ARBUTHNOTT, Hugh (1780-1868), of Hatton, Kincardineshire

Although he sat in the House of Commons for almost forty years, Arbuthnott, known in Kincardineshire as the General, ‘scarcely ever took part in its debates’.1Pall Mall Gazette, 17 July 1868. Aberdeen Liberals sniped that he ‘never opened his mouth’.2Aberdeen Journal, 7 Nov. 1838. He was a ‘specimen of the staunch old Tory school’, the Caledonian Mercury noted in 1854. Indeed he was one of the last survivors of the pre-1832 cohort of Scottish ‘county Tory members who steadily adhered to the government of the day, so long as their party was in power’.3Caledonian Mercury, 24 Aug. 1854. As such he was something of a relic in the reformed period, when the Scottish representation was overwhelmingly dominated by the forces of Liberalism. As his political views changed little if at all during his career, he was praised for his ‘high character and integrity’.4Aberdeen Journal, 22 July 1868.

After serving in the French Wars, including in the Iberian Peninsula with the duke of Wellington, Arbuthnott was returned unopposed for Kincardineshire at the 1826 general election. He benefited from the backing of his brother John, 8th Viscount Arbuthnott, who was a Scottish representative peer, from 1818-20 and 1821-47, and the Liverpool ministry’s Scottish manager Robert Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville.5HP Commons, 1820-1832, iv. 89. He proved to be a reliable conduit for his brother’s views, supporting Catholic relief in 1829, a policy he had previously opposed, and resisting the reform bills of 1831-2.6Ibid., 89-90.

At the 1832 general election Arbuthnott faced his first and only challenge as MP for Kincardineshire, winning an easy victory against a Reformer after receiving the backing of most of the local landowners.7Aberdeen Journal, 3 Oct. 1832. He was unopposed thereafter and even his brother’s insolvency and departure to live on the Continent in 1847 did not weaken his hold over the constituency.8Dundee Advertiser, 16 Apr. 1847. Arbuthnott’s hustings speeches were typically terse and vague affairs, almost entirely free of political content. For example, in 1847 he declared that he had ‘no party object to advance, no private end to serve, and no ambition or aim’ beyond promoting the interests of Kincardineshire.9Aberdeen Journal, 11 Aug. 1847.

In the first reformed Parliament, Arbuthnott supported the motions of the Attwood brothers for currency reform, 21 Mar., 24 Apr. 1833. He backed the motions of the marquess of Chandos for agricultural relief and Sir William Ingilby’s proposal for a reduction in the malt tax in 1833 and 1834. In 1835 he voted with Peel’s Conservative government in the key divisions on the speakership and the amendment to the address in February 1835. Despite his previous votes, Arbuthnott rallied to support Peel’s government in dividing against Chandos’ proposal to repeal the malt tax, 10 Mar. 1835. In the later 1830s Arbuthnott’s staunch support for the Protestant establishments of the United Kingdom was reflected in his antipathy to Irish church reform and the abolition of church rates. He opposed political reforms, including the ballot, as a matter of course, and continued to divide with the Conservative leadership on all key party votes, including the motions of no confidence in the Whig government, 31 Jan. 1840, 4 June 1841.

A strong protectionist, Arbuthnott backed Peel’s 1842 sliding scale on corn, but opposed the repeal of the corn laws in 1846. By the latter date he had already become estranged from the ministry after the introduction of the 1845 Maynooth college bill, which he opposed. He later told constituents that ‘I have always been a zealous supporter of the Protestant Constitution … I have always been opposed to Papal aggression, or the interference of any foreign power in the domestic affairs of this kingdom’.10Belfast News-Letter, 21 May 1847. Although Arbuthnott voted in the minority with Peel in the division on Irish coercion that brought down the Conservative government, 25 June 1846, thereafter he followed the lead of Lord Derby and Benjamin Disraeli.

In the late 1840s and 1850s Arbuthnott generally voted in around 10-25% of the divisions in each session.11In 1849 he voted in 25 (11.4%) out of 219 divisions; in 1853 in 51 (24.7%) out of 206; and in 1856, 37 (18.7%) out of 198: Spectator, qu. in Elgin Courier, 19 Oct. 1849; Daily News, 21 Sept. 1853; J.P. Gassiot, Third letter to J.A. Roebuck (1857), 26. In 1851 and 1852 his attendance was slightly below the average for Scottish MPs.12In 1851 he voted in 50 (20.6%) out of 242 divisions; in 1852 he voted in 21 (16.5%) out of 127. The average figures for Scottish MPs were 26% and 29% respectively. Calculated from Caledonian Mercury, 8 July 1852. Arbuthnott backed Russell’s 1851 ecclesiastical titles bill and in 1857 he boasted that he had opposed the Maynooth grant ‘on every possible occasion, and shall continue to do so’.13Aberdeen Journal, 8 Apr. 1857. He voted in the majorities that defeated Palmerston over Canton and the conspiracy to murder bill, 3 Mar. 1857, 19 Feb. 1858. Arbuthnott’s support for Derby’s 1859 reform bill was probably the only vote he ever gave for a progressive measure, and contrasted with his continued opposition to reform proposals from Liberal ministers and backbenchers.

The octogenarian Arbuthnott announced his retirement at the 1865 general election.14Stirling Observer, 16 Mar. 1865. A lifelong bachelor, he died without issue in 1868, leaving a personal estate sworn under £120,000, which passed to his nephews William and Walter Arbuthnott.15Calendar of Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration (1868), 95.