Buteshire

Bute
Historic county

Country	Scotland
County town	Rothesay
Area
• Total	225 sq mi (583 km²)
	Ranked 30th of 34
Chapman code	BUT

The County of Bute (Scottish Gaelic: Siorrachd Bhòid), also known as Buteshire, is one of the registration counties of Scotland.

Buteshire was also a local government county of Scotland with its own elected county council from 1890 to 1975. The council area comprised a number of islands in the Firth of Clyde, between the local government counties of Argyll and Ayrshire, the principal islands being Bute, Arran, Great Cumbrae and Little Cumbrae. The county town was Rothesay, located on the Isle of Bute.

Bute had its own elected local government council from 1890 to 1975. However, in 1975 this system was superseded and Buteshire was divided between the Argyll and Cunninghame districts of the Strathclyde Region. The island of Bute itself became part of Argyll whilst Arran and the Cumbraes became part of Cunninghame.

In 1996 as a result of local government council reorganisation when unitary council areas were superseded and new councils created, Bute became part of Argyll and Bute, and the other islands are now within North Ayrshire.

There was a Buteshire constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1918. Between 1708 and 1832 it was an alternating constituency with Caithness: one constituency elected a Member of Parliament (MP) to one parliament then the other elected an MP to the next. Between 1832 and 1918 it was a separate constituency, electing an MP to every parliament.

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