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Sir Thomas Hope, 1st Baronet Hope of Craighall (1573–1646) was a Scottish lawyer, and Lord Advocate under Charles I.

Life

He was the son of an eminent Edinburgh merchant, Henry Hope, and his French wife, Jacqueline de Tott, her parents of Swedish origin. His grandfather John Hope was an Edinburgh merchant of French origin.

Admitted as an advocate in 1605, he made his reputation in 1606 defending John Forbes, and five other ministers at Linlithgow who were charged with high treason. In 1608 he was on a team of lawyers, described as "the most learned and best experienced" who defended Margaret Hartsyde, a servant of Anne of Denmark accused of stealing her jewels.

He prepared the deed revoking James VI's grants of church property in 1625. He was appointed Lord Advocate under Charles I in 1626, and held the office until 1641. He was created a Baronet of Nova Scotia on 11 February 1628.

Hope worked for landowners, including Mary, Countess of Home, and Marie Stewart, Countess of Mar. He conducted the case against John Elphinstone, 2nd Lord Balmerino in 1634. As Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1643, he maintained the king's temporising policy.

In 1645 Hope was appointed one of the Commissioners for managing the Exchequer, but died the next year.

He is buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard in Edinburgh. The grave lies in the north-west section of the original graveyard, against the west wall.

He bought the Fife estate of Craighall early in his career. His Cowgate home, built in 1616, was demolished in 1887 to make way for the Edinburgh Free Library.

Related works

His "Practical Observations Upon divers titles of the Law of Scotland", commonly called the "Minor Practicks", were published in 1726, by Alexander Bayne.

In 1843 the Bannatyne Club published A Diary of the Public Correspondence of Sir Thomas Hope of Craighall, 1633–1645: From the Original, in the Library at Pinkie House, a collection Hope's official and private correspondence from the last twelve years of his life.

Family

Hope married Elizabeth Bennet, daughter of John Binning or Bennet of Wallyford, Haddingtonshire. The couple had the following children:

• John Hope, Lord Craighall (1605?–1654)
• Thomas Hope, Lord Kerse (1606–1643)
• William, died young
• Henry, died young
• Sir Alexander Hope of Grantham/Granton (1611–1680), Carver Extraordinary and cup-bearer to Charles I.
• Sir James Hope of Hopetoun (1614–1661), progenitor of the Earls of Hopetoun
• David, died young
• Patrick, died young
• Charles, died young
• Elizabeth, died young
• Margaret, died young
• Mary/Marie, mother of Sir Charles Erskine, 1st Baronet of Alva
• Elizabeth, died unmarried
• Anne/Anna, married David Erskine, 2nd Lord Cardross

Of the four sons who survived infancy, three of these later qualified as advocates: John, Thomas and James. Two of these sons were elevated to judges in the Supreme Court.

Two of his sons were appointed to the bench while Hope was Lord Advocate; and it being judged by the Court of Session unbecoming that a father should plead uncovered before his children, the privilege of wearing his hat, while pleading, was granted to him. This privilege his successors in the office of Lord Advocate have in theory ever since enjoyed.

Historical fiction

• Sir Thomas Hope is the subject of Nigel Tranter's last novel, Hope Endures (2005).

References

1. ^ John Burke (1838). "A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, Enjoying Territorial Possessions Or High Official Rank: But Univested with Heritable Honours, Volume 4". Great Britain. pp. 458–459. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
2. Monuments and monumental inscriptions in Scotland (Grampian Society, 1871).
3. Melros Papers, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1837), pp. 49-51.
4. A Diary of the Public Correspondence of Sir Thomas Hope of Craighall, 1633–1645 (Bannatyne Club: Edinburgh, 1843), p. 10
5. Robert Paul, 'Letters of Thomas Hope', Miscellany of the Scottish History Society (Edinburgh, 1893), p. 106.
6. Monuments and monumental inscriptions in Scotland: The Caledonian Society of Scotland
7. David Stevenson, King of Covenant? Voices from the Civil War (Tuckwell, 1996), p. 105.
8. "Visitors to the Site of the Free Library". Scotland: Edinburgh Evening News, Midlothian, Scotland. 23 March 1887.
9. Robert Chambers, John Gibson Lockhart, R. L. Stevenson (27 November 2014). The Edinburgh Collection: Traditions of Edinburgh, Peter's Letters to his Kinfolk, Edinburgh: Picturesque Notes. Palimpsest Book Production Limited.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
10. Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1885). "Bayne, Alexander" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 3. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
11. Sir Thomas Hope (1726). Minor Practicks: Or, A Treatise of the Scottish Law. T. Ruddiman and sold by W. Monro. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
12. A Diary of the Public Correspondence of Sir Thomas Hope of Craighall, 1633–1645: From the Original, in the Library at Pinkie House. Great Britain: Bannatyne Club. 1843. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
13. https://archive.org/stream/registerinterme00socigoog/registerinterme00socigoog_djvu.txt
14. Sir James Balfour Paul, (1846–1931) (1907). Douglas, David (ed.). The Scots peerage : founded on Wood's ed. of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland; containing an historical and genealogical account of the nobility of that kingdom. Edinburgh, Scotland. pp. 484–505. Retrieved 28 May 2017.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
15. Sir Thomas Hope (1893). Twenty-four Letters, 1627–1646. Scotland: Scottish History Society. pp. 82–83.
16. John Philip Wood (1794). Antient and Modern State of the Parish of Cramond. J. Paterson. p. 19. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
17. ^ Sir Robert Douglas (1798). The Baronage of Scotland. Edinburgh, Scotland. pp. 58–61. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
18. Lee, Sidney, ed. (1891). "Hope, John (1605?-1654)" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 27. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Lee, Sidney, ed. (1891). "Hope, John (1605?-1654)". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 27. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

External links

• Article on Sir Thomas Hope

• 1573 births
• 1646 deaths
• Nobility from Edinburgh
• Hope family
• Lord Advocates
• Hope baronets
• Lords High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
• Members of the Faculty of Advocates
• Scottish knights
• 17th-century Scottish politicians
• Members of the Convention of the Estates of Scotland 1630
• Members of the Parliament of Scotland 1639–1641
• Members of the Parliament of Scotland 1628–1633
• Burials at Greyfriars Kirkyard