The Sheriff of Edinburgh was historically the royal official responsible for enforcing law and order and bringing criminals to justice in the
shire of Edinburgh (also known as Edinburghshire or Midlothian) in
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
. In 1482 the burgh of
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
itself was given the right to appoint its own sheriff, and thereafter the sheriff of Edinburgh's authority applied in the area of Midlothian outside the city, whilst still being called the sheriff of Edinburgh.
Prior to 1748 most sheriffdoms were held on a hereditary basis. From that date, following the Jacobite uprising of 1745, they were replaced by salaried sheriff-deputes, qualified advocates who were members of the Scottish Bar.
In 1872, following mergers, the sheriffdom became known as the sheriffdom of Midlothian and Haddington After further reorganisations it became part of the sheriffdoms of
The Lothians in 1881 and
The Lothians and Peebles in 1883.
Sheriffs of Edinburgh
*Norman (1143–1147)
*
Geoffrey de Melville (1153)
*Robert (1162–1165)
*Henry de Brade (1165–1214)
*Thomas de Lastalrie (1210)
*John de Vallibus (1214–1249)
*John de Graham (1225)
*
Roger de Mowbray (1263)
*
William St. Clair (1264-1265)
*William St. Clair (1288-1290)
*
Hugh de Lowther (1292-1296)
*
Walter de Huntercombe (1296)
*
John de Kingston (1300)
*
Ebulo IV de Montibus (1303)
*
Ivo de Aldeburgh (1305)
*
Piers de Lombard (1313)
*Robert de Menzies (1328)
*
John de Kingston (1334)
*
John de Strivelyn (1335)
*Laurence Preston (1337)
*Gilbert Fouler (1358)
*William Ramsay
*
Archibald Douglas, Earl of Douglas (1360(?)-1364) Exact date of appointment in doubt
*Robert de Dalyell (1366)
*Simon de Preston (1367)
*Thomas de Erskyne (1371)
*Malcolm Fleming (1374)
*John Lyon of Glamis (1380)
*Adam Forrester (1382)
*William Lindsay (1390–1406)
*Henry Preston (1435)
*William de Crechtoun (1438)
*John Logan (1444)
*John Haldane (1460)
*Alexander Hepburn (1482)
*
Patrick Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell (1488-1508)
*
Adam Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell (1508-1513)
*
Patrick Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell (1513–?1556)
*
Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell
Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell (c. December 1562 – November 1612), was Commendator of Kelso Abbey and Coldingham Priory, a Privy Counsellor and Lord High Admiral of Scotland. He was a notorious conspirator who led several uprisings aga ...
(at 1584)
*
William Seton of Kylesmure (1616)
*
George Gordon, 1st Earl of Aberdeen (1682–1684)
[ ]
*
James Drummond, 4th Earl of Perth
James Drummond, 4th Earl of Perth, Order of the Thistle, KT, Privy Council of England, PC (164811 May 1716) was a Scottish peer and politician. Lyle, Kathleen (2019), ''The Jacobites in Perth 1715-16'', Tippermuir Books Ltd., Perth, p. 162,
Fa ...
(1684–1689)
[
*''No appointment'' (1689–1710) ][
*William Ramsay, 5th Earl of Dalhousie (1703–1710) ][
*Charles Maitland, 6th Earl of Lauderdale (1718–1744) ][
*]James Maitland, 7th Earl of Lauderdale
James Maitland, 7th Earl of Lauderdale (25 January 1718 – 17 August 1789), and was one of the sixteen List of Scottish representative peers, Scottish representative peers in the House of Lords.
Life
James Maitland was born the eldest son of ...
(1744–1748) [
* Charles Maitland of Pittrichie, 1748 ][ sheriff depute
*Hon Walter Sandilands, 8th Lord Torpichen, 1748– sheriff depute
* Archibald Cockburn, 1765–1790
*John Pringle, 1790–1793 ][ ]
*James Clerk, 1793–1809
* William Rae, 1809–1819
*Adam Duff, 1819–1840
* Robert Cunningham Graham Spiers, 1840–1847 [
* John Thomson Gordon, 1848–c.1852
*Archibald Davidson of Slateford, <1870–>1886> ][ ]
Sheriffs of Midlothian and Haddington (1872)
* ''For sheriffs after 1881 see the Sheriff of the Lothians and Peebles''
See also
* Historical development of Scottish sheriffdoms
A sheriffdom is a judicial district of Scotland. Originally identical to the Shires of Scotland, from the eighteenth century many counties were grouped to form "sheriffdoms".
By 1975 there were 12 sheriffdoms, with only Lanarkshire not grouped ...
References
*''Extracts From the Records of the Burgh of Edinburgh, 1403-1528'', ed. J D Marwick (Edinburgh, 1869), 'Appendix: Sheriffs of the shire of Edinburgh'
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edinburgh
*
*Sheriff
History of Edinburgh