Andrew was the fifth and youngest son of a merchant burgess of Edinburgh—William Rutherfurd (died 1624) of Wrightslands and of Easter and Wester Quarrelholes in Restalrig—and his wife Isobel (married 1608), daughter of James Stewart of Traquair.
During the Commonwealth (or, to monarchists, the Interregnum), Rutherford served the French government, which maintained regiments of Scottish soldiers throughout the Thirty Years's War.
In 1661 Charles II gave him the Scottish title of Lord Rutherfurd and the governorship of Dunkirk, which had been acquired by the Protector Oliver Cromwell.
[1] On 18 April 1651, Rutherfurd was married to Susanna de Melville at Migueri in the Châtelain of Bois Commune in France.
[5] In his will he donated funds to his former university in Edinburgh, for the construction of eight chambers, and gave directions that a Latin inscription which he had composed should be placed upon the building.