The Sheriff of Banff was historically the office responsible for enforcing law and order and bringing criminals to justice in Banff, Scotland.
Prior to 1748 most sheriffdoms were held on a hereditary basis. From that date, following the Jacobite rising of 1745, the hereditary sheriffs were replaced by salaried sheriff-deputes, qualified advocates who were members of the Scottish Bar.
Following a merger of sheriffdoms it became the Sheriff of Banff, Elgin & Nairn in 1854 and the Sheriff of Aberdeen, Kincardine & Banff in 1882.
Sheriffs of Banff
 | This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (December 2016) |
- Sheriffs-Principal
- Alexander Comyn, Earl of Buchan (ER, i: clxxviii, clxxx; and 15)
- Ranulf de Strachan(1264) (ER, i: clxxviii, clxxx; and 15)
- John Comyn, Earl of Buchan (1290) (ER, i, 49)
- Walter de Berkeley (1304-1305)
- Duncan de Ferendraught (1305)
- Hamelin of Troup (1328)
- Phillip de Meldrum (1343)
- William de Fotheringham (1357)
- Nicolas Hawden - 1357 - Deputy
- John de Inverpefer (1369)
- Alexander Ogilvie, (1452-1453)
- Walter Ogilvie of Beaufort - 1452 - Deputy
- Walter Ogilvie of Beaufort (1453-?)
- William Abernethy (1458)
- Archibald Liddle - 1470 - Deputy
- James Stewart, 1st Earl of Buchan (1470)
- Robert Stewart - 1470 - Deputy
- George Baird, 1634- (died 1642)
- Alexander Douglas 1654-
- James Erskine, 7th Earl of Buchan (died 1664)
- Sir James Baird of Auchmedden, c.1664 (died 1691) (jointly)
- James Baird the younger, 1668-?1681 (jointly with James Baird of Auchmedden) (died 1681)
- Sir George Gordon of Edinglassie, 1681-1691 (jointly with Sir James Baird of Auchmedden)
- James Ogilvy, 4th Earl of Findlater, 1693–?1730
- Sheriffs-Depute
- Robert Pringle, Lord Edgefield, 1748–1754
- George Cockburn (Haldane), 1756–1764 ( Sheriff of Stirling and Clackmannan, 1764–70)
- John Erskine, June 1764-September 1764
- Keith Urquhart of Meldrum and Bethelnie, 1764–1835
- Alexander Currie, 1837–1854 (Sheriff of Forfar, 1854–)
Sheriffs of Banff, Elgin and Nairn (1854)
- Benjamin Robert Bell, 1854–1882
- Sheriffdom divided in 1882 between the sheriffdoms of Aberdeen, Kincardine & Banff and Inverness, Elgin and Nairn.
See also
References
- "Sheriffs Salaries". Dundee Courier. 25 January 1854.
- "The Resignation of Sheriff Bell". Dundee Courier. 28 March 1882. p. 8.
- ^ "The Annals of Banff" (PDF). p. 329. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
- Kay, John. A Series of Original Portraits and Caricature Etchings, Volume 2, Part 2. p. 289.
- Milne, Hugh. Boswell's Edinburgh Journals: 1767-1786.
- ^ "The Annals of Banff" (PDF). p. 438. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
- "Scotland". Morning Chronicle. 14 January 1854.
- "Sheriffs Salaries". The Dundee Courier. 25 January 1854.
- "The Resignation of Sheriff Bell". The Dundee Courier. 28 March 1882. p. 8.
