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Kinross and Western Perthshire (UK Parliament constituency)

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Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1918–1983

Kinross and Western Perthshire
Former county constituency
for the House of Commons
Subdivisions of ScotlandCounty of Kinross
County of Perth
1918–1983
SeatsOne
Created fromWest Perthshire and Clackmannanshire and Kinross-shire
Replaced byPerth & Kinross, Stirling, Tayside North and Clackmannan

Kinross and Western Perthshire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 until 1983, representing, at any one time, a seat for one Member of Parliament (MP), elected by the first past the post system of election.

Boundaries

The constituency was first defined by the Representation of the People Act 1918, and first used in the 1918 general election, as one of two county constituencies covering the county of Kinross and the county of Perth. The other was the Perth constituency.

Prior to the 1918 election the county of Kinross was covered, nominally, by Clackmannanshire and Kinross-shire, which also covered, nominally, the county of Clackmannan, and the county of Perth was covered, nominally, by Eastern Perthshire, Perth (as a burgh constituency) and Western Perthshire. Constituency boundaries were defined in terms of the Representation of the People (Scotland) Act 1832 and the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 and, by these terms, five detached parishes of the county of Perth and one detached parish of the county of Stirling were within the Clackmannanshire and Kinross-shire constituency. Also, by 1918, for local government purposes, under legislation dating from 1889, county boundaries throughout most of Scotland had been redrawn, and detached parishes had become generally historic.

The Representation of the People Act 1918 took account of new local government boundaries in definitions of new constituency boundaries, and the Kinross and Western Perthshire constituency was defined as covering the county of Kinross and the Central, Highland and Western districts of the county of Perth, including the county of Perth burghs of Aberfeldy, Auchterarder, Callander, Crieff, Doune and Dunblane.

1918 boundaries were used also for the general elections of 1922, 1923, 1924, 1929, 1931, 1935 and 1945.

A by-election was held for this seat in 1938 after The Duchess of Atholl resigned her seat in opposition to Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasement.

For the 1950 general election, as a result of the House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1949, the Perth constituency became Perth and East Perthshire, but boundaries were unaltered. 1950 names and boundaries were used also for the general elections of 1951, 1955, 1959, 1964, 1966 and 1970. This also applied to the by-election of late 1963, when newly elected prime minister Sir Alec Douglas-Home won the seat after renouncing his peerage in order to rejoin the House of Commons.

For the February 1974 general election, as a result of the Second Periodical Review of the Boundary Commission, there were minor alterations to the boundaries of the Kinross and West Perthshire constituency and the Perth and East Perthshire constituency. Kinross and West Perthshire was defined as covering the county of Kinross and the Central, Highland and Western districts of the county of Perth, including the county of Perth burghs of Aberfeldy, Auchterarder, Callander, Crieff, Doune, Dunblane and Pitlochry.

February 1974 boundaries were used also in the general elections of October 1974 and 1979.

In 1975, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, counties and burghs throughout Scotland had been abolished in favour of regions and districts and islands council areas. The county of Kinross and most of the county of Perth had been merged into the Tayside region. The burghs of Callander, Doune, and Dunblane in the county of Perth, the Perth parish of Muckhart and the Western district of the county (except the electoral division of Ardoch) had been merged into the Central region.

New constituency boundaries, taking account of new local government boundaries, were adopted for the 1983 general election. Constituencies defined to cover the Tayside region included Perth and Kinross, and constituencies designed to cover the Central region included Stirling.

