Dunbartonshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Dunbartonshire
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
Subdivisions of Scotland	County of Dumbarton
1708–1950
Number of members	One
Replaced by	East Dunbartonshire West Dunbartonshire

Dunbartonshire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of Great Britain (at Westminster) from 1708 to 1801 and of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (also Westminster) from 1801 to 1950. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) using the first-past-the-post voting system.

Boundaries

The constituency was created to cover the county of Dumbarton (later Dunbarton) minus any parliamentary burgh or part thereof within the county. From 1832 to 1918, however, under the Representation of the People (Scotland) Act 1832, the Representation of the People (Scotland) Act 1868 and the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, the boundaries of counties and burghs for purposes of parliamentary representation were not necessarily those for other purposes.

The Representation of the People Act 1918 brought constituency boundaries generally into alignment with local government boundaries established under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 and subsequent related legislation, but there were later changes to local government boundaries which were not reflected in new constituency boundaries until 1950, the same year that the Dunbartonshire constituency was abolished, under the House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1949.

For the period 1832 to 1918 boundary details below are nominal, and for the period 1918 to 1950 they are those applicable in 1918.

For the 1708 (first) general election and every subsequent election of the Parliament of Great Britain the Dumbartonshire constituency consisted of the county of Dumbarton minus the burgh of Dumbarton, which was a component of the Clyde Burghs constituency.

In 1801 the Parliament of Great Britain was merged with the Parliament of Ireland to form the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Dumbartonshire constituency retained its boundaries as a constituency of the Parliament of Great Britain for the 1802 (first) general election of the new parliament and for the general elections of 1806, 1807, 1812, 1818, 1820, 1826, 1830 and 1831.

Nominally, the constituency had the same boundaries for the 1832 general election, but the burgh of Dumbarton was now a component of Kilmarnock Burghs. 1832 boundaries were used also in the general elections of 1835, 1837, 1841, 1847, 1852, 1857, 1859, 1865, 1868, 1874, 1880, 1885, 1886, 1892, 1895, 1900, 1906, January 1910, and December 1910.

For the 1918 general election the constituency was defined as covering the county of Dunbarton minus the burghs of Dumbarton and Clydebank, which comprised Dumbarton Burghs. 1918 boundaries were used also in the general elections of 1922, 1923, 1924, 1929, 1931, 1935 and 1945.^[1]

For the 1950 general election new constituency boundaries divided the county of Dunbarton between the East Dunbartonshire and West Dunbartonshire constituencies, both entirely within the county.^[1]

Members of Parliament

MPs 1708–1832

Election		Member	Party
	1708	John Campbell
	1710
	1713
	1715
	1722	Mungo Haldane
	1725	John Campbell
	1727	John Campbell, later Duke of Argyll	Whig
	1734
	1741
	1747
	1754
	1761	Archibald Edmonstone	Tory
	1768
	1774
	1780	Lord Frederick Campbell
	1781	George Keith Elphinstone
	1784
	1790	Archibald Edmonstone	Tory
	1796	William Cunninghame Bontine
	1797	Alexander Telfer Smollett
	1799	Sir James Colquhoun, 3rd Bt
	1801
	1802
	1806	Henry Glassford
	1806	Charles Edmonstone	Tory
	1807	Henry Glassford
	1810	Archibald Campbell-Colquhoun
	1812
	1818
	1820
	1821	John Buchanan
	1826	John Campbell	Tory
	1830	Lord Montagu William Graham	Tory
	1831

MPs 1832–1950

Election		Member	Party[2][3][4]
	1832	John Campbell Colquhoun	Whig
	1835	Alexander Dennistoun	Whig
	1837	Sir James Colquhoun, 4th Bt	Whig
	1841	Alexander Smollett	Conservative
	1847
	1852
	1857
	1859	Patrick Boyle Smollett	Conservative
	1865
	1868	Archibald Orr-Ewing	Conservative
	1874
	1880
	1885
	1886
	1892	John Sinclair	Liberal
	1895	Alexander Wylie	Conservative
	1900
	1906	James Dundas White	Liberal
	1910 (January)
	1910 (December)	Arthur Acland Allen	Liberal
	1918	Sir William Hannay Raeburn	Coalition Conservative
	1922		Conservative
	1923	William Henry Porteous Martin	Labour
	1924	David Pinkerton Fleming	Conservative
	1926 by-election	John Gibb Thom	Conservative
	1929	Willie Brooke	Labour
	1931	John Gibb Thom	Conservative
	1932 by-election	Archibald Cochrane	Conservative
	1935
	1936 by-election	Thomas Cassells	Labour
	1941 by-election	Adam McKinlay	Labour
	1945
1950		constituency divided: see East Dunbartonshire and West Dunbartonshire

Election results

At the General election 1868 Sir Archibald Orr-Ewing was returned unopposed.^[5]

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1885: Dunbartonshire [6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sir Archibald Orr-Ewing	4,514	50.9
	Liberal	Robert Threshie Reid	4,357	48.1
Majority			157	1.8
Turnout				88.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1886: Dunbartonshire [6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sir Archibald Orr-Ewing	4,249	50.2	-0.7
	Liberal	Ronald Craufurd Munro Ferguson	4,217	49.8	+0.7
Majority			32	0.4	-1.4
Turnout				84.1
	Conservative hold		Swing	-0.7

Elections in the 1890s

General election 1892: Dunbartonshire [7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Sinclair	5,249	51.4
	Conservative	Alexander Wylie	4,956	48.6
Majority			293	2.8
Turnout
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing

