For many, James Hamilton is the heartbeat of the Signet Library. James has provided the research function at the WS Society since 2012, coming to us with a wealth of experience in academic and research archives in London and Edinburgh. A history graduate from the University of Oxford, he is a frequent speaker and presenter on historic subjects.
Sarah Leask recently sat down with James to discuss his career to date.
You have had a fascinating and varied career, to date, tell us a bit about it?
It was nearly the Church, and even more nearly teaching: I turned down a job at a major English public school to enter the public library service in London, in Chelsea at first and then in Ladbroke Grove. Part of my duties in that period involved maintaining the little library in Grenfell Nursery near the foot of Grenfell Tower. I was an eyewitness in the course of duty to the Aldwych bus bombing in 1996 and three years later to the Paddington Rail Disaster (all day the silent closed roads, the procession of ambulances, the black column of smoke, the poisoned air). The children in my Homework Club lived in the flats overlooking the line and saw everything from their windows. By the time 7/7 took place I’d followed my interests away from libraries into the psychology world and self-employment, working with professionals and sportspeople, with an occasional sideline as a talking head for Sky and the BBC. The Crash ended all that just as I was really establishing myself, and after a period filling in at a university library, I followed my wife to Edinburgh.
What attracted you to work at the Signet Library?
“Midway upon the road of our life I found myself within a dark wood, for the right way had been missed.” Not long after arriving in Scotland, I turned 40. I worked for brain tumour charities, took part in the Census, booked the calls at night for a Sighthill cab firm and built websites. Some of this was successful: the charity work elicited an invitation to the Queen’s Garden Party at Buckingham Palace. But I was spinning my wheels, and it was only when the WS Society came looking for someone to join their terrific team and take care of the basic library function for a couple of days per week that things really found traction again for me.
So far, what have been your highlights and special moments whilst working for the WS Society?
I’m incredibly proud of the way the WS Society executive team responded to the Covid emergency, but it’s what followed after that I’ll look back on - the remarkable day when all the Society’s hard work to attain charitable status finally won through, and then the chain of Signet200 events in 2022, all fitting with one another and contributing to one another. The culmination of it all was in CEO Robert Pirie’s autumn lecture which brought together everything the Society was about and aspired to. It was a privilege also to be a close bystander to the contribution of the former Keeper of the Signet, Lord Mackay, and the way his determination and dedication remade and re-established the Keeper’s role in the modern age as a vital and living symbol of the legal profession’s importance and potential. We’ve changed much behind the scenes: a new online catalogue, a separate online catalogue for the Society’s archive, vast swathes of the historic collection remapped, re-catalogued and rehoused, digitization and conservation programmes instituted, and we’ve promoted all of this through talks and lectures and the publication of articles. But coming from a public library background that had lost faith in itself, the real privilege for me has been to be involved with the WS Society at a time when it has been so intent on growth and endeavour. For years now my advice to young librarians has been “work for lawyers”.
Tell us some facts about the Signet Library and its resources, that people might not know?
Firstly, William Stark’s architecture here (the 1812 design behind the Signet Library) is wildly original. (And it is Stark’s building: all that’s left of Robert Reid’s design is the front elevation). It’s quite different from the usual run of Edinburgh neo-classicism and it’s absolutely convention-breaking in terms of Georgian library design. Secondly, the sheer scale of what’s here can get hidden somewhat behind all the splendour. The Signet Library is one of the largest private libraries in the UK and there is little outwith London to match it. The Library stock has increased by a third in the last 40 years, a rate of growth that matches any previous period in the Library’s history. We’ve regained our pre-war collection size. Thirdly, the collections here are, without doubt, in the top tier of their kind, world class and worthy of their surroundings, with so much that is unique and vital to national memory and international heritage. Persistence has made this widely known once again, and as a public “fact” it is a crucial element in the modern legal and social reputation of the WS Society.
How can members make the most of their membership, when it comes to library resources?
One of the things we’ve always recognised at the Signet Library is that the needs of the working lawyer are paramount, and we try to be as quick and easy to interface with in terms of firms’ daily needs as we can. A far wider spectrum of the Society uses the Library on a day-to-day basis now than ten years ago, and our awareness of the changing needs has broadened also in terms of provision of modern workspace close to the courts, meeting space and private study space. We’ve become a place once again which members see as a potential repository for the records of their firms or of the legal bodies and societies that they have participated in, and I would urge any member who is entrusted with the disposal of historic legal archives to bear us in mind.