Members of Parliament

Election Member Party
1918 James Gardiner Liberal
1923 The Duchess of Atholl Unionist
1938 by-election William McNair Snadden Unionist
1955 Gilmour Leburn Unionist
1963 by-election Sir Alec Douglas-Home Conservative
October 1974 Sir Nicholas Fairbairn Conservative
1983 Constituency abolished: see Perth and Kinross

Election results

Elections in the 1910s

General election 1918: Kinross and Western Perthshire
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal James Gardiner 7,579 52.1
C Unionist Archibald Stirling 6,975 47.9
Majority 604 4.2
Turnout 14,554 60.9
Registered electors 23,888
Liberal win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Kinross and Western Perthshire
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
National Liberal James Gardiner Unopposed
National Liberal hold
Molteno
General election 1923: Kinross and Western Perthshire
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Katharine Stewart-Murray 9,235 50.4 N/A
Liberal Percy Molteno 9,085 49.6 N/A
Majority 150 0.8 N/A
Turnout 18,320 72.6 N/A
Registered electors 25,221
Unionist gain from Liberal Swing N/A
Atholl
General election 1924: Kinross and Western Perthshire
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Katharine Stewart-Murray 13,565 72.0 +21.6
Labour John MacDiarmid 5,286 28.0 New
Majority 8,279 44.0 +43.2
Turnout 18,851 72.6 0.0
Registered electors 25,978
Unionist hold Swing
General election 1929: Kinross and Western Perthshire
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Katharine Stewart-Murray 12,245 48.6 −23.4
Liberal George Freeland Barbour 9,128 36.2 New
Labour W.D. Stewart 3,834 15.2 −12.8
Majority 3,117 12.4 −31.6
Turnout 25,207 75.5 +2.9
Registered electors 33,408
Unionist hold Swing −5.3

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Kinross and Western Perthshire
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Katharine Stewart-Murray 16,228 60.6 +12.0
Liberal T. Atholl Robertson 10,533 39.4 +3.2
Majority 5,695 21.2 +8.8
Turnout 26,781 79.0 +3.5
Unionist hold Swing +4.4
General election 1935: Kinross and Western Perthshire
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Katharine Stewart-Murray 15,238 60.2 −0.4
Liberal Mary Isabella MacDonald 10,069 39.8 +0.4
Majority 5,169 20.4 −0.8
Turnout 25,307 73.9 −5.1
Unionist hold Swing -0.4
1938 Kinross and Western Perthshire by-election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist William McNair Snadden 11,808 52.9 −8.3
Independent Katharine Stewart-Murray 10,495 47.1 −13.1
Majority 1,313 5.8 −14.6
Turnout 22,303 66.6 −6.7
Unionist hold Swing

General Election 1939–40:

Another General Election was due to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for that election and by autumn 1939, the following candidates had been selected:

Elections in the 1940s

General election 1945: Kinross and Western Perthshire
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist William McNair Snadden 16,536 68.0 +15.1
Labour C. McKinnon 7,782 32.0 New
Majority 8,754 36.0 +30.2
Turnout 24,318 67.6 +1.0
Unionist hold Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Kinross and Western Perthshire
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist William McNair Snadden 15,299 55.4 −12.6
Liberal Ian Alistair Duncan Millar 7,183 26.0 New
Labour D. McLaren 5,124 18.6 −13.4
Majority 8,116 29.4 −6.6
Turnout 27,606 76.9 +9.3
Unionist hold Swing
General election 1951: Kinross and Western Perthshire
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist William McNair Snadden 19,625 76.2 +20.8
Labour Isobel McGregor 6,124 23.8 +5.2
Majority 13,501 52.4 +23.0
Turnout 25,749 73.2 −3.7
Unionist hold Swing
General election 1955: Kinross and Western Perthshire
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Gilmour Leburn 18,133 75.2 −1.0
Labour John Bayne 5,975 24.8 +1.0
Majority 12,158 50.4 −2.0
Turnout 24,108 70.4 −2.8
Unionist hold Swing
General election 1959: Kinross and Western Perthshire
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Gilmour Leburn 16,256 68.2 −7.0
Labour Gregor Mackenzie 4,008 16.8 −8.0
SNP Arthur Donaldson 3,568 15.0 New
Majority 12,248 51.4 +1.0
Turnout 23,832 71.0 +0.6
Unionist hold Swing

