Born in Leith on 8th January, 1931, Haldane attended school at George Heriot’s where he excelled at debating. He had a reputation as a clear, decisive, effective and entertaining speaker, but he was never cruel to his hapless opponents. One old school friend said of him: “He would rib you about your mistaken views but he was never merciless. He was a perfect critical friend and known as a kindly soul. His way with words was admired by many. He liked nothing better than reading books on words and their meaning and putting his knowledge into practice.”

His love of language and way with words drew him naturally towards a career in the law, moving on from school to study law at Edinburgh University from which he graduated with a BL in 1952.

There then followed a period of national service from 1952 to 1954, where he was a lieutenant in the Education Department of the RAF, first posted to the Isle of Man, where, in later life, he looked back nostalgically with delight at his visits to the local fish and chip shop as a welcome respite from camp cooking. His second posting, to Seaton Snook in Tees-side was, however, to have a decisive influence on his future life. He had always had an interest in scouting, but it was on Tees-side that his interest blossomed when he became involved with the work of the West Hartlepool Scouts, making many lasting friendships, and acquiring a burning enthusiasm for the Scouting movement. Later, on returning to Edinburgh, he would continue his enthusiasm for the movement by contributing to the work of the 7th, Leith Scouts, going on to become the group scout leader, with an active involvement at district level and in the wider Edinburgh Scouting family, culminating in the awarding to him of the prestigious award of the Silver Wolf. Even now there are those who have not forgotten the afternoon that he turned a training ship in Leith Docks into a pirate vessel, with himself as the pirate captain and the boys as his crew, knotting ropes, walking the plank and eating (they were convinced) weevily biscuits!

On his return from national service, he commenced his solicitor’s apprenticeship with Shepherd and Wedderburn and then moved on to be apprenticed to William Miller of Gray Millar and Carmichael SSC. When newly-qualified, he joined the family firm of G. W. Tait & Sons SSC, which had been founded by his great uncles, and where his uncles were the senior partners. On the death of his uncles, he formed a new partnership with George Tait and David Johnston to carry on the family business from its offices at 34 Leith Walk. In 1985, he moved on to new challenges in Kilgour McNeill and Sime, and then to Robson MacLean. While there, he also served as a Temporary Sheriff and, from 1987 to 1991, along with David Lamb SSC, as joint auditor of Edinburgh Sheriff Court.

He also served his profession as an enthusiastic Council member of the SSC Society from 1967 onwards and as its librarian from 1985 to 1990. He was a diligent Council member of the Law Society of Scotland, and a member of its Legal Aid Central Committee, of which he was convenor for a number of years. He also served as a hard-working editor of the Journal of the Law Society of Scotland until 1991. He was immensely proud of the contributions of these societies to the legal life of Scotland, a pride which manifested itself in his instrumental role in securing, for the members of the Law Society Council, robes which are worn to this day. He also took a mischievous delight in chasing contributors for The Journal, ensuring its content was diverse, informed and always interesting.

In 1991, he left his successful private practice behind, taking on the new challenge of becoming the auditor of the Court of Session, where he acquitted himself with distinction, earning the respect of his colleagues for his fairness and courtesy.

In his private life, he was a much-loved husband and father. His marriage to Margaret McLeod in 1968 brought him great happiness and joy, lasting until his death over 51 years later. In Margaret, he had found a life partner with whom to develop numerous interests, and together they contributed to many facets of community life and service to others. Together they formed a great team and shared a sharp intellect, a pawky sense of humour and, at root, a deep understanding of human nature. They were made for each other. They had two children, Margaret Anne and Colin, who sadly died in 2000 after a kidney operation, and three grandchildren.

Following his retiral as auditor of the Court of Session in 1998, Haldane was able to devote more time to his private passions, including horticulture (he was a member of the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society), and ancient history. As Margaret puts it: “When he retired from a most distinguished career in the law, Haldane announced to my relief that he would not be sitting around the house but that he would be pursuing his love of ancient history as he felt there was much, much more to life than law. After lectures in archaeology and ancient peoples of the Mediterranean at the University of Edinburgh he moved his interest to Egyptology which involved many happy journeys to the University of Glasgow where he immersed himself in the joys of Ancient Egypt, both in its history and texts and spent many happy hours deciphering hieroglyphs and studying ancient stelae. His interest led to several memorable visits to Egypt together where we further explored ancient sites, pyramids, tombs and museums of the Nile, cruised Lake Nasser and visited Alexandria. We also flew to Turin to visit its newly refurbished museum. Along with visits to lectures at the Egypt Exploration Society in London, his love of Egyptology became an absorbing passion and one which gave him enormous pleasure”.

I myself first met Haldane in 1975, when I was devilling to Alastair McGregor. I well remember him coming to Parliament House immaculate in his blacks and wearing a bowler hat, but the very last thing which he was, was stuffy. Rather, he was bright, lively, sharp, entertaining, but above all filled with kindness, and he never acted with anything less than full integrity. He was true to his essential nature, and, in that, served as an example to us all. One of his colleagues has said of him: “Haldane was a remarkable man. He was a guiding example for younger lawyers, setting standards in ethics and practice in law. He had charm, manners and loyalty accompanied by a rigorous and knowledgeable professional attitude which never left him.”

Another said of him that he was “conscientious, attentive, giving freely of his time and talents for clients, profession and interests” and yet another that he was “friendly, amusing, widely respected with a wonderful sense of humour, entertaining, great company and a good friend. He showed kindness and exceptional concern for the wellbeing of others. Working with Haldane you learned so much.”

He was also a man of quiet, undemonstrative, but deeply held faith and an elder of Palmerston Place Church. Perhaps, if you were to sum up all of Haldane’s qualities in a single phrase, you could not better what one of his apprentices at G.W, Tait & Sons SSC, Douglas Irvine, now a minister in the Church of Scotland, has said about him: “J. Haldane Tait was a true Christian gentleman.”

Haldane achieved much in so many areas of human endeavour, influenced so many people and has left a legacy of lives made better by his touching them, whether it be the young wolf cubs from the tenements of Leith whose eyes he opened to the natural world, or the young lawyers who were inspired to follow his example of integrity and service. In those whom he influenced, you see, now, his enduring legacy.

Iain G. Mitchell QC