Sheriff of Caithness

The Sheriff of Caithness was historically the royal official responsible for enforcing law and order in Caithness, Scotland.

The sheriffdom of Caithness appears to have been created in the mid 12th century and to have been dissolved and incorporated into the sheriffdom of Inverness in the 13th century. in 1455, William Sinclair, Earl of Caithness gained a grant of the justiciary and sheriffdom of the area from the Sheriff of Inverness. 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.

In 1747, the office became known as the Sheriff of Caithness & Sutherland, however the sheriffdoms were disunited in 1806 again being known as the Sheriff of Caithness. It became the Sheriff of Sutherland & Caithness in 1857.[1] In 1870 the office became known as the Sheriff of Caithness, Orkney & Shetland.[2] It was again reorganised as the Sheriff of Caithness, Sutherland, Orkney & Zetland in 1946, but was abolished in 1975 when the current sheriffdom of Grampian, Highland and Islands was created.

Sheriffs of Caithness

• William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness, 1455–1470
• John Sinclair

Sheriffs of Caithness and Sutherland (1747)

• James Brodie of Spynie, 1747–1756 [3]
• John Sinclair the younger, 1756–1784 [3]
• James Traill, 1784–1806 [4] [3] (Sheriff of Caithness, 1806–)

• For Sutherland sheriffs for 1806–1857 see Sheriff of Sutherland

Sheriffs of Caithness (1806)

• James Traill, 1806–1832 [5]
• James Ivory, 1832–1833 (Sheriff of Bute, 1834–38)
• Robert Thomson, 1835–1857[6]

Sheriffs of Sutherland and Caithness (1857)

• George Dingwall Fordyce 1857–1870 [7] (Sheriff of Ross, Cromarty and Sutherland, 1870–1874)
• For Sutherland after 1870 see Sheriff of Ross, Cromarty and Sutherland

Sheriffs of Caithness, Orkney and Shetland (1870)

• George Hunter MacThomas Thoms, 1870–1899[8]
• Christopher Nicholson Johnston, 1899–1900[9]
• John Wilson, 1900–1905[9][10] (Sheriff of Inverness, Elgin and Nairn, 1905–1912)
• Frank Towers Cooper 1905–1905[11][12]
• John Ferguson M'Lennan, KC, 1905–1917 [12][13]
• Andrew Henderson Briggs Constable, 1917–1920[13] [14] (Sheriff of Argyll, 1920)
• James Campbell Pitman, 1920–1929 [14][15]
• Alexander Maitland, QC, 1929–1931 [15] [16]
• John Charles Watson, QC, 1931–1944 [16][17]
• Thomas Blantyre Simpson, QC, 1944-1946 [17] [18]

Sheriffs of Caithness, Sutherland, Orkney & Zetland (1946)

• Thomas Blantyre Simpson, QC, 1946–1952 [18] [19](Sheriff of Perth and Angus, 1952–1954)
• Francis Clifford Watt, QC, 1952–1961 [19][20](Sheriff of Stirling, Dunbarton and Clackmannan, 1961)
• Harald Robert Leslie, 1961–1965 [20] (Chairman of Scottish Land Court, 1965)
• Sir Frederick W.F. O'Brien, 1965–1975 [21]

• Sheriffdom abolished in 1975 and replaced by the current sheriffdom of Grampian, Highland and Islands

See also

• Historical development of Scottish sheriffdoms

References

1. "Births, Deaths, Marriages and Obituaries". Morning Chronicle. 30 May 1857.
2. "No. 8087". The Edinburgh Gazette. 23 August 1870. p. 1001.
3. "Sheriffs of Ross, Cromarty and Sutherland". Dornoch Historylinks. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
4. The London Gazette, Part 2. p. 1189.
5. The London Gazette, Part 2. p. 1189.
6. Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland. p. 900.
7. "No. 6729". The Edinburgh Gazette. 21 August 1857. p. 757.
8. SCOTTISH LAW REVIEW AND SHERIFF COURT REPORTS. VOL. XXIL— 1906. p. 39.
9. "No. 11182". The Edinburgh Gazette. 23 March 1900. p. 282.
10. Who Was Who 1929–1940, p. 40.
11. "No. 11730". The Edinburgh Gazette. 2 June 1905. p. 538.
12. "No. 11778". The Edinburgh Gazette. 17 November 1905. p. 1117.
13. "No. 13103". The Edinburgh Gazette. 15 June 1917. p. 1139.
14. "No. 13560". The Edinburgh Gazette. 6 February 1920. p. 340.
15. "No. 14513". The Edinburgh Gazette. 15 January 1929. p. 81.
16. "No. 14816". The Edinburgh Gazette. 11 December 1931. p. 1313.
17. "No. 16103". The Edinburgh Gazette. 29 February 1944. p. 65.
18. "No. 37663". The London Gazette. 23 July 1946. p. 3797.
19. "No. 39601". The London Gazette. 18 July 1952. p. 3876.
20. "No. 42427". The London Gazette. 1 August 1961. p. 5682.
21. "Death of former Sheriff Principal O'Brien". Law Society. Retrieved 21 October 2017.