22 Facts About Archibald Johnston

Archibald Johnston, Lord Wariston was a Scottish judge and statesman.

Archibald Johnston assisted Alexander Henderson in writing the Scottish National Covenant in 1638, and was appointed Procurator of the Kirk in the same year.

Archibald Johnston was said to have supported the prophesies of Margaret Mitchelson as true.

Archibald Johnston was Lord of Session as Lord Warriston in 1641.

Archibald Johnston played a prominent part in the Westminster Assembly, and in 1644 became a member of the Committee of Both Kingdoms representing Scotland in London.

Archibald Johnston was appointed Lord Clerk Register in 1649 and is said to have given Leslie fatal advice at the Battle of Dunbar in 1650, after which he lost his offices.

Archibald Johnston was a member of Oliver and Richard Cromwell's House of Lords and a member of the Council of State.

Archibald Johnston was condemned to death in absentia and arrested in Rouen.

Archibald Johnston was a son of James Johnston, a merchant burgess of Edinburgh.

Archibald Johnston first came to public notice in 1637 during Charles I's attempt to force an Episcopalian liturgy upon Scotland.

Archibald Johnston was said to have supported the prophesies of Margaret Mitchelson who predicted the success of the National Covenant.

Archibald Johnston was appointed clerk to the Tables and clerk and afterwards procurator or counsel to the General Assembly held at Glasgow the same year, when he discovered and presented several missing volumes of records.

Archibald Johnston took his seat early the same year in the Westminster Assembly, to which he had been nominated, and vehemently opposed measures tolerating independency.

Archibald Johnston continued to oppose concessions to Charles and strongly disapproved of the Engagement concluded in 1648 by the government of the Duke of Hamilton with Charles at Carisbrooke, which, while securing little for Presbyterianism, committed the Scots to hostilities with the English Parliament and the New Model Army.

Archibald Johnston was present at the battle of Dunbar as a member of the Committee of Estates.

Archibald Johnston lived in a mansion house at the foot of Warriston Close in Edinburgh on its east side, which had previously been home to Sir Lewis Craig.

Archibald Johnston's severed head was displayed on the Netherbow and afterwards buried with his body in Greyfriars Kirkyard.

Archibald Johnston was a man of great energy, industry and ability, and played a large part in the defence of the Presbyterian settlement of 1638.

Archibald Johnston had by nature no republican leanings; all the Royalists in Scotland, wrote Robert Baillie as late as 1646, could not have pleaded so much for the Crown and the King's just power as the Chancellor and Warriston did for many days together.

Archibald Johnston was wanting in tact and in consideration for his opponents, confessing himself that his natural temper "hath been hasty and passionate".

Archibald Johnston was disliked by Charles I and hated by Charles II, whom he rebuked for lack of commitment to the Covenants; but he was associated in private friendship and public life with Argyll.

Archibald Johnston had a large family, the most famous of his sons being James Johnston, known as Secretary Johnston.