Inverness (UK Parliament constituency)
Inverness | |
---|---|
Former County constituency for the House of Commons | |
1918–1983 | |
Number of members | One |
Replaced by | Inverness, Nairn & Lochaber and Ross, Cromarty & Skye[1] |
Created from | Inverness-shire and Inverness Burghs |
Inverness was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 until 1983. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first-past-the-post system of election.
There was also a county constituency called Inverness-shire, 1708 to 1918, and a burgh constituency called Inverness Burghs, 1708 to 1918.
Boundaries
The earlier Inverness-shire constituency covered, nominally, the county of Inverness minus the burgh of Inverness, which was a part of the Inverness Burghs constituency. By 1918, however, county boundaries were out of alignment with constituency boundaries.
In 1918, the Representation of the People Act 1918 created new constituency boundaries, taking account of new local government boundaries, and the new constituency boundaries were first used in the 1918 general election.
The new Inverness constituency included the burgh of Inverness and was one of three constituencies covering the county of Inverness and the county of Ross and Cromarty. The other two were the Ross and Cromarty constituency and the Western Isles constituency.[2]
The Inverness constituency covered the county of Inverness minus Outer Hebridean areas (the districts of Harris, North Uist and South Uist), which were covered by the Western Isles constituency. The same boundaries were used in every election from 1918 onwards.
In 1975, counties and burghs were abolished as local government areas, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, and from 1975 until 1983, the Inverness constituency was entirely within the Highland local government region.
For the 1983 general election, new boundaries defined three new constituencies to cover the region: Inverness, Nairn and Lochaber, Ross, Cromarty and Skye and Caithness and Sutherland. Each of the new constituencies covered a number of the districts of the region. The Caithness and Sutherland constituency carried forward the name of an older constituency.
Members of Parliament
Election | Member | Party | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1918 | Thomas Brash Morison | Coalition Liberal | Previously MP for Inverness-shire | |
1922 by-election | Sir Murdoch Macdonald | Coalition Liberal | ||
1922 | National Liberal | |||
1922 | Liberal | |||
1931 | National Liberal | |||
1950 | Lord Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton | Unionist | ||
1954 by-election | Neil McLean | Unionist | ||
1964 | Russell Johnston | Liberal | Subsequently MP for Inverness, Nairn and Lochaber | |
1983 | constituency abolished |
Election results
Elections in the 1910s
![](../I/m/Thomas_Morison.jpg)
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberal | 7,991 | n/a | |||
Highland Land League | George James Bruce | 2,930 | n/a | ||
Majority | n/a | ||||
Turnout | n/a | ||||
Liberal win | |||||
- endorsed by Coalition Government
Elections in the 1920s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Coalition Liberal | Sir Murdoch Macdonald | 8,340 | 51.0 | ||
Liberal | Alexander Mackenzie Livingstone | 8,024 | 49.0 | ||
Majority | 316 | 2.0 | |||
Turnout | 50.1 | ||||
Coalition Liberal hold | Swing | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
National Liberal | Sir Murdoch Macdonald | 9,796 | 52.7 | +1.7 | |
Liberal | Alexander Mackenzie Livingstone | 8,785 | 47.3 | -1.7 | |
Majority | 1,011 | 5.4 | +3.4 | ||
Turnout | 18,581 | ||||
National Liberal hold | Swing | +1.7 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberal | Sir Murdoch Macdonald | 10,194 | |||
Labour | Andrew D. Kinloch | 5,385 | n/a | ||
Majority | |||||
Turnout | |||||
Liberal hold | Swing | n/a | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberal | Sir Murdoch Macdonald | 11,468 | 62.6 | ||
Labour | T. Henderson | 6,863 | 37.4 | ||
Majority | 25.2 | ||||
Turnout | 18,331 | ||||
Liberal hold | Swing | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberal | Sir Murdoch Macdonald | 14,042 | 55.3 | -7.3 | |
Labour | David Norman Mackay | 11,369 | 44.7 | +7.3 | |
Majority | 2,673 | 10.6 | -14.6 | ||
Turnout | 25,411 | ||||
Liberal hold | Swing | -7.3 | |||
Elections in the 1930s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberal National | Sir Murdoch Macdonald | 18,702 | 65.3 | ||
Labour | David Norman Mackay | 5,941 | 20.7 | ||
National (Scotland) | John MacDonald MacCormick | 4,016 | 14.0 | ||
Majority | 12,761 | 44.5 | |||
Turnout | 28,659 | 61.9 | |||
Liberal National hold | Swing | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberal National | Sir Murdoch Macdonald | 14,985 | 56.4 | ||
Labour | Hugh Fraser | 7,297 | 27.5 | ||
SNP | John MacDonald MacCormick | 4,273 | 16.1 | ||
Majority | 7,688 | 29.0 | |||
