George Lockhart, Lord Carnwath

Sir George Lockhart of Carnwath (c. 1630 – 1689) was a Scottish advocate, judge and commissioner to parliament.

The second son of Sir James Lockhart of Lee, laird of Lee, he was admitted as an advocate in 1656. He was knighted in 1663, and was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Advocates in 1672. He was celebrated for his persuasive eloquence. In 1674, when he was disbarred for alleged disrespect to the Court of Session in advising an appeal to parliament, fifty barristers showed their sympathy for him by withdrawing from practice. Lockhart was readmitted in 1676, and became the leading advocate in political trials, in which he usually appeared for the defence.

He was a Commissioner to the Scottish Parliament for Lanarkshire in 1681/82 and 1685/86. He was appointed Lord President of the Court of Session in 1685, and a Privy Counsellor and a commissioner of the Exchequer in 1686. Lockhart purchased the extensive estates of the Earls of Carnwath in Lanarkshire, which were inherited by his eldest son, George Lockhart of Lee (1673–1731), whose mother was Philadelphia, daughter of Lord Wharton.

Lockhart was murdered in Edinburgh returning from church on 31 March 1689, by John Chiesley of Dalry, the father of Lady Grange. Chiesley had been unhappily married to Margaret Nicholson, mother of their ten children. Margaret took her husband to court for aliment. She was awarded 1,700 merks by Sir George. Furious with the decision, Chiesley shot Lockhart dead on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh as he walked home from church on Easter Sunday, 31 March 1689. The assailant made no attempt to escape and confessed at his trial, held before the Lord Provost the next day. Two days later he was taken from the Tolbooth to the Mercat Cross on the High Street. His right hand was cut off before he was hanged, and the pistol he had used for the murder was placed round his neck.

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