Grampian Club > Staggering state of Scottish statesmen from 1550 to 1650

MEMOIR.
Sir John Scot was descended from the House of Buccleuch ; by-
using a single " t " he preserved the original orthography of his family
name. His progenitor, David Scot of Allanhaugh, represented the
eleventh generation of the Scots of Buccleuch in the direct male line.
David Scot of Allanhaugh obtained a charter of the lands of
Whitchester in 1483 ; he died about 1530, leaving three sons, Robert,
Alexander, and James. James, the youngest, entered the Church, and
became Provost of Corstorphine. A man of high integrity and
honour, he gave proof of his generosity by erecting a manse at
Corstorphine for the use of his successors. He was elected Clerk to
the Treasury, and an ordinary Lord of Session on the spiritual side of
that court. He died in 1563.* Sir Alexander, second son of David
Scot, was in 1534 appointed Vice-Register of Scotland. He died in
1540. His eldest son, Robert, studied law, acquired eminence in his
profession, and was chosen a Clerk of Session. As eldest Clerk
of Session he was, on the death of James Macgill in 1579,
entitled to succeed him as Clerk Register. He dechned the appoint-
ment, which was accepted by Alexander Hay, Clerk of the Privy
Council, who in Scot's favour afterwards resigned the directorship of
the Chancery.f
Robert Scot was appointed Clerk of Parliament and Director of the
Chancery by a writ under the great seal, dated 17th October, 1579.
He acquired the lands of Knightspottie in Perthshire, and married,
first, Elizabeth Sandilands, a daughter of the house of Calder, who died
without surviving issue ; and secondly, Elizabeth, widow of John Scott,
of Orchardfield, maltman, West Port, Edinburgh, and mother by her
first husband of Sir William Scott of Ardross, Fifeshire.| By this mar-
riage Robert Scot became father of two sons and a daughter. The
* Brunton and Haig's " Senators of the College of Justice," 99.
t " Staggering State " under "Directors of Chancery."
+ " Inquisitiones Speciales," II. (1554.)