The Sheriff of Wigtown was historically the office responsible for enforcing law and order in
Wigtown, Scotland and bringing criminals to justice. Prior to 1748 most sheriffdoms were held on a hereditary basis. From that date, following the Jacobite uprising of 1745, the hereditary sheriffs were replaced by salaried sheriff-deputes, qualified advocates who were members of the Scottish Bar.
It became known as the Sheriff of Wigton & Kirkcudbright in 1860 and was dissolved and incorporated into the
sheriffdom of Dumfries & Galloway in 1874.
The Stewartry of Kirkcudbright was created in 1369, when the area between the
Rivers Nith and
Cree
The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada ...
was granted to
Archibald the Grim. A steward was appointed by to administer the area which was known the "Stewartry".
Sheriffs of Wigtown
*Robert FitzTrute (c.1200)
*
Alexander Comyn (1263-1266)
*
John Comyn, Master of Buchan (1288)
*Walter of Twynham (1296)
*
Domhnall mac Cailein
Domhnall mac Cailein or Donald Campbell was a 13th-14th century Scottish nobleman and the Sheriff of Wigtown.
Life
According to Campbell tradition, Domhnall was the second son of Cailean Mór; however, contemporary evidence seems to suggest that ...
c.1298
*
John Comyn, Earl of Buchan (1300)
*
Thomas McCulloch (1305)
*William Douglas of Leawalt (1424)
*Andrew Agnew (1456)
*
Thomas Boyd, Earl of Arran (1468)
*Andrew Agnew (1468)
*
John Graham (1648)
*
Andrew Agnew (?-1747)
;Sheriffs-Depute
*
Alexander Boswell, 1748–1750
*
Andrew Pringle, 1750–1751 (Sheriff of Selkirk, 1751)
*Thomas Dundas, 1751–
*Alexander Spalding Gordon, –1794
*John Busby Maitland, 1794–1818
*James Walker, 1818–c.1840
*Adam Urquhart 1843–1860
Stewards of Kirkcudbright
*Donald Maclellen of Gelston, 1456
*William Edmonstoune of Duntreath, 1462
*John Kennedy of Blairquhan, 1463
*
Thomas Boyd, Earl of Arran, 1468
*Humphrey Colquhoun, 1468
*
Patrick Hepburn, 1st Earl of Bothwell, 1489
*
Robert Maxwell, 5th Lord Maxwell, 1526
Sheriffs of Kirkcudbright
*
Thomas Miller, Lord Glenlee, 1748–1755
*
David Ross, 1756–1763
*
Alexander Gordon, Lord Rockville, 1764–1784
*Sir Alexander Gordon, 1784–1830
*
Alexander Wood of Woodcote, 1830–1841
*
Erskine Douglas Sandford
Erskine Douglas Sandford FRSE (31 July 1793–4 September 1861) was a 19th-century Scottish advocate and legal author.
Life
He was born at 22 South Frederick Street in Edinburgh's New Town, then a new house, on 31 July 1793 the son of Helen F ...
, 1841–1860
Sheriffs of Wigton & Kirkcudbright (1860)
*
Erskine Douglas Sandford
Erskine Douglas Sandford FRSE (31 July 1793–4 September 1861) was a 19th-century Scottish advocate and legal author.
Life
He was born at 22 South Frederick Street in Edinburgh's New Town, then a new house, on 31 July 1793 the son of Helen F ...
, 1860–61
[
* David Hector, 1861-1874 ]
See also
* Historical development of Scottish sheriffdoms
References
Sheriff courts
Sheriff
A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...
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