Caithness and Sutherland

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Caithness and Sutherland
Former county constituency
for the House of Commons
Caithness and Sutherland with Scottish counties.svg
Location of Caithness and Sutherland within Scotland
Subdivisions of Scotland Highland
1918–1997
Created from Caithness, Sutherland and Wick Burghs
Replaced by Caithness, Sutherland & Easter Ross

Caithness and Sutherland was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 to 1997. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Contents

The constituency was created by merging the constituencies of Caithness and Sutherland and the Dornoch and Wick components of the Wick Burghs constituency.

In 1997 the constituency was superseded by the creation of Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, which merged Caithness and Sutherland and the Easter Ross area of Ross, Cromarty and Skye.

Caithness and Sutherland was geographically one of the largest constituencies in the United Kingdom, as well as the most northerly constituency on the mainland (only the island constituency of Orkney and Shetland was further north).

1918 constituency reform

The creation of Caithness and Sutherland as a single constituency was a part of a package of boundary reform also affecting many other parts of the United Kingdom. The reform was the first since the Redistribution of Seats Act of 1885, and its main aim was to make constituencies more equal in terms of the sizes of their electorates.

Local government areas

1918 to 1975

When created the constituency covered the county of Caithness and the county of Sutherland, including the burghs of Dornoch, Thurso and Wick.

1975 to 1983

In 1975 counties and burghs were abolished and the constituency became an area within the Highland region. The region included two new local government districts, called Caithness and Sutherland. The Caithness district was entirely within the constituency. The Sutherland district had a small area, the Kincardine electoral division, within the Ross and Cromarty constituency.

1983 to 1996

Constituency boundaries were redrawn in 1983, and the Caithness and Sutherland constituency was enlarged to cover the whole of the Sutherland district.

1996 to 1997

In 1996 the districts were abolished and the Highland region became a unitary council area. Throughout the remainder of the life of the constituency the Highland Council had area committees representing the areas of the former districts.

Members of Parliament

ElectionMember [1] Party
1918 Sir Leicester Harmsworth Coalition Liberal
1922 Sir Archibald Sinclair National Liberal
1923 Liberal
1945 Eric Gandar Dower Conservative
1950 Sir David Robertson Conservative
1959 Independent Conservative
1964 George Mackie Liberal
1966 Robert Maclennan Labour
1981 SDP
1988 Liberal Democrats
1997 constituency abolished

At the time of the 1918 general election, Sir Leicester Harmsworth had been MP for the constituency of Caithness since the 1900 general election.

In the general election of 1997, Robert Maclennan was elected MP for the then new constituency of Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, a seat he held until retiring from parliament at the 2001 general election.

Election results

Election results since 1918 Caithness & Sutherland election history.png
Election results since 1918

Elections in the 1910s

Sir Leicester Harmsworth Leicester Harmsworth.jpeg
Sir Leicester Harmsworth
General election 1918: Caithness and Sutherland
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
C National Liberal Leicester Harmsworth 6,76962.6
Liberal Francis John Robertson4,03637.4
Majority 2,73325.2
Turnout 10,785
National Liberal win (new seat)
Cindicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Caithness and Sutherland [2]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
National Liberal Archibald Sinclair 7,715 57.1 −5.5
Liberal Leicester Harmsworth 5,80342.9+5.5
Majority 1,91214.2−11.0
Turnout 13,51860.1
National Liberal hold Swing
General election 1923: Caithness and Sutherland
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Archibald Sinclair Unopposed N/AN/A
Liberal hold Swing N/A
General election 1924: Caithness and Sutherland
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Archibald Sinclair Unopposed N/AN/A
Liberal hold Swing N/A
General election 1929: Caithness and Sutherland
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Archibald Sinclair 13,462 73.9 N/A
Unionist James Duncan 3,04116.7New
Independent Labour Charles G Oman1,7119.4New
Majority 10,42157.2N/A
Turnout 18,21466.5N/A
Liberal hold Swing N/A

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Caithness and Sutherland
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Archibald Sinclair Unopposed N/AN/A
Liberal hold Swing N/A
General election 1935: Caithness and Sutherland
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Archibald Sinclair 12,071 72.32 N/A
National William Bruce4,62127.68New
Majority 7,65044.64N/A
Turnout 16,69260.06N/A
Liberal hold Swing N/A