Turnout | 26,555 | 57.8 | |||
Liberal National hold | Swing | ||||
Elections in the 1940s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberal National | Sir Murdoch Macdonald | 12,090 | 43.26 | ||
Labour | Neil George Maclean | 9,655 | 34.55 | ||
Liberal | John MacDonald MacCormick | 6,200 | 22.19 | n/a | |
Majority | 2,435 | 8.71 | |||
Turnout | 27,945 | 59.40 | |||
Liberal National hold | Swing | ||||
Elections in the 1950s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unionist | Lord Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton | 16,056 | 45.47 | N/A | |
Labour | D. N. Thompson | 11,236 | 31.82 | −2.73 | |
Liberal | John MacDonald Bannerman | 8,023 | 22.72 | +0.53 | |
Majority | 4,820 | 13.65 | +4.94 | ||
Turnout | 35,315 | 68.52 | +9.12 | ||
Unionist gain from Liberal National | Swing | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unionist | Lord Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton | 22,497 | 64.54 | +19.07 | |
Labour | Thomas Alexander MacNair | 12,361 | 35.46 | +3.64 | |
Majority | 10,136 | 29.08 | +15.43 | ||
Turnout | 34,858 | 69.30 | +0.78 | ||
Unionist hold | Swing | +21.37 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unionist | Neil Loudon Desmond McLean | 10,329 | 41.4 | ||
Liberal | John MacDonald Bannerman | 8,998 | 36.0 | ||
Labour | William Paterson | 5,642 | 22.6 | ||
Majority | 1,331 | 5.4 | |||
Turnout | 49.2 | ||||
Unionist hold | Swing | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unionist | Neil Loudon Desmond McLean | 14,352 | 41.5 | −23.1 | |
Liberal | John MacDonald Bannerman | 13,386 | 38.7 | N/A | |
Labour | D.N. Thompson | 6,891 | 19.9 | −15.6 | |
Majority | 966 | 2.8 | −26.3 | ||
Turnout | 34,629 | 67.49 | −1.8 | ||
Unionist hold | Swing | −9.1 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unionist | Neil Loudon Desmond McLean | 15,728 | 44.4 | +2.9 | |
Liberal | John MacDonald Bannerman | 11,653 | 32.9 | −5.8 | |
Labour | Ian John Forgan Coulter | 8,073 | 22.77 | +2.9 | |
Majority | 4,075 | 11.49 | +8.70 | ||
Turnout | 35,454 | 71.56 | +4.07 | ||
Unionist hold | Swing | +5.75 | |||
Elections in the 1960s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberal | David Russell Johnston | 14,235 | 39.8 | +7.0 | |
Unionist | Neil Loudon Desmond McLean | 12,099 | 33.9 | −10.5 | |
Labour | Allan Campbell McLean | 9,402 | 26.3 | +3.5 | |
Majority | 2,136 | 6.0 | −5.5 | ||
Turnout | 35,736 | 71.4 | −0.2 | ||
Liberal gain from Unionist | Swing | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberal | David Russell Johnston | 14,356 | 39.45 | −0.4 | |
Conservative | David Anthony Wathen | 11,961 | 32.87 | −1.0 | |
Labour | Allan Campbell McLean | 10,069 | 27.7 | +1.4 | |
Majority | 2,395 | 6.6 | +0.6 | ||
Turnout | 36,386 | 72.1 | +0.7 | ||
Liberal hold | Swing | ||||
Elections in the 1970s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberal | David Russell Johnston | 15,052 | 38.4 | −1.1 | |
Conservative | David Anthony Wathen | 12,378 | 31.54 | −1.4 | |
Labour | Donald Macauley | 9,038 | 23.03 | −4.6 | |
SNP | Athole Christina Cameron | 2,781 | 7.1 | N/A | |
Majority | 2,674 | 6.8 | +0.2 | ||
Turnout | 39,248 | 72.3 | +0.2 | ||
Liberal hold | Swing | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberal | David Russell Johnston | 16,903 | 38.7 | +0.4 | |
Conservative | R. E. Henderson | 11,680 | 26.8 | −4.8 | |
Labour | D. J. Cameron | 7,816 | 17.9 | −5.1 | |
SNP | Rob McKay Gibson | 7,258 | 16.6 | +9.5 | |
Majority | 5,223 | 12.0 | +5.2 | ||
Turnout | 43,657 | 76.1 | +3.8 | ||
Liberal hold | Swing | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberal | David Russell Johnston | 13,128 | 32.4 | −6.3 | |
SNP | Donald Barr | 11,994 | 29.6 | +13.0 | |
Conservative | R. E. Henderson | 8,922 | 22.0 | −4.7 | |
Labour | J.W.L. Cumming | 6,332 | 15.6 | −2.3 | |
Fine Gael | U. Bell | 155 | 0.4 | N/A | |
Majority | 1,134 | 2.8 | −9.2 | ||
Turnout | 40,531 | 70.5 | −5.6 | ||
Liberal hold | Swing | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberal | David Russell Johnston | 15,716 | 33.7 | +1.4 | |
Conservative | Richard Hunter Gordon | 11,559 | 24.8 | +2.8 | |
SNP | Donald Barr | 9,603 | 20.6 | −9.0 | |
Labour | Brian David Henderson Wilson | 9,586 | 20.6 | +5.0 | |
Fine Gael | U. Bell | 112 | 0.2 | −0.1 | |
Majority | 4,157 | 8.9 | +6.1 | ||
Turnout | 46,576 | 74.4 | −4.0 | ||
Liberal hold | Swing | ||||
Notes and references
- ↑ "'Inverness', Feb 1974 - May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
- ↑ Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972 (ISBN 0-900178-09-4), F. W. S. Craig 1972
- ↑ Whitaker's Almanack, 1920
- ↑ The Times, 20 November 1922
- ↑ The Times, 11 December 1923
- ↑ Oliver & Boyd's Edinburgh Almanac, 1927
- ↑ The Times, 3 June 1929
- ↑ Whitaker's Almanack, 1934
- ↑ Whitaker's Almanack, 1939
- Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
- Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "I"