55°48′36″N 4°12′36″W / 55.810°N 4.210°W / 55.810; -4.210

Mid Lanarkshire
Former County constituency
for the House of Commons
Subdivisions of Scotlandcounty of Lanark
1885–1918
SeatsOne
Created fromSouth Lanarkshire, North Lanarkshire
Replaced byHamilton, Rutherglen, Lanark

Mid 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 Mid division was to consist of "the parishes of Rutherglen, Carmunnock, so much of the parish of Cathcart as adjoins the two last-mentioned parishes, Cambuslang, Blantyre, so much of the parish of Hamilton as lies south and west of the River Clyde, Dalserf and Cambusnethan".[1]

Members of Parliament

Election Member[2] Party
1885 Stephen Mason Liberal
1888 by-election John Philipps, later Viscount St Davids Liberal
1894 by-election James Caldwell Liberal
Jan. 1910 John Howard Whitehouse Liberal
1918 constituency abolished

Elections

Decades:

Elections in the 1880s

Bousfield
General election 1885: Mid Lanarkshire[3][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Stephen Mason 2,875 39.0
Conservative William Robert Bousfield 2,579 35.0
Independent Liberal John Clark Forrest 1,913 26.0
Majority 296 4.0
Turnout 7,367 82.4
Registered electors 8,939
Liberal win (new seat)
General election 1886: Mid Lanarkshire[3][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Stephen Mason 3,779 56.5 +17.5
Liberal Unionist James Widrington Shand-Harvey 2,909 43.5 +8.5
Majority 870 13.0 +9.0
Turnout 6,688 74.8 −7.6
Registered electors 8,939
Liberal hold Swing +4.5

Mason's resignation caused a by-election.

Philipps
By-election, 27 Apr 1888: Mid Lanarkshire[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal John Philipps 3,847 52.1 -4.4
Conservative William Robert Bousfield 2,917 39.5 -4.0
Independent Labour Keir Hardie 617 8.4 New
Majority 930 12.6 -0.4
Turnout 7,381 80.7 +5.9
Registered electors 9,143
Liberal hold Swing -0.2

Elections in the 1890s

General election 1892: Mid Lanarkshire[3][5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal John Philipps 4,611 56.9 +0.4
Conservative Robert Edward Stuart Harington-Stuart[6] 3,489 43.1 -0.4
Majority 1,122 13.8 +0.8
Turnout 8,100 77.2 +2.4
Registered electors 10,496
Liberal hold Swing +0.4
Caldwell
1894 Mid Lanarkshire by-election[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal James Caldwell 3,965 45.0 -11.9
Liberal Unionist Robert Edward Stuart Harington-Stuart 3,635 41.2 -1.9
Scottish Labour Robert Smillie 1,221 13.8 New
Majority 330 3.8 -10.0
Turnout 8,821 78.1 +0.9
Registered electors 11,294
Liberal hold Swing -5.0
General election 1895: Mid Lanarkshire[3][7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal James Caldwell 4,447 50.4 −6.5
Conservative Charles Kincaid MacKenzie 4,376 49.6 +6.5
Majority 71 0.8 −13.0
Turnout 8,823 77.4 +0.2
Registered electors 11,392
Liberal hold Swing −6.5

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: Mid Lanarkshire[3][7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal James Caldwell 5,267 50.9 +0.5
Conservative Charles Kincaid MacKenzie 5,075 49.1 −0.5
Majority 192 1.8 +1.0
Turnout 10,342 79.6 +2.2
Registered electors 12,998
Liberal hold Swing +0.5
General election 1906: Mid Lanarkshire[3][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal James Caldwell 7,246 58.1 +7.2
Conservative Duncan Campbell 4,470 35.8 −13.3
Musical Copyright Association A.S. Gibson 758 6.1 New
Majority 2,776 22.3 +20.5
Turnout 12,474 81.1 +1.5
Registered electors 15,375
Liberal hold Swing +10.2

Elections in the 1910s

Smillie
General election January 1910: Mid Lanarkshire[3][9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal John Howard Whitehouse 5,792 38.4 -19.7
Conservative John Johnson Pickering 5,401 35.9 +0.1
Labour Robert Smillie 3,864 25.7 New
Majority 391 2.5 -19.8
Turnout 15,057 84.6 +3.5
Registered electors 18,484
Liberal hold Swing -9.9
Whitehouse
General election December 1910: Mid Lanarkshire[3][9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal John Howard Whitehouse 6,033 38.7 +0.3
Conservative Henry Keith 5,702 36.6 +0.7
Labour Robert Smillie 3,847 24.7 -1.0
Majority 331 2.1 -0.4
Turnout 15,582 84.3 -0.3
Registered electors 18,484
Liberal hold Swing -0.2

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;

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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j British Parliamentary Election Results 1885–1918, FWS Craig
  4. ^ a b Debrett's House of Commons and Judicial Bench, 1889
  5. ^ Whitaker's Almanack, 1893
  6. ^ "Person Page - 43205". The Peerage. Wellington, New Zealand: Lundy Consulting. Retrieved 11 November 2017.
  7. ^ a b Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1901
  8. ^ Whitaker's Almanack, 1907
  9. ^ a b Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1916

See also

Categories