Archibald Johnston

Who was Archibald Johnston?

Archibald Johnston, Lord Warriston was a Scottish judge and statesman.

He assisted Alexander Henderson in framing the Scots National Covenant in 1638. Appointed a Procurator of the Kirk in the same year. In 1639 he assisted in negotiating pacification of Berwick, and the treaty of Ripon in 1640. He was lord of session as Lord Warriston in 1641. In 1643 as commissioner for Midlothian he opposed neutrality in English affairs.

He took prominent part in the Westminster Assembly, and became in 1644 a member of the Committee of Both Kingdoms representing Scotland in London. Named king's advocate by Charles I in 1646, he resisted the Engagement 1648, and perhaps drew up the Act of Classes in 1649; He was appointed lord clerk register in 1649 and is said to have given Leslie fatal advice at the Battle of Dunbar in 1650, after which he lost his offices.

In 1657 as a leading remonstrant renamed by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell as lord clerk register. He was a member of Oliver and Richard Cromwell's House of Lords and a member of Council of State. On the restoration of the Rump Parliament in 1649, and on its suppression he became permanent president of Committee of Safety.