General election 1895: Dunbartonshire [8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alexander Wylie	5,375	50.2	+1.6
	Liberal	John Sinclair	5,342	49.8	-1.6
Majority			33	0.4	3.2
Turnout				87.2
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+1.6

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: Dunbartonshire [8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alexander Wylie	6,083	53.0
	Liberal	P.R. Buchanan	5,393	47.0
Majority			690	6.0
Turnout				83.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1906: Dunbartonshire [9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	James Dundas White	7,404	51.6	+4.6
	Conservative	Henry Brock	6,937	48.4	-4.6
Majority			467	3.2	9.2
Turnout				87.8	+4.2
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+4.6

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: Dunbartonshire [10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	James Dundas White	8,640	53.2
	Conservative	Henry Brock	7,607	46.8
Majority			1,033	6.4
Turnout				88.3
	Liberal hold		Swing

A.A. Allen

General election December 1910: Dunbartonshire [10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Arthur Acland Allen	8,579	54.1	+0.9
	Conservative	William Thomas Shaw	7,267	45.9	-0.9
Majority			1,312	8.2	+1.8
Turnout				84.5	-3.8
	Liberal hold		Swing	+0.9

General election 1918: Dunbartonshire [11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Sir William Hannay Raeburn	12,765	55.8
	Labour	William Henry Porteous Martin	7,072	30.9	n/a
	Liberal	Arthur Acland Allen	3,048	13.3
Majority			5,693	24.9
Turnout				66.8
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing

• endorsed by the Coalition Government

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Dunbartonshire [12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Sir William Hannay Raeburn	13,407	50.4	-5.4
	Labour	William Henry Porteous Martin	13,216	49.6	+18.7
Majority			191	0.8	-24.1
Turnout				69.0	+2.2
	Unionist hold		Swing	-12.0

General election 1923: Dunbartonshire [13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William Henry Porteous Martin	11,705	43.0	-6.6
	Unionist	David Pinkerton Fleming	9,802	36.0	-14.4
	Liberal	Joseph Stanley Holmes	5,726	21.0	n/a
Majority			1,903	7.0	7.8
Turnout				70.7	+1.7
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+3.9

General election 1924: Dunbartonshire [14]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	David Pinkerton Fleming	16,223	55.8
	Labour	William Henry Porteous Martin	12,872	44.2
Majority			3,351	11.6
Turnout				75.6
	Unionist gain from Labour		Swing

Dunbartonshire by-election, 1926[14]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	John Gibb Thom	12,680	48.0	-7.8
	Labour	William Henry Porteous Martin	11,610	43.9	-0.3
	Liberal	William Reid	2,146	8.1	n/a
Majority			1,070	4.1	-15.0
Turnout				75.0	-0.6
	Unionist hold		Swing	-7.5

General election 1929: Dunbartonshire [15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Willie Brooke	18,153	45.7	+1.5
	Unionist	John Gibb Thom	16,576	41.6	-14.2
	Liberal	Thomas Maule Guthrie	5,071	12.7	n/a
Majority			1,577	4.1	15.7
Turnout				81.0	+5.4
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+7.8

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Dunbartonshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	John Gibb Thom	28,762	63.6
	Labour	Willie Brooke	16,474	36.4
Majority			12,288	27.2
Turnout			45,236	82.8
	Unionist gain from Labour		Swing

Dunbartonshire by-election, 1932[16]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Hon. Archibald Douglas Cochrane	16,749
	Labour	Rt Hon. Thomas Johnston	13,704	35.6
	National (Scotland)	Robert Gray	5,178	13.4	n/a
	Communist	H. McIntyre	2,870	7.5	n/a
Majority			3,045	7.9
Turnout
	Unionist hold		Swing

General election 1935: Dunbartonshire [17]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Hon. Archibald Douglas Cochrane	24,776	50.3
	Labour	Thomas Cassells	20,679	41.9	+6.3
	SNP	Robert Gray	3,841	7.8
Majority			4,097	8.4
Turnout				80.5
	Unionist hold		Swing

Dunbartonshire by-election, 1936[18]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Thomas Cassells	20,187	48.1
	Unionist	Arthur Paterson Duffes	19,203	45.7
	SNP	Robert Gray	2,599	6.2	-1.6
Majority			984	2.4
Turnout				68.6	-
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing

Elections in the 1940s

Dunbartonshire by-election, 1941[18]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Adam Storey McKinlay	21,900	85.0
	Communist	Malcolm MacEwen	3,862	15.0
Majority			18,038	70.0
Turnout				38.7
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1945: Dunbartonshire[19]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Adam Storey McKinlay	28,383	50.7
	Unionist	Robert Allan	27,636	49.3
Majority			747	1.3
Turnout				71.7	+33.0
	Labour hold		Swing

Notes and references

1. Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972 (ISBN 0-900178-09-4), F. W. S. Craig, 1972
2. Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1977]. British parliamentary election results 1832–1885 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 582. ISBN 0-900178-26-4.
3. Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1974]. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 536. ISBN 0-900178-27-2.
4. Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 622. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
5. Debrett's House of Commons, 1870
6. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1889
7. Whitaker's Almanack, 1893
8. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1901
9. Whitaker's Almanack, 1907
10. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1916
11. Whitaker's Almanack, 1920
12. The Times, 17 November 1922
13. The Times, 8 December 1923
14. Oliver & Boyd's Edinburgh Almanac, 1927
15. The Times, 1 June 1929
16. Whitaker's Almanack, 1934
17. The Times, 16 November 1935
18. Whitaker's Almanack, 1939
19. Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "D" (part 4)