“It has been terribly difficult to come to terms with what has happened. From when I first met Chris in Primary 4, he has been one of my best and closest friends, if not my very best friend.We have shared so many memories together. From after school club at primary school and the fun we had there, to moving to Heriot’s together, we were inseparable. We stayed best of friends through the whole of secondary school.

After school, we became even closer. As many people move away and drift on, we stayed in touch and saw each other all the time. We used to meet up at the Buckstone Hotel often, just to chat and catch up on all we were up to. From going on holiday to Spain together, working at Pinkerton’s (he got me the job), to nights out, rugby matches, new year celebrations and many more. I have too many memories of him. I am so pleased I managed to see him so much this year. To him showing me his new flat, watching rugby at mine, meeting for lunch and going away just last month for my stag weekend.

He wasn’t always one to show his emotions, but he spoke recently of the help and support his family were giving him. He really appreciated that, especially during recent tough times. It’s important that you know how supported he felt.

I have truly never met anyone like him. He was my closest friend and I hope he knows that.”

“I was shocked and deeply saddened by Chris' passing. Chris (or LandooOOOooo!) was one of my best pals and we had so many great times together. I met Chris through Neil but we probably clashed on the rugby pitch before we actually spoke and became friends. Chris and I always got on like a house on fire and I have so many fantastic memories from from our, now infamous, holiday in Benidorm when we were about 20 years old.

We really became close pals when we lived together in London. First, we stayed in Elephant & Castle in a flat in John Maurice Close. We really enjoyed the walk down to London Bridge at the weekend to get some tasty food from Borough Market and then head on to our favourite watering hole, the Southwark Tavern or Suthie-Tav. People said that the Elephant & Castle area was a bit dodgy, but walking home from the pub together no one ever bothered us. Two extremely loud Scotsmen - I can't think why we were given such a wide berth! We then moved to Clapham to our flat at Prideaux Road. This had the benefit of a superb local pub, one which remains one of my all time favourites, the Landor! What a good omen it was that it had 'Lando' in the name . We also enjoyed having BBQs and going for runs in Clapham Park.

I admired Chris for his linguistic abilities and there were many times when he would be speaking to people on a night out and, as I would go to join the conversation, I would realise that it was Spanish or Hindi that he was fluently speaking!

Unfortunately I don't have too many pictures of Chris and me, as I don't generally take many, but I put this down to me and Chris having too good a time to even think about it! As is usually the case, it is the ladies who take more photos and I was delighted when Clarissa sent me this picture that she took of us at the Primal Scream gig in London. Clarissa's boyfriend was playing with the band and she got us in backstage, we had an amazing time.

Although Chris was a massive rugby fan, I had him on the football pitch a fair few times. He had 4 or 5 appearances for the 11-a-side team that I ran whilst working for Deloitte Real Estate in the Surveyor's League and he did really well. Through that and other nights out, he met lots of my friends and workmates in London and always got on really well with everyone.

Although Chris was not the most organised person, he was extremely organised when it came to rugby! I remember when he arranged for his Cambridge college team to come up to Edinburgh and play a team of Chris' pals, (mainly Herioter’s, or 'toenails' as they are known to Watsonians like myself). We played on the main pitch at Goldenacre and had an excellent time in the clubhouse afterwards over a few beers.

Chris invited me along to meet up with Clarissa and Eleanor for dinner/drinks in London a few times which was always great fun. I also remember going out for dinner with Chris and Ray at an Italian restaurant at Embankment which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Chris led a wonderful life. He achieved so much. I always enjoyed hearing about his work, whether it was security audits of hotels in Myanmar or managing the construction of the Auld Acquaintance cairn. Also, his stories about his travels in India were all extremely interesting.

I will miss him enormously. He was a fantastic bloke and I feel very grateful to have had the pleasure of his friendship.”

“I was with Chris at George Heriot’s School, and I am proud to have called him one of my closest friends, in having spent time with him on holidays, through rugby, nights out, birthdays, stag-dos and numerous other social events over the last 17 years.

We worked together at The Canny Man’s in Morningside, not long after leaving school. He put in a good word for me with the owner and took me under his wing in training me up to tend bar. He would charm his way in, bringing in most of the tips each night, and he was always up for a laugh. A real pleasure to work with also.

