Adam Colt (d. 1643)

Adam Colt (d. 1643) was among the first Regents to be employed by Edinburgh University. A native of Perth and graduate of St Andrews University (1583), he was appointed to teach the third year class (or 'Determinands') in October 1586. Although it was normal practice for the same regent to stay with a class throughout their four-year Master of Arts degree, Colt was, in fact, the third regent to tutor this particular year group. Their original regent, Duncan Nairn, had died in February 1586, and his successor, Charles Lumsden, had demitted at the end of the academic year. Colt remained with the class for the final two years of their degree, tutoring them in all subjects. He does not appear to have remained as a regent after their graduation in 1588. Colt went on to become Minister of Borthwick in 1595 then Minister of Inveresk in 1597, demitting in 1641.

Archives at Edinburgh University

• Signature, August 1588 (as regent), First Laureation & Degrees Album, Edinburgh University Archives (EUA IN1/ADS/STA/1/1)

Sources

• Thomas Craufurd, History of the University of Edinburgh, from 1580 to 1646: To Which is Prefixed the Charter Granted to the College by James VI of Scotland, in 1582 (Edinburgh: Printed by A. Neill & Co., 1808)
• Sir Alexander Grant, The Story of the University of Edinburgh during its First Three Hundred Years, 2 vols (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1884)
• Hew Scott, Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ: The Succession of Ministers in the Church of Scotland from the Reformation, vol. I (Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1915)