Kilmarnock Burghs (UK Parliament constituency)

Kilmarnock Burghs was a district of burghs constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1832 to 1918. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first-past-the-post voting system.

Kilmarnock Burghs
Former District of burghs constituency for the House of Commons
Subdivisions of Scotland	Ayrshire, Lanarkshire, Dumbartonshire, Renfrewshire
Major settlements	Kilmarnock, Dumbarton, Rutherglen, Renfrew, Port Glasgow
1832–1918
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Kilmarnock Dumbarton Burghs West Renfrewshire East Renfrewshire Rutherglen
Created from	Ayrshire constituency Renfrewshire Glasgow Burghs

Kilmarnock county constituency was created when the district of burghs constituency was abolished.

Boundaries

The constituency consisted of five parliamentary burghs: Kilmarnock in the county of Ayr, Dumbarton in the county of Dumbarton, Rutherglen in the county of Lanark and Renfrew and Port Glasgow in the county of Renfrew.

The Kilmarnock burgh was previously within the Ayrshire constituency and Port Glasgow was previously within the Renfrewshire constituency. Dumbarton, Rutherglen and Renfrew were transferred from Glasgow Burghs.

In 1918 the burgh of Kilmarnock was merged into the then new Kilmarnock county constituency, which included areas previously within North Ayrshire and South Ayrshire. The new Kilmarnock constituency consisted of "The county district of Kilmarnock, inclusive of all burghs situated therein except in so far as included in the Ayr District of Burghs." The burgh of Dumbarton was transferred to Dumbarton Burghs, the burgh of Port Glasgow was merged into West Renfrewshire, the burgh of Renfrew into East Renfrewshire and the burgh of Rutherglen into the Rutherglen constituency.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member[1]	Party
	1832	John Dunlop	Whig[2][3]
	1835	John Bowring	Radical[3]
	1837	John Campbell Colquhoun	Conservative[2][3]
	1841	Alexander Johnston	Whig[2][3]
	May 1844 by-election	Edward Pleydell-Bouverie	Whig[4][5][6]
	1859		Liberal
	Feb 1874	James Fortescue Harrison	Liberal[2]
	1880	John Dick Peddie	Liberal
	1885	Peter Sturrock	Conservative
	1886	Stephen Williamson	Liberal
	1895	John McAusland Denny	Conservative
	1906	Adam Rolland Rainy	Liberal
	1911 by-election	Will Gladstone	Liberal
	1915 by-election	Alexander Shaw	Liberal
1918		constituency abolished: see Kilmarnock

Election results

Elections in the 1830s

General election 1832: Kilmarnock Burghs[2][3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	John Dunlop	535	50.3
	Whig	James Campbell	528	49.7
Majority			7	0.6
Turnout			1,063	92.0
Registered electors			1,155
	Whig win (new seat)

General election 1835: Kilmarnock Burghs[2][3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Radical	John Bowring	520	54.8	N/A
	Whig	John Dunlop	276	29.1	−21.2
	Conservative	Robert Downie	153	16.1	New
Majority			244	25.7	N/A
Turnout			949	75.3	−16.7
Registered electors			1,261
	Radical gain from Whig		Swing	N/A

General election 1837: Kilmarnock Burghs[2][3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Campbell Colquhoun	509	53.7	+37.6
	Radical	John Bowring	438	46.3	−8.5
Majority			71	7.4	N/A
Turnout			947	65.3	−10.0
Registered electors			1,451
	Conservative gain from Radical		Swing	+23.1

Elections in the 1840s

General election 1841: Kilmarnock Burghs[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Alexander Johnston	490	50.6	N/A
	Conservative	John Campbell Colquhoun	479	49.4	−4.3
Majority			11	1.2	N/A
Turnout			969	76.8	+11.5
Registered electors			1,262
	Whig gain from Conservative		Swing	N/A

Johnston's death caused a by-election.

By-election, 29 May 1844: Kilmarnock Burghs[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Edward Pleydell-Bouverie	389	44.9	−5.7
	Conservative	Henry Thoby Prinsep	379	43.8	−5.6
	Chartist	Henry Vincent	98	11.3	New
Majority			10	1.1	-0.1
Turnout			866	67.2	−9.6
Registered electors			1,289
	Whig hold		Swing	−0.1

General election 1847: Kilmarnock Burghs[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Edward Pleydell-Bouverie	Unopposed
Registered electors			1,243
	Whig hold

Elections in the 1850s

General election 1852: Kilmarnock Burghs[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Edward Pleydell-Bouverie	558	64.9	N/A
	Conservative	James Archibald Campbell[7]	302	35.1	New
Majority			256	29.8	N/A
Turnout			860	62.3	N/A
Registered electors			1,380
	Whig hold

Pleydell-Bouverie was appointed Vice-President of the Board of Trade, requiring a by-election.

