Sutherland (UK Parliament constituency)

Sutherland was a Scottish 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.

Sutherland
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
Subdivisions of Scotland	Sutherland
1708–1918
Seats	One
Created from	Sutherland
Replaced by	Caithness & Sutherland

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 Sutherlandshire.

Boundaries

The constituency represented essentially the traditional county of Sutherland. The county town of Dornoch, however, was represented as a component of the Tain Burghs constituency, from 1708 to 1832, and of the Wick Burghs constituency, from 1832 to 1918.

History

The constituency elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system until the seat was abolished in 1918.^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]} In 1918 the Sutherland constituency and Dornoch were merged into the then new constituency of Caithness and Sutherland. In 1997 Caithness and Sutherland was merged into Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member [6]	Party
	1708	Sir William Gordon
	1713	William Morison
	1714	Sir William Gordon
	1727	Lord Strathnaver
	1734	Sir James Fergusson
	1736	Hon. James St Clair
	1747	Hon. George Mackay
	1761	Hon. Alexander Mackay
	1768	James Wemyss
	1784	William Wemyss	Pittite
	1787	James Grant
	1802	William Dundas	Tory
	1808	John Randoll Mackenzie
	1809	George Macpherson-Grant
	1812	James Macdonald	Whig
	1816	George Macpherson-Grant
	1826	Lord Francis Leveson-Gower	Tory[7][8]
	1831	Sir Hugh Innes	Whig[9]
	1831 by-election	Roderick Macleod	Whig[7][10]
	1837	Hon. William Howard	Conservative[7][10]
	1840 by-election	Sir David Dundas	Whig[7][10][11][12]
	1852	Marquess of Stafford	Whig[10]
	1859		Liberal[10]
	1861 by-election	Sir David Dundas	Liberal[10]
	1867 by-election	Lord Ronald Gower	Liberal[10]
	1874	Marquess of Stafford	Liberal[10]
	1886	Angus Sutherland	Liberal/Crofter
	1894 by-election	John MacLeod	Liberal/Crofter
	1900	Frederick Leveson-Gower	Liberal Unionist
	1906	Alpheus Morton	Liberal
	1918	constituency abolished

Elections

Decades:

1840s 1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s

Elections in the 1830s

General election 1830: Sutherland ^[7][13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Tory	Francis Leveson-Gower	Unopposed
Registered electors			20
	Tory hold

General election 1831: Sutherland ^[7][13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	Hugh Innes	Unopposed
Registered electors			20
	Whig gain from Tory

Innes' death caused a by-election.

By-election, 14 September 1831: Sutherland ^[7][13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	Roderick Macleod	Unopposed
Registered electors			20
	Whig hold

General election 1832: Sutherland ^[7][10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	Roderick Macleod	Unopposed
Registered electors			84
	Whig hold

General election 1835: Sutherland ^[7][10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	Roderick Macleod	Unopposed
Registered electors			108
	Whig hold

General election 1837: Sutherland ^[7][10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	William Howard	Unopposed
Registered electors			128
	Conservative gain from Whig

Elections in the 1840s

Howard resigned by accepting the office of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds, causing a by-election.

By-election, 8 April 1840: Sutherland ^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	David Dundas	Unopposed
	Whig gain from Conservative

General election 1841: Sutherland ^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	David Dundas	Unopposed
Registered electors			137
	Whig gain from Conservative

Dundas was appointed Solicitor General for Scotland, requiring a by-election.

By-election, 28 July 1846: Sutherland ^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	David Dundas	Unopposed
	Whig hold

General election 1847: Sutherland ^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	David Dundas	Unopposed
Registered electors			184
	Whig hold

Dundas was appointed Judge Advocate General of the Armed Forces, requiring a by-election.

