The Sheriff of Inverness was historically the office responsible for enforcing

law and order In modern politics, law and order is the approach focusing on harsher enforcement and penalties as ways to reduce crime. Penalties for perpetrators of disorder may include longer terms of imprisonment, mandatory sentencing, three-strikes laws a ...

and bringing criminals to justice in

Inverness Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histori ...

, 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. Following mergers the office became the Sheriff of Inverness, Elgin & Nairn in 1882 and the Sheriff of Inverness, Moray, Nairn & Ross & Cromarty in 1946. That sheriffdom was dissolved in turn in 1975 and replaced by that of the Sheriff Principal of Grampian, Highland and Islands.

Sheriffs of Inverness

* William de Moravia (1204) *William Pratt (1227) *Michael Mowat (1234) *Lawrence Grant (1263) *Alexander Murray (1266) *William de Soulis (1291) *Alan Durward (1291) * Reginald le Chen (1292) *William de la Hay (1295) *John Stirling of Moray (1305-?) * Alexander Pilche (1307-1328) *Maurice Grant (1340) *Robert de Chisholm (1359) *John of Ross (1360) *John Hay of Tullybothill (1364) *Galfrid de Munbeyn (1370) *Alan de Winton (1370) *William Lambe (1376) *

Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan, Alasdair Mór mac an Rígh, and called the Wolf of Badenoch (1343 – c. 20 July 1405), was the third surviving son of King Robert II of Scotland and youngest by his first wife, Elizabeth Mure of Rowallan. He w ...

(1380-1390) **William Fotheringay - 1383 - Acting *

Thomas Dunbar, 5th Earl of Moray Thomas Dunbar, 5th Earl of Moray inherited the title before 15 February 1392. In 1388 he displaced Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan as the provider of protection to Alexander Bur, Bishop of Moray and his church lands—following Buchan's burni ...

(1390-?) **William Fotheringay - 1398 - Deputy *Hugh Fraser (1430) *William Leslie (1440) **John Grant - 1442 - Deputy * John Macdonald, Earl of Ross and Lord of the Isles (1455-1460) **Celestine of the Isles - 1460 - Deputy *

George Gordon, 5th Earl of Huntly George Gordon, 5th Earl of Huntly (died 19 October 1576), was Lord Chancellor of Scotland and major conspirator of his time. Biography Second son of the 4th Earl, he was Sheriff of Inverness from 1556. As Captain of Badenoch, he was in charge o ...

(1556-?) *

Simon Fraser, 6th Lord Lovat Simon Fraser, 6th Lord Lovat (1570–1633) was a Scottish courtier and landowner. Simon Fraser was the son of Hugh Fraser, 5th Lord Lovat and Elizabeth Stewart daughter of John Stewart, 4th Earl of Atholl. He was born on 13 April 1570. Biogr ...

(c. 1599) ;High-Sheriffs *

Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat (c. 1667 – 9 April 1747, London), nicknamed the Fox, was a Scottish Jacobitism, Jacobite and Scottish clan chief, Chief of Clan Fraser of Lovat, known for his feuding and changes of allegiance. In 1715, he ...

(c. 1667–1747) ;Sheriffs-Depute *Simon Fraser, 1781–1810 *William Fraser Tytler, 1810–1852 * George Young, 1853–1860 (

Sheriff of Haddington and Berwick The Sheriff of Haddington, or Sheriff of East Lothian, was historically the royal official responsible for enforcing law and order in Haddington, Scotland. Prior to 1748 most sheriffdoms were held on a hereditary basis. From that date, following t ...

, 1860–62) * Andrew Rutherfurd Clark, 1860–1862 (

, 1862–69) *William Ivory, 1862–1882

Sheriffs of Inverness, Elgin & Nairn (1882)

*William Ivory, 1882–1900 *

Christopher Nicholson Johnston Sir Christopher Nicholson Johnston, Lord Sands FRSE (18 October 1857 – 26 February 1934) was a Unionist Party (Scotland) MP for Edinburgh and St Andrews universities between two by-elections in 1916 and 1917. He was an expert on Church Law and ...

, 1900–1905 *James Ferguson, 1905–1905 *

John Wilson, Lord Ashmore John Wilson, Lord Ashmore (1857 – 8 July 1932) was a Scottish lawyer, a unionist parliamentary candidate, a sheriff principal and a judge. Early life Wilson was born in 1857 in Falkirk, where his father James Wilson was a solicitor. He was e ...

, 1905–1912 (

Sheriff of Renfrew and Bute Renfrew (; sco, Renfrew; gd, Rinn Friù) is a town west of Glasgow in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It is the historic county town of Renfrewshire. Called the "Cradle of the Royal Stewarts" for its early link with Scotland's forme ...

, 1912) *Alastair Oswald Morison Mackenzie, 1912–1917 (

, 1917) *George Watt KC, 1917– 1934 *Robert Henry Maconochie KC, 1934–1942 (

Sheriff of Stirling, Dumbarton and Clackmannan The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

, 1942–1961) * Charles Mackintosh KC, 1942–1944 (Senator of the College of Justice from 1944) *

Ronald Peter Morison Ronald is a masculine given name derived from the Old Norse ''Rögnvaldr'', Hanks; Hardcastle; Hodges (2006) p. 234; Hanks; Hodges (2003) § Ronald. or possibly from Old English '' Regenweald''. In some cases ''Ronald'' is an Anglicised form of ...

KC, 1944-1945 * John Cameron, 1945–1946

Sheriffs of Inverness, Moray, Nairn & Ross & Cromarty (1946)

* John Cameron, 1946–1948 *Hector MacKechnie, QC, –1958 (

Sheriff of Perth and Angus Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, 1958) *Douglas Mason Campbell, QC, 1958– *''Sheriffdom dissolved in 1975 and replaced by that of

Grampian, Highland and Islands The Sheriff Principal of Grampian, Highland and Islands is the head of the judicial system of the sheriffdom of Grampian, Highland and Islands, one of the six sheriffdoms covering the whole of Scotland. The sheriffdom employs a number of legally ...

''.

References

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 ...

{{Scotland-stub

Sheriffs of Inverness

Sheriffs of Inverness, Elgin & Nairn (1882)

Sheriffs of Inverness, Moray, Nairn & Ross & Cromarty (1946)

See also

References