The hereditary sheriff of Elginshire was the 7th Earl of Moray, who had been implicated in the Fifteen and thereafter took little part in politics. The chief interest was that of the Grants of Grant. After Alexander Grant’s death in 1719, the head of the Grant family, Sir James Grant, who was sitting for Inverness-shire, supported another local family, the Brodies, for the seat. In 1735 he made over the Grant estates to his son Ludovick, who was put up as the government candidate for the county in 1741. When William Duff of Braco threatened to intervene against Ludovick’s candidature, Sir James Grant pointed out to him that Elginshire was in the Grant sphere of influence just as Banffshire was in that of the Duffs:

I am perfectly sure that had you yourself stood for the shire of Banff, nothing would have hindered him [Ludovick] from standing by you against any person [who] could have pretended to oppose you.1

Defeating an opposition candidate, John Stewart, brother of the 8th Earl of Moray, Ludovick Grant held the seat without a further contest till the accession of George III.