Inverness (UK Parliament constituency)

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

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.

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

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

Election results

Elections in the 1910s

Thomas Morison

UK General Election, 1918: Inverness^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Thomas Brash Morison	7,991		n/a
	Highland Land League	George James Bruce	2,930		n/a
Majority					n/a
Turnout					n/a
	Liberal win

endorsed by Coalition Government

Elections in the 1920s

Inverness by-election, 1922
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Coalition Liberal	Sir Murdoch Macdonald	8,340	51.0
	Liberal	Alexander Mackenzie Livingstone	8,024	49.0
Majority			316	2.0
Turnout				50.1
	Coalition Liberal hold		Swing

UK General Election, 1922: Inverness ^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	Sir Murdoch Macdonald	9,796	52.7	+1.7
	Liberal	Alexander Mackenzie Livingstone	8,785	47.3	-1.7
Majority			1,011	5.4	+3.4
Turnout			18,581
	National Liberal hold		Swing	+1.7

UK General Election, 1923: Inverness ^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Murdoch Macdonald	10,194
	Labour	Andrew D. Kinloch	5,385		n/a
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

UK General Election, 1924: Inverness ^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Murdoch Macdonald	11,468	62.6
	Labour	T. Henderson	6,863	37.4
Majority				25.2
Turnout			18,331
	Liberal hold		Swing

UK General Election, 1929: Inverness ^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Murdoch Macdonald	14,042	55.3	-7.3
	Labour	D.N. Mackay	11,369	44.7	+7.3
Majority			2,673	10.6	-14.6
Turnout			25,411
	Liberal hold		Swing	-7.3

Elections in the 1930s

UK General Election, 1931: Inverness ^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal National	Sir Murdoch Macdonald	18,702	65.3
	Labour	D.N. Mackay	5,941	20.7
	National (Scotland)	John MacCormick	4,016	14.0
Majority			12,761	44.5
Turnout			28,659	61.9
	Liberal National hold		Swing

UK General Election, 1935: Inverness ^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal National	Sir Murdoch Macdonald	14,985	56.4
	Labour	H. Fraser	7,297	27.5
	SNP	John MacCormick	4,273	16.1
Majority			7,688	29.0
Turnout			26,555	57.8
	Liberal National hold		Swing

Elections in the 1940s

UK General Election, 1945: Inverness
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal National	Sir Murdoch Macdonald	12,090	43.26
	Labour	N. G. Maclean	9,655	34.55
	Liberal	John MacCormick	6,200	22.19	n/a
Majority			2,435	8.71
Turnout			27,945	59.40
	Liberal National hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: Inverness
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Lord Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton	16,056	45.47	N/A
	Labour	D. N. Thompson	11,236	31.82	−2.73
	Liberal	John MacDonald Bannerman	8,023	22.72	+0.53
Majority			4,820	13.65	+4.94
Turnout			35,315	68.52	+9.12
	Unionist gain from Liberal National		Swing

General Election 1951: Inverness
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Lord Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton	22,497	64.54	+19.07
	Labour	T. A. Macnair	12,361	35.46	+3.64
Majority			10,136	29.08	+15.43
Turnout			34,858	69.30	+0.78
	Unionist hold		Swing	+21.37

Inverness by-election, 1954
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Neil Loudon Desmond McLean	10,329	41.4
	Liberal	John MacDonald Bannerman	8,998	36.0
	Labour	William Paterson	5,642	22.6
Majority			1,331
Turnout				49.2
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Inverness
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Neil Loudon Desmond McLean	14,352	41.5	−23.1
	Liberal	John MacDonald Bannerman	13,386	38.7	N/A
	Labour	D. Thompson	6,891	19.9	−15.6
Majority			966	2.8	−26.3
Turnout			34,629	67.49	−1.8
	Unionist hold		Swing	−9.1

General Election 1959: Inverness
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Neil Loudon Desmond McLean	15,728	44.4	+2.9
	Liberal	John MacDonald Bannerman	11,653	32.9	−5.8
	Labour	J.F. Coulter	8,073	22.77	+2.9
Majority			4,075	11.49	+8.70
Turnout			35,454	71.56	+4.07
	Unionist hold		Swing	+5.75

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1964: Inverness
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	David Russell Johnston	14,235	39.8	+7.0
	Unionist	Neil Loudon Desmond McLean	12,099	33.9	−10.5
	Labour	A.C. McLean	9,402	26.3	+3.5
Majority			2,136	6.0	−5.5
Turnout			35,736	71.4	−0.2
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing

