He was born on 30 July 1890 in
Drem,
East Lothian, the son of James Reid, a Solicitor of the Supreme Courts (SSC), and his wife, Kate Scott. Educated at
Edinburgh Academy, he then studied law at
Jesus College, Cambridge, graduating BA in 1910 and LLB in 1911. He was admitted as an
advocate in 1914. He was commissioned into the 8th battalion
Royal Scots in
World War I and was seconded to the
Machine Gun Corps in 1916, serving in
Mesopotamia and reaching the rank of
Major. He resigned his commission in 1921. He was appointed a
King's Counsel in 1932. He was
Member of Parliament (MP) for
Stirling and Falkirk from October 1931 until his defeat in November 1935, and for
Glasgow Hillhead from June 1937 until September 1948. He served as
Solicitor General for Scotland from June 1936 until June 1941, and as
Lord Advocate from June 1941 until July 1945, and was appointed a
Privy Counsellor in 1941. From 1945 to 1948 he was
Dean of the Faculty of Advocates. In 1948 he was appointed as a
Lord of Appeal in Ordinary and received a
Law Life Peerage as
Baron Reid, of
Drem in
East Lothian. He sat as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary until 1975. He was one of very few people to be appointed a
Law Lord straight from the Bar, without any intervening judicial experience. Reid was appointed a
Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in 1967. He died in London on 29 March 1975. ==Family==