John Scrimgeour of Myres

Who is John Scrimgeour of Myres?

John Scrimgeour of Myres Castle near Falkland, Fife was Master of Work for royal buildings for James V and Mary, Queen of Scots, and Precentor of the Scottish Chapel Royal.

He and his father held their lands by right of an hereditary office as sergeant-of-arms or macer to the King of Scotland. John Scrimgeour kept the building accounts for most of the works of James V from 1529, especially for Falkland Palace and Holyroodhouse and most of these accounts survive. As well as supervising building work and contracts, Scrimgeour also collected taxes, mostly from church lands, which James V had allocated to the works.

From the tax on church lands granted to James V for his expenses in France, from October 1536 to September 1538, Scrimgeour received £4996-7s-10d.

Scrimgeour was briefly eclipsed between 1538 and 1540 when Sir James Hamilton of Finnart was appointed Principal Master of Work with higher authority, and during the first years of the regency of James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran who employed a kinsman, John Hamilton of Milneburne.