John Crichton-Stuart, 7th Marquess of Bute

John Colum Crichton-Stuart, 7th Marquess of Bute (born 26 April 1958 in Rothesay, Isle of Bute), styled Earl of Dumfries before 1993 and from this courtesy title, usually known as Johnny Dumfries, is a British peer and a former racing driver, most notably winning the 1988 24 Hours of Le Mans. He does not use his title and prefers to be known solely as John Bute. The family home is Mount Stuart House on the Isle of Bute. He attended Ampleforth College, as had his father and most male members of the Crichton-Stuart family, but did not finish the normal six years of study.

Racing career

Born into one of Scotland's oldest aristocratic families (being a descendant of Robert II of Scotland and through him Robert the Bruce) and the descendant of a British Prime Minister, Johnny Dumfries was heir to a large fortune. He turned his back on an expensive education at Ampleforth College and set about pursuing a career in motor racing.

In 1984 Dumfries was the sensation of the F3 season, scoring 14 race victories on his way to winning, and completely dominating, the British Formula 3 Championship for Team BP (Dave Price Racing). He also finished runner-up to Ivan Capelli in the European Formula Three Championship that year. In 1985, he graduated to the newly created FIA International Formula 3000 Championship, initially competing for Onyx Race Engineering before switching to Lola Motorsport. It was a disappointing season, with a sixth-place finish in Vallelunga being the highlight of the year.

Dumfries

Coordinates: 55°04′12″N 3°36′11″W / 55.070°N 3.603°W / 55.070; -3.603

Dumfries (ⁱ/dʌmˈfriːs/ dum-FREESS; possibly from Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Phris) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth. Dumfries was a civil parish and became the county town of the former county of Dumfriesshire. Dumfries is nicknamed Queen of the South. People from Dumfries are known colloquially as Doonhamers.

Etymology

There are at least two theories on the etymology of the name. One is that the name Dumfries originates from the Scottish Gaelic name Dún Phris which means "Fort of the Thicket". According to another theory, the name is a corruption of two words which mean the Friars’ Hill; those who favour this idea allege the formation of a religious house near the head of what is now the Friars’ Vennel.

History

Early history

No positive information has been obtained of the era and circumstances in which the town of Dumfries was founded.

Dumfriesshire (Parliament of Scotland constituency)

Before the Act of Union 1707, the barons of the sheriffdom or shire of Dumfries (also called Nithsdale) and the stewartry of Annandale elected commissioners to represent them in the unicameral Parliament of Scotland and in the Convention of Estates. After 1708, Dumfriesshire 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

During the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, the sheriffdom of Dumfries was represented by one Member of Parliament in the Protectorate Parliament at Westminster.

After the Restoration, the Parliament of Scotland was again summoned to meet in Edinburgh.

Dumfries (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Dumfries was a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elected one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality (first past the post) method of election. It was also one of nine constituencies in the South of Scotland electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to the nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

From the Scottish Parliament election, 2011, the Dumfries constituency was abolished, with the city being divided between two new constituencies; Dumfriesshire, and Galloway and West Dumfries.

Electoral region

Constituency boundaries and council area

The Dumfries constituency was created at the same time as the Scottish Parliament, in 1999, with the name and boundaries of an existing Westminster constituency. In 2005, however, Scottish Westminster constituencies were mostly replaced with new constituencies.

Member of the Scottish Parliament