The son of
James Keith, Baron Keith of Avonholm, Harry Keith was educated in the
Edinburgh Academy, at
Magdalen College, Oxford, from which he graduated with a
Master of Arts degree, and the
University of Edinburgh, from which he graduated with a
Bachelor of Laws degree. In the
Second World War, he was an officer in the
Scots Guards and was
mentioned in dispatches, reaching the rank of
captain. He was admitted to the
Faculty of Advocates in 1950, and was made a
Queen's Counsel in 1962. In 1951, he had been
called to the English Bar at
Gray's Inn, where he became a
bencher in 1976. He was appointed as
Sheriff of Roxburgh, Berwick and Selkirk in 1970, succeeding
David Brand. He was appointed a Senator of the College of Justice with the
judicial courtesy title Lord Keith in 1971. On 10 January 1977, he was appointed Lord of Appeal in Ordinary as a
life peer with the title
Baron Keith of Kinkel,
of Strathtummel in the District of Perth and Kinross, following in the footsteps of his father,
Lord Keith of Avonholm. One year before he had been invested in the
Privy Council. In 1996, he retired as Lord of Appeal and in 1997, he was awarded the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire. It was humorously said within legal circles that wherever there was a negligence case, Lord Keith would always say "no" to damages. In 1955, he married Alison Brown; they had four sons and a daughter, Deborah. The family lived at
Loch Tummel, near
Pitlochry, Perthshire. Keith died in 2002. ==References==