Haddingtonshire (East Lothian)

The shire was represented from 1708 till 1741 by John Cockburn, who had previously represented it in the last Parliament of Scotland. Owing to the expense of his pioneering experiments in agriculture, he was forced to mortgage and in the end sell his estates, thus losing the family interest. His place was taken in 1741 by the Marquess of Tweeddale’s brother, Lord Charles Hay, who did not stand in 1747, perhaps because of a bout of insanity the previous year. A compromise agreement was then arranged between Andrew Fletcher (Lord Milton), the Duke of Argyll’s deputy in Scotland, and Sir Hew Dalrymple of North Berwick, whereby Dalrymple was to be returned for the county and Fletcher’s son for Haddington Burghs, the two families thereafter taking it in turns to represent the county and the burghs.1See HADDINGTON BURGHS.