Motherwell (UK Parliament constituency)

Motherwell
Former Burgh constituency for the House of Commons
Major settlements	Motherwell, Wishaw
1918–1974
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Motherwell and Wishaw

Motherwell was a burgh constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 to 1974. It was formed by the division of Lanarkshire. The name was changed in 1974 to Motherwell and Wishaw. It is famous for returning the first-ever SNP MP (Robert McIntyre in 1945) and arguably the first Communist Party MP (Walton Newbold in 1922).

Boundaries

From 1918 the constituency consisted of "The burghs of Motherwell and Wishaw, together with the part of the Middle Ward County District which is contained within the extraburghal portion of the parish of Dalziel."

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1918	Robert Frederick William Robertson Nelson	Unionist
	1922	John Turner Walton Newbold	Communist
	1923	Hugh Ferguson	Unionist
	1924	James Barr	Labour
	1931	Thomas Ormiston	Unionist
	1935	James Walker	Labour
	1945, April	Robert Douglas McIntyre	SNP
	1945, July	Alexander Anderson	Labour
	1954	George McArthur Lawson	Labour
1974, Feb.		constituency renamed: see Motherwell and Wishaw

Election results

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: Motherwell
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Lawson	20,683	53.2
	Conservative	S. Bell	12,509	32.2
	SNP	Isobel Lindsay	3,861	9.9
	Communist	James Sneddon	1,829	4.7
Majority			8,174	21.0
Turnout				73.5
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1966: Motherwell
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George McArthur Lawson	22,658	60.8
	Conservative	John Joseph Young	13,100	35.2
	Communist	James Sneddon	1,508	4.1
Majority			9,558	25.7
Turnout				74.4
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1964: Motherwell
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Lawson	23,281	58.7
	Unionist	J. J. Young	14,789	37.3
	Communist	James Sneddon	1,565	4.0
Majority			8,492	21.4
Turnout				78.9
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1959: Motherwell
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Lawson	22,009	53.7
	Unionist	B. Brogan	17,613	43.0
	Independent	David Murray	1,331	3.3
Majority			4,396	10.7
Turnout				81.1
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Motherwell
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Lawson	20,147	53.9
	Unionist	Michael Clark Hutchison	17,262	46.1
Majority			2,885	7.7
Turnout				76.5
	Labour hold		Swing

Motherwell by-election, 1954
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Lawson	19,163	56.4	- 0.8
	Unionist	N. A. Sloan	13,334	39.3	- 3.5
	Communist	John Gollan	1,457	4.3	N/A
Majority			5,829	17.2
Turnout
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1951: Motherwell
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alexander Anderson	23,641	57.3
	Unionist	N. A. Sloan	17,650	42.8
Majority			5,991	14.5
Turnout				84.7
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1950: Motherwell
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alexander Anderson	22,608	54.2
	Unionist	A. Robertson	14,183	34.0
	SNP	Robert McIntyre	3,892	9.3
	Communist	R. Henderson	1,007	2.4
Majority			8,425	20.2
Turnout				84.5
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Motherwell
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alexander Anderson	15,831	52.7
	SNP	Robert McIntyre	8,022	26.7
	Unionist	J. H. Hamilton	6,197	20.6
Majority			7,809	26.0
Turnout				72.8
	Labour gain from SNP		Swing

Motherwell by-election, 1945
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Robert McIntyre	11,417	51.4
	Labour	Alexander Anderson	10,800	48.6
Majority			617	2.8
Turnout				54.0
	SNP gain from Labour		Swing

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1935: Motherwell [1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Walker	14,755	50.7
	Unionist	Thomas Ormiston CBE	14,325	49.3
Majority			430	1.3
Turnout				75.9
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing

General Election 1931: Motherwell[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Thomas Ormiston	15,513	51.3
	Labour	James Barr	14,714	48.7
Majority			799	2.6
Turnout				82.4
	Unionist gain from Labour		Swing

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1929: Motherwell
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Barr	16,650	58.0
	Unionist	John Ford	7,502	26.1
	Liberal	Provost Henry Archibald	3,597	12.5
	Communist	Isabel Brown	984	3.4
Majority			9,148	31.9
Turnout				79.6
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1924: Motherwell
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Barr	12,816	52.1
	Unionist	Hugh Ferguson	11,776	47.9
Majority			1,040	4.2
Turnout				82.3
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	N/A

General Election 1923: Motherwell
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Hugh Ferguson	9,793	42.0	+12.9
	Communist	John Turner Walton Newbold	8,712	37.4	+4.1
	Liberal	John Maxwell	4,799	20.6	-1.0
Majority			1,081	4.6	14.8
Turnout				77.4	-4.1
	Unionist gain from Communist		Swing	+4.4

General Election 1922: Motherwell
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Communist	John Turner Walton Newbold	8,262	33.3	+10.1
	Independent Unionist	Hugh Ferguson	7,214	29.1	+18.3
	Liberal	John Maxwell	5,359	21.6	-1.6
	National Liberal	David John Colville	3,966	16.0	n/a
Majority			1,048	10.2	21.6
Turnout				81.5	+17.3
	Communist gain from Unionist		Swing	n/a

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1918: Motherwell [3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Robert Frederick William Robertson Nelson	6,972	39.0	n/a
	Liberal	James Duncan Millar	4,135	23.2	n/a
	Labour	John Turner Walton Newbold	4,135	23.2	n/a
	Independent Unionist	Hugh Ferguson	1,923	10.8	n/a
Majority			3,407	11.4	n/a
Turnout				64.2	n/a
	Unionist win

• endorsed by Coalition Government

References

1. Whitaker's Almanack, 1939
2. Whitaker's Almanack, 1934
3. Whitaker's Almanack, 1920

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "M" (part 3)

See also