Lanark (UK Parliament constituency)

Coordinates: 55°40′26″N 3°46′55″W / 55.674°N 3.782°W

Lanark
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1918–1983
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Clydesdale, Motherwell North and Motherwell South[1]

Lanark was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Westminster) from 1918 to 1983. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post voting system.

There was also an earlier Lanark Burghs constituency, from 1708 to 1832.

Boundaries

From 1918 the constituency consisted of "The Upper Ward County District, inclusive of all burghs situated therein, together with the part of the Middle Ward County District which is contained within the parishes of Avondale, East Kilbride, Glassford, and Stonehouse."

The Representation of the People Act 1948 provided that the constituency was to consist of "(i) The burghs of Biggar and Lanark; and (ii) the first, second and third districts and, so far as not included in the Hamilton constituency, the fourth and fifth districts."

Member of Parliament

Election		Member[2]	Party
	1918	Walter Elliot	Unionist
	1923	Thomas Scott Dickson	Labour
	1924	Stephen Mitchell	Unionist
	1929	Thomas Scott Dickson	Labour
	1931	Lord Dunglass	Unionist
	1945	Tom Steele	Labour
	1950	Lord Dunglass	Unionist
	1951	Patrick Maitland	Unionist
	1959	Judith Hart	Labour
1983		Constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1918: Lanark [3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Capt Walter Elliot	12,976
	Labour	James C. Welsh	5,821
	Unionist hold		Swing

• endorsed by the Coalition Government

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1922: Lanark [4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Walter Elliot	12,005	55.0
	Labour	Thomas Scott Dickson	9,812	45.0
Majority			2,193	10.0
Turnout			21,817
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1923: Lanark [5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Thomas Scott Dickson	11,384
	Unionist	Walter Elliot	11,154
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing

Elizabeth Mitchell

General Election 1924: Lanark [6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Stephen Mitchell	12,714
	Labour	Thomas Scott Dickson	11,426
	Liberal	Miss Elizabeth B Mitchell	2,126
	Unionist gain from Labour		Swing

General Election 1929: Lanark [7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Thomas Scott Dickson	15,054	48.7
	Unionist	Stephen Mitchell	12,652	41.0
	Liberal	James Mullo Weir	3,179	10.3
Majority			2,402	7.8
Turnout			30,885
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing

1931-1959

General Election 1931: Lanark[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Lord Dunglass	20,675	63.63
	Labour	J. Gibson	11,815	36.37
Majority			8,860	27.27
Turnout				82.48
	Unionist gain from Labour		Swing

General Election 1935: Lanark [9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Lord Dunglass	17,759	56.75
	Labour	J. Gibson	10,950	34.99
	Ind. Labour Party	W. Carlin	2,583	8.25
Majority			6,809	21.76
Turnout				75.96
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1945: Lanark
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tom Steele	17,784	52.80
	Unionist	Lord Dunglass	15,900	47.20
Majority			1,884	5.59
Turnout				74.93
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: Lanark [10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Lord Dunglass	19,890	50.88
	Labour	Tom Steele	19,205	49.12
Majority			685	1.75
Turnout				84.70
	Unionist gain from Labour		Swing

General Election 1951: Lanark [11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Patrick Francis Maitland	21,467	52.18
	Labour	William L. Taylor	19,674	47.82
Majority			1,793	4.36
Turnout			41,141	97.31
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Lanark [12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Hon. Patrick Francis Maitland	21,828	51.12
	Labour	John Mackie	20,870	48.88
Majority			958	2.24
Turnout			42,698	85.87
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1959: Lanark [13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Judith Constance Mary Hart	25,171	50.54
	Unionist	Hon. Patrick Francis Maitland	24,631	49.46
Majority			540	1.08
Turnout			49,802	87.23
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1964: Lanark [14]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Judith Constance Mary Hart	30,242	54.82
	Unionist	William Beale	24,922	45.18
Majority			5,320	9.64
Turnout			55,164	85.97
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1966: Lanark [15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Judith Constance Mary Hart	29,735	51.65
	Conservative	William Beale	21,995	38.21
	SNP	Henry C.D. Rankin	5,838	10.14
Majority			7,740	13.44
Turnout			57,568	83.72
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: Lanark [16]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Rt Hon. Judith Constance Mary Hart	30,194	45.03
	Conservative	Alan C.S. MacDougall	27,721	41.35
	SNP	Henry C.D. Rankin	7,859	11.72
	Communist	David McDowall	1,273	1.90
Majority			2,473	3.69
Turnout			67,047	79.45
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election February 1974: Lanark
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Rt Hon. Judith Constance Mary Hart	16,823	41.69
	Conservative	Alan C.S. MacDougall	14,723	36.49
	SNP	Tom McAlpine	8,803	21.82
Majority			2,100	5.20
Turnout			40,349	83.96
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election October 1974: Lanark
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Rt Hon. Judith Constance Mary Hart	14,948	37.56
	SNP	Tom McAlpine	14,250	35.81
	Conservative	A Bell	9,222	23.17
	Liberal	F McDermid	1,374	3.45
Majority			698	1.74
Turnout			39,794	82.21
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1979: Lanark
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Rt Hon. Judith Constance Mary Hart	18,118	43.17
	Conservative	A Bell	12,979	30.93
	SNP	Tom McAlpine	7,902	18.83
	Liberal	F McDermid	2,967	7.07
Majority			5,139	12.25
Turnout			41,966	81.77
	Labour hold		Swing

Notes and references

1. "'Lanark', Feb 1974 - May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
2. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "L" (part 1)
3. Whitaker's Almanack, 1920
4. The Times, 17 November 1922
5. The Times, 8 December 1923
6. Oliver & Boyd's Edinburgh Almanack, 1927
7. The Times, 1 June 1929
8. Whitaker's Almanack, 1934
9. Whitaker's Almanack, 1939
10. The Times Guide to the House of Commons
11. The Times Guide to the House of Commons
12. The Times Guide to the House of Commons
13. The Times Guide to the House of Commons
14. The Times Guide to the House of Commons
15. The Times Guide to the House of Commons
16. The Times Guide to the House of Commons