Robert Colville of Cleish (1532–1584) was a Scottish courtier.
He was the eldest son of Robert Colville of Cleish (1508–1560) and Francesca Colquhoun. His grandfather was Sir James Colville of Easter Wemyss (d. 1540).
His younger brother was John Colville the political intriguer.[1]
He was clerk to the Treasurer of Scotland from 1571 and collected taxes for Regent Morton. Colville obtained a gift of wardship of some lands without paying a duty called "composition" directly to the treasury, but apparently paying Morton an equivalent sum by bond. This may be evidence of unusual practice or corruption of the finances of Scotland in Morton's favour.[8] In November 1573 he was granted lands on the island of Gairsay in Orknay which came to the crown after the suicide of James Sinclair of Sanday.[9]
At the end of Morton's regency, Colville was Master and Commander of Stirling Castle during a crisis in August 1578 which involved him taking artillery from the castle to Bannockburn where there was a stand-off with Morton's enemies.[10]
In July 1583 he fell out of favour with the Earl of Gowrie and was ordered to go to confinement in Dumbarton Castle. His brother John Colville was to go to Edinburgh Castle. Instead, Robert Colville went to James VI to declare his innocence. After receiving little comfort from the young king, he secretly went into exile in England. He met Francis Walsingham at Durham in September.[11]
His brother Harry Colville became minister of Orphir and Stenness on Orkney, and Provost of Orkney.[12] He was involved in the trial and torture of Allison Balfour and her family at Kirkwall Castle for witchcraft in 1594.[13] He was murdered in 1596.[14]
He married Margaret Lindsay (d. 1601) daughter of John Lindsay of Dowhill and Marjorie Stewart. Their children included:
Robert Colville of Cleish (d. 1634), who married Beatrix Haldane, daughter of John Haldane of Gleneagles. This Robert Colville, as Baillie of the Lordship of Culross, with other lairds and officials of Culross burgh convened a witch trial in 1621 to investigate the case of Christiane Cooper, accused of using charms.[15]
Elizabeth Colville, who married James Lindsay of Dowhill and Kinloch
^David Laing ed, Original letters of Mr. John Colville, 1582–1603 (Bannatyne Club, 1858).
^David Laing ed, Original letters of Mr. John Colville, 1582–1603 (Bannatyne Club, 1858), p. xiii.
^Thomas Thomson, Diurnal of Occurrents (Edinburgh, 1833), p. 158.
^William Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1569–1571, vol. 3 (Edinburgh, 1903), pp. 156–7 no. 214.
^William Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1571–1574, vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1905), p. 130.
^William Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1571–1574, vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1905), p. 289.
^William Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1571–1574, vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1905), p. 313.
^Charles Thorpe McInnes & Athol Murray, Accounts of the Treasurer: 1574–1580, vol. 13 (Edinburgh, 1978), pp. ix, xi.
^Gordon Donaldson, Register of the Privy Seal: 1567–1574, vol. 6 (Edinburgh, 1963), p. 413 no. 2182.
^Charles Thorpe McInnes & Athol Murray, Accounts of the Treasurer: 1574–1580, vol. 13 (Edinburgh, 1978), p. 215.
^William Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1581–1583, vol. 6 (Edinburgh, 1910), pp. 541, 565, 621.
^Gordon Donaldson, Register of the Privy Seal, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1966), nos. 1229, 1928, 2027, 2051, 2376.
^Pamela Giles, 'Lindsay, Christian', Elizabeth Ewan, Siân Reynolds, Rose Pipes, Jane Rendall, New Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women (Edinburgh, 2018), p. 27.
^Peter Anderson, Peter, Stewart Earls of Orkney (Edinburgh, 2012), p. 163.
^David Masson, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, vol. 12 (Edinburgh, 1895), p. 472.
