Commons 1754-1790

The principal interests in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright belonged to: the earls of Galloway; their relations, James Murray of Broughton and the Stewarts of Castle Stewart; the Gordons of Kenmure; the Maxwell family, whose chief was the representative of the attainted 5th Earl of Nithsdale; the Heron family, and their kinsman John Ross Mackye; the Earl of Selkirk, son of a Jacobite; and the Duke of Queensberry. Almost all these interests overlapped into the neighbouring counties of Wigtown, Dumfries, and Ayr. Many of the smaller landowners were Catholics or had old Jacobite connexions.

The principal interests in order of importance belonged to the Duke of Hamilton, the Earl of Hyndford and his relations the Carmichael and Lockhart families, and the Duke of Douglas, who exercised little influence until the controversy began over the succession to his estates. Robert Dundas of Arniston, having married Henrietta Carmichael Baillie, the heiress of Lamington, headed a considerable following; as also did Charles Hope Weir, who had inherited through his wife the estate of Blackwood.

The principal aristocratic families of Kincardineshire—Earl Marischall, Lord Falconer of Halkertoun, and Viscount Arbuthnott—were Jacobite in sympathy, and for a considerable part of this period their interest was dormant. The representation was controlled by a group of ancient families: the Ramsays of Balmain, the Burnetts, and the Carnegies of Pitarrow. Sir James Carnegie had a comparatively minor interest in Kincardineshire, and depended mainly on the support of his mother’s relations the Burnetts.Sir W. Fraser, Hist. of the Carnegies, i.

In 1754 Sir John Bruce Hope of Kinross had the principal interest in the county, and at the general election his nephew Robert Colvile of Ochiltree was returned unopposed. From 1764 rival interests challenged the Bruce supremacy. John Adam of Maryburgh began to create votes with the intention of standing himself or putting up his brother Robert. General John Irwin, Lord George Sackville’s friend, had acquired the estate of Burleigh, and in 1763 purchased two votes on superiority from Robert Colvile.

The principal interests in Haddingtonshire belonged to the Dalrymples of North Berwick and the Fletchers of Saltoun. In 1747 these two families combined their interests on the understanding that Sir Hew Dalrymple and Andrew Fletcher younger of Saltoun should represent the county and Haddington Burghs alternately. In 1754 Dalrymple, the sitting Member, contrived to retain the county, but when he again tried to avoid his obligations in 1761 he was forced by the intervention of the Duke of Argyll to give way to Fletcher.See HADDINGTON BURGHS.

Inverness-shire was dominated by four great clans: the Frasers, the Grants, the Macleods, and the Macdonalds. The Frasers had potentially the largest electoral interest, but following the attainder of Lord Lovat in 1747 their estates were forfeited. During the early part of this period vast influence was exercised by Archibald, Duke of Argyll.

At the beginning of this period there was no one dominant interest in Fife. One closely related family group included the Wemysses, the St. Clairs, and the Erskines of Mar and of Kellie, all of whom in varying degrees had suffered for their Jacobitism. To them were usually opposed the Leslies, earls of Rothes, the earls of Leven, and the earls of Morton, firm Whigs belonging to the anti-Argyll party and attached to the ‘English’ ministry.

The principal interest in the county was that of the Maule family, though the Ogilvies, Carnegies, and Lyons had considerable influence. William Maule, Earl of Panmure, had held the seat since 1735, and was re-elected unopposed in 1754 and 1761. But by 1766 he was alarmed at an opposition declared by Thomas Lyon, brother of Lord Strathmore: the threat was so serious that Panmure prepared to fall back on Aberdeen Burghs for a seat at the general election.

In Edinburghshire, ‘the first county of Scotland’, a majority of the freeholders were members of the Scottish bar, law agents, administrators, and men of wealth, culture, and independence. The principal landowner, the Duke of Buccleuch, was a minor until 1767, and although other peers possessed estates in the shire they exercised minor influence in comparison with the celebrated legal family, the Dundases of Arniston, who, though of no great fortune, had by their personal interest obtained ‘the entire command’ of the county.

The Grants of Grant, the Earl Fife, and the Duke of Gordon contended for control of the county; the interest of the Brodies of Brodie, once considerable, did not revive until the 1780’s. The seat was held from 1741 by Sir Ludovick Grant, chief of the clan, who was attached to the Duke of Newcastle and was distrusted by both Argyll and Bute. He was a disagreeable man, frequently at odds with the Gordons and with his near relations the Duffs, but nevertheless was returned unopposed in 1754.