Glasgow Gorbals (UK Parliament constituency)

Glasgow Gorbals
Former burgh constituency for the House of Commons
Subdivisions of Scotland	County of city of Glasgow
1918–1974 (1974)
Seats	One
Created from	Mid Lanarkshire
Replaced by	Glasgow Queen's Park, Glasgow Govan [1]

Glasgow Gorbals was a parliamentary constituency in the city of Glasgow. From 1918 until 1974, it returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first-past-the-post system.

Boundaries

The Representation of the People Act 1918 provided that the constituency was to consist of "That portion of the city which is bounded by a line commencing at a point on the municipal boundary at the centre line of the River Clyde about 77 yards east of the centre of Rutherglen Bridge, thence southwestward along the municipal boundary to the centre of the Caledonian Railway Main Line from Glasgow to Rutherglen, thence north-westward along the centre line of the said Caledonian Railway to the centre line of the Glasgow and South Western Railway, thence south-westward along the centre line of the said Glasgow and South Western Railway to the centre line of Victoria Road, thence northward along the centre line of Victoria Road, Eglinton Street, Bridge Street and Glasgow Bridge to the centre line of the River Clyde, thence south-eastward along the centre line of the River Clyde to the point of commencement." ^[2]

1950–1955: The County of the City of Glasgow wards of Gorbals and Hutchesontown, and part of Govanhill ward.

1955–1974: The County of the City of Glasgow wards of Gorbals and Hutchesontown, and parts of Govanhill and Kingston wards.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member [3]	Party
	1918	George Barnes	Coalition Labour
	1922	George Buchanan	Labour
	1931		Ind. Labour
	1939		Labour Party
	1948 by-election	Alice Cullen	Labour
	1969 by-election	Frank McElhone	Labour
Feb 1974		constituency abolished: see Glasgow Queen's Park

Election results

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Glasgow Gorbals ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Frank McElhone	10,260	69.3	−3.8
	Conservative	William Shearer	3,071	20.8	−2.0
	SNP	Thomas Brady	1,089	7.4	N/A
	Communist	John Kay	376	2.5	−1.6
Majority			7,189	48.6	−1.6
Turnout			14,796	59.7	−2.0
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

1969 Glasgow Gorbals by-election ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Frank McElhone	7,834	53.4	−19.7
	SNP	Thomas Brady	3,671	25.0	New
	Conservative	William Shearer	2,732	18.6	−4.2
	Communist	John Kay	361	2.5	−1.6
	Workers (Scotland)	Matt Lygate	72	0.5	New
Majority			4,163	28.4	−21.8
Turnout			14,670	58.5	−3.3
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1966: Glasgow Gorbals ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alice Cullen	14,453	73.1	+1.7
	Conservative	William C Hunter	4,513	22.8	−0.2
	Communist	Margaret Hunter	819	4.1	−1.5
Majority			9,940	50.2	+1.8
Turnout			19,785	61.7	−2.8
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1964: Glasgow Gorbals ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alice Cullen	16,931	71.4	+8.1
	Unionist	William C Hunter	5,455	23.0	−7.8
	Communist	Margaret Hunter	1,339	5.6	−0.3
Majority			11,476	48.4	+15.8
Turnout			23,725	64.5	−3.7
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1959: Glasgow Gorbals

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alice Cullen	20,731	63.3	+2.1
	Unionist	William C Hunter	10,072	30.8	−1.3
	Communist	Peter Kerrigan	1,932	5.9	−0.9
Majority			10,659	32.6	+3.5
Turnout			32,735	68.2	+3.0
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1955: Glasgow Gorbals

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alice Cullen	22,567	61.2	−0.6
	Unionist	William B Thomson	11,839	32.1	+0.1
	Communist	Peter Kerrigan	2,491	6.8	+0.6
Majority			10,728	29.1	−0.8
Turnout			36,897	65.2	−10.9
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1951: Glasgow Gorbals

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alice Cullen	25,288	61.8	+2.8
	Unionist	James A Young	13,069	32.0	+0.5
	Communist	Peter Kerrigan	2,553	6.2	+0.3
Majority			12,219	29.9	+3.3
Turnout			40,910	76.1	−0.7
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1950: Glasgow Gorbals

