Sutherland was a Scottish

constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

of the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

of the

Parliament of Great Britain The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in May 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The Acts ratified the treaty of Union which created a new unified Kingdo ...

from 1708 to 1801 and of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprem ...

from 1801 to 1918.

Creation

The British parliamentary constituency was created in 1708 following the

Acts of Union, 1707 The Acts of Union ( gd, Achd an Aonaidh) were two Acts of Parliament: the Union with Scotland Act 1706 passed by the Parliament of England, and the Union with England Act 1707 passed by the Parliament of Scotland. They put into effect the te ...

and replaced the former

Parliament of Scotland The Parliament of Scotland ( sco, Pairlament o Scotland; gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba) was the legislature of the Kingdom of Scotland from the 13th century until 1707. The parliament evolved during the early 13th century from the king's council o ...

shire constituency of Sutherlandshire.

Boundaries

The constituency represented essentially the traditional county of Sutherland. The

county town In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a county town is the most important town or city in a county. It is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within a county and the place where the county's members of Parliament are elect ...

Dornoch Dornoch (; gd, Dòrnach ; sco, Dornach) is a town, seaside resort, parish and former royal burgh in the county of Sutherland in the Highlands of Scotland. It lies on the north shore of the Dornoch Firth, near to where it opens into the Moray ...

, 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) A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members often ...

by the

first past the post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

system until the seat was abolished in 1918. In 1918 the Sutherland constituency and Dornoch were merged into the then new constituency of

Caithness and Sutherland Caithness and Sutherland was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 to 1997. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. The constituency was c ...

. In 1997 Caithness and Sutherland was merged into Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross.

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 1830s

Innes' death caused a by-election.

Elections in the 1840s

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

Solicitor General for Scotland , body = , insignia = Crest of the Kingdom of Scotland.svg , insigniasize = 110px , image = File:Official Portrait of Ruth Charteris QC.png , incumbent = Ruth Charteris KC , incumbentsince = 22 June 2021 , department = Crown Office and ...

, requiring a by-election. Dundas was appointed

Judge Advocate General of the Armed Forces In the United Kingdom, the Judge Advocate General and Judge Martial of all the Forces is a judge responsible for the court-martial process within the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force. As such the post has existed since 2008; prior to t ...

, requiring a by-election.

Elections in the 1850s

Elections in the 1860s

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

Elections in the 1870s

Elections in the 1880s

Elections in the 1890s

Sutherland was appointed Chairman of the

Fishery Board for Scotland The Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency (SFPA) was an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government. On 1 April 2009, the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency and Fisheries Research Services were merged with the Scottish Government Marine Direc ...

, causing a by-election.

Elections in the 1900s

Elections in the 1910s

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 the July 1914, the following candidates had been selected; *Liberal:

Alpheus Morton Sir Alpheus Cleophas Morton (12 March 1840 – 26 April 1923) was a British architect and surveyor, and a Liberal Party politician. He was active in local government in London from the 1880s until his death, and sat in the House of Commons in t ...

*Unionist: Theodore Gervase ChambersAberdeen Journal 13 Apr 1914