Stirling Burghs (UK Parliament constituency)

Stirling Burghs
Former District of burghs constituency for the House of Commons
Major settlements	Stirling, Dunfermline, Inverkeithing, Queensferry, Culross
1708–1918
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Stirling & Falkirk Burghs Dunfermline Burghs and others
Created from	Culross Dunfermline Inverkeithing Queensferry Stirling

Stirling Burghs was a district of burghs constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1708 to 1918. The constituency comprised the burghs of Stirling in Stirlingshire, Dunfermline, and Inverkeithing in Fife, Queensferry, in Linlithgowshire (West Lothian), and Culross, which was an exclave of Perthshire, transferring to Fife in 1889. By 1832, the burgh of Queensferry had become the burgh of South Queensferry.

In 1918, Stirling became part of Stirling and Falkirk Burghs and Dunfermline became part of Dunfermline Burghs, with the other burghs being represented as part of their respective counties.

Member of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1708	John Erskine
	1710	Henry Cunningham
	1728	Lord Erskine
	1734	Peter Halkett
	1741	James Erskine
	1747	George Haldane
	1758	Robert Haldane
	1761	Francis Holburne
	1768	James Masterton
	1774	Archibald Campbell
	1780	James Campbell
	1789	Archibald Campbell
	1791	Andrew James Cochrane (from 1793, Cochrane Johnstone)[1]
	1797	William Tait
	1800	Alexander Forrester Inglis Cochrane
	1806	Sir John Henderson, Bt
	1807	Alexander Campbell
	1818	John Campbell
	1819	Francis Ward Primrose
	1820	Robert Downie
	1830	James Johnston
	1832	Archibald Primrose, Lord Dalmeny	Liberal
	1847	John Benjamin Smith	Liberal
	1852	Sir James Anderson
	1859	James Caird
	1865	Laurence Oliphant
	1868	John Ramsay	Liberal
	1868	Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman	Liberal
	1908	Arthur Ponsonby	Liberal
1918		constituency abolished

Election results

General Election 1868: Stirling Burghs[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Henry Campbell	2,201
	Liberal	John Ramsay	1,682

Henry Campbell-Bannerman was returned unopposed at the 1885 General Election and again on 10 February 1886 having accepted office as Secretary of State for War (at that time Cabinet Ministers were required on appointment to submit themselves to a by-election).^[3]

Campbell-Bannerman

General Election 1886: Stirling Burghs[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Henry Campbell-Bannerman	2,440	62.4
	Liberal Unionist	John Fender	1,471	37.6
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1892: Stirling Burghs[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Henry Campbell-Bannerman	2,791	62.2	-0.2
	Liberal Unionist	Walter Hughes	1,695	37.8	+0.2
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

At a by-election on 25 August 1892, having accepted office as Secretary of State for War, Henry Campbell-Bannerman was returned unopposed.^[4]

General Election 1895: Stirling Burghs[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman	2,783	62.7	+0.5
	Conservative	Stuart Cunningham Macaskie	1,656	37.3	-0.5
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

Campbell-Bannerman

General Election January 1900[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman	2,715	56.6	-6.1
	Liberal Unionist	Oliver Thomas Duke	2,085	43.4	+6.1
Majority			630	12.2	-12.2
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing	-6.1

General Election 1906: Stirling Burghs[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

Arthur Ponsonby

Stirling Burghs by-election, 1908[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Arthur Augustus William Harry Ponsonby	3,873	60.7	n/a
	Unionist	William Whitelaw	2,512	39.3	n/a
Majority			1,361	21.4	n/a
Turnout				84.5	n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

General Election January 1910[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Arthur Augustus William Harry Ponsonby	4,471	64.9	+4.2
	Unionist	Neil James Kennedy Cochran-Patrick	2,419	35.1	-4.2
Majority			2,052	29.8	+8.4
Turnout				84.6	+0.1
	Liberal hold		Swing	+4.2

General Election Dec 1910: Stirling Burghs[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Arthur Ponsonby	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

See also

• Black Bond
• Stirling (UK Parliament constituency) (created 1983)

References

1. COCHRANE (afterwards COCHRANE JOHNSTONE), Hon. Andrew James (1767-1833), of 13 Alsop's Buildings, New Road, Marylebone, Mdx. at The History of Parliament online. Accessed 8 September 2014.
2. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1870
3. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1889
4. Whitaker's Almanack, 1893
5. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench
6. British parliamentary election results 1885-1918
7. Whitaker's Almanack, 1907
8. British parliamentary election results 1885-1918
9. British parliamentary election results 1885-1918
10. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1916

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 5)