Inverness (UK Parliament constituency)

Last updated

Inverness
Former county constituency
for the House of Commons
1918–1983
SeatsOne
Created from Inverness-shire and Inverness Burghs
Replaced by Inverness, Nairn & Lochaber and Ross, Cromarty & Skye [1]

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.

Contents

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

ElectionMemberPartyNotes
1918 Thomas Brash Morison Coalition Liberal Previously MP for Inverness-shire
1922 by-election Sir Murdoch Macdonald
1922 National Liberal
1922 Liberal
1931 Liberal National
1950 Lord Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton Unionist
1954 by-election Neil McLean
1964 Russell Johnston Liberal Subsequently, MP for Inverness, Nairn and Lochaber
1983 constituency abolished

Election results

Inverness election history Inverness election history.png
Inverness election history

Elections in the 1910s

Thomas Morison Thomas Morison.jpg
Thomas Morison
UK General Election, 1918: Inverness [3]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
C Liberal Thomas Morison 7,99173.2N/A
Highland Land League George James Bruce2,93026.8N/A
Majority5,06146.4N/A
Turnout 10,92137.3N/A
Registered electors 29,263
Liberal win (new seat)
Cindicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

1922 Inverness by-election
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
National Liberal Murdoch Macdonald 8,340 51.0 −22.2
Independent Liberal Alexander Livingstone 8,02449.0−24.2
Majority3162.0−44.4
Turnout 16,36450.1+13.8
Registered electors 32,695
National Liberal hold Swing −22.2
UK General Election, 1922: Inverness [4]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
National Liberal Murdoch Macdonald 9,796 52.7 −20.5
Liberal Alexander Livingstone 8,78547.3−25.9
Majority1,0115.4−41.0
Turnout 18,58154.3+17.0
Registered electors 34,244
National Liberal hold Swing −20.5
UK General Election, 1923: Inverness [5]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Murdoch Macdonald 10,194 65.4 +12.7
Labour Andrew D. Kinloch5,38534.6New
Majority4,80930.8+25.4
Turnout 15,57946.9−7.4
Registered electors 33,230
Liberal hold Swing +12.7
UK General Election, 1924: Inverness [6]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Murdoch Macdonald 11,468 62.6 −2.8
Labour T. Henderson6,86337.4+2.8
Majority4,60525.2−5.6
Turnout 18,33154.1+7.2
Registered electors 33,875
Liberal hold Swing +2.8
UK General Election, 1929: Inverness [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Murdoch Macdonald 14,042 55.3 −7.3
Labour David Norman Mackay11,36944.7+7.3
Majority2,67310.6−14.6
Turnout 25,41158.6+4.5
Registered electors 43,387
Liberal hold Swing −7.3

Elections in the 1930s

UK General Election, 1931: Inverness [8]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
National Liberal Murdoch Macdonald 18,702 65.3 +10.0
Labour David Norman Mackay5,94120.7−24.0
National (Scotland) John MacCormick 4,01614.0New
Majority12,76144.6N/A
Turnout 28,65961.9+3.3
National Liberal gain from Liberal Swing
UK General Election, 1935: Inverness [9]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
National Liberal Murdoch Macdonald 14,985 56.4 −8.9
Labour Hugh Fraser7,29727.5+6.8
SNP John MacCormick 4,27316.1+2.1
Majority7,68828.9−15.7
Turnout 26,55557.8−4.1
National Liberal hold Swing

