Sir Roger Hog, Lord Harcarse (c1635-1700)

From Our History
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Lord of Session

Born in Berwickshire, Roger Hog became an advocate in 1661, and was knighted upon being made a Lord of Session in 1677, taking the title of Lord Harcarse. He represented Berwick at the convention of the states of Scotland in 1678. Removed from the bench in 1688 by royal command for gainsaying the wishes of government, he was later accused of partiality toward his son-in-law, Aytoun of Inchdairnie. In his enforced retirement he compiled a "Dictionary of decisions from 1681 to 1692", which was published in 1757, long after his death in 1700.

On his death his son William presented the Library with 64 books from his father's library. These were mostly on legal subjects, but included the second quarto edition of Shakespeare's play "The most lamentable Romaine tragedy of Titus Andronicus" (London: 1600), of which only one other copy is known. It was having access to this copy, through an arrangement brokered by the antiquary David Laing (1793-1878), that persuaded James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps (1820-1889) to present to the Library his large collection of Shakespeareana in 1872.

All or some of the text on this page originally appeared in the Gallery of Benefactors