Lord High Admiral of Scotland | |
---|---|
Status | Post abolished |
Formation | c. 15th century |
First holder | The 1st Earl of Orkney |
Final holder | The 4th Earl of Wemyss |
Abolished | 1707 |
Succession | Lord High Admiral of Great Britain |
Deputy | Vice Admiral of Scotland |
The Lord High Admiral of Scotland was one of the Great Officers of State of the Kingdom of Scotland before the Union with England in 1707.
The office was one of considerable power, also known as Royal Scottish Admiralty, including command of the King's ships and sailors (see Royal Scottish Navy) and inspection of all sea ports, harbours, and sea coasts. The Admiral appointed judges to decide causes relating to maritime affairs, including both civil and criminal jurisdiction, and jurisdiction over creeks, fresh and navigable waterways. The duties were exercised through Vice-Admirals and Admirals-Depute, later called Judge Admirals.
The office seems to have originated in the early 15th century and was once held by Sir Robert Logan of Grugar, later also of Restalrig and the Earls of Bothwell and the Dukes of Lennox. It was one of the heritable offices that Charles II gave to his illegitimate son Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond and Lennox.
The earliest surviving records of the Scottish High Court of Admiralty date from 1557, convened under the authority of the Earl of Bothwell, in Edinburgh or Leith. Although all maritime causes in Scotland below a river's first bridge were in its view, it was inferior to the Court of Session, and its authority was contested by the Court of Justiciary in criminal matters. The Court was formally to be held, fenced, within the sea-flood and wherever it was actually held the Admiral would declare that to be the case. The judges were Bothwell's two vice-admirals, men otherwise unknown who were almost certainly professional lawyers rather than mariners. [1]
By the Act of Union 1707 all admiralty jurisdictions were placed under the Lord High Admiral of Great Britain or Commissioners of the Admiralty. [2] Nevertheless, the Vice-Admiral of Scotland who received his commission from the Crown continued to appoint the Judge Admiral (until 1782) and Admirals-depute and to rank as an Officer of the Crown.
The Public Offices (Scotland) Act 1817 provided that no person thereafter appointed as Vice Admiral should receive a salary. [3] The Admiralty Court in Edinburgh was abolished in 1830 and the Court of Session granted subject-matter jurisdiction. [4]
Earl of Wemyss is a title in the Peerage of Scotland created in 1633. The Scottish Wemyss family had possessed the lands of Wemyss in Fife since the 12th century. Since 1823 the earldom has been held with the Earldom of March, created in 1697. The holder of the title is sometimes known as the Earl of Wemyss and March, but the titles are distinct.
Earl of March is a title that has been created several times, respectively, in the Peerage of Scotland and the Peerage of England. The title derives from the "marches" or borderlands between England and either Wales or Scotland, and it was held by several great feudal families which owned lands in those districts. Later, however, the title came to be granted as an honorary dignity, and ceased to carry any associated power in the marches.
The office of Lord Clerk Register is the oldest remaining Great Officer of State in Scotland, with origins in the 13th century. It historically had important functions in relation to the maintenance and care of the public records of Scotland. Today these duties are administered by the Keeper of the National Records of Scotland and the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland.
The office of Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland, one of the Great Officers of State, first appears in the reign of David II. After the Act of Union 1707 its holder was normally a peer, like the Keeper of the Great Seal. The office has remained unfilled since the death of Gavin Campbell, 1st Marquess of Breadalbane in 1922.
The Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland is the keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland, and one of the great officers of state in Scotland. The Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland is the incumbent First Minister of Scotland, formally the First Minister and Keeper of the Scottish Seal, a role currently held by John Swinney since 8 May 2024.
William Douglas, 1st Duke of Queensberry PC, also 3rd Earl of Queensberry and 1st Marquess of Queensberry, was a Scottish politician.
Charles Douglas, 3rd Duke of Queensberry, 2nd Duke of Dover, was a Scottish nobleman, extensive landowner, Privy Counsellor and Vice Admiral of Scotland.
Ludovic Stewart, 2nd Duke of Lennox and 1st Duke of Richmond, Lord of the Manor of Cobham, Kent, was a Scottish nobleman who through their paternal lines was a second cousin of King James VI of Scotland and I of England. He was involved in the Plantation of Ulster in Ireland and the colonization of Maine in New England. Richmond's Island and Cape Richmond as well as Richmond, Maine, are named after him. His magnificent monument with effigies survives in Westminster Abbey.
Vice-Admiral James Berkeley, 3rd Earl of Berkeley, was an English Royal Navy officer and peer who served as First Lord of the Admiralty from 1717 to 1727. The son of Charles Berkeley, 2nd Earl of Berkeley, he was known by the courtesy title of Viscount Dursley prior to succeeding as Earl of Berkeley in 1710.
The Treaty of Union is the name usually now given to the treaty which led to the creation of the new state of Great Britain. The treaty united the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland to be "United into One Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain". At the time it was more often referred to as the Articles of Union.
Clan Douglas is an ancient clan or noble house from the Scottish Lowlands.
Extraordinary Lords of Session were lay members of the Court of Session in Scotland from 1532 to 1762, and were part of the historical judiciary of Scotland.
The Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is the monarch's personal representative to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, reflecting the Church's role as the national church of Scotland and the monarch's role as protector and member of that Church. In its history, the office holder has been the personal representatives to all Scottish monarchs, and later British monarchs, following the Union of the Crowns.
David Wemyss, 4th Earl of Wemyss, was a Scottish peer and Member of Parliament who served as Lord High Admiral of Scotland from 1706 to 1714.
Events from the year 1695 in the Kingdom of Scotland.
Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus, 1st Earl of Ormond was the eldest son of William Douglas, 1st Marquis of Douglas, from whom he obtained the courtesy title of Earl of Angus. Douglas was a member of privy council of Scotland, 1636; vacillated in his opinions on the new service-book, originally (1636) approving its use. Appointed extra ordinary lord of session in 1631. He signed the covenant, was unwilling to take up arms in its defence, but was a commissioner for the covenanters in England in 1643. In 1646 made colonel of Régiment de Douglas in France when his brother Lord James Douglas, was killed in action. Member of committee of estates in 1650. Created Earl of Ormond in 1651; fined £1,000 by Cromwell's Act of Grace, 1654.
In the Baronage of Scotland, a Lord of Regality is an ancient noble title. Lords of regality were said to hold a regality - a type of territorial jurisdiction under old Scots law. This jurisdiction was created by erecting lands in liberam regalitatem, and the area over which this right extended became the regality.
The Lord High Admirals Council was a series of councils appointed to advise and assist the Lord High Admiral of England and then later of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in the direction of Naval Affairs also known as Council of the Lord High Admiral when the Board of Admiralty was not in commission the first series took place between 1702-1708 and second and final series of councils took place from 1827-1828.
In the United Kingdom, the Great Officers of State are traditional ministers of the Crown who either inherit their positions or are appointed to exercise certain largely ceremonial functions or to operate as members of the government. Separate Great Officers exist for England and Wales, Scotland, and formerly for Ireland, though some exist for Great Britain and the United Kingdom as a whole.
No person henceforth to be appointed to either of the offices of knight marshal or vice-admiral in Scotland shall enjoy or receive any salary whatever for or in respect of either of the said offices.
the Court of Session shall hold and exercise original jurisdiction in all maritime civil causes and proceedings of the same nature and extent in all respects as that held and exercised in regard to such causes by the High Court of Admiralty before the passing of this Act