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

[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 (1707-1708)

  • Showing dates of birth and death
  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 Kerr, 3rd Baronet (?-Apr 1716)
  5. Archibald Douglas (Scottish politician) (c 1667-3 Jul 1741)
  6. William Bennet (Scottish politician) (?-23 Dec 1729)
  7. John Murray (MP for Banffshire) (c 1667-24 Mar 1714)
  8. John Pringle (Scottish politician) (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 (Scottish politician) (after 1670-22 Apr 1748)
  13. Francis Montgomerie (?-by Jan 1729)
  14. William Dalrymple (politician) (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, 4th Baronet (after 1673-1 Sep 1710)
  20. William Seton (6 Mar 1673-1744) 71
  21. Alexander Grant (after 1673-19 Aug 1719)
  22. Hugh Rose (Scottish politician) (27 Jan 1663-23 Jan 1732) 68
  23. Sir Kenneth McKenzie (1658-13 Sep 1728)
  24. John Campbell (Scottish politician) (c 1660-9 Apr 1729)
  25. Sir James Campbell (Scottish politician) (c 1679-14 Oct 1756)
  26. James Campbell (Scottish politician) (c 1666-5 Jul 1752)
  27. James Halyburton (Scottish poitician) (?-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 1710)
  31. Sir Patrick Johnstone (?-7 Sep 1736)
  32. Sir John Erskine (1672-12 Mar 1739) 66
  33. Hugh Montgomerie (Scottish politician) (c 1663-14 Jan 1735)
  34. James Scott (MP) (1671-Oct 1732) 61
  35. John Erskine (Scottish politician) (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. Sir John Clerk of Pennicuik, 2nd Baronet (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

Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs.