Heriot synonyms

There is record of a club in Haddington in 1709, of Tom Bicket's green in Kilmarnock in 1740, of greens in Candleriggs and Gallowgate, Glasgow, and of one in Lanark in 1750, of greens in the grounds of Heriot's hospital, Edinburgh, prior to 1768, and of one in Peebles in 1775.

No one save the king had the right of jurisdiction over him, while by a law of Canute we learn that he paid a larger heriot than an ordinary thegn.

Foremost among them was the hospital founded by George Heriot - the " Jingling Geordie " of Scott's Fortunes of Nigel - the goldsmith and banker of James VI.

At his death in 1624 Heriot left his estate in trust to the magistrates and ministers of Edinburgh for the maintenance and teaching of poor fatherless sons of freemen.

Even earlier than Heriot's hospital was the Merchant Maiden hospital, dating from 1605, which gave to the daughters of merchants similar advantages to those which Heriot's secured for burgesses' sons.