Caithness (UK Parliament constituency)

Caithness was a county constituency 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.

Caithness
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1708–1918
Replaced by	Caithness and Sutherland
Created from	Caithness

Creation

The British parliamentary constituency was created in 1708 following the Acts of Union, 1707 and replaced the former Parliament of Scotland shire constituency of Caithness-shire.

History

From 1708 to 1832 Caithness and Buteshire 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.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] From 1832 to 1918 Caithness was represented continuously by its own MP.

The constituency elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system until the seat was abolished in 1918.

Boundaries

From 1708 to 1832, the Caithness constituency covered the county of Caithness minus the parliamentary burgh of Wick, which was a component of the Tain Burghs constituency. In 1832, Wick retained its status as a parliamentary burgh and became a component of the Wick Burghs constituency.

By 1892, Caithness had become a local government county 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 Caithness and Sutherland county constituency was created. 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

MPs 1708 to 1832

Election		Member	Party
	1708	none
	1710	Sir James Dunbar, 1st Baronet
	1713	none
	1715	Sir Robert Gordon, 4th Baronet
	1722	none
	1727	Sir Patrick Dunbar, 3rd Baronet
	1734	none
	1741	Alexander Brodie
	1747	none
	1754	John Scott
	1761	none
	1768	Viscount Fortrose
	1774	none
	1780	John Sinclair	Whig
	1784	none
	1790	Sir John Sinclair, Bt	Whig
	1796	none
	1802	Sir John Sinclair, Bt	Whig
	1806	none
	1807	Sir John Sinclair, Bt	Whig
	1811	George Sinclair	Whig
	1812	none
	1818	George Sinclair	Whig
	1820	none
	1826	James Sinclair	Non Partisan
	1830	none
	1831	George Sinclair	Whig[6]

MPs 1832 to 1918

Election		Member	Party
	1832	George Sinclair	Whig[6]
	1837		Conservative[6][7][8]
	1841	George Traill	Whig[6][7][8][9]
	1859		Liberal
	1869	Sir John Sinclair, Bt	Independent Liberal
	1874		Liberal
	1885	Gavin Brown Clark	Independent Liberal/Crofters
	1886		Liberal/Crofters
	1900	Leicester Harmsworth	Liberal
1918		constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1840s

As the alternating pair Buteshire returned the MP for the 1830 general election. The 1831 result is compared to the 1830 result at Buteshire.

General election 1831: Caithness-shire[6][10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	George Sinclair	Unopposed
Registered electors			46
	Whig gain from Tory

General election 1832: Caithness-shire[6][11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	George Sinclair	Unopposed
Registered electors			221
	Whig hold

General election 1835: Caithness-shire[6][11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	George Sinclair	Unopposed
Registered electors			246
	Whig hold

General election 1837: Caithness-shire[6][11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	George Sinclair	129	54.9
	Whig	George Traill	106	45.1
Majority			23	9.8
Turnout			235	70.6
Registered electors			333
	Conservative gain from Whig

Elections in the 1840s

General election 1841: Caithness-shire[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	George Traill	Unopposed
Registered electors			420
	Whig gain from Conservative

General election 1847: Caithness-shire[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	George Traill	Unopposed
Registered electors			571
	Whig hold

Elections in the 1850s

General election 1852: Caithness-shire[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	George Traill	147	58.1	N/A
	Independent Liberal	John Sinclair[12]	106	41.9	New
Majority			41	16.2	N/A
Turnout			253	39.4	N/A
Registered electors			642
	Whig hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1857: Caithness-shire[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	George Traill	Unopposed
Registered electors			779
	Whig hold

General election 1859: Caithness-shire[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	George Traill	Unopposed
Registered electors			789
	Liberal hold

Elections in the 1860s

General election 1865: Caithness-shire[11][13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	George Traill	Unopposed
Registered electors			512
	Liberal hold

General election 1868: Caithness-shire[11][13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	George Traill	512	68.4	N/A
	Conservative	James Horne	237	31.6	New
Majority			275	36.8	N/A
Turnout			749	74.5	N/A
Registered electors			1,005
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

Traill resigned, causing a by-election.

By-election, 26 Aug 1869: Caithness[11][13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Liberal	John Sinclair[14]	432	54.5	New
	Liberal	James Christie Traill[15]	360	45.5	−22.9
Majority			72	9.0	N/A
Turnout			792	78.8	+4.3
Registered electors			1,005
	Independent Liberal gain from Liberal		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1870s

General election 1874: Caithness-shire[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Sinclair	452	50.7	−17.7
	Conservative	William Kidston[16]	439	49.3	+17.7
Majority			13	1.4	−35.4
Turnout			891	79.1	+4.6
Registered electors			1,126
	Liberal hold		Swing	−17.7

