LOCKHART, George I (d. 1658), of Tarbrax, Lanarkshire.

The MP elected for the Lanark Burghs in 1656 has usually been confused with George Lockhart II*, the younger brother of the Cromwellian ambassador, Sir William Lockhart of Lee*.9P.J. Pinckney, ‘The Scottish Representation in the Cromwellian Parliament of 1656’, SHR lxvi, 110; Dow, Cromwellian Scot. 186; cf. Cromwellian Union ed. Terry, pp. lxivn, lxxix. Yet the election indenture confirms that this was a more distant member of the same family, George Lockhart of Tarbrax, who was also William’s brother-in-law, having married his sister Anne.10C219/45, unfol.; Lockhart, Seven Centuries, 32. In political terms, the difference between the two Georges was minimal. George Lockhart I was closely allied with his wife’s family, and witnessed the marriage contract of Sir William Lockhart in October 1646.11NLS, Lockhart Charters A.1, folder 2, no. 4. He first came to public notice a few months later, when he was appointed commissary of Glasgow, a post granted by the Scottish Parliament in March 1647 at the behest of his father-in-law, Sir James Lockhart.12Glasgow Recs. 1630-62, 114; Acts Parl. Scot. vi. part 1, 780-1. In February 1652 George joined Sir William Lockhart as deputy for Lanarkshire to tender the shire’s assent to union with England.13Cromwellian Union ed. Terry, 57. George’s ready compliance with the English invaders, although in line with Sir William’s views, caused great anguish to other members of the family. His wife was seriously ill at the time, and on her deathbed in early April 1652 she reportedly prayed for the ‘remnant in Scotland’ and ‘spake against the apostasy of the times and that her brother and husband’s fall had brought on her death’.14Wariston Diary, ii. 154. Lockhart was unrepentant. In January 1653, in his role as rector of Glasgow University, ‘having joined affectionately with the English’, he invited the pro-Cromwellian Protester minister, Patrick Gillespie, to become principal.15Dow, Cromwellian Scot. 59; Baillie Lttrs. and Jnls. iii. 238. As Robert Baillie complained in 1654, the Protester faction now dominated the university, and ‘the rector, in all they desired, was ever for them, for their common masters’ sake, the English’.16Baillie Lttrs. and Jnls. iii. 241. Baillie felt himself vindicated, however, as he soon discovered that a rift had developed between Gillespie and Lockhart, and welcomed news that the latter ‘falling in a foul fornication’, was to be sacked as provost.17Baillie Lttrs. and Jnls. iii. 243.

George Lockhart seemed to shrug off such accusations. He had been appointed commissary for Lanarkshire by the council of state on 16 June 1653, and was re-appointed in 1656-7.18Worcester Coll. Oxf. Clarke MS XLIII, f. 14; Scot. and the Protectorate ed. Firth, 317; NLS, MS 9752, f. 11. In August 1653 he was trusted with £1,000 voted by Parliament to relieve the inhabitants of Glasgow who had suffered in a disastrous fire.19Worcester Coll. Oxf. Clarke MS XLIV, p. 11. From the summer of 1655 he acted as sheriff of Clydesdale, with the task of collecting arrears of rents from crown properties.20Worcester Coll. Oxf. Clarke MS XLVII, unfol.: 14, 23 July, 5 Sept. 1655 The next 12 months saw Lockhart’s appointment as assessment commissioner and justice of the peace for Lanarkshire.21Acts Parl. Scot. vi. Part 2, 840; Scot. and the Protectorate ed. Firth, 313. Whether such official positions were the result of government favour or of his brother-in-law’s intervention – or both – is uncertain; but his local standing was undoubtedly bolstered by family influence, and this can best be seen in the Lanarkshire elections of 1656. These elections were dominated by the Lockhart clan, no doubt aided by another of Sir William’s brothers-in-law, Sir James Hamilton of Orbiston*, who was the presiding sheriff.22Worcester Coll. Oxf. Clarke MS XLIII, f. 81v. On 20 August 1656 Sir William was duly returned, and on the same day George was elected as MP for the Lanark Burghs.23C219/45, unfol. George Lockhart was given a pass to travel to London on 2 September, but soon afterwards his enemies among the Glasgow Protesters secured his exclusion from Parliament, a move that forced the ambassador to write to Secretary John Thurloe* asking for help for ‘a brother-in-law of mine, who is one of the Members that the council hath not a-proven’.24Worcester Coll. Oxf. Clarke MS XLVIII; Baillie Lttrs. and Jnls. iii. 357; TSP v. 586. Although he had been kept out of the Commons ‘a large month’, George eventually took his seat in the second half of October.25CJ vii. 442b.

George Lockhart’s activity at Westminster is obscured by contemporary failures to distinguish him from his brother-in-law, John Lockhart, MP for the shires of Dunbarton, Argyll and Bute. It is probable that most of these ambiguous references are to John, who was acting as William Lockhart’s agent in this Parliament, but on various occasions George can be identified with some certainty. He was added to the committee of Scottish affairs on 21 October 1656, and became involved in the question of forfeited estates, in which his brothers-in-law had a vested interest.26CJ vii. 442b. He was named to the committee on the bill to pardon the earl of Callander and Lord Cranston on 15 June 1657, and when it convened two days later, was chosen as one of three MPs, with the earl of Tweeddale (John Hay) and Sir James McDowell, who would survey the evidence on the committee’s behalf. Their support for the pardons would influence the committee when it reported back to the House.27CJ vii. 557b; NLS, MS 7032, f. 97. George also sided with his family during the disputes that followed the introduction of a new civilian constitution in February 1657. On 25 March he joined John in voting in favour of including the offer of the crown in the Humble Petition and Advice.28Narrative of the Late Parliament (1657), 23 (E.935.5). On 15 June, during the debate on restricting the Scottish franchise in the Additional Petition and Advice – a measure that would exclude many former royalists – George forced a division, but was unable to prevent John Lambert and his allies from voting the measure through.29Wariston Diary, iii. 81. Such restrictions would strengthen the hand of the Protesters in the Kirk, and George’s opposition again shows his political views. Although it is clear that his principal allegiance was to his brothers-in-law, there is no hint that his activities attracted the disapproval of his fellow Scots. Lockhart was one of three burgh MPs chosen to further the agenda of the convention of royal burghs at the start of the Parliament, and again in December 1656.30Recs. Convention of Royal Burghs, 429, 433. Glasgow was also pleased with Lockhart’s performance. On 18 April 1657 the burgh awarded him £100 sterling for his attendance at Westminster, and wrote to ‘the remnant burghs in the west’ to send their own contribution to the sum.31Glasgow Recs. 1630-62, 363. There is evidence that he reciprocated this support, as on 13 July 1657 the burgh received ‘a letter direct from Commissary Lockhart’ from London – presumably reporting on the first sitting of Parliament, which had ended a few weeks before.32Glasgow Recs. 1630-6, 371.

After the adjournment of the parliamentary session, George Lockhart continued to attract the ire of the Protesters by supporting the Glasgow corporation in its attempt to re-establish burgh elections in the winter of 1657-8. Appointed to a radical-dominated commission to decide the issue, he denounced the proceedings as ‘illegal’, and refused to sit. The burgh won its right to hold elections, but Lockhart’s precise role in the affair is uncertain.33Baillie Lttrs. and Jnls. iii. 361. In a sign of official favour in February 1658 he was co-opted to the commission set up by the Scottish council to administer the estate of the late duke of Hamilton.34NRAS, MS 332, E.3(Addit.)/97. Lockhart was still in post as commissary when he died in October 1658. He left two children, William and Anna, whose affairs had been put in the hands of the trustees of the estate, including Sir James Lockhart of Lee, Sir William Lockhart, George II and John Lockhart.35NRS, CC8/7/30. Lockhart’s testament was approved in December 1662, and his heir, William Lockhart of Tarbrax, died in 1681.36Commissariot Recs. Glasgow: Testaments, 1547-1800 ed. Grant, 282; Commissariot Recs. Lanark: Testaments, 1595-1800 ed. F.J. Grant (Edinburgh, 1903), 63.