Robert Gourlay or Robin Gourlaw (c. 1530-c. 1600) was a wealthy Edinburgh merchant and Customar of Edinburgh who built a renowned house in Edinburgh (now demolished).
Life
Robert Gourlay is first recorded in the employ of Regent Arran as a Groom of the Chamber and Wardrobe and was sometimes called the Regent's "chamber Child". The Regent bought clothes to wear and a horse to travel with, a measure of his importance in the household. In January 1552 he was called "Keeper of the Wardrobe". Another servant in the Wardrobe, the tailor Malcolm Gourlay was probably his older brother, or uncle.
In November 1570, as a merchant of Edinburgh, Gourlay supplied two hanks of gold thread to the Edinburgh tailor James Inglis and embroiderer John Young, for clothes for James VI of Scotland.
Regent Morton was a friend of Robert Gourlay, and allowed him to export grain, despite shortages. Gourlay was an elder of Edinburgh Kirk. In May 1574 the Kirk censured him for exporting grain and he was compelled to appear in St Giles Kirk at the "marriage place" wearing his best gown, which he was ordered to sell for the benefit of the poor. The Regent tried to insist to the minister James Lawson that Gourlay should not be punished, and publicly declared he had allowed Gourlay to export cereals despite the scarcity. The English ambassador in Edinburgh Henry Killigrew sent news of the incident to Francis Walsingham saying that it caused "some little grudging" and "unkindness" between the Kirk and Regent Morton. However, the historian Michael Lynch however suggests the affair did not cause a significant rift between Morton and the clergy.
