The Sheriff of the Lothians and Peebles was historically the office responsible for enforcing
law and order and bringing criminals to justice in
The Lothians and
Peebles, Scotland. 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.
The position of Sheriff of the Lothians had been created in 1881 following a merger of the sheriffdom of
Midlothian and Haddington with the Linlithgow part of the sheriffdom of
Linlithgow, Clackmannan & Kinross. The position of Sheriff of Peebles was then joined to it in 1883 to create the new position of Sheriff of the Lothians & Peebles.
This latter sheriffdom was replaced in 1975 by the current sheriffdom of
Lothian and Borders.
Sheriffs of the Lothians (1881)
Sheriffs of Peebles
*Gilbert Fraser, 1259
*Aymer de Maxwell, 1262
*Simon Fraser of Oliver, 1266-1291
*William of Durham, 1302
*
Aymer de Valence, 2nd Earl of Pembroke
Aymer de Valence, 2nd Earl of Pembroke (c. 127523 June 1324) was an Anglo-French nobleman. Though primarily active in England, he also had strong connections with the French royal house. One of the wealthiest and most powerful men of his age, ...
, 1306
*Adam Lockhart, 1357
*Lawrence of Govan, 1359
*
Thomas Hay, 1373
**Walter Tweedy, 1373 - Deputy
*William Hay, 1388
**Adam Dickson, 1388 - Deputy
*
John Hay, 1st Lord Hay of Yester, 1464–1509
*David Hay, 1470
**Thomas Hay, 1470 - Deputy
*William Douglas, 2nd Earl of March, 1724–1747
*
James Veitch of Elliock, 1747–
;Sheriffs-Depute
*
James Montgomery, 1748–?1760
*
Alexander Murray of Murrayfield, 1761–1775
*James Wolf Murray, 1789–1811
*James Wedderburn, 1811–1816
*Andrew Clephane, 1816–>1825
*John Wood, c.1835–1840
*George Napier, 1840-1883
Sheriffs of the Lothians and Peebles (1883)
* James Arthur Crichton, 1885–1891
* Alexander Blair, 1891–1896
* Andrew Rutherford, 1896–1904
[
* Charles Cornelius Maconochie, 1904–>1918
* Gerard Lake Crole, KC, –1927 ][
* John Charles Fenton, 1942–1951 ][
* William Ross McLean, QC, 1960– ][ ( Sheriff Principal of Lothian and Borders, 1975)
* ''After 1975 the sheriffdom was merged into the new sheriffdom of Lothian and Borders''.
]
See also
* Historical development of Scottish sheriffdoms
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lothians and Peebles
*
Lothian
Peebles
East Lothian
History of Edinburgh