Sheriff of Stirling

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 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)

 * David Walker, 1748–1761
 * Robert Bruce, 1761–1764
 * George Cockburn (later Haldane), 1764–1770
 * Alexander Abercromby, Lord Abercromby, 1770–1780
 * John Pringle, 1780–1790
 * William Tait, 1790–1797
 * David Williamson, 1797–1807

Sheriffs-Depute of Stirling (1807)

 * 1807 - Stirling separated from Clackmannan
 * David Williamson, 1807–1811
 * Ranald Macdonald of Staffa, 1811–1838
 * John Shaw Stewart, 1839–1840
 * Robert Handyside, 1840–1853
 * Charles Baillie, 1853–1858
 * George Moir, 1858–1868
 * 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
 * Alexander Blair, 1889–1891
 * John Mckie Lees, 1891–1917
 * James Robert Nicolson Macphail, 1917–1933
 * Sir Archibald Campbell Black, 1933–1937 (Sheriff of Lanark, 1937)
 * John Charles Fenton, 1937–1942 (Sheriff of the Lothians and Peebles, 1942)
 * Sir Robert Henry Maconochie, 1942–1961
 * Francis Clifford Watt, QC, 1961–1971
 * Robert Richardson Taylor, 1971–1975 (Sheriff Principal of Tayside, Central and Fife, 1975)


 * In 1975 the sheriffdom was largely merged into the current sheriffdom of Tayside, Central and Fife.