Buteshire and Caithness (UK Parliament constituencies)

UK former constituency infobox
Name = Caithness
Type = County
Year = 1708
Abolition = 1918UK former constituency infobox
Name = Buteshire
Type = County
Year = 1708
Abolition = 1918

Buteshire and Caithness were county constituencies of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1801 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1918.

From 1708 to 1832 they were paired as "alternating constituencies": one of the constituencies elected a Member of Parliament (MP) to one parliament, the other to the next. The areas which were covered by the two constituencies are quite remote from each other, Caithness in the northeast of Scotland and Buteshire in the southwest.

From 1832 to 1918, they were separate constituencies, each represented by its own MP.

Boundaries

From 1708 to 1832, the Buteshire constituency covered the county of Bute minus the parliamentary burgh of Rothesay, which was a component of the Ayr Burghs constituency, and the Caithness constituency covered the county of Caithness minus the parliamentary burgh of Wick, which was a component of the Tain Burghs constituency.

When Buteshire and Caithness became separate constituencies, in 1832, Rothesay was merged into the Buteshire constituency. Wick retained its status as a parliamentary burgh and became a component of the Wick Burghs constituency.

By 1892, Bute and Caithness had become a local government counties and, throughout Scotland, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889, county boundaries had been redefined for all purposes except parliamentary representation. 26 years were to elapse before constituency boundaries were redrawn, by the Representation of the People Act 1918, to take account of new local government boundaries.

In 1918, the Bute and Northern Ayrshire and Caithness and Sutherland county constituencies were created.

The Bute and Northern Ayrshire constituency was created to cover the county of Bute and a northern portion of the county of Ayr. The rest of the county of Ayr was divided between three other constituencies, all entirely within the county: the county constituencies of South Ayrshire and Kilmarnock, and a remodelled Ayr Burghs.

The Caithness and Sutherland constituency was created to cover the county of Caithness and the county of Sutherland. The Wick Burghs constituency was abolished and two of its former components, Wick and Dornoch, were merged into the new Caithness and Sutherland constituency.

Members of Parliament

Buteshire and Caithness MPs 1708 to 1832

*1708 Dugald Stewart
*1710 John Montgomerie
*1710 James Dunbar
*1713 John Campbell (Buteshire MP), later Duke of Argyll
*1715 Sir Robert Gordon
*1722 Patrick Campbell
*1727 Sir Patrick Dunbar, 3rd Baronet (see Dunbar Baronets)
*1734 Patrick Campbell
*1741 Alexander Brodie
*1747 James Stuart-Mackenzie
*1754 John Scott (Caithness MP)
*1761 James Stuart
*1762 Henry Wauchop
*1768 Viscount Fortrose
*1774 James Stuart
*1780 John Sinclair (Caithness)
*1784 James Stuart
*1790 Sir John Sinclair (Caithness)
*1796 Frederick Stuart
*1802 Sir John Sinclair (Caithness)
*1806 James Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie
*1807 Sir John Sinclair (Caithness)
*1811 George Sinclair
*1812 John Marjoribanks
*1818 George Sinclair
*1820 Lord Patrick Crichton-Stuart
*1826 James Sinclair
*1830 Sir William Rae (Buteshire MP)
*1831 George Sinclair

Buteshire MPs 1832 to 1918

*1832 Charles Stuart
*1833 Sir William Rae
*1842 James Archibald Stuart-Wortley
*1859 David Mure
*1865 George Boyle
*1865 James Lamont
*1868 Charles Dalrymple
*1880 Thomas Russell
*1880 Charles Dalrymple
*1885 James Robertson
*1891 Andrew Murray
*1905 Norman Lamont
*1910 Sir Harry Hope

Election results

Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Party (UK)
candidate = Norman Lamont
votes = 1,637
percentage = 51.9
change = Election box candidate with party link
party = Conservative Party (UK)
candidate = G. Speir
votes = 1,517
percentage = 48.1
change =

After James Robertson accepted office as Solicitor General for Scotland in July 1886, he was returned unopposed at a by-election on 12 August.

Election box candidate with party link
party = Conservative Party (UK)
candidate = James Robertson
votes = 1,364
percentage =
change = Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Party (UK)
candidate = Rev Nigel MacNeill
votes = 819
percentage =
change =

Election box candidate with party link
party = Conservative Party (UK)
candidate = James Robertson
votes = 1,374
percentage =
change = Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Party (UK)
candidate = Robert A Maclean
votes = 1090
percentage =
change =

Caithness MPs 1832 to 1918

*1832 George Sinclair
*1841 George Traill
*1869 Sir John George Tollemache Sinclair
*1885 Gavin Brown Clark (Crofters' Party)
*1900 Robert Leicester Harmsworth

Election results

Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Party (UK)
candidate = Robert Leicester Harmsworth
votes = 2,686
percentage =
change = Election box candidate with party link
party = Conservative Party (UK)
candidate = Sir K.A. Fraser Bt
votes = 483
percentage =
change =

Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Party (UK)
candidate = Gavin Brown Clark MD
votes = 2,034
percentage =
change = Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Unionist Party
candidate = Robert Niven
votes = 584
percentage =
change =

Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Party (UK)
candidate = Gavin Brown Clark MD
votes = 2,110
percentage =
change = Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Party (UK)
candidate = Clarence Granville Sinclair
votes = 1,218
percentage =
change =

See also