When I got married In 2012, he appeared the day before the wedding (despite numerous attempts to confirm if he was coming or not) without a place to stay, missing wedding attire and short of cash. However, that evening before, he arrived at the venue, managed to borrow the things he needed, find a place to stay and win a pub game of “deal or no deal” taking home the grand prize of £400. To say he was resourceful and thought on his feet is an understatement! He then very generously used some of the money to buy me and my wife a wedding present.

He was a very charming, charismatic and principled guy, and a real pleasure to spend time with.”

“I was at school with Chris and knew him well from P7 – 6th year. I knew Chris to be a polite, caring, empathetic listener, who was innately funny. Whenever he was around, there were always jokes being shared and he was very popular and extremely well-liked at school. I starred with him in (I think?) 3 school shows from S4-S6 and he always had great skill in his singing and acting but without being overly confident or arrogant. He was so talented and intelligent, and people were drawn to him despite his lack of trying.

To me, Chris was a dreamer – quite like myself. He was aspirational yet ambitious. His ideas were never solely ideas – he often acted upon them and built them into plans, groups, outings or lasting memories. He had many friends, both male and female which was somewhat unusual for a teenage boy - I could always tell he had sisters. I could easily hang out with him alone and we would have platonic and philosophical conversations about school and our lives to come.

He was great at parties! He would always be so much fun with a drink in him but I never remember him going overboard or getting too drunk, it always seemed more important to him to have a good safe time, but also look after his friends. He and I stayed up all night after our 6th year ball, and even climbed Arthur’s Seat at sunrise in our finery, only to accidentally come down the Salisbury Crags – a scary moment! Then we swung on the swings and up and down on the seesaw in the Meadows as people commuted to work.

For my 18th birthday we began our Gold Duke of Edinburgh expedition, I think to Glencoe. Chris had brought a small bottle of vodka for us all to share, toasting to us becoming adults as we all jumped in a nearby river, fully-clothed in the gear we were supposed to be wearing the next day for a 15-mile hike! We had all toasted his birthday two weeks before (although it was still during exam time) and had shared some vodka-jelly shots which he had proudly bought from Tesco, legally this time!

There were always lots of girls in the years below who liked him, but he was always a gentleman and seemed to prefer their friendship. He was a true one-of-a-kind gent, intensely intelligent, modest, talented and friendly. I am so sorry that we have lost him from this earth. I will remember him always and feel very privileged to have had his friendship.”

“Christopher was, without a doubt, one of the finest linguists I ever worked with during my 25 years as a Spanish and French teacher in the Modern Languages Department at George Heriot's School. I knew him, not only as a student, but also as a friend of my daughter, Abigail. She and many of her peers will look back on Christopher with great fondness. He was an amazing linguist with such love and flair for the Spanish language and always the perfect gentleman in my classes. A very sad and great loss.”

“i remember Chris very well from Heriot's and have always thought of him as an admirable Herioter.  He was a terrific representative of an able and hard-working year group from which he went to notable academic success at Cambridge, and a great contributor to school life.  I have a picture in my mind of him coming off the field at the end of a particularly hard rugby match at Goldenacre, covered in mud but with his typical smile shining through despite the slog it had been.  His prowess in General Knowledge is well documented in the Herioter magazine and I am reminded with pleasure of the Senior School shows in which he made such an impact later on in his school career.”

“I have some very happy memories of working with Chris, particularly in connection with Chalmers Neill’s legendary musicals. In my first year at Heriot's, 2003, we worked together in On Your Toes, where Chris played Sergei Alexandrovich, the Director of the Russian Ballet: the reviewer, my colleague Alan Chalmers, commented that 'his accent was superbly authentic, but it was the totality of the performance which so impressed - his deep voice, his gait and in particular the facial expressions.' The following year, we were part of a stunning Anything Goes, in which Chris played a gruff but wealthy American banker called Elisha J Whitney, who sang a song about rowing - and he managed to do all of that in a very different accent from the previous year's! I think Chris and I always worked together very productively, and I hope I helped bring out some of that ‘enjoyment in performance’ which the family remembers so warmly. I think he always liked an audience – he was one of those people who moved almost naturally into the limelight, and I suspect that may have been as true on the rugby pitch as it was on stage!”

“I only have happy memories of Chris. We were really close at school, hanging out for years together. Only argued once or twice in all that time, and it never lasted long. We were two very boisterous boys who were full of opinions and energy.

