James Aitken

infobox bishopbiog
name = James Aitken


religion=
See = Diocese of Galloway
Title = Bishop of Galloway
Period = 1680–1687
consecration = October 28, 1679, as Bishop of Moray
Predecessor = Arthur Rose
Successor = John Gordon
post = | ordination =
bishops = Bishop of Moray
date of birth = 1612 or 1613
place of birth = Kirkwall, Orkney
date of death = November 15, 1687
place of death = Edinburgh

James Aitken (d. 1687) was a 17th century Scottish prelate. Born in either 1612 or 1613 in Kirkwall, Orkney, he was the son of Elizabeth "née" Buchanan and sometime sheriff of Orkney and Shetland, Henry Aitken. After his school days at Kirkwall grammar school, he attended the University of Edinburgh, graduating July 23, 1636, with an MA. Subsequently, he travelled to England to study divinity at the University of Oxford. Returning to Scotland as the chaplain of James, Marquess of Hamilton, he was given charge of the churches of Harray and Birsay on June 27, 1641.

Aitken remained a staunch royalist during the English Civil War, and after the failure in 1650 of the campaign of James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, fled to the Netherlands. He returned to Scotland during the Cromwellian Protectorate and resided in Edinburgh for most of the period between 1653 and 1660, moving his family from Orkney. With the Restoration of the latter year and the return of the monarchy, Aitken's known loyalty to the crown was rewarded with patronage. This began with a cash payment in May 1661, and later in that year, the church of Winfrith in Dorset.

After about 16 years in England, in June 1676 Aitken was elevated to the position of Bishop of Moray, receiving consecration two years later, on October 28, 1679. His brief period as Bishop of Moray came to an end when, on February 6, 1680, he was translated to the diocese of Galloway. As Bishop of Galloway, he received permission to reside in Edinburgh because, in the words of Robert Keith, "it was thought unreasonable to oblige a reverend prelate of his years to live among such a rebellious and turbulent people" [Keith, "Historical Catalogue", p. 282.] He died on November 15, 1687, and was buried in Greyfriars Church, Edinburgh. The cause of death was apoplexy. John Hamilton, Bishop of Dunkeld, carried out his funeral eulogy.

Notes

References

*Keith, Robert, "An Historical Catalogue of the Scottish Bishops: Down to the Year 1688", (London, 1924), pp. 153-4, 282-3
*Wayne Pearce, A. S., "Aitken , James (1612/13–1687)", in the "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/838, accessed 3 May 2007]