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1880: Caithness-shire[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Sinclair	696	65.4	+14.7
	Conservative	Alexander Henderson[17]	369	34.6	−14.7
Majority			327	30.8	+29.4
Turnout			1,065	84.3	+5.2
Registered electors			1,263
	Liberal hold		Swing	+14.7

Clark

General election 1885: Caithness-shire[18][19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Liberal (Crofters)	Gavin Brown Clark	2,110	63.4	New
	Liberal	Clarence Granville Sinclair	1,218	36.6	−28.8
Majority			892	26.8	N/A
Turnout			3,328	77.0	−7.3
Registered electors			4,320
	Independent Liberal gain from Liberal		Swing	N/A

General election 1886: Caithness-shire[18][19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal (Crofters)	Gavin Brown Clark	2,034	77.7	+31.1
	Liberal Unionist	Robert Niven	584	22.3	New
Majority			1,450	55.4	+28.6
Turnout			2,618	60.6	−16.4
Registered electors			4,320
	Liberal gain from Independent Liberal

Elections in the 1890s

General election 1892: Caithness-shire[19][20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal (Crofters)	Gavin Brown Clark	2,134	75.5	−2.2
	Liberal Unionist	William James Bell	693	24.5	+2.2
Majority			1,441	51.0	−4.4
Turnout			2,827	71.8	+11.2
Registered electors			3,936
	Liberal hold		Swing	-2.2

General election 1895: Caithness-shire[19][21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal (Crofters)	Gavin Brown Clark	1,828	77.6	+2.1
	Liberal Unionist	John Cowper	528	22.4	-2.1
Majority			1,300	55.2	+4.2
Turnout			2,356	59.3	-12.5
Registered electors			3,976
	Liberal hold		Swing	+2.1

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: Caithness-shire[19][21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Leicester Harmsworth	1,189	37.5	−40.1
	Conservative	David Patrick Henderson	1,161	36.7	+14.3
	Crofters	Gavin Brown Clark	673	21.3	New
	Land Law Reform Association of Caithness	F.C. Auld	141	4.5	New
Majority			28	0.8	−54.4
Turnout			3,164	78.3	+19.0
Registered electors			4,043
	Liberal hold		Swing	−27.2

General election 1906: Caithness-shire[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Leicester Harmsworth	2,686	84.8	+47.3
	Conservative	Keith Fraser	483	15.2	−21.5
Majority			2,203	69.6	+68.8
Turnout			3,169	77.5	−0.8
Registered electors			4,091
	Liberal hold		Swing	+34.4

Elections in the 1910s

General election Jan 1910: Caithness-shire[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Leicester Harmsworth	2,643	81.8	-3.0
	Conservative	Laurence Strain	590	18.2	+3.0
Majority			2,053	63.6	-6.0
Turnout			3,233	82.0	+4.5
	Liberal hold		Swing	-3.0

Harmsworth

General election Dec 1910: Caithness-shire[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Leicester Harmsworth	2,718	96.9	+15.1
	Ind. Conservative	Archibald Macleod	87	3.1	New
Majority			2,631	93.8	+30.2
Turnout			2,805	66.8	-15.2
	Liberal hold

General Election 1914/15:

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

• Liberal: Leicester Harmsworth
• Unionist:

References

1. "Caithness". History of Parliament Online (1690-1715). Retrieved 27 March 2019.
2. "Caithness". History of Parliament Online (1715-1754). Retrieved 27 March 2019.
3. "Caithness". History of Parliament Online (1754-1790). Retrieved 27 March 2019.
4. "Caithness". History of Parliament Online (1790-1820). Retrieved 27 March 2019.
5. "Caithness". History of Parliament Online (1820-1832). Retrieved 27 March 2019.
6. Smith, Henry Stooks (1842). The Register of Parliamentary Contested Elections (Second ed.). Simpkin, Marshall & Company. p. 198. Retrieved 11 September 2018 – via Google Books.
7. "Latest State of Polls". Leeds Intelligencer. 12 August 1837. p. 4. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
8. "The County Elections". Newcastle Journal. 12 August 1837. p. 2. Retrieved 11 September 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
9. Rigg, James McMullen (1892). "Laing, Samuel" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. 31. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
10. "Caithness". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
11. Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (e-book) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.
12. "The County Election". John o'Groat Journal. 23 July 1852. p. 2. Retrieved 11 September 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
13. Debrett's House of Commons, 1870
14. "Caithness-shire". Liverpool Mercury. 25 August 1869. p. 6. Retrieved 31 January 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
15. "Caithness". Inverness Courier. 26 August 1869. p. 5. Retrieved 31 January 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
16. "The New Parliament". Wrexham Advertiser. 14 February 1874. p. 8. Retrieved 28 December 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
17. "Nominations Yesterday". London Daily News. 3 April 1880. p. 6. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
18. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1889
19. Craig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885-1918. London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 9781349022984.
20. Whitaker's Almanack, 1893
21. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1901
22. Whitaker's Almanack, 1907
23. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1916

Sources

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 6)
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 1)