Dysart Burghs

<p>At George I’s accession the chief interests in Dysart Burghs were those of the Earl of Rothes, a Squadrone Whig, and James St. Clair, also a Whig but of the rival Argyll faction. In 1715 William Kerr, the brother of the leader of the Squadrone, the Duke of Roxburghe, was returned unopposed in the Rothes interest.</p><p>In 1722 there was a double return, Thomas Leslie being returned by his father, Lord Rothes, as sheriff, and St. Clair by the returning officer. The Commons awarded the seat to St. Clair,<a class='fnlink' id='t1' href='#fn1'>1<span><em>CJ</em>, xx. 33, 48-49.</span></a> who held it till 1734, when he lost it to Leslie.</p><p>In 1738 another candidate took the field, James Oswald, whose father had bought Dunnikier, three miles from Kirkcaldy, where he had built up a strong interest by acquiring a twenty-year lease of the burgh’s common lands and advancing considerable sums for the reconstruction of the harbour.<a class='fnlink' id='t2' href='#fn2'>2<span><em>Kirkcaldy Burgh Recs.</em> 219 et seq., 246.</span></a> In 1741 Leslie withdrew, leaving Oswald to be returned unopposed.</p><p>In 1747 Oswald, who was standing for Fifeshire, and St. Clair, who was standing for Sutherland, agreed to treat Dysart Burghs as a second string. Should one of them fail for his county he would fall back on Dysart: if both succeeded the seat would be filled either by a relation of Oswald’s or by St. Clair’s nephew, <a href="/landingpage/57811" title="Sir Henry Erskine" class="link">Sir Henry Erskine</a>.<a class='fnlink' id='t3' href='#fn3'>3<span>Oswald to Geo. Grenville, 1 Aug. 1747, Grenville mss; Argyll to Pelham, 30 July 1747, Newcastle (Clumber) mss.</span></a> Oswald was successful, but St. Clair failed, taking the Dysart seat.</p>