1955 Scottish representative peers election

April 2022 An election for 16 Scottish representative peers took place on Monday 23 May 1955 at the Parliament House in Edinburgh. Procedure The venue for the meeting caused some difficulty as the general election was called for the week when the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland was due to meet; by tradition the Church would not meet on the day of the general election, which meant the only day for the Peers to meet was Monday 23 May. This was the day before the Church Assembly opened and the day on which the Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland took up residence at Holyrood Palace, which was the normal location for the Peers to meet. Instead it was decided the peers should meet at Parliament House, built for the Parliament of Scotland but now part of the law courts. The Lord President of the Court of Session and the Faculty of Advocates agreed to the use of Parliament House.Sir James Fergusson, "The Sixteen Peers of Scotland", Oxford University Press, 1960, p. 105-106. Accordingly, the date, time and place of the meeting was set in a Royal Proclamation of 6 May 1955. Lord Elphinstone, who held the role of Lord Clerk Register, presided for the last time. When the Principal Clerk of Session George Watson read the roll of Peers of Scotland, 113 names were read, and 32 answered that they were present.Scottish Peers Ballot The Times London 24 May 1955 14 http://find.galegroup.com/ttda/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=TTDA&userGroupName=wes_ttda&tabID=T003&docPage=article&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&docId=CS235754680&type=multipage&contentSet=LTO&version=1.0 subscription Lord Polwarth produced a proxy on behalf of the Duke of Montrose, and 22 Peers had submitted "Signed Lists" as a form of absent voting.Minutes, HL 4 1955-56, p. 4. Lord Elphinstone himself chose not to vote; this was the "customary but not compulsory practice" of the Lord Clerk Register. Result Two new representative peers were elected who had not sat in the previous Parliament - Lord Forbes and Lord Reay. PeerVotesEarl of Haddington54Earl of Airlie54Lord Sempill54Lord Polwarth54Earl of Lindsay53Earl of Selkirk53Lord Balfour of Burleigh53Lord Fairfax of Cameron53Earl of Rothes52Earl of Breadalbane and Holland52Lord Saltoun52Earl of Caithness51Earl of Perth51Lord Sinclair41Lord Forbes37Lord Reay37UnsuccessfulEarl of Dundonald31Earl of Northesk18Viscount of Arbuthnott11Lord Belhaven and Stenton2Earl of Leven1 Votes cast Peer votingPeers voted for Rothes, E. Caithness, E. Perth, E. Haddington, E. Lindsay, E. Airlie, E. Leven, E. Selkirk, E. Northesk, E. Dundonald, E. Breadalbane, E. Arbuthnott, V. Forbes, L. Saltoun, L. Sinclair, L. Sempill, L. Balfour of Burleigh, L. Fairfax of Cameron, L. Reay, L. Belhaven, L. Polwarth, L.Peers present who answered to the calling of their titlesDuke of Argyll 1111111111111111Duke of Atholl 1111111111111111Marquess of Huntly 1111111111111111Marquess of Lothian 1111111111111111Earl of Crawford 1111111111111111Earl of Caithness 1111111111111111Earl of Home 1111111111111111Earl of Perth 1111111111111111Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorn 1111111111111111Earl of Haddington 1111111111111111Earl of Lindsay 1111111111111111Earl of Elgin 1111111111111111Earl of Wemyss 1111111111111111Earl of Selkirk 1111111111111111Earl of Northesk 1111111111111111Earl of Dundee 1111111111111111Earl of Breadalbane 1111111111111111Earl of Stair 1111111111111111Earl of Glasgow 1111111111111111Viscount of Arbuthnott 1111111111111111Lord Forbes 1111111111111111Lord Saltoun 1111111111111111Lord Gray 1111111111111111Lord Sinclair 1111111111111111Lord Sempill 1111111111111111Lord Elphinstone Lord Colville of Culross 1111111111111111Lord Balfour of Burleigh 1111111111111111Lord Fairfax of Cameron 1111111111111111Lord Reay 1111111111111111Lord Ruthven 1111111111111111Lord Polwarth 1111111111111111Peers called as ProxiesLord Polwarth (Proxy for the Duke of Montrose)1111111111111111Peers who had submitted Signed ListsDuke of Hamilton1111111111111111Duke of Buccleuch1111111111111111Earl of Sutherland1111111111111111Earl of Mar1111111111111111Earl of Rothes1111111111111111Earl of Eglinton1111111111111111Earl of Cassilis1111111111111111Earl of Abercorn1111111111111111Earl of Galloway1111111111111111Earl of Lauderdale1111111111111111Earl of Dumfries1111111111111111Earl of Southesk1111111111111111Earl of Dalhousie1111111111111111Earl of Airlie1111111111111111Earl of Dundonald1111111111111111Earl of Aberdeen1111111111111111Earl of Rosebery1111111111111111Viscount of Stormont1111111111111111Lord Herries1111111111111111Lord Napier1111111111111111Lord Elibank1111111111111111Lord Rollo1111111111111111 See also List of Scottish representative peers References "MINUTES OF MEETING held on the 23rd May, 1955, of PEERS OF SCOTLAND for the ELECTION OF THEIR REPRESENTATIVES to sit and vote in the ensuing Parliament of Great Britain and Northern Ireland." House of Lords paper 4 of Session 1955–56, HMSO. Category:1955 elections in the United Kingdom Category:1955 in Scotland Category:Scottish representative peers