Great Chamberlain

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Holders of the office of Lord Chamberlain of Scotland are known from about 1124, though by the seventeenth century it enjoyed high status but few actual powers, having lost its financial functions after 1425 to the Treasurer and its supervision of the royal burghs. Left vacant from 1558 to 1565 and again from 1569 it was revived in 1580 for the cousin of James I, Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox, whose appearance as a Great Officer of State in 1581 is attributable to his personal standing with the king rather than his office. Thereafter the office was held by successive Dukes of Lennox (heritably from 1603) until resigned to the Crown by the Duke of Richmond and Lennox in 1705. In 1711 the office was revived in the form of a commission of chamberlainry and trade which lapsed on the death of Queen Anne.

[edit] Lord Chamberlains

• 1159: Herbert, to Kings David I and Malcolm IV
• 1179: Nicolaus
• 1205: Philip de Valence, to King William the Lion
• Walter de Barclay
• Hugo de Gifford, Lord of Yester and Morham
• John de Melville, to King Alexander II
• 1216: Henry de Balliol (d. 1246)
• 1228: David de Benham (later Bishop of St.Andrews)
• 1253: William, Earl of Mar, to King Alexander III
• 1261: Henry de Balliol
• 1278: John de Lindsay
• 1319: William de Lindsay, to Robert the Bruce
• 1325: Alexander Frazer (who married Mary, the King's sister)
• 1329: John Baptista, to King David II
• 1333: Sir Robert de Lawedre of The Bass (d. 1337) (also Justiciar)
• 1334: Robert de Peebles
• 1349: Thomas, Earl of Mar
• 1350: Walter Fleming of Biggar
• 1354: Robert de Erskine
• 1371: William de Biggar, Rector of Errol, to King Robert II
• 1376: Michael, Bishop of Dunkeld
• 1378: John Lyon
• John Stewart, 2nd Earl of Buchan
• 1426: John Forrester of Corstophine (d. c1448), to King James I
• 1431: George de Schoriswood, Bishop of Brechin
• 1458: James Livingstone, 1st Lord Livingston, to King James II
• Robert Boyd, 1st Lord Boyd, to King James III
• 1477: James Stewart, 1st Earl of Buchan
• 1483: David Lindsay, 5th Earl of Crawford
• 1489: Alexander Home, 2nd Lord Home, to King James IV
• 1516: Malcolm Fleming, 3rd Lord Fleming (d. 1547 at Battle of Pinkie), to King James V
• 1565: John Fleming, 5th Lord Fleming (d. 1572), to Mary Queen of Scots
• 1581: Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox, to King James VI
• 1594: Ludovick (or Louis) Stewart, Duke of Lennox (made heritable Chamberlains).

[edit] References

• The Staggering State of the Scots' Statesmen, by Sir John Scot of Scotstarvet, Director of Chancery, Edinburgh, 1754, pps: 186-188. He calls them Lord Chamberlains.
• The Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, edited by George Burnett, Lord Lyon King of Arms, vol.II, 1359-1379, Edinburgh, 1878, in the appendix to the Preface is a list of Chamberlains of Scotland. See also p.cxxiii.