Greenock (UK Parliament constituency)

Greenock
Former Burgh constituency for the House of Commons
1832–1974
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Greenock & Port Glasgow

Greenock was a burgh constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1832 until 1974, when it was abolished and its area was merged into the new Greenock and Port Glasgow constituency.

Boundaries

The boundaries of the constituency, as set out in the Representation of the People (Scotland) Act 1832, were-

"From the Point, on the West of the Town, at which the Shore of the Firth of Clyde is met by the March between the Parishes of Greenock and Innerkip, up the said March to that Point thereof which is nearest to the Southern Point of the Ridge of Bow Hill; thence in a straight Line to the said Point on Bow Hill; thence in a straight Line to the Southern End of the Upper East Reservoir for supplying Greenock with Water; thence in a straight Line, in the Direction of the highest projecting Point of Knocknair Hill, to the Point near Woodhead Quarry, at which such straight Line cuts the Easternmost of the Two Rivulets which form the Lady Burn; thence down such Rivulet and the Lady Burn to the Point at which the same joins the Firth of Clyde; thence along the Shore of the Firth of Clyde to the Point first described."^[1]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1832	Robert Wallace	Liberal
	1845 by-election	Walter Baine	Liberal
	1847	William Hugh Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, Viscount Melgund	Liberal
	1852	Alexander Murray Dunlop	Liberal
	1868	James Johnston Grieve	Liberal
	1878 by-election	James Stewart	Liberal
	1884 by-election	Thomas Sutherland	Liberal
	1886		Liberal Unionist
	1892	John Bruce	Liberal
	1892	Sir Thomas Sutherland	Liberal Unionist
	1900	James Reid	Unionist
	1906	Halley Stewart	Liberal
	Jan 1910	Sir Godfrey Collins	Liberal
	1919		Coalition Liberal
	1922		Liberal
	1931		National Liberal
	1936 by-election	Robert Gibson	Labour
	1941 by-election	Hector McNeil	Labour
	1955 by-election	Dickson Mabon	Labour Co-operative
Feb 1974		constituency abolished: see Greenock & Port Glasgow

Election results

Elections in the 1860s

General Election 1868: Greenock [2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	James Johnston Grieve	2,963
		William Dougal Christie	2,093
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1885: Greenock [3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Thomas Sutherland	3,057
	Conservative	John Scott	2,954
	Scottish Land Restoration	John Morrison Davidson	65
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1886: Greenock[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Sir Thomas Sutherland	2,905
	Liberal	Harold Wright	2,208
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing

Elections in the 1890s

General Election 1892: Greenock[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Sir Thomas Sutherland	2,942
	Liberal	John Bruce	2,887
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1895: Greenock[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Sir Thomas Sutherland	3,571
	Liberal	Alfred Ewen Fletcher	2,753
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1900: Greenock[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Reid	3,165
	Liberal	John Maconie	2,886
Majority
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing

Halley Stewart

General Election 1906: Greenock[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Halley Stewart	3,590	52.5
	Conservative	James Reid	3,254	47.5
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing

Elections in the 1910s

General Election Jan 1910: Greenock [9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Godfrey Pattison Collins	4,233
	Conservative	Rt Hon. James Parker Smith	2,632
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election Dec 1910: Greenock [10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Godfrey Pattison Collins	4,338
	Conservative	Samuel Chapman	2,913
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

Godfrey Collins

General Election 1918: Greenock [11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Col. Godfrey Pattison Collins	10,933	48.0
	Unionist	Samuel Chapman	7,246	31.8
	British Socialist Party	Frederick Shaw	2,542	11.2	n/a
	Independent Labour	Neal Haughey	2,050	9.0	n/a
Majority			3,687	16.2
Turnout				66.6
	Liberal hold		Swing

• denotes candidate who was initially endorsed by the Coalition Government before that endorsement was withdrawn.

Elections in the 1920s

Sir G. Collins

General Election 1922
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	Sir Godfrey Pattison Collins	10,520	36.6	-11.4
	Communist	Alexander Geddes	9,776	+22.9	n/a
	Unionist	John Denholm	8,404	29.3	-2.5
Majority			744	2.5	-13.7
Turnout				84.8	+18.2
	National Liberal hold		Swing	-17.1

General Election 1923: Greenock
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Godfrey Pattison Collins	16,337	61.3	+24.7
	Communist	Alexander Geddes	10,335	38.7	+4.6
Majority			6,002	22.6	+20.1
Turnout				78.4	-6.4
	Liberal hold		Swing	+10.0

