Bishop of Edinburgh

The line of Bishops of Edinburgh began with the creation of the See of Edinburgh in 1633: the See was founded in 1633 by King Charles I. William Forbes was consecrated at St Giles' Cathedral as the first bishop on 23 January 1634 though he died later that year.

The General Assembly of 1638 deposed David Lindsay and all the other bishops, so the next, George Wishart, was consecrated in 1662 after the Stuart Restoration.

In 1690, it was Alexander Rose (bishop 1687–1720) whose unwelcome reply to King William III (and II) led to the disestablishment of the Scottish Episcopalians as Jacobite sympathisers, and it was he who led his congregation from St Giles' to a former wool store as their meeting house, on the site now occupied by Old St Paul's Church.

[2] After the repeal of the penal laws in 1792 and the reuniting of Episcopal and "Qualified" congregations, the diocese grew under the leadership of bishops Daniel Sandford, James Walker, Charles Terrot and Henry Cotterill.

The Lord Bishop of Edinburgh is ex-officio the Gentleman Usher of the White Rod in the Estates of Parliament of Scotland.