Two years later, he advised on operations to end the siege of Edinburgh Castle. This eliminated the final barrier to a reunification of Scotland under Queen Mary's son, Protestant King James, in 1573. His lineage became known as Crawford of Jordanhill, his estate in the present-day suburbs of Glasgow, of which he was made provost in 1577. He was also the first person to provide a bursary out of his own wealth at Glasgow University, (16 bolls of oatmeal from the mill at Partick) - an amount large enough to completely support one student.