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Sheriff of Clackmannan

former law and order role in Clackmannan, Scotland

Layered newspapers, civic records and oral-history reels arranged as chronological evidence
History and societyInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 18, 2024
Entity authorityQ28225359
Source-derived summary

The Sheriff of Clackmannan was historically the office responsible for enforcing law and order in Clackmannan, 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 the sheriff became the Sheriff of Clackmannan & Stirling in 1747, Sheriff of Clackmannan & Kinross in 1807 and the Sheriff of Linlithgow, Clackmannan & Kinross in 1865. Following further reorganisation in 1881 Clackmannan became part of the Sheriffdom of Stirling, Dumbarton & Clackmannan.

Sheriffs of Clackmannan

Gille Muire (1164)

Alexander de Stirling (1200-1207)

William Bissett (1303-1304)

Malcolm de Inverpefer (1304-1305)

Henry de Anand (1305-1306)

John de Stirling (1306)

Henry de Anand (1328)

John de Monteith (1353-1382)

William Menteith (1382)

John Menteith (1470)

John Schaw of Alweth (1489)

William Menteith of Kers (1489)

William Livingston (1631)

Thomas Hope, (1638-1651)

Protectorate

Sir Alexander Hope, (1662–66) (resigned)

Henry Bruce, (1668-1674)

David Bruce, (1674–c.1693) (deprived as Jacobite)

Robert Stewart, (1698)

William Morrison, (1698-1700)

no record, (1700-1712)

William Dalrymple, (1712–1742)

William Dalrymple, Earl of Dumfries, (1742–1747)

Sheriffs of Clackmannan and Stirling (1747)

1748 - Clackmannan combined with Stirling

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 (later Robertson Ewart), 1797–1807 )

Sheriffs of Clackmannan and Kinross (1807)

Clackmannan separated from Stirling and combined with Kinross

Sir James Moncreiff, Lord Moncrieff, 1808–1829

John Tait, 1830–1865

Sheriffs of Linlithgow

William St. Clair (1264)

William St.

Editorial summary

“Sheriff of Clackmannan” enters the record as former law and order role in Clackmannan, Scotland. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Sheriff, Clackmannan and former can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewMost valuable as an event-and-institution map that identifies actors, dates and record creators for deeper historical inquiry. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1748, 1745, 1747, 1807—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Sheriff, Clackmannan and former.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Sheriff of Clackmannan” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Sheriff, Clackmannan and former provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 18, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q28225359. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1748, 1745, 1747 and 1807.

Critical limits

Official terminology may obscure informal participation, dissent or communities documented only indirectly. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.

Best used for
  • Event chronology
  • Institutional context
  • Locating named record creators
Verify next

Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Sheriff of Clackmannan”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Sheriff of Clackmannan primary sources, Sheriff of Clackmannan archive and Sheriff research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Sheriff of Clackmannan”?
  2. Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
  3. What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Sheriff of Clackmannan” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.