Thomas McCalzean

Thomas McCalzean, Lord Cliftonhall (pronounced and sometimes spelled McCalyeane, Macalzean or Macallyean) (c.1520–1581) was a 16th-century Scottish judge, rising to be a Senator of the College of Justice and a local politician who was briefly Provost of Edinburgh in 1562 at the personal request of Mary Queen of Scots who sought a moderate influence during these troubled times.[1]

He lived at Clifton Hall, west of Edinburgh. He trained as a lawyer and became a judge. Around 1550 he married Elizabeth Galbraith.[2]

In June 1556, in his role as City Assessor, he was temporarily suspended from his job for evil and foul language against the Queen Regent, Mary of Guise. He was restored to the job around two months later. He was a staunch supporter of the Reformation and happily moved to Protestantism.[3]

In 1562 he was specifically chosen by the Queen to replace Archibald Douglas of Kilspindie, as a more moderate politician, however, the Queen's authority to do this was later challenged, and Archibald Douglas returned to his elected role within a year.[4][5]

In 1563 he was appointed advocate to the Kirk in Edinburgh.[6]

In October 1570 he was elected a Senator of the College of Justice, a senior position in the Scottish legal system, replacing Lord Henry Balnaves.[7]

In 1570 he was involved in a famous Scottish court case: Ruthven v. McCalzean. This was between Thomas McCalzean and Archibald Ruthven, brother of William Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie (Lord Ruthven). The crux of the case is a breach of promise, relating to a marriage proposal between his daughter Eupham, and Ruthven.[8]

By 1585 he is dead, as his only child and heir, Euphame MacCalzean, is sole but absentee owner of The White House, on the south side of Edinburgh (on the site of St Margaret's Convent) when the house is proposed as a remote hospice for plague victims. The Edinburgh magistrates usurped the empty building for this use without consulting her and she had a long court battle to retrieve possession.[9]

Euphame MacCalzean was executed for witchcraft as part of the North Berwick witch trials in 1591.[10] Execution was by public burning on the Castle Hill below Edinburgh Castle on 25 June 1591.[11]