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. See also Historical development of Scottish sheriffdoms References Stirling (city)