The Sheriff of Ross, Cromarty and Sutherland was historically responsible for enforcing
law and order in
Ross-shire
Ross-shire (; ), or the County of Ross, was a county in the Scottish Highlands. It bordered Sutherland to the north and Inverness-shire to the south, as well as having a complex border with Cromartyshire, a county consisting of numerous enc ...
,
Cromartyshire
Cromartyshire () was a county in the Highlands of Scotland, comprising the medieval "old shire" around the county town of Cromarty and 22 enclaves and exclaves transferred from Ross-shire in the late 17th century. The largest part, six times th ...
and
Sutherland
Sutherland () is a Counties of Scotland, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in the Scottish Highlands, Highlands of Scotland. The name dates from the Scandinavian Scotland, Viking era when t ...
in Scotland.
The area was part of the
shire of Inverness from the 12th century. A Sheriff of Cromarty existed from the mid-13th century, initially with a relatively small jurisdiction around the town of
Cromarty
Cromarty (; , ) is a town, civil parishes in Scotland, civil parish and former royal burgh in Ross and Cromarty, in the Highland (council area), Highland area of Scotland. Situated at the tip of the Black Isle on the southern shore of the mout ...
, subsequently enlarged in the late 17th century to include various other tracts of land scattered across the
province
A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
of
Ross. There are a couple of references to a Sheriff of Ross in the 15th century, but the position was not permanently established until 1662, after an act of parliament of 1661 separated Ross-shire from Inverness-shire.
The two counties shared a sheriff from 1748, known as the Sheriff of Ross and Cromarty. From 1870 the sheriff was also shared with the neighbouring county of Sutherland, becoming the Sheriff of Ross, Cromarty and Sutherland. Following a further reorganisation in 1946 it became the
Sheriff of Inverness, Moray, Nairn & Ross & Cromarty.
Sheriffs of Cromarty
The position of the sheriff of Cromarty was a heritable position.
*William de Monte Alto (1266)
*
William de Monte Alto (1296-1304), (1305-?)
*
William III, Earl of Ross
William (or Uilleam) III, 5th Earl of Ross (d. 1372) was a fourteenth-century Scottish nobleman. He was the fifth O’Beolan earl of Ross, descending from the founder of the line, Fearchar of Ross (or Fearchar MacTaggart).
Biography
William wa ...
(c. 1345)
*Adam Urquhart (1365)
*William Urquhart (c.1470)
*Alexander Urquhart (1497)
Sheriffs of Ross
*1493: Hugh Ross of
Balnagowan
*1499: David Ross of Balnagowan
''Position re-established 1662''
*1662–1678:
Kenneth Mackenzie, 3rd Earl of Seaforth
{{Infobox noble, type
, name = Kenneth Mackenzie
, title = The Earl of Seaforth
, image = Kenneth Mackenzie, 3rd Earl of Seaforth.jpg
, caption = Kenneth Mackenzie, 3rd Earl of Seaforth
, alt ...
*1678–1689:
Kenneth Mackenzie, 4th Earl of Seaforth
Kenneth Mackenzie, 4th Earl of Seaforth, KT, PC (S) ( bapt. 8 December 1661 – January 1701) was a Scottish peer and Jacobite supporter, known as Lord Mackenzie of Kintail from birth until 1678.
Life
Mackenzie was the eldest son of Kenn ...
*1689–1696: David Ross of Balnagowan
*1696–1706:
Sir Robert Munro of Foulis
[
*1706–1710: Hugh Rose, 15th of Kilravock]Sir William Gordon, 1st Baronet
Sir William Gordon, 1st Baronet (died 1742) was a Scottish politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1708 and 1742.
Gordon was the eldest son of Sir Adam Gordon of Dalpholly, Sutherland and his wife Anne Urquhart, daughter of Alexande ...
*1725–1729: Sir Robert Munro of Foulis [
*1732–1734: Hugh Rose, 16th of Kilravock][
]
Sheriffs of Ross and Cromarty (1748)
*1748–1772: Hugh Rose of Geddes [
*1773–1774: William Mackenzie of Balmaduthy ][
*1774–1833: Donald Macleod of Geanies ][
*1835–1850: John Jardine ][
*1850–1851: George Deas][
*1851–1855: ]Thomas Mackenzie
Sir Thomas Mackenzie (10 March 1853 – 4 February 1930) was a Scottish-born New Zealand politician and explorer who briefly served as the 18th prime minister of New Zealand in 1912, and later served as New Zealand High Commissioner in L ...
*1855–1859: George Moir[
*1859–1869: Alexander Shank Cook ][
*1869–1870: Alexander Moncrieff ][
]
Sheriffs of Ross, Cromarty and Sutherland (1870)
*1870–1874: George Dingwall Fordyce [
*1881–1886: William Mackintosh ][
*1886–1889: John Cheyne, KC ][
*1890–1891: Andrew Jameson, Lord Ardwall ]Sheriff of Perth
The Sheriff of Perth was historically a royal official, appointed for life, who was responsible for enforcing justice in Perth, Scotland. Prior to 1748 most sheriffdoms were held on a hereditary basis. From that date, following the Jacobite upri ...
, 1891)
*1891–1898: Henry Johnston [ ( Sheriff of Angus, 1898–1905)
*1898–1900: William Charles Smith, KC ][
*1907–1912: John Alexander Reid, KC ][
*1912–1940: James Mackintosh, KC ]
See also
* Historical development of Scottish sheriffdoms
A sheriffdom is a judicial district of Scotland. Originally identical to the Shires of Scotland, from the eighteenth century many counties were grouped to form "sheriffdoms".
By 1975 there were 12 sheriffdoms, with only Lanarkshire not grouped ...
References
*
Sutherland
Ross and Cromarty
{{Scotland-stub