Gifford was born in Edinburgh on 29 February 1820 to Katherine Ann (née West) (1786–1873) and James Gifford (1780–1862), an affluent grocer and Treasurer of the Merchant Company of Edinburgh.[1] His twin brother was John Gifford (1820–1895). His childhood home was at 22 Union Place in the east end of the New Town.[2]
He went to school at Edinburgh Institution (now known as Stewart's Melville) and in 1835 was apprenticed to be a solicitor with his uncle, Alexander Gifford SSC[3] at 2 Hill Square on the south side of the city.[4] He then studied law at the University of Edinburgh and was called to the bar as an advocate in 1849.[5]
In 1870 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh his proposer was Sir Charles Neaves.[1] At this stage in his life he lived at 4 Lower Joppa with his brother John on the eastern coastline of the city.[6]
His lucrative private practice as an advocate made him a fortune, which he bequeathed towards the endowment of the four Gifford Lectureshipsonnatural theology in connection with each of the four universities in Scotland then extant (Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh and St Andrews); he was a man of a philosophical turn of mind, and a student of the works of Spinoza. He held office as a judge from 1870 to 1881, despite symptoms of paralysis from 1872 onwards.[5] On his resignation, due to ill-health, he was replaced by Patrick Fraser thereafter known as Lord Fraser.[7]
In 1863 he married Margaret Elliot Pott (1842–1868), 22 years his junior. They had one son, Herbert James Gifford FRSE (born 1864) who became a civil engineer.[1][10] Margaret died aged 26 (probably in childbirth).[citation needed]
^ abcd"Biography of Adam Lord Gifford". The Gifford Lectures, Over 100 Years of Lectures on Natural Theology. Universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and St Andrews. 2014. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
