The dominant interest in Ross-shire was that of the earls of Seaforth, restored to supremacy in 1784 and subsequently strengthened through further creations of life-rent votes by the Whig Francis Humberston Mackenzie, chief of the clan. In 1788 Lawrence Hill credited Seaforth with 24 votes under direct control and estimated that he could probably rely on a further 20.
The leading interest was that of Sir Michael Stewart of Blackhall, ‘the head of one of those considerable Whig families in the county, which had made uncommon exertions in the cause of opposition’, combined with that of his heir John Shaw Stewart. They were estimated to control 45 votes out of 114, with William McDowall of Castle Semple, a friend of Henry Dundas and of Pitt’s administration, in second place, commanding 26 votes.Pol. State of Scotland 1788, pp. 278-93; Ginter, Whig Organization, 21; NLS mss 2, f.
The most powerful interest in Perthshire was that of the 4th Duke of Atholl, a supporter of government, whose uncle Gen. James Murray was the sitting Member in 1790 and whose family had enjoyed general supremacy since the Union. His chief aristocratic rival was the Whig 4th Earl of Breadalbane, but in county politics party strife was usually a sub-plot to the main theme of conflict between Atholl and the ‘independent freeholders of middling estates’, who were thick on the ground.Pol. State of Scotland 1788, pp.
The Duke of Queensberry nominally had the principal interest, but such was the ascendancy gained over him by Lord Chief Baron Montgomery, who had sat as the duke’s Member from 1768 to 1775, that the latter was able to secure the return of his two sons in turn. Indeed by 1802, the lord chief baron was credited with the leading interest in the county, and in 1806 and 1810 his son Sir James was said to be sitting on his own interest.Pol. State of Scotland 1788, p. 250; Add. 33049, f. 356; Add. 51917; NLS mss 1, ff. 206-9.
Although Sir Thomas Dundas of Aske, a friend and follower of Fox, had ‘by far the most considerable estate and interest’ in Orkney, his own neglect and ‘a spirit of jealousy among the smaller proprietors’ seriously undermined his position in the late 1780s. The main threats came from the Honyman family of Graemsay whose head, Patrick, had conveyed his estates to his son William, a lawyer under obligations to Henry Dundas; and from the Balfours of Trenabie. Between the Balfours and the Dundases there was bad blood.
The interest of John Campbell I of Cawdor, described in 1800 as ‘the political overlord’ of Nairnshire,Carm. RO, 1 Cawdor 130, Cumming Gordon to C. Greville, 4 Nov. 1800. was territorially and numerically superior to any other.
Sir William Cunynghame of Livingstone, Member since 1774, had survived a contest organized against him by Henry Dundas in 1784, in which Capt. George Dundas of Dundas was his opponent. As an avowed Whig, he was again a target in 1790, when Henry Dundas put up a much stronger candidate, his future brother-in-law John Hope, brother and heir of James, 3rd Earl of Hopetoun, whose interest in the county had originally guaranteed Cunynghame’s return and was now combined with that of the Dundases of Dundas against Cunynghame.
The predominant interest was that of Archibald, 8th Duke of Hamilton, restored in 1774 and unchallenged since. While the duke repeatedly complained of Pitt’s neglect of his applications for local patronage, his nominee Sir James Steuart Denham was, in the view of both, a uniform supporter of Pitt’s administration.PRO 30/8/129, f. 119; 141, ff.
The balance of interests in the Stewartry was so fine that in 1784 there was a tripartite pact whereby Peter Johnston; James Murray of Broughton and Cally; and Alexander Stewart of the Castle Stewart family agreed to share the Parliament. It broke down because shortly before Johnston was due to make way for Murray, Murray eloped with Johnston’s sister.
In 1788 the controlling interest was reported to be in George Graham of Kinross House who, having purchased that estate in 1777, had come in for the county in the Parliament of 1780 and was expected to do the same at the next general election: ‘The county is a small one, and the greater part of it belongs to Mr Graham in property and superiority’. Out of 26 voters, 16 were then attributed to Graham, though several of them were dubious life-renters. The next interest was that of John Adam of Blair, father of the Whig politician William Adam of Downhill.
