Lord High Treasurer of Scotland

The Treasurer was a senior post in the pre-Union government of Scotland, the Privy Council of Scotland.

The full title of the post was Lord High Treasurer, Comptroller, Collector-General and Treasurer of the New Augmentation, formed as it was from the amalgamation of four earlier offices. Of these, the Treasurer and Comptroller had originated in 1425 when the Chamberlain's financial functions were transferred to them.[1] From 1466 the Comptroller had sole responsibility for financing the royal household to which certain revenues (the property) were appropriated, with the Treasurer being responsible for the remaining revenue (the casualty) and other expenditure. The Collector-General, created in 1562, handled the Crown's revenue from the thirds of benefices, and the Treasurer of the New Augmentation was responsible for the former church lands annexed to the Crown in 1587.

All four offices were held by the same person from 1610 onwards, but their separate titles survived the effective merging of their functions in 1635. From 1667 to 1682 the Treasury was in commission, and again from 1686 to 1708, when the separate Scottish Treasury was abolished. From 1690 the Crown nominated one person to sit in Parliament as Treasurer.

Contents

List of Treasurers

1420 Sir Walter Ogilvie of Lintrethan
Thomas de Myrton, Dean of Glasgow Cathedral
1430 Patrick de Ogilvie
1433 Walter Stewart, Dean of Moray
1439 Sir Walter de Haliburton, Knt.
Robert Livingston, son of Sir Alexander Livingston of Callendar, Governor of the Kingdom
1440 Walter de Haliburton, 1st Lord Haliburton of Dirleton
1449 Andrew Hunter, Abbot of Melrose
1455 James Stewart, Dean of Moray
1466 Sir William Knowlys, Preceptor of Torphichen Preceptory
1473 John Laing, parson of Kenland
1480 Archibald Crawford, Abbot of Holyrood
Sir John Ramsay of Balmaine
1490 Henry Arnot, Abbot of Cambuskenneth
1499 Sir Robert Lundin of Balgony
1507 Sir David Beaton of Creich
1509 George Hepburn, Abbot of Arbroath, later Bishop of the Isles
Andrew Stewart, Bishop of Caithness
1512 Cuthbert Baillie, Commendator of Glenluce
1515 James Hepburn, Bishop of Moray
1516 Sir Walter Ogilvie of Strathearn
1517 John Campbell of Lundy
1520 Archibald Douglas of Kilspindie
1526 William Cunningham, 4th Earl of Glencairn
1528 Robert Cairncross, Abbot of Holyrood, later Bishop of Ross
1529 Sir Robert Barton of Over Barnton
1530 William Stewart, Bishop of Aberdeen
1537 Robert Cairncross, Abbot of Holyrood
1538 Sir James Kirkcaldy of Grange (Hallyards, Fife)
1546 John Hamilton, brother of Regent, Abbot of Paisley, later Bishop of St Andrews
1555 Gilbert Kennedy, 3rd Earl of Cassilis
1561 Robert Richardson, Commendator of St Mary Isle
1564 William Stewart, Provost of Lincluden
1571 William Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie
1584 John Graham, 3rd Earl of Montrose[1]
1585 Sir Thomas Lyon of Auldbar and Baldukie, Master of Glamis
1595 Walter Stewart, 1st Lord Blantyre
1599 Alexander Elphinstone, 4th Lord Elphinstone
1601 Sir George Hume, 1st Earl of Dunbar, first holder of the four combined treasury offices.[2]
1611 Sir Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset
1616 John Erskine, 2nd Earl of Mar
3 April 1630 William Douglas, 7th Earl of Morton
21 May 1636 John Stewart, 1st Earl of Traquair
17 November 1641 in commission
John Campbell, 1st Earl of Loudoun, Lord Chancellor
Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll
William Cunningham, 8th Earl of Glencairn
John Lindsay, 1st Earl of Lindsay
Sir James Carmichael
23 July 1644 John Lindsay, Earl of Crawford and Lindsay, dismissed 13 February 1649
1660 in commission
John Lindsay, Earl of Crawford and Lindsay
John Leslie, 7th Earl of Rothes
19 January 1661 John Lindsay reappointed
4 June 1663 John Leslie, 7th Earl of Rothes - appointed Chancellor 16 April 1667
20 June 1667 in commission
John Leslie, 7th Earl of Rothes, Lord Chancellor
John, Earl of Lauderdale
John Hay, 2nd Earl of Tweeddale
Alexander Bruce, 2nd Earl of Kincardine
John, Lord Cochrane (eldest son of Earl of Dundonald)
Sir Robert Murray, Lord Justice Clerk
1674 in commission
John Leslie, 7th Earl of Rothes, Lord Chancellor
John, Earl of Lauderdale
John, Earl of Dundonald
Colin, Earl of Balcarres
Hon Charles Maitland, Deputy Treasurer and Master of the Mint
1 May 1682 William Douglas, Marquess of Queensberry, later Duke
24 February 1686 in commission
William Douglas, Duke of Queensberry,
James, Earl of Perth, Lord Chancellor
William, Duke of Hamilton
John, Earl of Kintore, Treasurer Depute
George, Viscount Tarbat, Lord Clerk Register
Hon William Drummond, after Viscount Strathallan
incomplete

Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer

The final audited accounts of the Lord High Treasurer were public records of Scotland. These survive as an almost complete record from 1473 to 1635 at General Register House in Edinburgh. The manuscripts were published between 1877 and 1978 in thirteen volumes covering up to 1580.

External links

Notes

  1. ^ Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer, vol. 1, (1877), xiv.
  2. ^ Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer, Vol. 1, (1877), xxvii n.6
  1. ^ The Complete Peerage. London: The St. Catherine Press. 1936. pp. 9:148.