Stirlingshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Stirlingshire
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
Subdivisions of Scotland	Stirlingshire
1708–1918
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Clackmannan & Eastern Stirlingshire Stirling & Clackmannan Western

Stirlingshire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain and later of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1708 until 1918. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post voting system.

For the 1918 general election it was divided into Clackmannan and Eastern Stirlingshire and Stirling and Clackmannan Western.

Member of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1708	Henry Cunningham
	1710	Sir Hugh Paterson
	1715	Mungo Haldane
	1722	John Graham
	1727	Henry Cunningham
	1734	Sir James Campbell
	1741	Lord George Graham
	1747	Lord Erskine
	1747	James Campbell, later Livingstone
	1768	Sir Thomas Dundas
	1794	Robert Graham
	1796	Sir George Keith Elphinstone
	1802	Charles Elphinstone Fleeming
	1812	Sir Charles Edmonstone
	1821	Henry Home-Drummond
	1831	William Ramsay Ramsay
	1832	Charles Elphinstone Fleeming
	1835	William Forbes
	1838	George Abercromby
	1841	William Forbes
	1855	Peter Blackburn
	1865	John Elphinstone Erskine
	1874	Sir William Edmonstone	Conservative
	1880	Joseph Cheney Bolton	Liberal
	1892	William Jacks	Liberal
	1895	James McKillop	Conservative
	1906	Donald Mackenzie Smeaton	Liberal
	1910	William Allan Chapple	Liberal
1918		constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1880: Stirlingshire ^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Joseph Cheney Bolton	1,606
	Conservative	William Edmonstone	1,246
Majority			360
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election 1885: Stirlingshire ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Joseph Cheney Bolton	6,454	62.1
	Conservative	Michael Hugh Shaw-Stewart	3,938	37.9
Majority			2,516	24.2
Turnout				83.2
	Liberal hold		Swing

Ernest Noel

General Election 1886: Stirlingshire ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Joseph Cheney Bolton	5,067	53.7	-8.4
	Liberal Unionist	Ernest Noel	4,360	46.3	+8.4
Majority			707	7.4	-16.8
Turnout				75.5
	Liberal hold		Swing	-8.4

Elections in the 1890s

William Jacks

General Election 1892: Stirlingshire ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	William Jacks	5,296	50.4
	Liberal Unionist	Ernest Noel	4,550	43.3
	Scottish Trades Councils	Robert Chisholm Robertson	663	6.3	n/a
Majority			746	7.1
Turnout				80.1
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1895: Stirlingshire ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	James McKillop	5,916	51.9	-2.3
	Liberal	William Jacks	5,489	48.1	+8.6
Majority			427	3.8	10.9
Turnout				79.6	-0.5
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+5.4

Elections in the 1900s

Sir G Robertson

General Election 1900: Stirlingshire ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	James McKillop	6,325	51.2
	Liberal	Sir George Scott Robertson	6,023	48.8
Majority			302	2.4
Turnout				76.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1906: Stirlingshire ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Donald Mackenzie Smeaton	9,475	62.0	+13.2
	Conservative	Marquess of Graham	5,806	38.0	-13.2
Majority				24.0	26.4
Turnout				80.7	+4.4
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+13.2

Elections in the 1910s

William Chapple

General Election Jan 1910: Stirlingshire ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	William Allan Chapple MD	10,122	61.2
	Conservative	Robert Stevenson Horne	6,417	38.8
Majority			3,705	22.4
Turnout				82.1
	Liberal hold		Swing

Robert Horne

General Election Dec 1910: Stirlingshire ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	William Allan Chapple	9,183	58.6	-2.6
	Conservative	Robert Stevenson Horne	6,487	41.4	+2.6
Majority				17.2	-5.2
Turnout				77.2	-4.9
	Liberal hold		Swing	-2.6

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 the July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

• Liberal: William Allan Chapple
• Unionist: Andrew B. King^[10]

References

1. The Times
2. Debrett's House of Commons and Judicial Bench, 1889
3. Debrett's House of Commons and Judicial Bench, 1889
4. Whitaker's Almanack, 1893
5. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1901
6. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1901
7. Whitaker's Almanack, 1907
8. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1916
9. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1916
10. Stirling Observer 21 Mar 1914

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 5)