West (or Western) Perthshire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 to 1918. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first-past-the-post voting system.
| Western Perthshire | |
|---|---|
| Former county constituency for the House of Commons | |
| Subdivisions of Scotland | Perthshire |
| 1885–1918 | |
| Seats | One |
| Created from | Perthshire |
| Replaced by | Kinross & West Perthshire |
Boundaries
editThe constituency was defined by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, by dividing the Perthshire constituency to form two new constituencies which were first used in the 1885 general election. The other new constituency was East Perthshire. Together with the burgh constituency of Perth, which was unaltered, these constituencies covered the county of Perth, except that five detached parishes had been merged into the Clackmannanshire and Kinross-shire constituency by the Representation of the People (Scotland) Act 1832.[1]
As defined in the 1885 Act, the constituency consisted of the "Parishes of Aberfoyle, Ardoch, Auchterarder, Blair Atholl, Balquhidder, Blackford, Crieff, Comrie, Callander, Dunkeld and Dowally (except so much as is comprised in Division No. 1 as herein described), Dunblane, Dull, Fortingall, Fowlis Wester, Glendevon, Kenmore, Killin, Kilmadock, Kincardine, Kippen (except the detached part locally situate in Stirlingshire), Kirkmichael, Little Dunkeld, Logierait, Lecropt, Moulin, Madderty, Monzie, Monzievaird and Strowan, Muthill, Port of Menteith, Trinity Gask, and Weem."[2]
1885 boundaries were used also in the general elections of 1886, 1892, 1895, 1900, 1906, January 1910 and December 1910.
By 1918, throughout most of Scotland, county boundaries had been altered, and detached parishes were generally historic. The Representation of the People Act 1918 took account of new local government boundaries and grouped the county of Perth with the county of Kinross for parliamentary representation purposes. Therefore, for the 1918 general election, the two counties were covered by the Perth constituency, which was now a county constituency, entirely within the county of Perth, and the Kinross and West Perthshire constituency, which covered the county of Kinross and part of the county of Perth.[1]
Members of Parliament
edit| Election | Member [3] | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1885 | Sir Donald Currie, previously MP for Perthshire | Liberal | |
| 1886 | Liberal Unionist | ||
| 1900 | John Stroyan | Liberal Unionist | |
| 1906 | David Charles Erskine | Liberal | |
| January 1910 | John Stewart-Murray, Marquess of Tullibardine | Conservative | |
| 1917 by-election | Archibald Stirling | Unionist | |
| 1918 | constituency abolished | ||
Election results
edit| Decades: |
Elections in the 1880s
edit| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | Donald Currie | 3,786 | 53.5 | ||
| Conservative | Henry Home-Drummond-Moray | 3,290 | 46.5 | ||
| Majority | 496 | 7.0 | |||
| Turnout | 7,076 | 85.4 | |||
| Registered electors | 8,284 | ||||
| Liberal win (new seat) | |||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal Unionist | Donald Currie | 3,269 | 58.4 | 11.9 | |
| Liberal | George William Thompson Omond | 2,329 | 41.6 | −11.9 | |
| Majority | 940 | 16.8 | N/A | ||
| Turnout | 5,598 | 67.6 | −17.8 | ||
| Registered electors | 8,284 | ||||
| Liberal Unionist gain from Liberal | Swing | 11.9 | |||
Elections in the 1890s
edit
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal Unionist | Donald Currie | 3,422 | 52.8 | −5.6 | |
| Liberal | Alexander Ure | 3,053 | 47.2 | 5.6 | |
| Majority | 369 | 5.6 | −11.2 | ||
| Turnout | 6,475 | 81.3 | 13.7 | ||
| Registered electors | 7,966 | ||||
| Liberal Unionist hold | Swing | -5.6 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal Unionist | Donald Currie | 3,379 | 52.3 | −0.5 | |
| Liberal | John Hope | 3,087 | 47.7 | 0.5 | |
| Majority | 292 | 4.6 | −1.0 | ||
| Turnout | 6,466 | 81.0 | −0.3 | ||
| Registered electors | 7,984 | ||||
| Liberal Unionist hold | Swing | -0.5 | |||
Elections in the 1900s
edit| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal Unionist | John Stroyan | 3,598 | 55.3 | 3.0 | |
| Liberal | Charles Stuart Parker | 2,913 | 44.7 | −3.0 | |
| Majority | 685 | 10.6 | 6.0 | ||
| Turnout | 6,511 | 80.6 | −0.4 | ||
| Registered electors | 8,078 | ||||
| Liberal Unionist hold | Swing | 3.0 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | David Charles Erskine | 3,890 | 55.8 | 11.1 | |
| Liberal Unionist | John Stroyan | 3,087 | 44.2 | −11.1 | |
| Majority | 803 | 11.6 | N/A | ||
| Turnout | 6,977 | 83.0 | 2.4 | ||
| Registered electors | 8,401 | ||||
| Liberal gain from Liberal Unionist | Swing | 11.1 | |||
Elections in the 1910s
edit
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | John Stewart-Murray | 3,864 | 52.0 | 7.8 | |
| Liberal | Thomas Morison | 3,566 | 48.0 | −7.8 | |
| Majority | 298 | 4.0 | N/A | ||
| Turnout | 7,430 | 86.9 | 3.9 | ||
| Registered electors | 8,547 | ||||
| Conservative gain from Liberal | Swing | 7.8 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | John Stewart-Murray | 4,027 | 52.5 | 0.5 | |
| Liberal | George Freeland Barbour | 3,637 | 47.5 | −0.5 | |
| Majority | 390 | 5.0 | 1.0 | ||
| Turnout | 7,664 | 87.9 | 1.0 | ||
| Registered electors | 8,715 | ||||
| Conservative hold | Swing | 0.5 | |||
General Election 1914–15:
Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;
- Liberal: Kenneth McIver[10]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unionist | Archibald Stirling | Unopposed | |||
| Unionist hold | |||||
Notes and references
edit- ^ a b Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972 (ISBN 0-900178-09-4), F. W. S. Craig 1972
- ^ Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, Seventh Schedule
- ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "P" (part 1)
- ^ a b Debrett's House of Commons and Judicial Bench, 1889
- ^ a b c d e f g Craig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885-1918. London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 9781349022984.
- ^ Whitaker's Almanack, 1893
- ^ a b Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1901
- ^ Whitaker's Almanack, 1907
- ^ a b Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1916
- ^ Dundee Courier 9 Feb