John Acheson (floruit 1554–1581) was a Scottish goldsmith, mining entrepreneur, and official of the mint.

Career He was the son of John Acheson, a denizen or burgess of Edinburgh, and Janet Fisher. This John Acheson, who had been appointed to collect a tax for Regent Arran with Hew Rig of Carberry in 1545, was killed at the battle of Pinkie in 1547. He had obtained lands at "Poikmyln" near Perth. Janet Fisher held these lands in 1566. She had to go to law over a portion of the land held from Scone Abbey, after new legislation was made about leases of church lands. Patrick Hepburn, Bishop of Moray, and Commendator of Scone tried to give the lands to his son Adam Hepburn.John Hill Burton, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland: 1545–1569, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1877), pp. 5, 465–6.

Acheson was master coiner in Scottish mint,Julian Goodare, State and Society in Early Modern Scotland (Oxford, 1999), pp. 126–7. as was James Acheson, possibly his uncle. He was appointed as "sinkare", an engraver and die maker in the mint, in February 1555.James Beveridge, Register of the Privy Seal, 4 (Edinburgh: HMSO, 1952), p. 506 no. 2910.

He lived in the Canongate of Edinburgh.John Hill Burton, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland: 1545–1569, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1877), p. 483. This was a substantial house where the executor of Arbella Stuart, Thomas Fowler, was lodging in 1590 at the time of his death.HMC Salisbury Hatfield, vol. 4, p. 30.

The Scottish mint

Acheson was in Paris in 1553 to engrave the portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots for coins.Andrea Thomas, Glory and Honour: The Renaissance in Scotland (Edinburgh, 2013), p. 75. Acheson and his business partner John Aslowan received silver from the royal treasurer Robert Richardson, Prior of St Mary's Isle, to coin into testoons.John Hill Burton, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland: 1545–1569, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1877), pp. 343–4: Robert William Cochran-Patrick, Records of the Coinage of Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1879), p. cxxxxvii–vii. In May 1559, Acheson was involved in minting a gold ducat of Mary, Queen of Scots and Francis II. He also made a contract with James Hart and John Hunter who would manage the work of refining silver.Robert William Cochran-Patrick, Records of the Coinage of Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1879), p. cxl, 89–90.

In 1561, Acheson visited France to go to the queen and John Hart took his role at the mint.Robert William Cochran-Patrick, Records of the Coinage of Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1879), p. cxl. He wrote from Edinburgh to Mary in on April 1561, mentioning he had delivered her letters to Comptroller Villemore and others. The great and the poor in Scotland wished she would soon return. He had taken her letters to Hamilton to the Duke of Châtellerault.HMC 6th Report: Earl of Moray (London, 1877), p. 640.

In December 1565, David Forrest, Acheson, and the officers of the mint were directed to coin a new "Marie ryall" worth 30 shillings, depicting a crowned palm tree, with a tortoise, called a "schell padocke" (a toad in a shell) climbing the trunk, with the motto "Dat Gloria Vires", with "Exurgat Deus et Dissipentur Inimici Eius" around the edge. On the other side the coin had the royal arms and inscription for Mary and Lord Darnley, "Maria et Henricus Dei Gratia Regina et Rex Scotorum".John Hill Burton, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland: 1545–1569, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1877), p. 101.

Mary Queen of Scots later used the emblem of the tortoise and the palm tree, with the same motto from Ovid, Tristia, V. 12, "Glory gives strength" in an embroidered panel among the Oxburgh Hall hangings. One source of the image may have been Hadrianus Junius, Emblemata (Antwerp, 1565).Michael Bath, Emblems for a Queen (London, 2008), pp. 38–42. The image was used on a bed curtain.Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1586–1588, vol. 9 (Edinburgh, 1915), p. 504.

Mary and Bothwell sent a font gifted by Elizabeth I at the baptism of Prince James to John Acheson in May 1567 to be made into coins before Carberry. The Confederate Lords arrived in Edinburgh and prevented this.Allan James Crosby, Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, 1566–1568 (London, 1871), p. 240 no. 1243: Joseph Bain, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 2 (Edinburgh, 1900), p. 328 no. 502: Thomas Thomson, Inventaires (Edinburgh, 1863), p. cxxv: Malcolm Laing, History of Scotland, 2 (London, 1819), pp. 110–111.Alison Rosie, "A Queen's Jewel Box: The 1566 Inventory of Mary Queen of Scots' Jewels", Royal Studies Journal, 12:1 (2025), p. 55. Instead, on 10 July 1567, the Lords ordered her servant Servais de Condé to surrender silverware in his keeping for coining to Acheson.Joseph Stevenson, Selections from unpublished manuscripts illustrating the reign of Mary Queen of Scotland (Glasgow, 1837), pp. 194–195John Parker Lawson, History of Scotland by Robert Keith, 1 (Edinburgh, 1844), p. cv This included a silver gilt nef or ship for the queen's table.Joseph Robertson, Inventaires de la Royne Descosse (Edinburgh, 1863), pp. cxxvii, cxlviii.

