scottish Executive Review Group on post mortem practice, the Central Scotland Racial Equality Council, General Council of the BBC and the Macroberts Art Centre Management Committee.

Dr Littlejohn’s daughter Sue Grant writes: “My mum was born and raised in Glasgow. She began life in a tenement flat with a shared toilet on the landing and weekly trips to the bath house until her parents were given a council house when she was 16. It was a happy home.

“Her parents were bright but had no opportunity for further education. They were of modest means but when they realised my mum was bright, determined that whatever sacrifices it took they would find a way for her to go to university. My mum never forgot how much they did for her and her younger sister and all her life she was driven by a desire to see equality of opportunity for all.

“She went to Queens Park Secondary School then to Glasgow University. In those days you went to university while also doing your apprenticeship. She began her apprenticeship in 1953 with Russell & Duncan and graduated in 1956. She was in private practice, moving to Bridge of Allan around 1960 and distinguished herself as a court practitioner until in 1976 she was invited by Lord Mayfield (Ian MacDonald) who was then president of Industrial Tribunals, to become a chairman.

“She became the first female chairman in the UK. She served as a chairman in Glasgow, travelling there from her home in Bridge of Allan daily while raising her three daughters and looking after her husband who was a lawyer in Stirling but suffered crippling rheumatoid arthritis. She became president of tribunals in 1990 until retirement in 2000.

“Despite having an extremely sharp brain, the way in which many will remember her is as someone who was extremely modest, embarrassed by awards such as the Saltire Award, totally committed to her family and a fabulous hostess.

“She loved people, was endlessly interested in them and was an amazing friend. She was a great cook, loved and was very knowledgeable about wine and would host legendary dinner parties. She loved to entertain and her house was always open to friends or indeed anyone who needed a bed. Many a student at Stirling Uni would be invited for Christmas dinner if they had nowhere else to go.

“She loved all things French and was a regular at French classes at the Institut Francais until well into her 80s. She loved the Arts and was very involved with the Macroberts Centre in Stirling. After her husband’s death in 2001 she travelled widely and became involved in the many different commissions and organisations.

“She had nine grandchildren and two great grandchildren. She was a very involved gran and took all her grandchildren away to a destination of their choosing on their 16th birthdays. They all remember her as an amazing grandmother.”