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alice Cullen	24,137	58.0	−22.0
	Unionist	James A Young	13,078	31.4	+11.5
	Communist	Peter Kerrigan	2,435	5.9	New
	Anti-Partition	William McGuinness	1,959	4.7	New
Majority			11.059	26.6	−33.4
Turnout			41,609	77.3	+19.9
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1940s

1948 Glasgow Gorbals by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alice Cullen	13,706	54.56	−25.44
	Unionist	W. Roxburgh	7,181	28.59	+8.59
	Communist	Peter Kerrigan	4,233	16.85	+16.85
Majority			6,525	25.97	−34.01
Turnout			25,120
	Labour hold		Swing	+17.02

General election 1945: Glasgow Gorbals

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Buchanan	21,073	80.0	+74.1
	Unionist	Ian Mactaggart	5,269	20.0	+9.9
Majority			15,804	60.0	N/A
Turnout			26,342	56.9
	Labour gain from Ind. Labour Party		Swing

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1935: Glasgow Gorbals ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ind. Labour Party	George Buchanan	22,860	75.02
	Unionist	M. Bloch	5,824	19.11
	Labour	Alexander Burnett	1,786	5.86
Majority			17,036	55.91	N/A
Turnout			31,470
	Ind. Labour Party gain from Independent Labour		Swing

General election 1931: Glasgow Gorbals ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Labour	George Buchanan	19,278	58.12
	Unionist	M. Bloch	11,264	33.96
	Communist	Harry McShane	2,626	7.92	New
Majority			8,014	24.16	N/A
Turnout			33,168
	Independent Labour gain from Labour		Swing

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1929: Glasgow Gorbals ^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Buchanan	25,134	74.8	+8.9
	Unionist	Maurice Bloch	8,457	25.2	−8.9
Majority			16,677	49.6	+17.8
Turnout			33,591	68.5	−4.5
Registered electors			49,004
	Labour hold		Swing	+8.9

General election 1924: Glasgow Gorbals ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Buchanan	19,480	65.9	−1.3
	Unionist	Robert McLellan	10,092	34.1	+1.3
Majority			9,388	31.8	−2.6
Turnout			29,572	73.0	+9.5
Registered electors			40,483
	Labour hold		Swing	−1.3

General election 1923: Glasgow Gorbals ^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Buchanan	17,211	67.2	+12.7
	Unionist	Robert McLellan	8,392	32.8	New
Majority			8,819	34.4	+7.3
Turnout			25,603	63.5	−11.6
Registered electors			40,331
	Labour hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1922: Glasgow Gorbals

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Buchanan	16,478	54.5	+20.2
	National Liberal	James Erskine Harper	8,276	27.4	New
	Independent Communist	John Maclean	4,027	13.3	New
	Liberal	Francis John Robertson	1,456	4.8	New
Majority			8,202	27.1	N/A
Turnout			30,237	75.1	+21.9
Registered electors			40,251
	Labour gain from Coalition Labour		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1910s

General election 1918: Glasgow Gorbals

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Coalition Labour	*George Barnes	14,247	65.7
	Labour	John Maclean	7,436	34.3
Majority			6,811	31.4
Turnout			21,683	53.2
Registered electors			40,765
	Coalition Labour win (new seat)

* Barnes did not receive the Coalition Coupon and was therefore an unofficial candidate.

References

1. Statutory Instrument 1970 No. 1680 (section Two) The Parliamentary Constituencies (Scotland) Order 1970 (Coming into force 25 November 1970)
2. Representation of the People Act 1918, Schedule 9, Part I.
3. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "G" (part 2)
4. "UK General Election results: 1970". Archived from the original on 25 September 2006. Retrieved 20 July 2008.
5. "1969 - 70 By Elections". 11 October 2008. Archived from the original on 11 October 2008.
6. UK General Election results: March 1966
7. UK General Election results: October 1964
8. Whitaker's Almanack, 1939
9. Whitaker's Almanack, 1934
10. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
11. Oliver & Boyd's Edinburgh Almanac, 1927
12. The Times, 8 December 1923