The Primus, styled The Most Reverend the Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, is the presiding bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

 of the Scottish Episcopal Church

Scottish Episcopal Church

The Scottish Episcopal Church is a Christian church in Scotland, consisting of seven dioceses. Since the 17th century, it has had an identity distinct from the presbyterian Church of Scotland....

. The current Primus is the Most Revd David Chillingworth

David Chillingworth

David Chillingworth is one of the seven diocesan bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church, part of the worldwide Anglican Communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury as primus inter pares...

 who became Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church on 13 June 2009. He was elected at a meeting of an Episcopal Synod which took place on the final day of the Scottish Episcopal Church General Synod.

Roles of the Primus

The Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church has the following tasks:

• to preside at all Provincial Liturgical Functions
• to preside at all meetings of the General Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church
• to preside at all meetings of the Episcopal Synod
• to declare and carry out the resolutions of the General Synod, the Episcopal Synod and the College of Bishops
• to represent the Scottish Episcopal Church in its relation to all other Churches of the Anglican Communion and other Communions
• to perform the functions and duties of Primus as specified in the Canons of the Scottish Episcopal Church
• to correspond on behalf of the Scottish Episcopal Church with Primates, Metropolitans and the Secretary General of the Anglican Consultative Council.

History of the Primus

The Primus does not have any metropolitan

Metropolitan bishop

In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis; that is, the chief city of a historical Roman province, ecclesiastical province, or regional capital.Before the establishment of...

 jurisdiction. Metropolitan responsibilities are held by the diocesan bishops. The last head of the Scottish Episcopal Church who was Primate and Metropolitan was Archbishop Arthur Rose

Arthur Rose

Arthur Rose was a seventeenth century Scottish priest, Archbishop of St Andrews, and Episcopal Primate of Scotland.-Life:The younger son of Elizabeth Wood and her husband, John Rose, minister of Birse, he was born in 1634...

 (of St Andrews) up to his death in 1704. And the last bishop to exercise Metropolitan authority was by Bishop Alexander Rose

Alexander Rose

Alexander Rose of Edinburgh was a wood and ivory turner, following in the footsteps of his father, John, who came from Cromarty. He developed an interest in minerals and began a mineral collection, becoming a dealer in minerals...

 (of Edinburgh) up to his death in 1720.

Bishops elected as Primus

Holders of the role since the creation of the post in the early 18th century.

