Buteshire and Caithness (UK Parliament constituencies)

Buteshire and Caithness were county constituencies 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 they were paired as alternating constituencies: one of the constituencies elected a Member of Parliament 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, they were separate constituencies, each represented by its own MP.

Boundaries

From 1708 to 1832, the Buteshire constituency covered the county of Bute minus the parliamentary burgh of Rothesay, which was a component of the Ayr Burghs constituency, and the Caithness constituency covered the county of Caithness minus the parliamentary burgh of Wick, which was a component of the Tain Burghs constituency.

When Buteshire and Caithness became separate constituencies, in 1832, Rothesay was merged into the Buteshire constituency. Wick retained its status as a parliamentary burgh and became a component of the Wick Burghs constituency.

By 1892, Bute and Caithness had become a local government counties and, throughout Scotland, under the Local Government 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......
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