North West Lanarkshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Coordinates: 55°49′41″N 4°03′36″W / 55.828°N 4.060°W

North West Lanarkshire
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
Subdivisions of Scotland	county of Lanark
1885–1918
Number of members	One

North West Lanarkshire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Westminster) from 1885 to 1918. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post voting system.

Boundaries

The name relates the constituency to the county of Lanark. The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 provided that the North-West division was to consist of "so much of the Parish of Barony as lies beyond the present boundary of the municipal burgh of Glasgow and to the east of the main line of railway before mentioned (main line of railway between Glasgow and Edinburgh of the North British Railway Company (being the old Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway), and the parishes of Cadder and Old Monkland".^[1]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member[2]	Party
	1885	John Baird	Conservative
	1886	Robert Cunninghame-Graham	Liberal
	1892	Graeme Alexander Lockhart Whitelaw	Conservative
	1895	John Goundry Holburn	Liberal
	1899 b-e	Charles Mackinnon Douglas	Liberal
	1906	William Mitchell-Thompson	Conservative
	Jan. 1910	William Pringle	Liberal
1918		constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1885: North West Lanarkshire [3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Baird	4,545		n/a
	Liberal	Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham	3,442		n/a
Majority					n/a
Turnout					n/a
	Conservative win (new seat)

Cunninghame Graham

General Election 1886: North West Lanarkshire [3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham	4,030
	Conservative	John Baird	3,698
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing

Elections in the 1890s

General Election 1892: North West Lanarkshire [4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Graeme Alexander Whitelaw	4,770
	Liberal	James C.R. Reade	4,689
Majority
Turnout
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing

General Election 1895: North West Lanarkshire [5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Goundry Holburn	5,244
	Conservative	Graeme Alexander Whitelaw	5,147
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing

By-election 21 Feb 1899: North West Lanarkshire [5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Mackinnon Douglas	5,723
	Conservative	Graeme Alexander Whitelaw	5,364
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1900: North West Lanarkshire [5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Mackinnon Douglas	5,505
	Liberal Unionist	Lewis Edmunds	5,214
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1906: North West Lanarkshire [6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Lowson Mitchell-Thomson	5,588	40.5
	Liberal	Charles Mackinnon Douglas	4,913	35.6
	Scottish Workers	Joseph Sullivan	3,291	23.9	n/a
Majority
Turnout
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing

Elections in the 1910s

William Pringle

General Election Jan 1910: North West Lanarkshire [7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Mather Rutherford Pringle	8,422
	Conservative	William Lowson Mitchell-Thomson	7,528
	Labour	Robert Small	1,718
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election Dec 1910: North West Lanarkshire [7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Mather Rutherford Pringle	9,315
	Conservative	Arthur Stanley Pringle	8,486
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

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: William Mather Rutherford Pringle
• Unionist:

References

1. Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885, Seventh Schedule, Part II
2. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "L" (part 1)
3. Debrett's House of Commons and Judicial Bench, 1889
4. Whitaker's Almanack, 1893
5. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1901
6. Whitaker's Almanack, 1907
7. Debrett's House of Commons and Judicial Bench, 1916