Berwickshire

Berwickshire is a lieutenancy area and historic county in the Scottish Borders. It takes its name from Berwick-upon-Tweed, which was part of Scotland at the time of the county's formation, but became part of England in 1482.

From 1596 to 1890 the county town was Greenlaw. However, this was changed to Duns by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889, the act which established the system of county councils in Scotland.

The county borders Roxburghshire and Selkirkshire to the west, East Lothian and Midlothian to the north, the North Sea to the east and a portion of the Anglo-Scottish border with Northumberland to the south.

It lies within Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (UK Parliament constituency), and Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire (Scottish Parliament constituency).

Local Government

Prior to 1975 Berwickshire contained four burghs and three districts:

The districts of :

Berwickshire (Parliament of Scotland constituency)

Before the Act of Union 1707, the barons of the sheriffdom or shire of Berwick (also called the Merse) elected commissioners to represent them in the unicameral Parliament of Scotland and in the Convention of Estates. During the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland the sheriffdom was represented by one Member of Parliament in the Protectorate Parliament at Westminster. After 1708, Berwickshire returned one member to the House of Commons of Great Britain and later to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.

List of shire commissioners

Berwickshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Berwickshire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1708 to 1918, when it was amalgamated with neighbouring Haddington(shire) to form a new Berwick and Haddington constituency. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP), using the first-past-the-post voting system.

Member of Parliament

Election results

After accepting office as Comptroller of the Household, Edward Marjoribanks was returned unopposed at a by-election on 14 February 1886.

References

Sources