By-election, 5 June 1849: Sutherland ^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	David Dundas	Unopposed
	Whig hold

Elections in the 1850s

General election 1852: Sutherland ^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower	Unopposed
Registered electors			207
	Whig hold

General election 1857: Sutherland ^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower	Unopposed
Registered electors			264
	Whig hold

General election 1859: Sutherland ^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower	Unopposed
Registered electors			298
	Liberal hold

Elections in the 1860s

Sutherland-Leveson-Gower succeeded to the peerage, becoming 3rd Duke of Sutherland, and causing a by-election.

By-election, 27 March 1861: Sutherland ^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	David Dundas	Unopposed
	Liberal hold

General election 1865: Sutherland ^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	David Dundas	Unopposed
Registered electors			180
	Liberal hold

Dundas resigned, causing a by-election.

By-election, 27 May 1867: Sutherland ^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Ronald Gower	Unopposed
	Liberal hold

General election 1868: Sutherland ^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Ronald Gower	Unopposed
Registered electors			358
	Liberal hold

Elections in the 1870s

General election 1874: Sutherland ^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Marquess of Stafford	Unopposed
Registered electors			324
	Liberal hold

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1880: Sutherland ^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Marquess of Stafford	Unopposed
Registered electors			326
	Liberal hold

General election 1885: Sutherland ^[14][15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Marquess of Stafford	1,701	61.7	N/A
	Independent Liberal (Crofters)	Angus Sutherland	1,058	38.3	New
Majority			643	23.4	N/A
Turnout			2,759	86.6	N/A
Registered electors			3,185
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1886: Sutherland ^[14][15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal (Crofters)	Angus Sutherland	1,463	71.5	+9.8
	Liberal Unionist	Ralph Wardlaw McLeod Fullarton	583	28.5	New
Majority			880	43.0	+19.6
Turnout			2,046	64.2	−22.4
Registered electors			3,185
	Liberal hold

Elections in the 1890s

General election 1892: Sutherland ^[16][15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal (Crofters)	Angus Sutherland	1,453	70.5	-1.0
	Liberal Unionist	John MacKay	607	29.5	+1.0
Majority			846	41.0	−2.0
Turnout			2,060	75.0	+10.8
Registered electors			2,745
	Liberal hold		Swing	-1.0

Sutherland was appointed Chairman of the Fishery Board for Scotland, causing a by-election.

By-election, 26 Oct 1894: Sutherland^[17][15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal (Crofters)	John MacLeod	Unopposed
	Liberal hold

General election 1895: Sutherland ^[17][15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John MacLeod	1,085	64.8	−5.7
	Liberal Unionist	John Alexander Swanston	590	35.2	+5.7
Majority			495	29.6	−11.4
Turnout			1,675	67.2	−7.8
Registered electors			2,493
	Liberal hold		Swing	−5.7

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: Sutherland ^[17][15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Frederick Leveson-Gower	1,224	61.9	+26.7
	Liberal	John MacLeod	752	38.1	−26.7
Majority			472	23.8	N/A
Turnout			1,977	76.3	+9.1
Registered electors			2,589
	Liberal Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+26.7

General election 1906: Sutherland ^[18][15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Alpheus Morton	1,383	59.7	+21.6
	Liberal Unionist	Frederick Leveson-Gower	933	40.3	−21.6
Majority			450	19.4	N/A
Turnout			2,316	82.3	+6.0
Registered electors			2,814
	Liberal gain from Liberal Unionist		Swing	+21.6

Elections in the 1910s

Morton

General election January 1910: Sutherland ^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Alpheus Morton	1,607	62.8	+3.1
	Conservative	Donald Cameron	951	37.2	−3.1
Majority			656	25.6	+6.2
Turnout			2,558	83.7	+1.4
Registered electors			3,055
	Liberal hold		Swing	+3.1

Stafford

General election December 1910: Sutherland ^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Alpheus Morton	1,464	53.4	−9.4
	Liberal Unionist	Marquess of Stafford	1,277	46.6	+9.4
Majority			187	6.8	−18.8
Turnout			2,741
	Liberal hold		Swing	-9.4

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: Alpheus Morton
• Unionist: Theodore Gervase Chambers^[20]