The Sheriff of Stirling was historically the office responsible for enforcing law and order in Stirling, 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.
Following mergers of the Scottish sheriffdoms the office became the Sheriff of Stirling & Dumbarton in 1871 [1] and the Sheriff of Stirling, Dumbarton & Clackmannan in 1881.
The sheriffdom was dissolved in 1975 when the current sheriffdoms of North Strathclyde and Tayside, Central and Fife were created.
Sheriffs of Stirling
- William Fitz Thorald (c.1130)
- Dufoter (1153)
- William de Stirling (1165)
- Gilbert de Stirling (1170)
- Alexander de Stirling (1189, 1195–1198, 1219)
- Muireadhach II, Earl of Menteith (1226)
- John de Stirling (1230)
- Bernard Fraser (1226-1233)
- Alexander de Stirling (1235)
- John de Stirling (1241)
- Gilbert Fraser (1258)
- John Lamberton (1265-1266)
- Patrick de Graham (1288-1289)
- Andrew Fraser (1291-1293)
- David Grant (1295-1296)
- Richard Waldgrave (1296)
- Alexander Livingstone (1304)
- William Bisset (1304-1305)
- Alexander Fraser (1328)
- Richard Lachlan - 1328 - Deputy
- Richard Lachlan (1329)
- Robert Erskine (1360)
- Andrew Murray (1367)
- Thomas Erskine (1367)
- Walter Oliphant (1368)
- Thomas, Earl of Mar (1368)
- Robert de Normanville (1373)
- John Stewart (1407)
- John Seton, 2nd Lord Seton (1436)
- Malcolm Fleming (1470)
- Alexander Bruce - 1470 - Deputy
- Janes Schaw of Sanchie (1473)
- Alexander Seton (1488)
Sheriffs-Depute of Stirling and Clackmannan (1748)
Sheriffs-Depute of Stirling (1807)
- 1807 - Stirling separated from Clackmannan
- David Williamson, 1807–1811 [5]
- Ranald Macdonald of Staffa, 1811–1838
- John Shaw Stewart, 1839–1840[6]
- Robert Handyside, 1840–1853 [7]
- Charles Baillie, 1853–1858
- George Moir, 1858–1868 [8]
- Robert Bogle Blackburn, 1868–1871
Sheriffs of Stirling and Dumbarton (1871)
- Robert Bogle Blackburn, 1871–1875
Sheriffs of Stirling, Dumbarton and Clackmannan (1881)
- James Muirhead, 1885–1889[9]
- Alexander Blair, 1889–1891 [9]
- John Mckie Lees, 1891–1917 [9][10]
- James Robert Nicolson Macphail, 1917–1933 [10][11]
- Sir Archibald Campbell Black, 1933–1937[11] [12] (Sheriff of Lanark, 1937)
- John Charles Fenton, 1937–1942 [12][13] (Sheriff of the Lothians and Peebles, 1942)
- Sir Robert Henry Maconochie, 1942–1961 [13][14]
- Francis Clifford Watt, QC, 1961–1971 [14] [15]
- Robert Richardson Taylor, 1971–1975 [16][15] (Sheriff Principal of Tayside, Central and Fife, 1975)
See also
References
