Lord Chancellor of Scotland

The Lord Chancellor of Scotland, formally the Lord High Chancellor, was a Great Officer of State in the Kingdom of Scotland.

Holders of the office are known from 1123 onwards, but its duties were occasionally performed by an official of lower status with the title of Keeper of the Great Seal. From the 15th century, the Chancellor was normally a Bishop or a Peer.

At the Union, the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England became the first Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, but the Earl of Seafield continued as Lord Chancellor of Scotland until 1708. He was re-appointed in 1713 and sat as an Extraordinary Lord of Session in that capacity until his death in 1730.

List of Lords Chancellors of Scotland

David I

Malcolm IV

William I

Alexander II

  • 1226-1227: Thomas de Stirling, Archdeacon of Glasgow
  • 1227-1230: Matthew the Scot, Bishop-elect of Dunkeld
  • 1231–1233: William de Bondington, Bishop of Glasgow
  • 1233-1249: Sir William de Lindsay

Alexander III

English Appointees during the Interregnum

Robert I

David II

  • 1328-1329: Walter de Twynham, Rector of Glasgow Primo
  • 1329-1332: Adam de Moravia, Bishop of Brechin
  • 1338-1341: William Bullock, Chancellor to Edward Baliol[2]
  • 1342: William de Bosco
  • 1335x1340–1346: Sir Thomas Charteris
  • 1350-1352: William Caldwell
  • 1353–1370: Patrick de Leuchars, Bishop of Brechin

Robert II

  • 1370–1377: John de Carrick, Bishop-elect of Dunkeld
  • 1377–1390: John de Peebles, Bishop of Dunkeld

Robert III

  • 1394: Duncan Petit, Archdeacon of Glasgow
  • 1396-1421: Gilbert de Greenlaw, Bishop of Aberdeen

James I

James II

  • 1439–c.1444: William Crichton, 1st Lord Crichton
  • 1444: James Kennedy, Archbishop of Saint Andrews
  • 1444-1447: James Bruce, Bishop of Dunkeld and Glasgow
  • 1447–1453: William Crichton, 1st Lord Crichton
  • 1454–1456: William Sinclair, Earl of Orkney and Caithness
  • 1457–1460: George Shoreswood, Bishop of Brechin

James III

James IV

James V

Mary I

James VI

  • 1567–1573: James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton
  • 1573 (Jan–Sep): Archibald Campbell, 5th Earl of Argyll
  • 1573–1578: John Lyon, 8th Lord Glamis
  • 1578–1579: John Stewart, 4th Earl of Atholl
  • 1579–1584: Colin Campbell, 6th Earl of Argyll
  • 1584–1585: James Stewart, Earl of Arran
  • 1586–1595: John Maitland, 1st Lord Maitland of Thirlestane
  • 1599–1604: John Graham, 3rd Earl of Montrose
  • 1604–1622: Alexander Seton, 1st Earl of Dunfermline
  • 1622–1634: George Hay, 1st Earl of Kinnoull

Charles I

Charles II

  • 1660–1664: William Cunningham, 9th Earl of Glencairn
  • 1664–1681: John Leslie, 7th Earl of Rothes (1st Duke of Rothes from 29 May 1680)
  • 1681-1682: Office vacant
  • 1682–1684: George Gordon, 1st Earl of Aberdeen

James VII

  • 1684–1689: James Drummond, 4th Earl of Perth

William II and Mary II

  • 1689-1692: In commission
  • 1692–1696: John Hay, 1st Marquess of Tweeddale
  • 1696–1702: Patrick Hume, 1st Earl of Marchmont

Anne

  • 1702–1704: James Ogilvy, 1st Earl of Seafield
  • 1704–1705: John Hay, 2nd Marquess of Tweeddale
  • 1705–1707: James Ogilvy, 1st Earl of Seafield

See also

References

Notes

  1. Cowan, p. 70
  2. Cowan, p159

Sources

  • Cowan, Samuel, The Lord Chancellors of Scotland Edinburgh 1911.
  • "Lord chancellors of Scotland in the Oxford DNB", in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 2007 accessed 20 Feb 2007
  • Dowden, John, The Bishops of Scotland, ed. J. Maitland Thomson, (Glasgow, 1912)
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