Ross and Cromarty (UK Parliament constituency)

Ross and Cromarty
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
Subdivisions of Scotland	1890–1975: Ross and Cromarty 1975–1983: Highland
1832–1983
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Ross, Cromarty & Skye
Created from	Inverness Burghs, Ross-shire and Cromartyshire

Ross and Cromarty was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1832 to 1983. The constituency elected one Member of Parliament (MP) using the first-past-the-post voting system.

When created in 1832 by the Scottish Reform Act 1832 it combined in one constituency the former constituencies of Ross-shire and Cromartyshire.

In 1918 Lewis was taken from the constituency and merged into the then new Western Isles constituency, and the Fortrose component of the former Inverness Burghs constituency and the Dingwall and Cromarty components of the former Northern Burghs constituency were merged into the Ross and Cromarty constituency.

In 1983 the area of the Ross and Cromarty constituency was merged with the Isle of Skye and Isle of Raasay areas of the former Inverness constituency to form the then new Ross, Cromarty and Skye constituency.

Local government areas

1890 to 1918

County councils were created in Scotland in 1890, and so the constituency area became also the county council area of Ross and Cromarty, minus the Fortrose, Dingwall and Cromarty parliamentary burghs.

1918 to 1975

When reformed in 1918 the constituency covered the county of Ross and Cromarty (including the former parliamentary burghs) minus Lewis.

1975 to 1983

County councils were abolished in 1975 and replaced with regions and districts and island council areas. The constituency area was then that of the district of Ross and Cromarty plus the Lochalsh area of Skye and Lochalsh. Both districts were within the Highland region.

See also

• Counties of Scotland
• Regions and districts of Scotland

Members of Parliament

Election		Member [1]	Party
	1832	James Alexander Stewart-Mackenzie	Liberal
	1837	Thomas Mackenzie	Conservative
	1847	Sir James Matheson	Liberal
	1868	Alexander Matheson	Liberal
	1884	Ronald Crauford Munro-Ferguson Later Viscount Novar	Liberal
	1885	Roderick Macdonald	Crofters' Party
	1892	James Galloway Weir	Liberal
	1911	Ian Macpherson Later Baron Strathcarron	Liberal
	1931		Liberal National
	1936	Malcolm MacDonald	National Labour
	1945	John MacLeod	Independent Liberal
	1947		National Liberal
	1964	Alasdair Mackenzie	Liberal
	1970	Hamish Gray	Conservative
1983		constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1885: Ross and Cromarty Shire [2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Liberal	Roderick Macdonald	4,942	62.8
	Liberal	Ronald Craufurd Munro Ferguson	2,925	37.2
Majority			2,017	25.6
Turnout				76.6
	Independent Liberal gain from Liberal		Swing

• Crofters Party

General Election 1886: Ross and Cromarty Shire [3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Roderick Macdonald	4,263	78.1	n/a
	Liberal Unionist	John Peter Grant	1,197	21.9	n/a
Majority			3,066	56.2	+30.6
Turnout				53.2	-23.4
	Liberal gain from Independent Liberal		Swing	n/a

Elections in the 1890s

Weir

General Election 1892: Ross and Cromarty Shire [4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	James Galloway Weir	3,171	56.8
	Liberal Unionist	N. McLean	2,413	43.2
Majority			758	13.6
Turnout				62.3
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1895: Ross and Cromarty Shire [5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	James Galloway Weir	3,272	57.6	+0.8
	Conservative	Randle Jackson	2,413	42.4	-0.8
Majority			863	15.2	+1.6
Turnout				68.8
	Liberal hold		Swing	+0.8

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1900: Ross and Cromarty Shire [6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	James Galloway Weir	3,554	68.3
	Conservative	J.D. Fletcher	1,651	31.7
Majority			1,903	36.6
Turnout				65.8
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1906: Ross and Cromarty Shire [7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	James Galloway Weir	3,883	68.7	+0.4
	Conservative	James Crabb Watt	1,771	31.3	-0.4
Majority			2,112	37.4	+0.8
Turnout				69.8	+4.0
	Liberal hold		Swing	+0.4

Elections in the 1910s

General Election Jan 1910: Ross and Cromarty Shire [8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	James Galloway Weir	4,430	75.8
	Liberal Unionist	Neil Maclean	1,418	24.2
Majority			3,012	51.6
Turnout				71.2
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election Dec 1910: Ross and Cromarty Shire [9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	James Galloway Weir	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

Ross and Cromarty by-election, 1911 [10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	James Ian Macpherson	3,717	74.8	n/a
	Liberal Unionist	William Paterson Templeton	1,253	25.2	n/a
Majority			2,464	49.6	n/a
Turnout					n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

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: James Ian Macpherson
• Unionist: Capt. MacLeod

General Election 1918: Ross and Cromarty Shire [11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Rt Hon. James Ian Macpherson	8,358	78.9
	Independent Labour	Hector Munro	2,278	21.1	n/a
Majority			6,120	57.8
Turnout				51.2
	Liberal hold		Swing

• Macpherson endorsed by Coalition Government
• Munro endorsed by Highland Land League

Elections in the 1920s

Ian MacPherson

General Election 1922: Ross and Cromarty [12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	Rt Hon. James Ian Macpherson	5,923	56.7	n/a
	Liberal	John Macdonald	4,521	43.3	n/a
Majority			1,402	13.4	-44.4
Turnout				42.4	-8.8
	National Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

General Election 1923: Ross and Cromarty [13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Rt Hon. James Ian Macpherson	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

