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 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 governmentcounty 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.
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;
^"Caithness". History of Parliament Online (1690-1715). Retrieved 27 March 2019.
^"Caithness". History of Parliament Online (1715-1754). Retrieved 27 March 2019.
^"Caithness". History of Parliament Online (1754-1790). Retrieved 27 March 2019.
^"Caithness". History of Parliament Online (1790-1820). Retrieved 27 March 2019.
^"Caithness". History of Parliament Online (1820-1832). Retrieved 27 March 2019.
^ a b c d e f g hSmith, Henry Stooks (1842). The Register of Parliamentary Contested Elections (Second ed.). Simpkin, Marshall & Company. p. 198. Retrieved 11 September 2018 – via Google Books.
^ a b"Latest State of Polls". Leeds Intelligencer. 12 August 1837. p. 4. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
^ a b"The County Elections". Newcastle Journal. 12 August 1837. p. 2. Retrieved 11 September 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^"Caithness". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l mCraig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (e-book) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. ISBN978-1-349-02349-3.
^"The County Election". John o'Groat Journal. 23 July 1852. p. 2. Retrieved 11 September 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ a b cDebrett's House of Commons, 1870
^"Caithness-shire". Liverpool Mercury. 25 August 1869. p. 6. Retrieved 31 January 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^"Caithness". Inverness Courier. 26 August 1869. p. 5. Retrieved 31 January 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^"The New Parliament". Wrexham Advertiser. 14 February 1874. p. 8. Retrieved 28 December 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^"Nominations Yesterday". London Daily News. 3 April 1880. p. 6. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
^ a bDebrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1889
^ a b c d eCraig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885-1918. London: Macmillan Press. ISBN9781349022984.
^Whitaker's Almanack, 1893
^ a bDebrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1901
^Whitaker's Almanack, 1907
^ a bDebrett'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)