Edinburgh was the only single burgh constituency in Scotland. Before the Union it had returned two Members, one a merchant and the other a tradesman. The electoral council, consisting of the corporation plus seven extraordinary members, was under the influence of the dukes of Argyll. It usually returned the lord provost or a councillor as Member.
At George I’s accession the chief interests in Dysart Burghs were those of the Earl of Rothes, a Squadrone Whig, and James St. Clair, also a Whig but of the rival Argyll faction. In 1715 William Kerr, the brother of the leader of the Squadrone, the Duke of Roxburghe, was returned unopposed in the Rothes interest.
As in Dumfriesshire, the chief interests in Dumfries Burghs were in the Douglases, dukes of Queensberry, and the Johnstones, marquesses of Annandale, who usually co-operated. In 1715, when the Duke was a minor, Alexander Fergusson was returned in succession to his uncle by marriage, Sir William Johnstone, of a junior branch of the Annandale family.
Of the five Ayr burghs, Inverary and Campbeltown were controlled by the dukes of Argyll, and Rothesay by the earls of Bute, allied by the 2nd Earl’s marriage to the 2nd Duke’s sister in 1711. The predominant partners in this alliance were the dukes of Argyll, especially after the death of the 2nd Earl of Bute in 1723, when the 2nd Duke of Argyll and his brother, Lord Ilay, became the guardians of their nephew, the 3rd Earl of Bute, then aged 10. Throughout the period Argyll-Bute nominees were returned without opposition.
The predominant interest in these five small decaying coastal burghs lay in the Anstruther family, headed by Sir John Anstruther, whose nephew, Philip Anstruther, was returned unopposed in 1715.
In 1715 James Erskine, a Tory, was returned against John Middleton, a Whig, attached to the Duke of Argyll. Middleton petitioned successfully, on the ground that two of the delegates voting for Erskine had been illegally elected. In 1722 Middleton was defeated by William Kerr, brother of the Duke of Roxburghe, the head of the anti-Argyll faction known as the Squadrone. Middleton again petitioned, this time on the ground that he had been returned by the clerk of the presiding burgh, who was the legal returning officer, notwithstanding which the sheriff had wrongfully returned Erskine.
The chief interest in Wigtownshire was that of the Agnews of Lochnaw, till 1748 its hereditary sheriffs, in alliance with the Stewarts, earls of Galloway, and the Dalrymples, earls of Stair. In 1715, John Stewart, an Argyll Whig, and brother to the 5th Earl of Galloway, Sir James Agnew’s brother-in-law, was returned. He was succeeded in 1727 by William Dalrymple, Agnew’s first cousin by marriage.
The chief interest in Sutherland was that of the earls of Sutherland, its hereditary sheriffs, Whigs and government pensioners. In 1715 Sir William Gordon, a leading member of the Squadrone, related to the Earl of Sutherland, was unopposed. In 1722 he defeated a candidate, whose petition, supported by the Duke of Argyll’s party, claimed that the sheriff had admitted a number of voters holding not of the Crown but of the Earl, whose vassals had no vote.
The chief interest in Stirlingshire was that of the 1st Duke of Montrose, one of the leaders of the Squadrone, who was hereditary sheriff of the county. The interest of the Erskines of Alloa was temporarily in abeyance owing to the attainder of Lord Mar after the 1715 rebellion.
The chief interest in Selkirkshire was that of its hereditary sheriff, John Murray of Philiphaugh, who returned his brother-in-law, John Pringle, from 1715, and in 1730 another kinsman, James Rutherford, both government supporters. In 1734 and 1741 Murray himself was returned unopposed as an opposition Whig, having resigned his hereditary sheriffdom to one of his sons. In 1747 he was opposed by a government candidate, Lord Charles Scott, who died before the election, whereupon an unknown candidate stood unsuccessfully against him.Argyll to Pelham, 30 July and 1 Aug.
