Perthshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Perthshire
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
Subdivisions of Scotland	Perthshire
1708–1885
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Eastern Perthshire Western Perthshire

Perthshire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1801 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 until 1885, representing a seat for one Member of Parliament (MP).

Boundaries

The constituency was created to cover the county of Perth, minus the burgh of Perth, which was a compontent of the Perth Burghs constituency.

In 1832, as a result of the Representation of the People (Scotland) Act 1832, the Perth Burghs constituency was abolished, the Perth burgh constituency was created, and five detached parishes of the county were merged into the Clackmannanshire and Kinross-shire constituency.^[1]

In 1885, as a result of the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, the Perthshire constituency was divided to create Eastern Perthshire and Western Perthshire.^[1]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party	Notes
	15 June 1708	Dougal Stewart	Tory	Also sat for Buteshire [2]
	25 October 1710	Lord James Murray
	10 February 1715	Lord James Murray		Later 2nd Duke of Atholl
	By-election, 31 December 1724	David Graeme
	By-election, 28 April 1726	Mungo Haldane		Previously MP for Stirlingshire 1715–22, and for Dunbartonshire 1722–25
	12 October 1727	John Drummond
	9 May 1734	Lord John Murray
	21 April 1761	John Murray
	By-election, 23 March 1764	David Graeme		Diplomat and British Army general
	By-election, 11 June 1773	James Murray		of Strowan
	By-election, 11 April 1794	Thomas Graham
	19 May 1807	Lord James Murray		Later 1st Baron Glenlyon
	By-election, 19 March 1812	James Drummond	Tory
	By-election, 6 April 1824	Sir George Murray	Tory
	29 December 1832	The Earl of Ormelie	Whig	Later 2nd Marquess of Breadalbane
	By-election, 5 May 1834	Sir George Murray	Conservative
	17 January 1835	Hon. Fox Maule
	4 August 1837	Viscount Stormont	Conservative
	By-election, 9 March 1840	Henry Home-Drummond	Conservative/Peelite
	16 July 1852	Sir William Stirling, Bt	Conservative	Changed name to Sir William Stirling-Maxwell in March 1866
	23 November 1868	Charles Stuart Parker	Liberal	MP for Perth 1878–92
	12 February 1874	Sir William Stirling-Maxwell, Bt	Conservative
	By-election, 4 February 1878	Henry Edward Home-Drummond-Moray	Conservative
	5 April 1880	Sir Donald Currie	Liberal	subsequently MP for Western Perthshire
	1885	constituency divided. See Eastern Perthshire and Western Perthshire

Notes and references

1. Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972 (ISBN 0-900178-09-4), F. W. S. Craig 1972
2. Dougal Stewart was also returned for Buteshire at the general election in 1708 and appears to have been permitted to sit for both seats until his appointment as a Lord of Session on 7 Jun 1709. No writ for a fresh election appears to have been issued before the general election in 1710

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "P" (part 1)