GEORGE 'BLUIDY' MACKENZIE

In 1677 Mackenzie became Lord Advocate and a member of the Privy Council of Scotland. He was therefore charged with the priority of enforcing persecution laws against the Covenanters.

He was so relentless and inhumane in office that he was nicknamed ‘Bluidy’ Mackenzie. He was in private life a cultivated and learned man writing elegant essays across a broad range of learning, notably philosophy and history.

His most famous work is “A Moral Essay Preferring Solitude to Public Employment”, and “Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland from the Restoration of Charles II.” Is a valuable historical document which was published later in 1821. Mackenzie was the founder of the Advocate’s Library in Edinburgh.

He opposed the dethronement of James II, retiring from his public office to avoid the consequences. Mackenzie died in May, 1691 at Westminter and was buried in a mausuleum known as The Black Mausuleum' in Greyfriars Kirkyard where visitors have experienced being physically attacked by the 'MacKenzie Polterguist'.