Volume 6

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reign of James IV. the office of sheriff of this shire became hereditary in the
family of Lennox. Matthew Earl of Lennox was sheriff of Dumbarton in 1503,
having obtained a grant to himself and his heirs of that office, which was united
to the earldom of Lennox (s).
In March 1503-4 an act of parliament was passed, whereby the barony of
Lenzie, which comprehended the parishes of Cumbernauld and Kirkintilloch,
was detached from the sheriffdom of Dumbarton and annexed to that of Stirling,
and on the other hand the parishes of Fintry, Campsie, Strathblane, Balfron,
Drymen, and Inchcaillach, with the lands of Buchanan, were detached from the
sheriffdom of Stirling and annexed to that of Dumbarton (t). This arrange-
ment made the sheriffdom of Dumbarton nearly co-extensive with the district
and earldom of Lennox (u), but it did not continue long. The above-mentioned
act was repealed on the 8th of May 1509, and the two sheriffdoms were rein-
stated in their former limits (x).
The hereditary office of sheriff of Dumbarton continued a pertinent of the
earldom and dukedom of Lennox for two centuries, and the office was
usually executed by deputy sheriffs, who were appointed by the earls and
dukes of Lennox (y). On the 5th of March 1579-80 James VI. granted
the earldom of Lennox and the sheriffship of Dumbarton to Esme Stewart,
Lord d'Aubigny, who was created Duke of Lennox in 1581 (2). On the
Macfarlane's MS. Notes, 299. He was knighted in 1463, he was comptroller of Scotland in 1464 and
1465, and he was chamberlain of Scotland in 1474. On the 17th September 1477 he obtained a
grant of the office of captain and keeper of the castle of Dumbarton during his life, with the lands and
revenues attached to that office. Regist. Mag. Sig., viii. 33. He was killed by a cannon ball at the
siege of the castle of Dunbar on the 1st of May 1479.
(s) Sir Jas. Balfour's Practick's, 16. On the 25th of January 1511-12 Matthew Earl of Lennox
obtained a new charter of the earldom of Lennox and of the office of sheriff of Dumbarton, -which was
united to the said earldom, and belonged to him before the granting of this charter. Regist. Mag.
Sig., xviii. 3 : Andrew Stuart's Hist, of the Stewarts, 217.
(t) Acta Parl., ii. 243, 251.
(u) Besides the six parishes which were by this act added to Dumbartonshire, the parishes of
Killearn and Buthernock (now Baldernock) formed a part of the earldom of Lennox, but were
comprehended in the sheriffdom of Stirling.
(a?) Acta Parl., ii. 268. At a subsequent period attempts were made in 1639 and 1641 to get the
seven parishes of Buchanan (formerly called Inchcaillach), Drymen, Balfron, Fintry, Killearn, Strath-
blane, and Caampsie detached from Stirlingshire and annexed to Dumbartonshire, to which they had
belonged of old, but these attempts were defeated by the Earl of Mar, who was hereditary sheriff of
Stirling. Ib., v. 271, 282, 461.
(y) Chart. Lennox, ii. 82 ; Privy Seal Reg., ix. 84; xl. 86-89; Acta Parl., iii. 154. William
Striveling of Glorat was sheriff depute of Dumbartonshire under the Earl of Lennox in 1532, and held
his courts in the court-house of Dumbarton. Collection of Charters.
(z) Regist. Mag. Sig., xxxv. 148-152 ; Acta Parl., iii. 248.    The dukedom and the sheriffship