General Election 1966: Inverness
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	David Russell Johnston	14,356	39.45	−0.4
	Conservative	D. A. Wathen	11,961	32.87	−1.0
	Labour	A.C. McLean	10,069	27.7	+1.4
Majority			2,395	6.6	+0.6
Turnout			36,386	72.1	+0.7
	Liberal hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: Inverness
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	David Russell Johnston	15,052	38.4	−1.1
	Conservative	D. A. Wathen	12,378	31.54	−1.4
	Labour	Donald Macauley	9,038	23.03	−4.6
	SNP	A. C. Cameron	2,781	7.1	N/A
Majority			2,674	6.8	+0.2
Turnout			39,248	72.3	+0.2
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election February 1974: Inverness
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	David Russell Johnston	16,903	38.7	+0.4
	Conservative	R. E. Henderson	11,680	26.8	−4.8
	Labour	D. J. Cameron	7,816	17.9	−5.1
	SNP	Rob McKay Gibson	7,258	16.6	+9.5
Majority			5,223	12.0	+5.2
Turnout			43,657	76.1	+3.8
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election October 1974: Inverness
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	David Russell Johnston	13,128	32.4	−6.3
	SNP	Donald Barr	11,994	29.6	+13.0
	Conservative	R. E. Henderson	8,922	22.0	−4.7
	Labour	J.W.L. Cumming	6,332	15.6	−2.3
	Fine Gael	U. Bell	155	0.4	N/A
Majority			1,134	2.8	−9.2
Turnout			40,531	70.5	−5.6
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1979: Inverness
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	David Russell Johnston	15,716	33.7	+1.4
	Conservative	Richard Hunter Gordon	11,559	24.8	+2.8
	SNP	Donald Barr	9,603	20.6	−9.0
	Labour	Brian David Henderson Wilson	9,586	20.6	+5.0
	Fine Gael	U. Bell	112	0.2	−0.1
Majority			4,157	8.9	+6.1
Turnout			46,576	74.4	−4.0
	Liberal hold		Swing

Notes and references

↑ "'Inverness', Feb 1974 - May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
↑ Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972 (ISBN 0-900178-09-4), F. W. S. Craig 1972
↑ Whitaker's Almanack, 1920
↑ The Times, 20 November 1922
↑ The Times, 11 December 1923
↑ Oliver & Boyd's Edinburgh Almanac, 1927
↑ The Times, 3 June 1929
↑ Whitaker's Almanack, 1934
↑ Whitaker's Almanack, 1939

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 "I"

Westminster constituencies of Scotland

1708 to 1832 1832 to 1868 1868 to 1885 1885 to 1918 1918 to 1950 1950 to 1955 1955 to 1974 1974 to 1983 1983 to 1997 1997 to 2005

Current constituencies (2005 to present)

Aberdeen North Aberdeen South Airdrie & Shotts Angus Argyll & Bute Ayr, Carrick & Cumnock Banff & Buchan Berwickshire, Roxburgh & Selkirk Caithness, Sutherland & Easter Ross Central Ayrshire Coatbridge, Chryston & Bellshill Cumbernauld, Kilsyth & Kirkintilloch East Dumfries & Galloway Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale & Tweeddale Dundee East Dundee West Dunfermline & West Fife East Dunbartonshire East Kilbride, Strathaven & Lesmahagow East Lothian East Renfrewshire Edinburgh East Edinburgh North & Leith Edinburgh South Edinburgh South West Edinburgh West Falkirk Glasgow Central Glasgow East Glasgow North Glasgow North East Glasgow North West Glasgow South Glasgow South West Glenrothes Gordon Inverclyde Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey Kilmarnock & Loudoun Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath Lanark & Hamilton East Linlithgow & East Falkirk Livingston Midlothian Moray Motherwell & Wishaw Na h-Eileanan an Iar North Ayrshire & Arran North East Fife Ochil & South Perthshire Orkney & Shetland Paisley & Renfrewshire North Paisley & Renfrewshire South Perth & North Perthshire Ross, Skye & Lochaber Rutherglen & Hamilton West Stirling West Aberdeenshire & Kincardine West Dunbartonshire

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Burgh constituencies	Aberdeen North Aberdeen South Coatbridge and Airdrie Dundee East Dundee West Dunfermline Burghs Edinburgh Central Edinburgh East Edinburgh Leith Edinburgh North Edinburgh Pentlands Edinburgh West Glasgow Bridgeton Glasgow Camlachie Glasgow Cathcart Glasgow Central Glasgow Gorbals Glasgow Govan Glasgow Hillhead Glasgow Kelvingrove Glasgow Maryhill Glasgow Pollok Glasgow Scotstoun Glasgow Shettleston Glasgow Springburn Glasgow Tradeston Glasgow Woodside Greenock Kirkcaldy Burghs Paisley Stirling and Falkirk Burghs

County constituencies	Argyll Ayr Banffshire Berwick and East Lothian Bothwell Bute and Northern Ayrshire Caithness and Sutherland Central Ayrshire CC Clackmannan and Eastern Stirlingshire Dumfriesshire East Aberdeenshire East Dunbartonshire East Fife East Renfrewshire Galloway Hamilton Inverness Kilmarnock Kinross and Western Perthshire Lanark Midlothian and Peebles Moray and Nairn Motherwell North Angus and Mearns North Lanarkshire Orkney and Zetland Perth and East Perthshire Ross and Cromarty Roxburgh and Selkirk Rutherglen South Angus South Ayrshire West Aberdeenshire West Dunbartonshire West Fife West Lothian West Renfrewshire West Stirlingshire Western Isles

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