Lord High Treasurer of Scotland

The Treasurer was a senior post in the pre-Union government of Scotland, the Privy Council of Scotland.

The full title of the post was Lord High Treasurer, Comptroller, Collector-General and Treasurer of the New Augmentation, formed as it was from the amalgamation of four earlier offices. Of these, the Treasurer and Comptroller had originated in 1425 when the Chamberlain's financial functions were transferred to them. From 1466 the Comptroller had sole responsibility for financing the royal household to which certain revenues (the property) were appropriated, with the Treasurer being responsible for the remaining revenue (the casualty) and other expenditure. The Collector-General, created in 1562, handled the Crown's revenue from the thirds of benefices, and the Treasurer of the New Augmentation was responsible for the former church lands annexed to the Crown in 1587.

All four offices were held by the same person from 1610 onwards, but their separate titles survived the effective merging of their functions in 1635. From 1667 to 1682 the Treasury was in commission, and again from 1686 to 1708, when the separate Scottish Treasury was abolished. From 1690 the Crown nominated one person to sit in Parliament as Treasurer.

List of Treasurers

1420	Sir Walter Ogilvie of Lintrethan
	Thomas de Myrton, Dean of Glasgow Cathedral
1430	Patrick de Ogilvie
1433	Walter Stewart, Dean of Moray
1439	Sir Walter de Haliburton, Knt.
	Robert Livingston, son of Sir Alexander Livingston of Callendar, Governor of the Kingdom
1440	Walter de Haliburton, 1st Lord Haliburton of Dirleton
1449	Andrew Hunter, Abbot of Melrose
1455	James Stewart, Dean of Moray
1466	Sir William Knowlys, Preceptor of Torphichen Preceptory
1473	John Laing, parson of Kenland
1480	Archibald Crawford, Abbot of Holyrood
	Sir John Ramsay of Balmaine
1490	Henry Arnot, Abbot of Cambuskenneth
1499	Sir Robert Lundin of Balgony
1507	Sir David Beaton of Creich
1509	George Hepburn, Abbot of Arbroath, later Bishop of the Isles
	Andrew Stewart, Bishop of Caithness
1512	Cuthbert Baillie, Commendator of Glenluce
1515	James Hepburn, Bishop of Moray
1516	Sir Walter Ogilvie of Strathearn
1517	John Campbell of Lundy
1520	Archibald Douglas of Kilspindie
1526	William Cunningham, 4th Earl of Glencairn
1528	Robert Cairncross, Abbot of Holyrood, later Bishop of Ross
1529	Sir Robert Barton of Over Barnton
1530	William Stewart, Bishop of Aberdeen
1537	Robert Cairncross, Abbot of Holyrood
1538	Sir James Kirkcaldy of Grange (Hallyards, Fife)
1546	John Hamilton, brother of Regent, Abbot of Paisley, later Bishop of St Andrews
1555	Gilbert Kennedy, 3rd Earl of Cassilis
1561	Robert Richardson, Commendator of St Mary Isle
1564	William Stewart, Provost of Lincluden
1571	William Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie
1584	John Graham, 3rd Earl of Montrose
1585	Sir Thomas Lyon of Auldbar and Baldukie, Master of Glamis
1595	Walter Stewart, 1st Lord Blantyre
1599	Alexander Elphinstone, 4th Lord Elphinstone
1601	Sir George Hume, 1st Earl of Dunbar, first holder of the four combined treasury offices.
1611	Sir Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset
1616	John Erskine, 2nd Earl of Mar
3 April 1630	William Douglas, 7th Earl of Morton
21 May 1636	John Stewart, 1st Earl of Traquair
17 November 1641	in commission
	John Campbell, 1st Earl of Loudoun, Lord Chancellor
	Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll
	William Cunningham, 8th Earl of Glencairn
	John Lindsay, 1st Earl of Lindsay
	Sir James Carmichael
23 July 1644	John Lindsay, Earl of Crawford and Lindsay, dismissed 13 February 1649
1660	in commission
	John Lindsay, Earl of Crawford and Lindsay
	John Leslie, 7th Earl of Rothes
19 January 1661	John Lindsay reappointed
4 June 1663	John Leslie, 7th Earl of Rothes - appointed Chancellor 16 April 1667
20 June 1667	in commission
	John Leslie, 7th Earl of Rothes, Lord Chancellor
	John, Earl of Lauderdale
	John Hay, 2nd Earl of Tweeddale
	Alexander Bruce, 2nd Earl of Kincardine
	John, Lord Cochrane (eldest son of Earl of Dundonald)
	Sir Robert Murray, Lord Justice Clerk
1674	in commission
	John Leslie, 7th Earl of Rothes, Lord Chancellor
	John, Earl of Lauderdale
	John, Earl of Dundonald
	Colin, Earl of Balcarres
	Hon Charles Maitland, Deputy Treasurer and Master of the Mint
1 May 1682	William Douglas, Marquess of Queensberry, later Duke
24 February 1686	in commission
	William Douglas, Duke of Queensberry,
	James, Earl of Perth, Lord Chancellor
	William, Duke of Hamilton
	John, Earl of Kintore, Treasurer Depute
	George, Viscount Tarbat, Lord Clerk Register
	Hon William Drummond, after Viscount Strathallan
	incomplete

Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer

The final audited accounts of the Lord High Treasurer were public records of Scotland. These survive as an almost complete record from 1473 to 1635 at General Register House in Edinburgh. The manuscripts were published between 1877 and 1978 in thirteen volumes covering up to 1580.

• Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, 1473-1498, HM General Register House, (1877)
• Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, 1506-1507, HM Register House, vol. 3 (1901)
• Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, 1541-1546, HM Register House, vol. 8, (1908)
• Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, 1566-1574, vol. 12, Scottish Record Office, (1970)
• Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, 1574-1580, vol. 13, Scottish Record Office, (1978)

External links

• Guide to the Exchequer records at the National Archives of Scotland

Notes

1. ^ The Complete Peerage. London: The St. Catherine Press. 1936. pp. 9:148.