James Sandilands, 1st Lord Torphichen

James Sandilands, 1st Lord Torphichen (* around 1511; † September 29, 1579 at Hallyards Castle in Fife ), was a Scottish nobleman .

He was a younger son of Sir James Sandilands, 7th Laird of Calder (1482-1559), and the Mariot Forrester († 1562).

In 1530 he became a Knight of the Order of Malta and lived in Malta for many years . Around 1546 he became the Preceptor of the Coming Malta Torphichen Preceptory in Linlithgowshire , the only branch of this order in the Kingdom of Scotland . As a holder of this office he was also a member of the Scottish Privy Council and the Scottish Parliament .

Although he was a member of a Catholic knightly order, he, like his father, supported the Reformation .

In 1560 he traveled to France on behalf of the Scottish Parliament to see Maria Stuart , Queen of Scotland, then the wife of King Francis II of France , in order to obtain her approval of the Treaty of Edinburgh . The treaty would have ended the alliance between France and Scotland and initiated Scotland's secession from the Catholic Church, but was rejected by Queen Mary.

In early September 1560 he made his personal departure from the Catholic Church and celibacy and married Janet Murray († 1596), daughter of William Murray, Laird of Polmaise and Touchadam.

On January 23, 1564 he resigned from all ecclesiastical offices and transferred all his possessions and related rights to the Scottish Crown. These possessions included in particular the feudal baronies of Torphichen , Listoun, Ballintrodo, Tankertoun, Denny, Maryculter, Stanhoep and Galtua. Queen Maria Stuart enfeoffed him in return with these same lands, which were now combined in a single Barony Torphichen, and bestowed on him the hereditary title of Lord Torphichen , of Saint John of Torphichen. Since he had no children himself, title and fiefdom should be inheritable at will ("to his heirs and assignees whatsoever").

In 1567 he was at the coronation of King Jacob VI. present.

When he died childless on September 29, 1579, James Sandilands, 10th Laird of Calder (around 1574-1617), the underage grandson of his eldest brother, inherited him as 2nd Lord Torphichen. His widow married John Grahame of Hallyards for the second time around 1584 and Sir Peter Young of Seaton for the third time in 1596.

Literature and web links

• Charles Mosley (Ed.): Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage . Volume 3, Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, Wilmington 2003, p. 3916.
• James Sandilands, 1st Lord Torphichen on thepeerage.com

predecessor	Office	successor
New title created	Lord Torphichen 1564-1579	James Sandilands