In 1774 Robinson wrote that the Duke of Queensberry’s interest was ‘greatly superior to everything that can be brought in opposition to it’,1 and William Adam in 1788 confirmed that Queensberry retained the ‘commanding interest’.2 The only opposition came from an old Dumfriesshire family, the Johnstones of Westerhall, who in 1774 supported Alexander Fergusson of Craigdarroch against Robert Laurie.