The chief interests in Ayrshire were in the Campbells, earls of Loudoun, its hereditary sheriffs, and the Montgomeries, earls of Eglintoun. From 1710 to 1727 the seat was held by John Montgomerie, first cousin of the 9th Earl of Eglintoun, and from 1727 to 1741 by James Campbell, whose father was the 2nd Earl of Loudoun and whose mother was the daughter of the 7th Earl of Eglintoun. In 1741 Campbell, representing the two Earls, who supported the Government, was defeated by an anti-Walpole Whig, Patrick Craufurd, backed by the leaders of the Opposition in Scotland, the 2nd Duke of Argyll and the 2nd Earl of Stair. Craufurd was re-elected unopposed in 1747, though Pelham and Lord Ilay, now Duke of Argyll, considered the names of possible candidates, including Campbell’s son, to put up against him.1