Primi of Scotland
From	Until	Incumbent	Notes
1720	1727	John Fullarton John Fullarton John Fullarton , of Greenhall, Argyll, was a Scottish clergyman and nonjurant Episcopal Bishop of Edinburgh between 1720 and 1727.-Origins:...	Bishop of Edinburgh Bishop of Edinburgh The Bishop of Edinburgh is the Ordinary of the Scottish Episcopal Diocese of Edinburgh.The see was founded in 1633 by King Charles I. William Forbes was consecrated in St. Giles' Cathedral as its first bishop on 23 January 1634 though he died later that year... , 1720–1727.
May 1727	Oct 1727	Arthur Millar	Bishop of Edinburgh, May–Oct 1727.
1727	1731	Andrew Lumsden	Bishop of Edinburgh, 1727–1733.
1731	1738	David Freebairn	Bishop of Galloway Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway The Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway is the ordinary of the Scottish Episcopal Diocese of Glasgow and Galloway.__FORCETOC__- Brief history :... , 1731–1733; Bishop of Edinburgh, 1733–1739.
1738	1743	Thomas Rattray	Bishop of Dunkeld, 1727–1743.
1743	1747	Robert Keith Robert Keith (historian) Robert Keith was a Scottish Episcopal bishop and historian.-Life:Born at Uras in Kincardineshire, Scotland, on 7 February 1681, he was the second son of Alexander Keith and Marjory Keith . He was educated at Marischal College, Aberdeen between 1695 and 1699; graduating with an A.M...	Bishop of Caithness, 1731–1741.
1747	1761	Robert White	Bishop of Fife, 1743–1761.
1761	1776	William Falconer	Bishop of Moray, 1742–1778; Bishop of Edinburgh, 1776–1784.
1778	1788	Robert Kilgour Robert Kilgour Robert Kilgour was the 39th bishop of the Diocese of Aberdeen of the Scottish Episcopal Church from 1778 to 1788. He was baptised 15 March 1714 in Cruden and later became one of the three bishops to consecrate Samuel Seabury, an American Episcopal priest as a bishop in 1784. He was succeeded by...	Bishop of Aberdeen Bishop of Aberdeen The Bishop of Aberdeen was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Aberdeen, one of Scotland's 13 medieval bishoprics, whose first recorded bishop is an early 12th century cleric named Nechtan... , 1768–1786.
1788	1816	John Skinner John Skinner (bishop) John Skinner was the son of John Skinner and a bishop of the Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney of the Scottish Episcopal Church in the late 18th century. Made coadjutor of Aberdeen on 25 September 1782, Skinner was one of the three bishops to consecrate Samuel Seabury, an American Episcopal priest...	Bishop of Aberdeen, 1786–1816.
1816	1837	George Gleig George Gleig George Gleig was a Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church.He was born at Boghall, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, the son of a farmer. At the age of thirteen he entered King's College, University of Aberdeen, where the first prize in mathematics and physical and moral sciences fell to him...	Bishop of Brechin Bishop of Brechin The Bishop of Brechin is the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Brechin or Angus, based at Brechin Cathedral, Brechin. The diocese had a long-established Gaelic monastic community which survived into the 13th century. The clerical establishment may very well have traced their earlier origins... , 1810–1840.
1837	1841	James Walker	Bishop of Edinburgh, 1830–1841.
1841	1857	William Skinner	Bishop of Aberdeen, 1816–1857.
1857	1862	Charles Terrot Charles Terrot Charles Hughes Terrot FRSE was a Scottish Episcopalian minister, theologian and mathematician. He served as Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church from 1857 to 1862....	Bishop of Edinburgh, 1841–1872.
1862	1886	Robert Eden Robert Eden (bishop) Robert Eden , was Bishop of Moray, Ross and Caithness.Eden, the third son of Sir Frederick Morton Eden, was born 2 September 1804 and educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford. He took a third class in classics in 1826 and proceeded B.A. in 1827...	Bishop of Moray, Ross & Caithness, 1851–1886.
1886	1901	Hugh Jermyn	Bishop of Brechin, 1875–1903.
1901	1904	James Kelly	Bishop of Moray, Ross & Caithness, 1886–1904.
1904	1907	George Wilkinson George Wilkinson (bishop) George Howard Wilkinson was Bishop of Truro and then of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane, in the last quarter of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th...	Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld & Dunblane, 1893–1907.
1908	1935	Walter Robberds	Bishop of Brechin, 1904–1934.
1935	1943	Arthur Maclean	Bishop of Moray, Ross & Caithness, 1904–1943.
1943	1946	Logie Danson	Bishop of Edinburgh, 1939–1946.
1946	1952	John How	Bishop of Glasgow & Galloway Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway The Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway is the ordinary of the Scottish Episcopal Diocese of Glasgow and Galloway.__FORCETOC__- Brief history :... , 1938–1952.
1952	1962	Thomas Hannay Thomas Hannay The Rt Rev Thomas Hannay, DD, MA, BA was an eminent Anglican priest.Hannay was educated at the University of Liverpool and Queens' College, Cambridge and ordained in 1910. He began his career with a curacy in Holmfirth after which he with the Universities’ Mission to Central Africa in Nyasaland...	Bishop of Argyll & The Isles, 1942–1962.
1962	1974	Francis Moncreiff Francis Moncreiff (bishop) Francis Hamilton Moncreiff was an Anglican bishop in the 20th century.Moncreiff was born in North Berwick, educated at Shrewsbury and St John's College, Cambridge. He was ordained after a period of study at Ripon College Cuddesdon in 1931. He began his ordained ministry with curacies at St Giles'...	Bishop of Glasgow & Galloway, 1952–1974.
1974	1977	Richard Wimbush	Bishop of Argyll & The Isles, 1963–1977.
1977	1985	Alastair Haggart Alastair Haggart Alastair Iain Macdonald Haggart was an eminent Anglican priest.Haggart was born on 10 October 1915 and educated at Hatfield College and Edinburgh Theological College. Ordained in 1942, he began his career with curacies at St Mary's Cathedral, Glasgow and St Mary’s Hendon. He was Precentor at...	Bishop of Edinburgh, 1975–1985.
1985	1990	Lawrence Luscombe	Bishop of Brechin, 1975–1990.
1990	1992	George Henderson George Henderson (bishop) The Rt Revd George Kennedy Buchanan Henderson MBE was a Scottish Anglican bishop in the 20th century. He was Bishop of Argyll and The Isles and elected Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church....	Bishop of Argyll & The Isles, 1977–1992.
1992	2000	Richard Holloway Richard Holloway Richard F. Holloway is a Scottish writer and broadcaster and was formerly Bishop of Edinburgh in the Scottish Episcopal Church....	Bishop of Edinburgh, 1986–2000.
2001	2006	Bruce Cameron	Bishop of Aberdeen & Orkney Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney The Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney is one of the seven dioceses of the Scottish Episcopal Church. In mainland Scotland, the diocese covers the City of Aberdeen and most of Aberdeenshire... , 1992–2006.
2006	2009	Idris Jones Idris Jones For the Wales international rugby union player see Idris Jones Idris Jones is a retired Anglican bishop of the Scottish Episcopal Church. He was formerly the Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway.-Education and ministry:...	Bishop of Glasgow & Galloway, 1998–2009.
2009	present	David Chillingworth David Chillingworth David Chillingworth is one of the seven diocesan bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church, part of the worldwide Anglican Communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury as primus inter pares...	Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld & Dunblane, 2005–present.