At about thirteen he had a full-on beard and had to shave. It made him look so much older that he could get into pubs anywhere, and he had the confidence to pull it off. I joined him when I was about 15 or 16. We'd go to the Waiting Room at the bottom of Morningside and also the ‘old man’ pubs around Tollcross. We didn't draw too much attention to ourselves: it was hilarious and exciting and we felt so grown up.

On one walk home late at night, Chris wanted to get a taxi home, so instead of asking if he could borrow a tenner, he offered to sell me his leather jacket. I laughed, but when I put it on it fitted really well, so I gave him the tenner which he was delighted with, and so was I. I wore that black leather jacket for years, and it's still in my mum's house in Bruntsfield somewhere.

We sat next to each other in any classes we were in. We were like a pair of clowns or a comedy duo. We'd set each other up for punchlines: it was seamless and effortless, our questions would follow the same line of probing, looking for an 'in'. We had the same sense of humour and were just as quick verbally as each other. It was brilliant. We both did well, despite messing around. Chris was smarter.

Chris got into Cambridge, and was rightly proud. He delighted in telling us it was the same course as James Bond did, which was a cool fact when you're 17.

We both went on gap years and Chris and I met up in New Zealand, where we went to the Lions’ game together, and Raratonga. We went to Hamilton and played with Boroughmuir who following the Lions around NZ. It was like being back home again and we had an amazing time. Thinking back, he had a huge sense of adventure that I admired.

Chris was witty, articulate, intelligent, stubborn, argumentative, fair, a genuinely nice guy.”

“I will never forget when Chris and I travelled to London together in the summer following our standard grades. We stayed at my auntie's house for a few nights, and then with Christopher’s aunt who lived in Kew. We had an unforgettable trip. I think it was the first ever trip we did without our parents. One of my fondest memories is when Moira and my mum kindly sent down our standard grade results (unopened). We were both so anxious to receive them. The day they arrived at my auntie's house, we both took the envelopes to a park across the road in North London. We sat on a seesaw and opened them at the exact same time. Chris got seven ones, and I got six ones and a two. Both of us were ecstatic. I was so proud of him. We were jumping up and down and hugging each other. This is one of my fondest memories of Chris.

I shared a story about Chris and me with my wife last week and mentioned how good a friend he was to me and, additionally, I had a dream last week about a game that Chris and I had both made up together when we were in the Scouts. I take these both in a sense of comfort and connection that all is well and he's okay.

Christopher was an incredibly special, gifted and wonderful soul. I'm deeply troubled by his passing, yet very grateful to have been so close to him. I cherish the incredible friendship I had with him for so long. Amongst these memories is what a warm, beautiful and loving family you all were to him.”

“I was fortunate enough to know Chris for over twenty-five years. We first met at South Morningside Primary School, and both ended up at George Heriot's School. We bonded through our love of rugby. We both played for the school team, breaking through to the 1st XV at the same time. We also played together at Boroughmuir Rugby Club, winning the U13 and U15 national titles. A few years after leaving school, l put together a team of former pupils from Heriot's to play against Chris' team from Robinson College. It meant a lot to Chris that so many of his old schoolmates made the effort to give them a good game, and we all enjoyed a few beers and laughs afterwards.

Our friendship was not limited to the rugby pitch, though. We had a great time in the school production of Anything Goes and on Duke of Edinburgh expeditions. We also spent time together at Cubs and Scouts. I remember that, in S1 and S2, we had identical school bags, so we would occasionally swap them round in order to get a few minutes out of class: "Oh no, I think I've picked up Chris' bag by mistake. Can I please go and find him so we can swap back?"

I was lucky enough to meet up with him and David Hamilton in Auckland when they were on their gap year. We shared a few drinks which resulted in what was unquestionably the worst hangover of my life. Some of my best memories growing up were when I was with Chris and I'll always be grateful for his friendship.

Rest in peace, Chris, you'll be sorely missed.”

“Having gone most of the way through school with Chris, we obviously became good friends, studying together in similar classes, on the rugby pitch and during Duke of Edinburgh where we shared a tent with Michael Chisholm during expeditions. I will always have fond memories of our shared experiences together in our formative years and am grateful he was part of my life. He was an intelligent, funny and good-natured friend and it is painful to think he is no longer with us.”

“My son, Owen, was at primary school with Christopher in London until, when Christopher was about seven years old, the Land family moved to Scotland.

Owen and Christopher attended St Michael’s C of E school, in Southfields. I remember Christopher as the most delightful, smiling, sweet-natured little boy. Between the ages of four and seven, contrasting with the confident rugby player he was to become, Christopher was shy, quiet and smaller than his friends.

