Forfarshire (Angus)

The leading Forfarshire families were the Maules, the Ogilvies, the Carnegies, and the Lyons. Under George I these families were in eclipse owing to their participation in the rebellion of 1715, for which the heads of the first three were attainted, forfeiting their estates and fleeing the country, the fourth being killed at the battle of Sheriffmuir. From 1716, when John Carnegie, who had been re-elected for the county in 1715, was expelled from the House for taking part in the rebellion, the seat was filled by James Scott, a government supporter. On Scott’s death in 1733, he was succeeded by his kinsman, Robert, of similar politics, who did not stand in 1734, when Thomas Lyon defeated James Carnegie, the son of the previous Jacobite Member, vacating the seat on becoming the Earl of Strathmore in 1735. At the ensuing by-election William Maule, whose family had been taken under the protection of Lord Ilay, Walpole’s manager for Scotland, defeated Scott and James Carnegie, holding the seat without a contest till his death in 1782.