James Kirkcaldy of Grange

James Kirkcaldy of Grange (died 1556) was a Fife laird and treasurer of Scotland.

He married Janet Melville, aunt of Sir James Melville of Halhill. Their heir was William Kirkcaldy of Grange. His main property was called Hallyards Castle.

Sir James Kirkcaldy accompanied James V on his trip to France in 1536 to marry Madeleine of Valois. The Laird of Grange's duties including paying the sailors and organising repairs to the ships for the return voyage. On 13 October 1537, Janet and James received a gift of lands at Kinghorn from James V of Scotland which were taken from John Lyon, 7th Lord Glamis. On 4 October 1539, James V granted his treasurer the fishing rights on the Tay at Tentsmuir both fresh and saltwater. In February 1540, James V requested the auditors of the accounts to reward Kirkcaldy and the comptroller, David Wood of the Craig. As their twelve servants had to attend court but would not be housed and fed as household men in the newly reformed royal household, Wood and Kirkcaldy each got £333-6s-8d each yearly. Kirkcaldy also got extra payments, to 'sustain the treasurer's house', when the exchequer followed the king on justice ayres; to Dumbarton in 1540, and Dumfries in 1541. Kirkcaldy witnessed king James's will on the Salamander at Leith on 12 June 1540 before his voyage to Orkney and the Western Isles.

George Buchanan mentions Kirkcaldy's Protestant faith in his account of the arrest and execution of James Hamilton of Finnart.James Melville of Halhill credits Kirkcaldy with a lengthy speech to James V which narrates the events of the king's early years. According to Melville and John Knox, the Catholic clergy had given James V a list of all the Protestants in Scotland, hoping the king would persecute them and seize their lands. James Kirkcaldy, in Melville's story, by his speech persuaded the king not to do this. James V confronted the clergy with his dagger saying; "Wherefore gave my predecessors so many lands and rents to the kirk? Was it to maintain hawks, dogs and whores to a number of idle priests?" But now the priests knew the king's intentions, and when Kirkcaldy was away from court, securing the marriage of his second son to Helen Leslie of Pitcaple, his enemies at court moved against him. Melville thought these courtiers persuaded James V against travelling to York to meet Henry VIII of England, who hoped that Scotland would become a Protestant country. The breaking of this arrangement was thought to have led to the Battle of Solway Moss. John Knox told the same story in his History of the Reformation.Regent Arran mentioned the king's list of 360 Protestants to Ralph Sadler in March 1543.

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