Elgin Burghs

The chief interests in Elgin Burghs were those of the Earl of Kintore, who controlled Kintore and Inverurie, and the Earl of Findlater, who controlled Banff and Cullen. In 1715 the rival candidates were James Murray, later secretary of state to the Pretender, supported by Lord Kintore, and Col. John Campbell, first cousin to the Duke of Argyll, supported by Lord Findlater.1More Culloden Pprs. ii. 49-51. The issue depended on the fifth burgh, Elgin, which two rival delegates, one pro-Murray, the other pro-Campbell, claimed the right to represent at the election meeting. Both were allowed to vote, thus producing a tie, whereupon Murray, the chairman of the meeting as the delegate of the presiding burgh, Kintore, returned himself by his casting vote.2CJ, xviii. 37, 54-56. On petition the Commons decided that Campbell ought to have been returned and awarded the seat to him.

A similar situation arose in 1722, when Campbell was defeated by another Jacobite, William Fraser. This time the question turned on which of two rival delegates was entitled to represent Banff at the election meeting.3CJ, xx. 34. On Campbell’s petition Fraser made such an effective speech4See FRASER, William. that the Commons, instead of deciding against him at once, as they had done in Murray’s case, referred the petition to the elections committee, who took over two years to decide that he had not been duly elected and to award the seat to Campbell.

In 1727 Lord Kintore, actuated by the hope of recovering the family office of knight marshal, worth £400 a year, which his father had lost by taking part in the 1715 rebellion, desisted from further opposition to Argyll and ministerial candidates,5Earl of Kintore to Harry Maule, 10 Aug. 1727, SRO, Dalhousie mss 14/407. who were thenceforth returned without a contest. He was rewarded by the restoration of the office of knight marshal on the death of its holder, Lord Binning in 1732.