Lord Chancellor of Scotland

The Lord Chancellor of Scotland, formally titled Lord High Chancellor, was an Officer of State in the Kingdom of Scotland. The Lord Chancellor was the principal Great Officer of State, the presiding officer of the Parliament of Scotland, the Keeper of the Great Seal, the presiding officer of the Privy Council (until 1626), and a judge of the College of Justice.

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.

Following 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

1124-1126: John Capellanus
1126-1143: Herbert of Selkirk
bef.1143-1145: Edward, Bishop of Aberdeen
c.1147–c.1150: William Cumin
bef.1150-1153: Walter, possibly Walter fitz Alan^[1]

Malcolm IV

1153–1165: Enguerrand, Bishop of Glasgow

William I

1165-1171: Nicholas
c.1171-1178: Walter de Bidun, Bishop of Dunkeld
c.1178–1189: Roger de Beaumont, Bishop of St Andrews
1189–1199: Hugh de Roxburgh, Bishop of Glasgow
1199–1202: William de Malveisin, Bishop of Glasgow
1203-1210: Florence of Holland, Bishop-elect of Glasgow
1211-1224: William del Bois, Archdeacon of Lothian

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

1249–1250: Robert de Keldeleth, Abbot of Dunfermline
1250-1253: Gamelin, Bishop of St Andrews
1256–1257: Richard de Inverkeithing, Bishop of Dunkeld
1259-1273: William Wishart, Bishop of Glasgow
1273–c.1279: William Fraser, Bishop of St Andrews
1285-1291: Thomas Charteris, Archdeacon of Lothian

English Appointees during the Interregnum

1291: Alan de St Edmund, Bishop of Caithness
1292: William de Dumfries
1292: Alan de Dumfries
1294-1295: Thomas de Hunsinghore
1295-1296: Alexander Kennedy
1296-1304?: Walter de Amersham
c.1301–c.1305: Nicholas de Balmyle, Bishop of Dunblane
1304-1306: William de Bevercotes

Robert I

1308–1328: Bernard, Abbot of Arbroath (later Bishop of the Isles)

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

1422–1425: William Lauder, Bishop of Glasgow
1426–1439: John Cameron, Bishop of Glasgow

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

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

References

Notes

^ Cowan, p. 70
^ Cowan, p. 159

Sources

Cowan, Samuel, The Lord Chancellors of Scotland Edinburgh 1911. [1]
"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^{[permanent dead link‍]}
Dowden, John, The Bishops of Scotland, ed. J. Maitland Thomson, (Glasgow, 1912)