Sir Thomas Burnett, 1st Baronet

Sir Thomas Burnett, 1st Baronet of Leys (died 27 June 1653) was a feudal baron and leading Covenanter who had represented Kincardineshire in the Scottish Parliament in 1621.

The eldest surviving son of Alexander Burnett of Leys and Katherine, eldest daughter of Alexander Gordon of Lesmoir, "Thomas Burnaetus de Leyes" appears in the records of King's College, Aberdeen and Aberdeen University, as a student who matriculated in 1603. In 1604 and 1606 when he was a witness to sasines he is designed as his father's "son and heir apparent", whom he succeeded in 1619 in the feudal barony of Leys and a range of other lands and rights. He completed the work of restoring Muchalls Castle, which his father acquired in the year 1588.

In 1619, prior to his father's death, Thomas Burnet younger of Leys was one of a body of Commissioners named by King James VI of Scotland, at the instance of Bishop Patrick Forbes, to visit the universities of Aberdeen. The same year he was made an honorary Burgess of Aberdeen, and in 1620 he was knighted. He was one of the earliest reciprients of the dignity of Baronet of Nova Scotia, his patent dated at Holyroodhouse on 21 April 1626.

In the Act of 1621 for the Plantation of new kirks, mention is made of Burnet of Leys having petitioned for the erection of a new church at Fetteresso, the parish in which his lands and castle of Muchalls lay, the castle being begun by his father was completed by Sir Thomas in 1627. The religious strife of the 1620s found Sir Thomas a decided opponent of the Episcopalian Court party and he became a supporter of the Solemn League and Covenant.

Immediately on the subscription of the Covenant in Edinburgh, the powerfully organized body, known as the Tables, made arrangements for enforcing its acceptance throughout the whole country and gathering funds to support military detachments.

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