In August 1567, Regent Moray ordered Acheson to coin a "James Ryall", depicting a crowned sword with the motto "Pro Me Si Merior in Me" and on the other side the royal arms with crowned letters "JR" for James VI, and the legend "Jacobus 6 Dei Gra Rex Scotorum."John Hill Burton, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland: 1545–1569, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1877), p. 413.

During the Marian Civil War, in June 1572, conditions were agreed at Leith with Robert Richardson, as furnisher of the mint or "cunziehous" and Acheson to mint silver coins.HMC 16th Report: Manuscripts of the Earl of Mar and Kellie (London, 1904), pp. 28–29. In 1576, Regent Morton and John Acheson contracted with a Flemish metallurgist Abraham Peterson for the supply of refined silver.Robert William Cochran-Patrick, Records of the Coinage of Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1879), pp. clxviii, 142-5.John Hill Burton, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1878), pp. 506–514, 598–601. Peterson was also a business partner of the Flemish gold miner Cornelius de Vos, and became "melter of metal" in the mint in 1578.Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, vol. 3 (Edinburgh, 1880), p. 412: Robert William Cochran-Patrick, Records of the Coinage of Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1879), p. 103.

In February 1580, Acheson was paid for riding to Stirling Castle, where the king had stayed over the previous decade, and back to Edinburgh eleven times, staying each time ten days or more.Charles Thorpe McInnes, Accounts of the Treasurer: 1574–1580, vol. 13 (Edinburgh, 1978), p. 310.

John Acheson was confirmed as Master of the Mint in 1578.Gordon Donaldson, Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland: 1575–1585, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1966), p. 255-6 no. 1608. Other members of the Acheson family became officers of the mint, Thomas Acheson, master coiner,Gordon Donaldson, Register of the Privy Seal: 1581–1584, vol. 8 (Edinburgh, 1982), p. 112 no. 656. gave his name to groats worth eight pence minted in 1583. In 1597, John's son, James Acheson was master of the mint. He recommended a copper coinage of penny and two penny coins called placks, and these were minted using machinery to form the blanks.Nicholas Holmes, Scottish Coins: A History of Small Change in Scotland (Edinburgh, 1998), pp. 48, 52–4. James Acheson mended two gilt ships or nefs for the king's table in 1602. He and Thomas Foulis made the dies for the coinage of 1605.Robert William Cochran-Patrick, 'Mint Accounts of the Coinage of Scotland', Numismatic Chronicle, 19 (London, 1879), pp. 66–7: National Records of Scotland, treasury vouchers, E23/11/24.

Lead mines John Acheson and his partner John Aslowan had a contract for lead mines in Glengonnar, or Leadhills, and Wanlock, granted by Mary, Queen of Scots in January 1562 allowing them to export lead ore to Flanders. In 1566, their rights were disputed by John Johnston, Robert Kerr, and John Gibson. Gibson had a contract for lead dating back to October 1560, which he had transferred to Johnston, James Lindsay and Aslowan. Johnston and Kerr were also factors for the Earl of Atholl, who had a tack or lease for lead mines, granted in 1565. The Privy Council found in favour of Johnston and Aslowan and their ‘ejection’ of Acheson.John Hill Burton, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland: 1545–1569, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1877), pp. 232, 433–6, 375–7, 483–4.

Marriage and children John Acheson married Agnes Mason in 1568.Gordon Donaldson, Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland: 1567–1574, vol. 6 (Edinburgh, 1963), p. 64 no. 293. Their children included: James Acheson, who became Master of the Mint, and married Mary Bowie.G. E. P. How, 'Canongate Goldsmiths and Jewellers', Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, 74:435 (June 1939), p. 287. In 1598 James Acheson and an English man, Gavin Smith, received a patent for various new kind of pumps for draining mines and coal workings.Thomas Thomson, Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland: 1593–1625, vol. 4 (1816), p. 176. Elene or Helen Acheson (d. 1584), who married the merchant William Birnie, and secondly, Archibald Stewart, Provost of Edinburgh. Their initials "AS EA" were engraved on the cup known as the "Galloway Mazer", now displayed at the National Museum of Scotland.G. How, 'Canongate Goldsmiths and Jewellers', Burlington Magazine, 74:435 (June 1939), p. 287.The Galloway Mazer, Art FundAndrea Thomas, Glory and Honour: The Renaissance in Scotland (Edinburgh, 2013), p. 72. In September 1569 Regent Moray granted them the customs of the "New haven of Preston" known as Acheson's Haven.Gordon Donaldson, Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland, vol. 6 (Edinburgh, 1963), p. 246 no. 754. Helen Acheson took several jewels of Mary, Queen of Scots as security for loans during the Marian Civil War.Michael Lynch, Edinburgh and the Reformation, (Edinburgh, 1981), pp. 138–9, 145, 147. John Acheson

He is also said to have married Margaret Hamilton.G. How, 'Canongate Goldsmiths and Jewellers', Burlington Magazine, 74:435 (June 1939), p. 287.

References