Sir William Anstruther, Lord Anstruther (died 1711) was a Scottish judge.

Biography

He was born into a very ancient Scottish family, the son of Sir Philip Anstruther of

Anstruther Anstruther ( sco, Ainster or Enster ; gd, Ànsruthair) is a small coastal resort town in Fife, Scotland, situated on the north-shore of the Firth of Forth and south-southeast of St Andrews. The town comprises two settlements, Anstruther ...

, a

royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governme ...

who was taken prisoner at the

Battle of Worcester The Battle of Worcester took place on 3 September 1651 in and around the city of Worcester, England and was the last major battle of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A Parliamentarian army of around 28,000 under Oliver Cromwell def ...

, had his estates sequestered by

Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...

and restored to him by Charles II, and died in 1702. Sir William represented the shire of Fife in the

Parliament of Scotland The Parliament of Scotland ( sco, Pairlament o Scotland; gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba) was the legislature of the Kingdom of Scotland from the 13th century until 1707. The parliament evolved during the early 13th century from the king's council o ...

in 1681, and strongly opposed the measures of

James, Duke of York James VII and II (14 October 1633 16 September 1701) was King of England and King of Ireland as James II, and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II, on 6 February 1685. He was deposed in the Glorious Re ...

, then lord high commissioner in Scotland. He was again returned for that county in 1689, and continued to represent it until the Act of Union (1707). In the revolution of 1688, Sir William took the side of the

Prince of Orange Prince of Orange (or Princess of Orange if the holder is female) is a title originally associated with the sovereign Principality of Orange, in what is now southern France and subsequently held by sovereigns in the Netherlands. The title ...

, and was rewarded by being appointed one of the ordinary lords of session (22 October 1689), and later a member of the

privy council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

. In 1694, he was created

baronet of Nova Scotia This is a list of baronetcies in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia. These were first created in 1624, and were replaced by the Baronetage of Great Britain in 1707. This page lists baronetcies, whether extant, extinct, dormant (D), unproven (U), ...

. In 1704, he was nominated one of the

lords of justiciary The senators of the College of Justice are judges of the College of Justice, a set of legal institutions involved in the administration of justice in Scotland. There are three types of senator: Lords of Session (judges of the Court of Session) ...

in the room of Lord Aberuchil. By a charter under the great seal dated 20 April 1704, and ratified by parliament 14 September 1705, the baronies of Anstruther and Ardross and the office of bailliary of the

lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or ar ...

ship of

Pittenweem Pittenweem ( ) is a fishing village and civil parish in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 1,747. Etymology The name derives from Pictish and Scottish Gaelic. "Pit-" represents Pictish ''pett'' 'pl ...

, with certain minor estates, rights, and privileges, and the office of carver and master of the household to her majesty and her heirs, were granted to Sir William Anstruther and his heirs for ever. Sir William Anstruther was strongly in favour of the union, and his name appears frequently in the division lists during the period when the question was agitating the Scotch parliament.

Works

Anstruther was the author of a volume of essays, interspersed with verse, published in 1701 under the title of ''Essays, Moral and Divine'', of which his friends thought so poorly that in his own interest they begged him not to publish it; and it is said that after the death of the judge, which happened in 1711, his son bought up all purchasable copies and suppressed the work. The contents of the volume were as follows: *(1) Against Atheism; *(2) Of Providence; *(3) Of Learning and Religion; *(4) Of Trifling Studies, Stage Plays, and Romances; *(5) Of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ and the Redemption of Mankind. Elie House - geograph

Private life

He bought the Elie estate in Fife, where in 1687 he built

Elie House Elie House is a country house in Elie, Fife, Scotland. It is a Category A listed building. The house, built in 1697 and incorporating an earlier structure, is south facing, constructed in stone in 3 storeys, 2 bays deep with a 5-bay frontage. ...

. Sir William Anstruther was married to Lady Helen Hamilton, daughter of

John Hamilton, 4th Earl of Haddington John Hamilton, 4th Earl of Haddington (1626 - 31 August 1669) was a Scottish nobleman. Life Haddington was born in 1626, second son of Thomas Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Haddington and Lady Catherine Erskine, a daughter of John Erskine, Earl of Mar. ...

. Their only son was

Sir John Anstruther, 1st Baronet, of Anstruther Sir John Anstruther, 1st Baronet (c. 1678 – 27 September 1753) was a Scottish politician who sat in the Parliament of Scotland from 1702 to 1707, and in the British House of Commons from 1708 to 1741. Anstruther was the only son of Sir William ...

Notes

References

* * 17th-century births 1711 deaths

Shire Commissioners to the Parliament of Scotland Scottish essayists 17th-century Scottish people 18th-century Scottish people Scottish knights Politics of Fife Members of the Privy Council of Scotland Scottish poets 18th-century Scottish writers Members of the Parliament of Scotland 1681–1682 Members of the Convention of the Estates of Scotland 1689 Members of the Parliament of Scotland 1689–1702 Members of the Parliament of Scotland 1702–1707 18th-century essayists

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

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