Study title

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

This project is supplementary to the long-standing project of the Scottish committee on the History of Parliament to provide concise biographies of all commissioners from burghs and shires who attended Scottish parliaments and associated conventions of estates from 1357 to 1707.
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In addition to the individual commissioner's election to and attendance at parliaments and conventions of estates, each biography records genealogical information and family connections, education, profession, property and business interests, public work and offices and voting records where known. Comprehensive datasets have been compiled on every burgh and shire commissioner from the reign of David II to the Treaty of Union.
The tabled textual and alphanumeric information facilitates analysis of continuity and change in the composition of the Scottish parliament and representation of constituencies from the fourteenth to the early eighteenth centuries. At the same time, parlimentary commissioners can be grouped by occupations, by regions and by economic interests as well as by political persuasions, by office holding and by social affiliations. Parliamentary composition can also be used to monitor the rise, progress and decline of status groups and social classes.