James Kirkton

He was a bursar of the Presbytery of Jedburgh and was first ordained as "second charge" minister of Lanark in 1655 translating to Mertoun in the Scottish Borders in 1657.

[2] He was deprived of office in 1662 for differences with the new political and religious climate (primarily the reintroduction of Episcopacy) and sought refuge first in England.

He was in Edinburgh in June 1676 when he was seized as a rebel by Captain Carstairs, but his release was negotiated by his brother-in-law, Robert Baillie of Jerviswood, who had great influence.

[2] He returned to Scotland in July 1687 after the "Toleration" and preached from a meeting house on Castlehill, at the head of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh.

[3] During his ministry in Edinburgh he is noted for criticising cockernonnies - a hairstyle fashionable with women in the late 17th century, and was affronted when he saw his own daughter in church sporting this "cock-up": "I have spent all this year preaching against the vanity of women, yet I see my own daughter in the kirk even now, with as high a 'cock-up' as any of you all.