Elections in the 1940s

General election 1945: Caithness and Sutherland
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Unionist Eric Gandar Dower 5,564 33.5 New
Labour Robert Ian Aonas MacInnes5,55833.4New
Liberal Archibald Sinclair 5,50333.1−39.2
Majority 60.04N/A
Turnout 16,62564.2+4.1
Unionist gain from Liberal Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Caithness and Sutherland
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Unionist David Robertson 6,969 36.0 +2.5
Liberal Archibald Sinclair 6,70034.6+1.5
Labour Alasdair MacArthur5,67629.3−4.1
Majority 2691.4+1.4
Turnout 25,02176.6+12.4
Unionist hold Swing +3.3
General election 1951: Caithness and Sutherland
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Unionist David Robertson 9,814 49.2 +13.2
Labour Richard Murray6,79934.1+4.8
Liberal Peter J M McEwan3,29916.6−18.0
Majority 3,01515.14+14.7
Turnout 19,91273.26+3.3
Unionist hold Swing +4.2
General election 1955: Caithness and Sutherland [3]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Unionist David Robertson 10,453 56.5 +7.3
Labour Hugh F Sutherland5,36429.0−5.1
Liberal John Stuart Mowat 2,67414.5−2.1
Majority 5,08927.5+12.4
Turnout 18,49169.5−3.8
Unionist hold Swing +6.1
General election 1959: Caithness and Sutherland
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Ind. Unionist David Robertson 12,163 65.3 +8.8
Labour Ronald Murray 6,43834.6+5.6
Majority 5,72530.7N/A
Turnout 18,60169.6+0.1
Ind. Unionist gain from Unionist Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Caithness and Sutherland
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal George Mackie 7,894 36.1 New
Labour John B Urquhart6,61930.2−4.4
Unionist Patrick Maitland 4,55020.8New
Ind. Unionist John M Young2,79512.7−52.6
Majority 1,2755.9N/A
Turnout 21,85880.1+11.5
Liberal gain from Ind. Unionist Swing
General election 1966: Caithness and Sutherland
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Robert Maclennan 8,308 39.1 +8.9
Liberal George Mackie 8,24438.8+2.7
Conservative Hamish Watt 4,66221.9+1.1
Majority 640.3N/A
Turnout 21,21479.2−0.9
Labour gain from Liberal Swing +3.1

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Caithness and Sutherland
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Robert Maclennan 8,768 36.7 −2.4
Liberal George Mackie 6,06325.4−13.4
Conservative John M Young5,33422.3+0.4
SNP Donald G. Barr3,69015.4New
Majority 2,70511.3+11.0
Turnout 23,855
Labour hold Swing +5.5
General election February 1974: Caithness and Sutherland [4]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Robert Maclennan 8,574 36.2 −0.5
Liberal Michael R Burnett6,22226.2+0.8
Conservative G Susan Bell5,10421.5−0.8
SNP Eric Alexander Sutherland3,81416.1+0.7
Majority 2,35210.0−1.3
Turnout 23,71483.0
Labour hold Swing -0.7
General election October 1974: Caithness and Sutherland [5]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Robert Maclennan 7,941 35.3 −0.9
SNP Eric Alexander Sutherland5,38123.9+7.8
Liberal Michael R Burnett4,94922.0−4.2
Conservative Albert McQuarrie 4,24018.8−2.7
Majority 2,56011.4+1.4
Turnout 22,51178.1−4.9
Labour hold Swing −4.3
General election 1979: Caithness and Sutherland [6]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Robert Maclennan 9,613 41.5 +6.2
Conservative Richard H. Wardrop7,07430.5+11.7
SNP Robin R. Shaw6,48728.0+4.1
Majority 2,53911.0−0.4
Turnout 23,71478.4+0.3
Labour hold Swing −2.7

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1983: Caithness and Sutherland [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
SDP Robert Maclennan 12,119 52.0 +10.5
Conservative Alistair M. Scouller5,27622.7−7.8
Labour Danny Carrigan3,32514.3−27.2
SNP Jim Ingram2,56811.0−17.0
Majority 6,84329.3N/A
Turnout 23,28875.4−3.0
SDP gain from Labour Swing
General election 1987: Caithness and Sutherland [8]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
SDP Robert Maclennan 12,338 53.7 +1.7
Conservative Robert Hamilton3,84416.7−6.0
Labour Allan Byron3,43714.9+0.6
SNP Archibal MacGregor2,37110.3−0.7
Independent Liberal William Mowat6862.9New
Green Bernard Planterose3331.4New
Majority 8,49437.0+7.7
Turnout 23,00973.6−1.8
SDP hold Swing +3.8

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1992: Caithness and Sutherland [9]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Democrats Robert Maclennan 10,032 45.1 −8.6
Conservative George Bruce4,66720.9+4.2
SNP Kerr MacGregor4,04918.2+7.9
Labour Michael F. Coyne3,48315.6+0.7
Majority 5,36524.2−12.8
Turnout 22,23172.5−1.1
Liberal Democrats hold Swing −6.4

References

  1. ↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 1)
  2. ↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
  3. ↑ The Times House of Commons, 1955
  4. ↑ British Parliamentary election Results 1974-83 by FWS Craig
  5. ↑ British Parliamentary election Results 1974-83 by FWS Craig
  6. ↑ British Parliamentary election Results 1974-83 by FWS Craig
  7. ↑ "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  8. ↑ "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  9. ↑ "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.

See also

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