General Election 1924
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Godfrey Pattison Collins	12,752	48.6
	Communist	Alexander Geddes	7,590	29.0
	Labour	S. Kelly	5,874	22.4
Majority			5,162	19.6	-3.0
Turnout				77.8
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1929
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Godfrey Pattison Collins	11,190	32.5	-16.1
	Labour	William Leonard	9,697	28.2	+5.8
	Communist	Alexander Geddes	7,005	20.4	-8.6
	Unionist	Andrew Dewar Gibb	6,517	18.9	n/a
Majority			1,493	4.3	-15.3
Turnout				78.7	+0.9
	Liberal hold		Swing	-10.9

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal National	Sir Godfrey Pattison Collins	18,013	51.1
	Labour	T. Irwin	10,850	30.7
	Communist	Aitken Ferguson	6,440	18.2
Majority			7,163	20.4
Turnout				80.3
	Liberal National hold		Swing

General Election 1935
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal National	Rt Hon. Sir Godfrey Pattison Collins	20,299	52.7	+1.6
	Labour	T. Irwin	16,945	44.0	+13.3
	SNP	James Laird Kinloch	1,286	3.3	N/A
Majority			3,354	8.7	−15.7
Turnout			38,530	84.4	+4.1
	Liberal National hold		Swing	−5.9

Greenock by-election, 1936 [12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert T Gibson	20,594	53.4	+9.4
	Liberal National	Vivian Emery Cornelius	17,990	46.6	−6.1
Majority			2,604	6.8	N/A
Turnout			38,584	83.3	−1.1
	Labour gain from Liberal National		Swing	7.85

Elections in the 1940s

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 from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected;

• Labour: Robert Gibson

Greenock by-election, 1941[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Hector McNeil	unopposed	n/a	n/a

General Election 1945
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Hector McNeil	16,186
	Unionist	Wing-Com. Lord Malcolm Avondale Douglas-Hamilton	8,097
	Liberal	George Gordon Honeyman	4,180
	Communist	John Ross Campbell	5,900
Majority
Turnout
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: Greenock[14]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Rt Hon. Hector McNeil	20,548	50.6
	Liberal	Ian McColl	11,638	28.7
	Independent Labour	John S. Thomson	6,458	15.9
	Communist	John Ross Campbell	1,228	3.0
	Anti-Partition	William Oliver Brown	718	1.8
Majority			8,910	21.9
Turnout				83.2
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1951: Greenock[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Rt Hon. Hector McNeil	23,452
	Unionist	W Ross Maclean	17,615
Majority			5,837
Turnout
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Greenock[16]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Rt Hon. Hector McNeil	19,378	51.4
	Unionist	Ian MacArthur	18,345	48.6
Majority			1,033	2.7
Turnout			37,723
	Labour hold		Swing

Greenock by-election, 1955[17]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jesse Dickson Mabon	19,698	53.7
	Unionist	Ian MacArthur	17,004	46.3
Majority			2,694	7.3
Turnout			36,702
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1959: Greenock[18]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jesse Dickson Mabon	19,320	50.6
	Liberal	William T C Riddell	10,238	26.8
	Unionist	Leonard M Turpie	8,616	22.6
Majority			9,082	23.8
Turnout			38,174
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1964: Greenock[19]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jesse Dickson Mabon	19,627	55.1
	Liberal	Campbell M Barclay	9,055	25.4
	Unionist	D R Gordon Sillars	6,473	18.2
	Independent Labour	John S Thomson	458
Majority			10,572	29.7
Turnout			35,613
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1966: Greenock[20]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jesse Dickson Mabon	18,988	57.1
	Liberal	Iain M Will	7,727	23.2
	Conservative	Ronald E Dundas	5,835	17.5
	Communist	William Dunn	702	2.1
Majority			11,261	33.9
Turnout			33,252	73.6
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: Greenock[21]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jesse Dickson Mabon	19,334	53.7
	Liberal	William T C Riddell	16,100	44.7
	Communist	Alex Murray	559	1.6
Majority			3,234	9.0
Turnout			35,993	75.0
	Labour hold		Swing

References

1. Representation of the People (Scotland) Act 1832, Schedule (M).
2. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1870
3. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1889
4. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1889
5. Whitaker's Almanack, 1893
6. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench
7. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1901
8. Whitaker's Almanack, 1907
9. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1916
10. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1916
11. Whitaker's Almanack, 1920
12. Whitaker's Almanack, 1939
13. Whitaker's Almanack, 1944
14. British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
15. British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
16. British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
17. British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
18. British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
19. British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
20. British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
21. British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig

• Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "G" (part 2)