Elections in the 1940s

UK General Election, 1945: Inverness [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Independent Liberal Murdoch Macdonald 12,090 43.26 −13.1
Labour Neil George Maclean9,65534.55+7.0
Liberal John MacCormick 6,20022.19+6.1
Majority2,4358.71N/A
Turnout 27,94559.40+1.6
Independent Liberal gain from National Liberal Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Inverness [11] [12]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Unionist Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton 16,056 45.47 New
Labour Desmond Nethersole-Thompson 11,23631.82−2.73
Liberal John Bannerman 8,02322.72+0.53
Majority4,82013.65+4.94
Turnout 35,31568.52+9.12
Unionist gain from National Liberal Swing
General election 1951: Inverness
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Unionist Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton 22,497 64.54 +19.07
Labour Thomas Alexander MacNair12,36135.46+3.64
Majority10,13629.08+15.43
Turnout 34,85869.30+0.78
Unionist hold Swing +21.37
1954 Inverness by-election
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Unionist Neil McLean 10,329 41.4 −23.1
Liberal John Bannerman 8,99836.0New
Labour William Paterson5,64222.6−12.9
Majority1,3315.4−23.7
Turnout 24,96949.2−20.1
Unionist hold Swing
General election 1955: Inverness [11] [13]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Unionist Neil McLean 14,352 41.5 −23.0
Liberal John Bannerman 13,38638.7N/A
Labour Desmond Nethersole-Thompson 6,89119.9−15.6
Majority9662.8−26.3
Turnout 34,62967.49−1.8
Unionist hold Swing −9.1
General election 1959: Inverness
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Unionist Neil McLean 15,728 44.4 +2.9
Liberal John Bannerman 11,65332.9−5.8
Labour Ian John Forgan Coulter8,07322.77+2.9
Majority4,07511.49+8.70
Turnout 35,45471.56+4.07
Unionist hold Swing +5.75

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Inverness
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Russell Johnston 14,235 39.8 +6.9
Unionist Neil McLean 12,09933.9−10.5
Labour Allan Campbell McLean 9,40226.3+3.5
Majority2,1365.9−5.6
Turnout 35,73671.4−0.2
Liberal gain from Unionist Swing
General election 1966: Inverness
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Russell Johnston 14,356 39.4 −0.4
Conservative David Anthony Wathen11,96132.9−1.0
Labour Allan Campbell McLean 10,06927.7+1.4
Majority2,3956.5+0.6
Turnout 36,38672.1+0.7
Liberal hold Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Inverness
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Russell Johnston 15,052 38.4 −1.0
Conservative David Anthony Wathen12,37831.5−1.4
Labour Donald Macauley 9,03823.0−4.7
SNP Athole Christina Cameron2,7817.1New
Majority2,6746.9+0.4
Turnout 39,24872.3+0.2
Liberal hold Swing
General election February 1974: Inverness
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Russell Johnston 16,903 38.7 +0.3
Conservative Robert Ewart Henderson11,68026.8−4.7
SNP Rob Gibson 7,81617.9+10.8
Labour David James Cameron7,25816.6−6.4
Majority5,22311.9+5.0
Turnout 43,65776.1+3.8
Liberal hold Swing
General election October 1974: Inverness
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Russell Johnston 13,128 32.4 −6.3
SNP Donald Barr11,99429.6+11.7
Conservative Robert Ewart Henderson8,92222.0−4.8
Labour J.W.L. Cumming6,33215.6−1.0
Fine Gael (Scotland)Uilleam Bell1550.4New
Majority1,1342.8−9.1
Turnout 40,53170.5−5.6
Liberal hold Swing
General election 1979: Inverness
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Russell Johnston 15,716 33.7 +1.3
Conservative Richard Hunter Gordon11,55924.8+2.8
SNP Donald Barr9,60320.6−9.0
Labour Brian David Henderson Wilson 9,58620.6+5.0
Fine Gael (Scotland)Uilleam Bell1120.2−0.2
Majority4,1578.9+6.1
Turnout 46,57674.4−4.1
Liberal hold Swing

Notes and references

  1. ↑ "'Inverness', Feb 1974 - May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  2. ↑ Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972 ( ISBN   0-900178-09-4), F. W. S. Craig 1972
  3. ↑ Whitaker's Almanack, 1920
  4. ↑ The Times, 20 November 1922
  5. ↑ The Times, 11 December 1923
  6. ↑ Oliver & Boyd's Edinburgh Almanac, 1927
  7. ↑ The Times, 3 June 1929
  8. ↑ Whitaker's Almanack, 1934
  9. ↑ Whitaker's Almanack, 1939
  10. ↑ Craig, F.W.S., ed. (1969). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 . Glasgow: Political Reference Publications. p.  419. ISBN   978-0-900178-01-6.
  11. 1 2 Pennie, Ian D. (October 1989). "Obituaries: Desmond Nethersole-Thompson (1908-1989)". Ibis. 131 (4): 610–611. doi: 10.1111/j.1474-919X.1989.tb04797.x .
  12. ↑ The Times' Guide to the House of Commons. 1950.
  13. ↑ The Times' Guide to the House of Commons. 1955.

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