Even then, he was enormously popular. He was firmly on the list for everyone’s party. Even now, my son remembers the fond tributes paid to Christopher when the family left to go up north.

Owen and Christopher looked a bit alike in their early years. Moira and I would cast our eyes around the playground, trying to tell them apart as they ran together in the blue shirts and grey shorts of their uniform. Those were happy days – and the Land family made them all the happier.”

“We, as a family, are so deeply sorry to hear about Chris’s death. We all loved him and have such nice memories of him. I remember when he used to come to our house he always made sure to stop and say hello and have a brief chat with me before joining the boys upstairs. He was a most polite, caring, loving and innocent boy. I remember when he became unconscious for a few seconds during a school rugby match and I kept asking him afterwards ‘Are you okay?’ so many times, and he kept thanking me for that. I will never forget his beautiful, innocent and smiling face. Bless his beautiful soul.”

“I have many memories of Chris from school and every single one brings a smile to my face. He was a credit to you all and I count myself fortunate to have been able to call him my friend.

Chris and I played rugby together throughout school and also at Boroughmuir. In 1st year, he was one of the fastest wingers I had ever seen and undoubtedly the one with the hairiest legs! We won the Under-16 Scottish Championship with Boroughmuir, which led to a trip to France on tour. One of the lads had a fantastic idea that we all dye our hair peroxide blonde for the trip, but Chris missed the memo, or at least that’s what he told us. Not to be the odd one out, he insisted on getting hair dye in the first shop he could to make sure he was the same as the boys. The colour, unfortunately, didn’t lead to the same blonde as everyone else . . . rather a light brownish ginger tinge which brought great hilarity to everyone, Chris included. Fair play to him though- always a team player.

I can’t do Chris justice in a sentence but: team player, up for a laugh, passionate and determined are the words at the forefront of my mind when I think of him.”

“I knew Chris for a number of years through Neil Robert and Ross Phillips, he was always an absolute pleasure to be around and I could listen to his stories for hours. I shared a ride with Chris and Ross to Neil’s stag-do in Aviemore and he spoke of his recent studies with enthusiasm and of his many adventures in his younger years. The entire time he spoke I thought, 'I hope I have as many experiences in my lifetime as he did in his early years'.

Chris will be sadly missed by many people. I always enjoyed his company. He had a wit and charm about him and a warm kindness which is very rare to find in this modern world. He wore his heart on his sleeve and spoke with honesty.”

“When I first saw the link to this website, I expected to be directed to a think tank or a consultancy that Chris had set up. He was always very bright and that’s the kind of thing he would have done.

When I arrived in Edinburgh in 2002, Chris was one of the first people I got to know at Heriot’s. Ramin, Ian, Kian, Chris and I lived close by and used to ride the bus to school together. Chris introduced me to his friends and made me feel at home. We played rugby together and we used to go out at weekends.

Chris always had impressive facial hair for his age which meant he never got ID’ed at the pubs, unlike many of the other boys. He was one of the smartest boys at school. I’ll always remember him as the great friend I knew at Heriot’s.”

“We first became friendly at Heriot's playing on the Rugby 2nd XV together when we all knew him as 'Sidees' or 'Sideburns', because we were all very jealous of his ability to grow facial hair beyond his years! We also played in a couple of the school bands together and he was such a fun and charming character to look up to a couple of years above me. More recently, we spoke of our joint passion for the Union. As a British army officer in the Royal Regiment of Scotland, I really identified with Chris' passion for being both Scottish and British. I was also really looking forward to the chance to be able to vote for him when I move back to South Edinburgh. Chris was a relatable, charming leader and friend who we are all going to miss.”

“I knew Chris at school, mainly as a good friend to my sister, Roberta, and because I had a very close relationship with his little sister, Clarissa. It was through Roberta and Chris's friendship that Clarissa and I actually met, and we have been very good friends ever since.

I will always remember Chris in his teenage years as being extremely charming, eloquent, popular and kind. Not only did he exude confidence, but he always had a smile on his face and it was obvious that he very much cherished his time at school. Chris also loved a school musical and I have some lovely memories of him and his peers, nervously waiting backstage before performing, often wearing some very ridiculous attire. Whether he took part in this for the performance itself or for the infamous 'school musical after-party' in The Meadows, I'm not quite sure! He was clearly loved dearly by his friends, family, teachers and peers.”