Caithness (UK Parliament constituency)

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

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.

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.

From 1832 to 1918 Caithness was represented continuously by its own MP.

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
style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" |
1708	none
1710	Sir James Dunbar, 1st Baronet
1713	none
1715	Sir Robert Gordon, 4th Baronet
1722	none
1727	Sir Patrick Dunbar, 3rd Baronet (see Dunbar baronets)
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
1830	none
1831	George Sinclair	Whig

MPs 1832 to 1918

Election		Member	Party
style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" |	1832	George Sinclair	Liberal
style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" |	1841	George Traill	Liberal
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1869	Sir John Sinclair, Bt	Liberal
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1885	Gavin Brown Clark	Liberal/Crofters' Party
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1900	Leicester Harmsworth	Liberal
1918		constituency abolished

Elections

General Election 1868: Caithness-shire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	George Traill	512		n/a
		Maj. Horne	275		n/a

Caithness by-election, 1869

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir John George Tollemache Sinclair	432
		James C. Traill	360

Elections in the 1880s

Gavin Clark

General Election 1885: Caithness-shire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Liberal	Gavin Brown Clark	2,110	63.4
	Liberal	Clarence Granville Sinclair	1,218	36.6
Majority			892	26.8
Turnout				77.0
	Independent Liberal gain from Liberal		Swing

• supported by the Highland Land League

General Election 1886: Caithness-shire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Gavin Brown Clark	2,034	77.7	n/a
	Liberal Unionist	Robert Niven	584	22.3	n/a
Majority			1,450	55.4	n/a
Turnout				60.6
	Liberal gain from Independent Liberal		Swing	n/a

• also the candidate of the Crofters Party

Elections in the 1890s

General Election 1892: Caithness-shire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Gavin Brown Clark	2,134	75.5
	Liberal Unionist	Sir William James Bell	693	24.5
Majority			1,441	51.0
Turnout				71.8
	Liberal hold		Swing

• also the candidate of the Crofters Party

General Election 1895: Caithness-shire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Gavin Brown Clark	1,828	77.6
	Liberal Unionist	John Cowper	528	22.4
Majority			1,300	55.2
Turnout				59.3
	Liberal hold		Swing

• also the candidate of the Crofters Party

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1900: Caithness-shire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Robert Leicester Harmsworth	1,189	37.5	n/a
	Conservative	David Patrick Henderson	1,161	36.7
	Independent Liberal	Gavin Brown Clark	673	21.3	n/a
	Independent Liberal	F.C. Auld	141	4.5	n/a
Majority			28	0.8
Turnout				78.3
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

• candidate of the Crofters Party

General Election 1906: Caithness-shire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Robert Leicester Harmsworth	2,686	84.8	n/a
	Conservative	Sir Keith Alexander Fraser	483	15.2	−21.5
Majority			2,203	69.6
Turnout				77.5
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

Elections in the 1910s

General Election Jan 1910: Caithness-shire

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

R.L. Harmsworth

General Election Dec 1910: Caithness-shire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Robert Leicester Harmsworth	2,718	96.9
	Ind. Conservative	Archibald Macleod	87	3.1	n/a
Majority			2,631	93.8
Turnout				66.8	−15.2
	Liberal hold		Swing

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: Robert Leicester Harmsworth
• Unionist:

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)