General Election 1924: Ross and Cromarty [14]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Rt Hon. James Ian Macpherson	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

General Election 1929: Ross and Cromarty [15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Rt Hon. James Ian Macpherson	9,564	58.8	n/a
	Labour	Hugh Donald MacIntosh	6,710	41.2	n/a
Majority			2,854	17.6	n/a
Turnout			16,274	55.6	n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931: Ross and Cromarty[16]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal National	Rt Hon. James Ian Macpherson	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal National hold		Swing	n/a

General Election 1935: Ross and Cromarty
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal National	Rt Hon. James Ian Macpherson	10,810	76.7	n/a
	Labour	John MacKinnon MacDiarmid	3,284	23.3	n/a
Majority			7,526	53.4	n/a
Turnout			14,094	50.8	n/a
	Liberal National hold		Swing	n/a

Ross and Cromarty by-election, 1936 [17]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Labour	Malcolm John MacDonald	8,949	49.5	n/a
	Labour	Hector McNeil	5,967	33.0
	Unionist	Randolph Frederick Edward Spencer Churchill	2,427	13.4	n/a
	Liberal	William Stanley Russell Thomas	738	4.1	n/a
Majority			2,982	16.5
Turnout			18,081	62.4	+11.6
	National Labour gain from Liberal National		Swing	n/a

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1939/40

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected;

• National Labour: Malcolm John MacDonald
• Labour: Malcolm MacEwen

General Election 1945: Ross and Cromarty
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Liberal	John MacLeod	10,061	62.8	n/a
	Labour	Angus Mackay Mackintosh	5,959	37.2
Majority			4,102	25.6
Turnout			16,020	62.4	−6.1
	Independent Liberal gain from National Labour		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: Ross and Cromarty
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	John MacLeod	10,912	62.6	n/a
	Labour	Alastair C Reid	6,521	37.4	+0.2
Majority			4,391	25.2
Turnout			17,433	63.1
	National Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1951: Ross and Cromarty
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	John MacLeod	10,969	64.25	+1.7
	Labour	Alastair C Reid	6,104	35.75	−1.7
Majority			4,865	28.5	+3.3
Turnout			17,073	57.5
	National Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Ross and Cromarty
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	John MacLeod	9,929	62.3	−1.9
	Labour	Mrs. Jane B Saggar	6,003	37.7	+1.9
Majority			3,926	24.6	−3.9
Turnout			15,932	61.9	+4.4
	National Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1959: Ross and Cromarty
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	John MacLeod	7,813	47.2	−15.1
	Labour	Mrs. Jane B Saggar	4,815	29.1	−8.6
	Liberal	Colin Murchison	3,918	23.7	n/a
Majority			2,998	18.1	−6.5
Turnout			21,902	75.2
	National Liberal hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1964: Ross and Cromarty
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Alasdair Roderick Mackenzie	6,923	40.2	+16.6
	National Liberal	Sir John MacLeod	5,516	32.1	−15.2
	Labour	William Alexander Ross	4,767	27.7	−1.4
Majority			1,407	8.2
Turnout			17,306	69.4	−6.1
	Liberal gain from National Liberal		Swing

General Election 1966: Ross and Cromarty
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Alasdair Roderick Mackenzie	7,348	42.1	+1.8
	Labour	William Alexander Ross	5,304	30.4	+2.7
	Conservative	Allan John Cameron	4,820	27.6	n/a
Majority			2,044	11.7	+3.5
Turnout			17,472	71.2
	Liberal hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: Ross and Cromarty
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Hector Northey Gray	6,418	33.2	+5.6
	Liberal	Alasdair Roderick Mackenzie	5,617	29.1	−13.0
	Labour	Ronald D Maclean	5,023	26.0	−4.4
	SNP	George Nicholson	2,268	11.7	n/a
Majority			801	4.1
Turnout			19,326	71.7	+0.5
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing

General Election February 1974: Ross and Cromarty
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Hector Northey Gray	7,908	36.1	+2.9
	SNP	Willie McRae	5,037	23.0	+11.3
	Liberal	J.C. Robertson	4,621	21.1	−8.0
	Labour	Ronald D Maclean	4,336	19.8	−6.2
Majority			2,871	13.1	+9.0
Turnout			21,902	75.2	+3.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election October 1974: Ross and Cromarty
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Hector Northey Gray	7,954	38.9	+2.8
	SNP	Willie McRae	7,291	35.7	+12.7
	Labour	Brian David Henderson Wilson	3,440	16.8	−3.0
	Liberal	T. Glen	1,747	8.6	−12.6
Majority			633	3.2	−9.9
Turnout			20,432	69.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1979: Ross and Cromarty
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Hector Northey Gray	10,650	42.4	+3.5
	SNP	Willie McRae	5,915	23.6	−12.1
	Labour	K. Bloomer	5,055	20.1	+3.3
	Liberal	H. Morrison	3,496	13.9	+5.4
Majority			4,735	18.9	+15.6
Turnout			25,116	76.4	+6.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

1. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "R" (part 2)
2. Debrett's House of Commons and Judicial Bench, 1889
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. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1901
7. Whitaker's Almanack, 1907
8. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1916
9. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1916
10. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1916
11. Whitaker's Almanack, 1920
12. The Times, 17 November 1922
13. The Times, 8 December 1923
14. Oliver & Boyd's Edinburgh Almanac, 1927
15. The Times, 1 June 1929
16. Whitaker's Almanack, 1934
17. Whitaker's Almanack, 1939