Scottish representatives to the 1st Parliament of Great Britain

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Scottish representatives to the House of Commons of the 1st Parliament of Great Britain were not elected but co-opted in 1707 from the Commissioners of the last Parliament of Scotland.

Contents 1 Legal background to the composition of the 1st Parliament 2 Dates of the Parliament 3 Selection of MPs from Scotland 4 Scottish constituencies 5 Members of Parliament returned for Scotland

[edit] Legal background to the composition of the 1st Parliament

Under the Treaty of Union of the Two Kingdoms of England and Scotland it was provided:

"III. THAT the United Kingdom of Great Britain be Represented by one and the same Parliament to be stiled the Parliament of Great Britain.

...

XXII. THAT ... A Writ do issue ... Directed to the Privy Council of Scotland, Commanding them to Cause ... forty five Members to be elected to sit in the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain ... in such manner as by a subsequent Act of the present session of the Parliament of Scotland shall be settled ... And that ... the members of the House of Commons of the said Parliament of England and the forty five Members for Scotland ... shall be ... the first Parliament of Great Britain ..."

The Parliament of Scotland duly passed an Act settling the manner of electing the sixteen peers and forty five commoners to represent Scotland in the Parliament of Great Britain. A special provision for the 1st Parliament of Great Britain was "that the Sixteen Peers and Forty five Commissioners for Shires and Burghs shall be chosen by the Peers, Barrons and Burghs respectively in this present session of Parliament and out of the members thereof in the same manner that Committees of Parliament are usually now chosen shall be the members of the respective Houses of the said first Parliament of Great Britain for and on the part of Scotland ..."

The United Kingdom of Great Britain came into existence on 1 May 1707.

[edit] Dates of the Parliament

Election: The members of the last English House of Commons had been elected between 7 May 1705 and 6 June 1705. The last general election in pre-Union Scotland was in 1703.

First meeting and maximum legal term: Parliament first met on 23 October 1707. The Parliament was due to expire, if not sooner dissolved, at the end of the term of three years from the first meeting of the last Parliament of England, which would have been on 14 June 1708.

Dissolution: The 1st Parliament of Great Britain was dissolved on 3 April 1708.

[edit] Selection of MPs from Scotland

Scotland was entitled to 45 MPs at Westminster. The Scottish legislation prescribed the constituencies from which the MPs from Scotland were to be elected. These constituencies were first used in the election of 1708 to the 2nd Parliament.

The special procedure for selecting the Scottish members for the 1st Parliament produced 44 Scottish MPs and there was one vacancy.

[edit] Scottish constituencies

Key to categories: BC - Burgh constituency, CC - County constituency.

Constituency	MP
Aberdeen Burghs BC	vacant
Aberdeenshire CC	vacant
Anstruther Easter Burghs BC	vacant
Argyllshire CC	vacant
Ayr Burghs BC	vacant
Ayrshire CC	vacant
Banffshire CC	vacant
Berwickshire CC	vacant
Buteshire or Caithness CC	vacant
Clackmannanshire or Kinross-shire CC	vacant
Cromartyshire or Nairnshire	vacant
Dumfries Burghs BC	vacant
Dumfriesshire CC	vacant
Dunbartonshire CC	vacant
Dysart Burghs BC	vacant
Edinburgh BC	vacant
Edinburghshire CC	vacant
Elgin Burghs BC	vacant
Elginshire CC	vacant
Fife CC	vacant
Forfarshire CC	vacant
Glasgow Burghs BC	vacant
Haddington Burghs BC	vacant
Haddingtonshire CC	vacant
Inverness Burghs BC	vacant
Inverness-shire CC	vacant
Kincardineshire CC	vacant
Kirkcudbrightshire CC	vacant
Lanarkshire CC	vacant
Linlithgow Burghs BC	vacant
Linlithgowshire CC	vacant
Orkney & Shetland CC	vacant
Peebleshire CC	vacant
Perth Burghs BC	vacant
Perthshire CC	vacant
Renfrewshire CC	vacant
Ross-shire CC	vacant
Roxburghshire CC	vacant
Selkirkshire CC	vacant
Stirling Burghs BC	vacant
Stirlingshire CC	vacant
Sutherland CC	vacant
Tain Burghs BC	vacant
Wigtown Burghs BC	vacant
Wigtownshire CC	vacant

[edit] Members of Parliament returned for Scotland

1. William Nisbet (c 1666-Oct 1724)
2. John Cockburn (c 1679-13 Nov 1758)
3. Sir John Swinton (by 1662-1723)
4. Sir William Ker (?-Apr 1716)
5. Archibald Douglas (c 1667-3 Jul 1741)
6. William Bennet (?-23 Dec 1729)
7. John Murray (c 1667-24 Mar 1714)
8. John Pringle (c 1674-19 Aug 1754)
9. William Morison (19 Apr 1663-1739) 76
10. George Baillie (16 Mar 1664-6 Aug 1738) 74
11. Sir John Johnston (?-30 Sep 1711)
12. John Stewart (after 1670-22 Apr 1748)
13. Francis Montgomerie (?-by Jan 1729)
14. William Dalrymple (11 Oct 1678-30 Nov 1744) 66
15. Sir Robert Pollock (c 1665-22 Aug 1735)
16. John Haldane (31 Mar 1660-26 Jun 1721) 61
17. Mungo Graham (23 Dec 1670-26 Nov 1754) 83
18. Sir Thomas Burnett (after 1656-Jan 1714)
19. Sir David Ramsay (after 1673-1 Sep 1710)
20. William Seton (6 Mar 1673-1744) 71
21. Alexander Grant (after 1673-19 Aug 1719)
22. Hugh Rose (27 Jan 1663-23 Jan 1732) 68
23. Sir Kenneth McKenzie (1658-13 Sep 1728)
24. John Campbell (c 1660-9 Apr 1729)
25. Sir James Campbell (c 1679-14 Oct 1756)
26. James Campbell (c 1666-5 Jul 1752)
27. James Halyburton (?-by Jul 1755)
28. Alexander Abercrombie (5 Nov 1678-23 Dec 1728) 50
29. Sir Alexander Douglas (c 1667-3 Jul 1741)
30. John Bruce (?-19 Mar 1711)
31. Sir Patrick Johnstone (?-7 Sep 1736)
32. Sir John Erskine (1672-12 Mar 1739) 66
33. Hugh Montgomerie (c 1663-14 Jan 1735)
34. James Scott (1671-Oct 1732) 61
35. John Erskine (Sep 1660-1733) 72
36. Patrick Moncreiff (c 1674-Jan 1709)
37. Sir Andrew Hume (19 Jul 1676-16 Mar 1730) 53
38. Sir Peter Halkett (c 1660-20 Mar 1746)
39. Sir David Dalrymple (c 1665-3 Dec 1721)
40. John Clerk (8 Feb 1676-4 Oct 1755) 79
41. Patrick Ogilvy (1665-20 Sep 1737) 72
42. Sir George Allardice (17 Aug 1672-5 Oct 1709) 37
43. Daniel Campbell (c 1672-8 Jun 1753)
44. Alexander Maitland (?-Jun 1721)
45. vacant

This page incorporates information from Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page.