Elections in the 1960s

Douglas-Home
1963 Kinross and Western Perthshire by-election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Alec Douglas-Home 14,147 57.4 −10.8
Liberal Ian Alistair Duncan Millar 4,819 19.5 New
Labour Andrew Forrester 3,752 15.2 −1.6
SNP Arthur Donaldson 1,801 7.3 −7.7
Ind. Unionist Ian Smith 78 0.3 New
Independent Willie Rushton 45 0.2 New
Light and Dark Blue Conservative Party Richard Wort 23 0.1 New
Majority 9,328 37.9 −13.5
Turnout 24,665 76.1 +5.1
Unionist hold Swing
General election 1964: Kinross and Western Perthshire
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Alec Douglas-Home 16,659 66.6 −1.6
Labour Andrew Forrester 4,687 18.8 +2.0
SNP Arthur Donaldson 3,522 14.1 −0.9
Communist Hugh MacDiarmid 127 0.5 New
Majority 11,972 47.8 −3.6
Turnout 24,995 75.9 +4.9
Unionist hold Swing
General election 1966: Kinross and Western Perthshire
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Alec Douglas-Home 14,466 60.8 −5.8
SNP Arthur Donaldson 4,884 20.5 +6.4
Labour Brian K. Parnell 4,461 18.7 −0.1
Majority 9,582 40.3 −7.5
Turnout 23,811 73.5 −2.4
Conservative hold Swing +2.95

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Kinross and Western Perthshire
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Alec Douglas-Home 14,434 57.4 −3.4
SNP Elizabeth Y. Whitley 4,670 18.6 −1.9
Labour Donald Leach 3,827 15.2 −3.5
Liberal John Calder 2,228 8.9 New
Majority 9,764 38.8 −1.5
Turnout 25,159 74.0 +0.5
Conservative hold Swing +0.8
General election February 1974: Kinross and Western Perthshire
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Alec Douglas-Home 14,356 52.9 −4.5
SNP Duncan C. Murray 6,274 23.1 +4.5
Liberal David A. Barrie 3,807 14.0 +5.1
Labour Danus Skene 2,694 9.9 −5.3
Majority 8,082 29.8 −9.0
Turnout 27,131 77.5 +3.5
Conservative hold Swing -4.5
General election October 1974: Kinross and Western Perthshire
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Nicholas Fairbairn 11,034 41.7 −11.2
SNP Derek Cameron 10,981 41.5 +18.4
Liberal David A. Barrie 2,427 9.2 −4.8
Labour Danus Skene 2,028 7.6 −2.3
Majority 53 0.2 −27.6
Turnout 26,470 75.1 −2.4
Conservative hold Swing -14.8
General election 1979: Kinross and Western Perthshire
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Nicholas Fairbairn 15,523 50.5 +8.8
SNP Ian Smith 9,045 29.4 −12.1
Liberal J. Chapman 3,572 11.6 +2.4
Labour D.R. Macleod 2,593 8.4 +0.8
Majority 6,478 21.1 +19.9
Turnout 30,733 79.5 +4.4
Conservative hold Swing +10.4

Notes and references

  1. "'Kinross and West Perthshire', Feb 1974 - May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Archived from the original on 3 April 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  2. ^ Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972 (ISBN 0-900178-09-4), F. W. S. Craig 1972
  3. "Sir Alec Douglas-Home - Number 10". Archived from the original on 11 October 2011. Retrieved 31 July 2011.
  4. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "K" (part 2)
  5. Whitaker's Almanack, 1920
  6. The Times, 17 November 1922
  7. The Times, 8 December 1923
  8. Oliver & Boyd's Edinburgh Almanac, 1927
  9. The Times, 1 June 1929
  10. Whitaker's Almanack, 1934
  11. Whitaker's Almanack, 1939
  12. Perthshire Advertiser 6 May 1939
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Vacant20 October – 8 November 1963Title last held byBromley Constituency represented by the prime minister
1963–1964 		Succeeded byHuyton
Preceded byHuyton Constituency represented by the leader of the opposition
1964–1965 		Succeeded byBexley
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