Banffshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Banffshire
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
Subdivisions of Scotland	Banffshire
1708–1983
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Moray Banff & Buchan
Created from	Banffshire

Banffshire was a constituency of the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1708 to 1800, and of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1983. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP), using the first-past-the-post voting system.

The constituency covered the county of Banffshire, Scotland, but until 1918 the county town of Banff and the burgh of Cullen were represented as part of Elgin Burghs.

In 1983 it was split and merged into Moray and Banff and Buchan.

Members of Parliament

Election [1]		Member [2]	Party
	1707	John Murray
	1708	Alexander Abercromby
	1727	William Duff, later 1st Earl Fife
	1734	James Abercromby
	1754	James Duff, later 2nd Earl Fife
	1784	Sir James Duff
	1789 by-election	James Ferguson	Tory
	1790	Sir James Grant, Bt	Tory
	1795 by-election	David McDowall-Grant
	1796	Sir William Grant	Whig
	1812	Robert Abercromby
	1818	James Duff, later 4th Earl Fife
	1827 by-election	John Morison	Whig
	1832	George Ferguson	Tory
	1834		Conservative
	1837	James Duff, later 5th Earl Fife	Liberal
	1857 by-election	Lachlan Duff Gordon-Duff	Liberal
	1861 by-election	Robert William Duff	Liberal
	1893 by-election	Sir William Wedderburn	Liberal
	1900	Alexander William Black	Liberal
	1907 by-election	Walter Waring	Liberal
	1918	Charles Coupar Barrie, later Baron Abertay	Liberal
	1924	William Paterson Templeton	Unionist
	1929	Sir Murdoch McKenzie Wood	Liberal
	1935	Sir John Edmund Ritchie Findlay	Unionist
	1945	Sir William Duthie	Unionist
	1964	Wilfred Baker	Conservative
	Feb 1974	Hamish Watt	SNP
	1979	David Myles	Conservative
	1983	constituency abolished: see Banff & Buchan and Moray

Election results

Elections in the 1850s

Banffshire by-election, 1857[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Lachlan Duff Gordon-Duff	unopposed	n/a	n/a

Elections in the 1860s

General Election 1868: Banffshire[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Robert William Duff	unopposed	n/a	n/a

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1885: Banffshire[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Robert William Duff	3,740	65.1
	Conservative	Moir Tod Stormonth-Darling	2,008	34.9
Majority			1,732	30.2
Turnout				81.9
	Liberal hold		Swing

Having accepted office as Civil Lord of the Admiralty, Robert Duff was returned unopposed at a by-election on 13 February 1886.

General Election 1886: Banffshire[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Robert William Duff	2,583	64.9	n/a
	Liberal Unionist	Sir Charles Grant	1,394	35.1	n/a
Majority			1,189	29.8	n/a
Turnout				56.7	n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

Elections in the 1890s

Robert Duff

General Election 1892: Banffshire[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Robert William Duff	2,293	61.7
	Independent Conservative	Michael Maltman Barry	1,424	38.3
Majority			869	23.4
Turnout				51.7
	Liberal hold		Swing

W. Wedderburn

Banffshire by-election, 1893[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir William Wedderburn	3,166	56.9
	Conservative	James Augustus Grant	2,395	43.1
Majority			771	13.8
Turnout				76.8
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1895: Banffshire[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir William Wedderburn	2,977	54.7
	Conservative	James Augustus Grant	2,467	45.3
Majority			510	9.4
Turnout				72.4
	Liberal hold		Swing

Elections in the 1900s

Alexander Black

General Election 1900: Banffshire[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Alexander William Black	2,768
	Conservative	George Watt	2,470
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1906: Banffshire[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Alexander William Black	4,101
	Conservative	James Augustus Grant	1,901
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

Walter Waring

Banffshire by-election, 1907[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Walter Waring	3,901	67.3
	Conservative	William Whitelaw	1,892	32.7
Majority			2,009	34.6
Turnout				70.8
	Liberal hold		Swing

Elections in the 1910s

General Election Jan 1910: Banffshire[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Walter Waring	4,066	66.4
	Conservative	James Crabb Watt	2,053	33.6
Majority			2,013	32.8
Turnout				74.8
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election Dec 1910: Banffshire[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Walter Waring	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

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: Walter Waring
• Unionist: Edward A Hume

Charles Barrie

General Election 1918: Banffshire[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Coupar Barrie	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

• endorsed by Coalition Government

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1922: Banffshire[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	Sir Charles Coupar Barrie	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	National Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

General Election 1923: Banffshire[14]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Charles Coupar Barrie	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

General Election 1924: Banffshire[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	William Paterson Templeton	6,829	42.7	n/a
	Liberal	Sir Charles Coupar Barrie	5,426	34.0	n/a
	Labour	A W Groundwater	3,722	23.3	n/a
Majority				8.7	n/a
Turnout					n/a
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	n/a

General Election 1929: Banffshire[16]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Murdoch McKenzie Wood	9,278	44.3	+10.3
	Unionist	William Paterson Templeton	6,720	32.0	-10.7
	Labour	Alasdair Alpin MacGregor	4,982	23.7	+0.4
Majority				12.3	21.0
Turnout
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing	+10.5

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931: Banffshire[17]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Murdoch McKenzie Wood	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

General Election 1935: Banffshire[18]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Sir John Edmund Ritchie Findlay	11,771	51.3	n/a
	Liberal	Sir Murdoch McKenzie Wood	11,168	48.7	n/a
Turnout				70.5	n/a
Majority			603	2.6	n/a
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	n/a

General Election 1939/40

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected;

• Unionist: William Lindsay
• Liberal: Sir Murdoch McKenzie Wood^[19]
• Labour: George A Mair^[20]

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Banffshire[21]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Sir William Smith Duthie	10,689	49.45
	Liberal	Ian Alistair Duncan Millar	6,401	29.62
	Labour	D. Macpherson	4,524	20.93
Majority			4,288	19.84
	Unionist hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: Banffshire[22]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Sir William Smith Duthie	13,952	58.15
	Labour	J. Brown	6,303	26.27
	Liberal	Sir Gordon James Lethem	3,739	15.58
Majority			7,649	31.88
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1951: Banffshire[23]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Sir William Smith Duthie	16,562	70.87
	Labour	Alexander Flett	6,806	29.13
Majority			9,756	41.75
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Banffshire[24]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Sir William Smith Duthie	14,643	69.80
	Labour	William Paterson	6,337	30.20
Majority			8,306	39.59
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1959: Banffshire[25]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Sir William Smith Duthie	14,359	70.56
	Labour	Robert W. Irvine	5,992	29.44
Majority			8,367	41.12
	Unionist hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1964: Banffshire[26]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Wilfred Harold Kerton Baker	9,995	47.77
	Labour	Henry Dickson	5,574	26.64
	Liberal	Thomas Alexander Macnair	5,354	25.59
Majority			4,421	21.13
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1966: Banffshire[27]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Wilfred Harold Kerton Baker	8,139	41.37
	Liberal	Basil Wishart	6,762	34.37
	Labour	Robert Middleton	4,775	24.27
Majority			1,377	7.00
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: Banffshire[27]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Wilfred Harold Kerton Baker	8,457	38.71
	SNP	Hamish Watt	5,006	22.91
	Liberal	Thomas Ronald Leslie Fraser	4,589	21.01
	Labour	Andrew F. Walls	3,795	17.37
Majority			3,451	15.80
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election February 1974: Banffshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Hamish Watt	11,037	46.1
	Conservative	Wilfred Harold Kerton Baker	8,252	34.5
	Liberal	Thomas Ronald Leslie Fraser	3,121	13.0
	Labour	R Dool	1,528	6.4
Majority			2,785	11.6
Turnout			23,938	75.7
	SNP gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election October 1974: Banffshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Hamish Watt	10,638	45.9
	Conservative	J.S. Gordon	8,797	37.9
	Liberal	C. McLeod	2,059	8.9
	Labour	A.W.M. Porteous	1,700	7.3
Majority			1,851	8.0
Turnout			23,194	72.5
	SNP hold		Swing

General Election 1979: Banffshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Fairlie Myles	10,580	44.6
	SNP	Hamish Watt	9,781	41.2
	Labour	R.E. Duncan	3,381	14.2
Majority			799	3.4
Turnout			23,742	72.4
	Conservative gain from SNP		Swing

References

1. Stooks Smith, Henry. (1973) [1844–1850]. Craig, F. W. S., ed. The Parliaments of England (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. pp. 622–623. ISBN 0-900178-13-2.
2. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 1)
3. The Times, 1 July 1857
4. Debrett's House of Commons, 1870
5. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1889
6. Whitaker's Almanack, 1893
7. The Times, 17 March 1893
8. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1901
9. Whitaker's Almanack, 1907
10. The Times, 19 Feb 1907
11. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1916
12. Whitaker's Almanack, 1920
13. The Times, 17 November 1922
14. The Times, 8 December 1923
15. Oliver & Boyd's Edinburgh Almanack, 1927
16. The Times, 1 June 1929
17. Whitaker's Almanack, 1934
18. Whitaker's Almanack, 1939
19. The Liberal Magazine, 1939
20. Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939
25. Whitaker's Almanack, 1963