Squadrone Volante (Scotland)

The Squadrone Volante (from the Italian, meaning Flying Squadron) or New Party was a political grouping in Scotland which emerged around 1700 as an offshoot of the opposition Country Party. Led by John Ker, 5th Earl of Roxburghe and John Hay, 2nd Marquess of Tweeddale, the party was influential in passing the Act of Union with England in 1707.[1][2]

The members of the squadrone, which eventually totalled 25, were generally moderate Presbyterians who opposed both Episopalians and the Jacobites. Although the actual grouping pre-dated 1705, it received the nickname squadrone volante in that year, as it was independent of the Court and Country parties in the Scottish Parliament.[3][4]

The members of the Squadrone Volante were:[5]

  1. ^ Whatley, Christopher (2006). The Scots and the Union. Edinburgh University Press. p. 35.
  2. ^ Riley, Patrick William Joseph (1978). The union of England and Scotland: a study in Anglo-Scottish politics of the eighteenth century. Manchester University Press ND. p. 143. ISBN 9780719007279.
  3. ^ Whatley, Christopher (2006). The Scots and the Union. Edinburgh University Press. p. 35.
  4. ^ Riley, Patrick William Joseph (1978). The union of England and Scotland: a study in Anglo-Scottish politics of the eighteenth century. Manchester University Press ND. p. 143. ISBN 9780719007279.
  5. ^ Whatley, Christopher (2006). The Scots and the Union. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 388–89.