Scottish burgh

Edinburgh was governed by a council consisting of 25 members, 17 representing the merchants and eight the trades. For certain purposes, including the election of magistrates and of the Member of Parliament, the council was increased by the addition of eight extraordinary deacons, representing the remainder of the incorporated trades. Edinburgh was the only single burgh constituency in Scotland, and about 1754 the chief influence in its affairs was that of Archibald, Duke of Argyll, and his political manager Andrew Fletcher, Lord Milton S.C.J.

Cullen was under the command of the Ogilvies, earls of Findlater, throughout the period. Kintore was commanded in the early part of the period by the 3rd Earl of Kintore, whose finances were so disordered that he depended on Government: on the death of his brother, the 4th Earl, in 1761 the estates passed to the absent Earl Marischal, and were administered on his behalf by George Burnet of Kenmay. Burnet also controlled the burgh of Inverurie, which he had seized from Lord Kintore.

In 1754 this constituency was controlled by James Oswald of Dunnikier and his close friend James St. Clair of Sinclair. The Oswalds, a prominent merchant family, had long held the chief sway in Kirkcaldy; Dysart was entirely directed by St. Clair; while Burntisland and Kinghorn were decayed and corrupt. Oswald was returned unopposed until 1768 when he made way for his son.

Inveraray and Campbeltown, the two ‘Highland burghs’, were controlled by the Duke of Argyll; Rothesay by the Earl of Bute; and Irvine by the Earl of Eglintoun. Ayr, which prided itself on its incorruptibility, always maintained a certain independence but was influenced by the Earl of Loudoun.

For most of the period this constituency was under the patronage of the Douglases, dukes of Queensberry. The interest of the Johnstone family, powerful in the earlier part of the century, was dormant after 1748, when the Marquess of Annandale, the head of the family, was declared insane and incapable of managing his affairs; it was revived towards the end of our period by a junior branch of the family, the Johnstones of Westerhall.

Aberdeen and Montrose were busy trading ports governed by wealthy merchant lairds; Arbroath and Inverbervie specialized in smuggling; and Brechin, the only inland town, manufactured linen. The leading interest was that of the Maules of Panmure, whose candidate, David Scott, was returned unopposed in 1754. In May 1759 Panmure, anxious for army promotion, reminded Newcastle:

These five small coastal burghs, much decayed since the Union, were in effect at the disposal of the highest bidder among the local magnates. The Anstruthers of Anstruther controlled the adjoining burghs of Anstruther Easter and Wester; and had great influence in Crail, where their chief rivals were the Scotts of Scotstarvit, the Moncriefs of Sauchope, and the Erskines of Cambo. In Kilrenny, the Anstruthers and Scotts contended for control; and in Pittenweem, the Erskines of Kellie could not without assistance challenge the Anstruthers.

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.

Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, was spectacularly situated on a series of parallel igneous ridges and hollows two miles from the southern shore of the Firth of Forth, and was dominated by its castle, to the south and east of which the labyrinthine mediaeval town was clustered.Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1895), ii. 467-524. In this period it underwent continued expansion and improvement, particularly in the Georgian New Town, north of the Nor’ Loch, where the most significant development was that of the Moray estate, north of Charlotte Square, 1823-8.

Aberdeen, situated on the Dee at its entrance to the North Sea, was a major fishing port and shipbuilding and industrial centre, where the large-scale manufacture of cotton, linen, sailcloth, woollens and hosiery was carried on. There were also extensive iron works and manufactories of rope, leather, paper, soap and candles. The royal burgh, or ‘New Town’, contained Marischall College (1593), while the ‘Old Town’, a separate burgh of barony, was the location of King’s College (1494). The population (burgh and parish) rose from 44,796 in 1821 to 58,019 in 1831.