List of elections of Scottish representative peers


After the Acts of Union 1707, the peerage of Scotland elected sixteen of their number, the Scottish representative peers, to sit in the House of Lords at Westminster. General elections were held with each Parliament, and by-elections to fill vacancies in between. The elections ceased after the Peerage Act 1963 granted all peers of Scotland an hereditary seat in the House of Lords.
The first election of Scottish representative peers took place on 15 February 1707 at the Parliament House, Edinburgh, shortly before the Parliament of Scotland was adjourned for the last time on 25 March. The commissioners for the barons and the burghs chose their representatives to the British House of Commons at the same time.
The elections were not without controversy: in November 1708, four Scottish peers - William Johnstone, 1st Marquess of Annandale, John Earl of Sutherland, Patrick Earl of Marchmont, and William Lord Rosse - presented a petition in the House of Lords complaining of irregularities in the voting which they claimed had led to them being unfairly outvoted by William Kerr, 3rd Marquess of Lothian, and the Earls of Wemyss, Loudoun, and Glasgow. After taking evidence and legal advice, and ordering a recount of votes, the House of Lords resolved on 3 February 1709, to remove the Marquess of Lothian, and replace him with the Marquess of Annandale.