Treasurer-depute

The Treasurer-depute was a senior post in the pre-Union government of Scotland. It was the equivalent of the English post of Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Originally a deputy to the Treasurer, the Treasurer-depute emerged as a separate Crown appointment by 1614. Its holder attended the Privy Council in the absence of the Treasurer, but gained independent membership of the Council in 1587 and sat in the Parliament of Scotland as a Great Officer of State in 1593 and from 1617 onwards.

List of treasurers-depute

• 1547 James Forrester
• 1584: Sir Robert Melville
• 1604–1610: Sir John Arnot
• 1610–1621: Gideon Murray
• 1622–1631: Archibald Napier, 1st Lord Napier
• 1631–?: John Stewart, 1st Earl of Traquair
• 1636-1649: Sir James Carmichael
• 1661–1671: William Bellenden, 1st Lord Bellenden
• 1671–1682?: Charles Maitland, Lord Haltoun
• 1682–1684: John Drummond
• 1684–1686?: John Keith, 1st Earl of Kintore
• 1687–1689: Richard Maitland, Viscount Maitland
• 1690–1698: Alexander Melville, Lord Raith
• 1699–1703: Adam Cockburn of Ormiston, Lord Ormiston
• 1703: David Boyle, 1st Earl of Glasgow