By-election, 7 April 1855: Kilmarnock Burghs[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Edward Pleydell-Bouverie	Unopposed
	Whig hold

Pleydell-Bouverie was appointed President of the Poor Law Board, requiring a by-election.

By-election, 16 August 1855: Kilmarnock Burghs[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Edward Pleydell-Bouverie	Unopposed
	Whig hold

General election 1857: Kilmarnock Burghs[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Edward Pleydell-Bouverie	Unopposed
Registered electors			1,414
	Whig hold

General election 1859: Kilmarnock Burghs[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Edward Pleydell-Bouverie	Unopposed
Registered electors			1,449
	Liberal hold

Elections in the 1860s

General election 1865: Kilmarnock Burghs[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Edward Pleydell-Bouverie	Unopposed
Registered electors			1,645
	Liberal hold

General election 1868: Kilmarnock Burghs[2][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Edward Pleydell-Bouverie	2,892	57.4	N/A
	Liberal	Edwin Chadwick	1,148	22.8	N/A
	Independent Liberal	Robert Thomson[9][10]	999	19.8	New
Majority			1,744	34.6	N/A
Turnout			5,039	77.2	N/A
Registered electors			6,531
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1870s

General election 1874: Kilmarnock Burghs[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	James Fortescue Harrison	3,316	52.3	N/A
	Liberal	Edward Pleydell-Bouverie	3,019	47.7	−9.7
Majority			297	4.6	−30.0
Turnout			6,335	79.0	+1.8
Registered electors			8,020
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1880: Kilmarnock Burghs[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Dick Peddie	3,320	49.5	N/A
	Conservative	John Neilson Cuthbertson[11]	2,005	29.9	New
	Independent Liberal	Robert Malcolm Kerr[12]	1,384	20.6	New
Majority			1,315	19.6	+15.0
Turnout			6,709	87.1	+8.1
Registered electors			7,700
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1885: Kilmarnock Burghs[13][14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Sturrock	3,645	40.2	+10.3
	Liberal	John Dick Peddie	3,513	38.7	−10.8
	Independent Liberal	John Dalrymple	1,862	20.5	-0.1
	Ind. Conservative	John Steven Storr	55	0.6	New
Majority			132	1.5	N/A
Turnout			9,075	86.6	−0.5
Registered electors			10,475
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+11.6

General election 1886: Kilmarnock Burghs[13][14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Stephen Williamson	4,664	55.2	+16.5
	Conservative	Peter Sturrock	3,870	44.8	+4.6
Majority			884	10.4	N/A
Turnout			8,444	80.6	−6.0
Registered electors			10,475
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+6.0

Elections in the 1890s

General election 1892: Kilmarnock Burghs[14][15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Stephen Williamson	5,110	54.1	-1.1
	Conservative	Charles Dickson	4,335	45.9	+1.1
Majority			775	8.2	-2.2
Turnout			9,445	84.2	+3.6
Registered electors			11,216
	Liberal hold		Swing	-1.1

General election 1895: Kilmarnock Burghs[14][16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Denny	5,432	51.8	+5.9
	Liberal	Stephen Williamson	5,051	48.2	-5.9
Majority			381	3.6	N/A
Turnout			10,483	87.2	+3.0
Registered electors			12,027
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+5.9

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: Kilmarnock Burghs[14][16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Denny	6,076	51.6	−0.2
	Liberal	Adam Rainy	5,692	48.4	+0.2
Majority			384	3.2	−0.4
Turnout			11,768	86.4	−0.8
Registered electors			13,621
	Conservative hold		Swing	−0.2

General election 1906: Kilmarnock Burghs[14][17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Adam Rainy	8,268	59.0	+10.6
	Conservative	Thomas W McIntyre	5,743	41.0	−10.6
Majority			2,525	18.0	N/A
Turnout			14,011	87.4	+1.0
Registered electors			16,024
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+10.6

Elections in the 1910s

Adam Rainy

General election Jan 1910: Kilmarnock Burghs[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Adam Rainy	8,937	61.1	+2.1
	Conservative	John James Bell	5,701	38.9	-2.1
Majority			3,236	22.2	+4.2
Turnout			14,638	88.9	+2.5
	Liberal hold		Swing	+2.1

W. Gladstone

General election December 1910: Kilmarnock Burghs[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Adam Rainy	8,657	60.9	-0.2
	Conservative	James Buyers Black	5,569	39.1	+0.2
Majority			3,088	21.8	-0.4
Turnout			14,226	86.4	-2.5
	Liberal hold		Swing

J.D. Rees

Alex Shaw

Kilmarnock Burghs by-election, 1911[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Will Gladstone	6,923	48.3	-12.6
	Conservative	John Rees	4,637	32.4	-6.7
	Labour	Thomas McKerrell	2,761	19.3	New
Majority			2,286	15.9	-5.9
Turnout			14,321
	Liberal hold		Swing	-3.0

Kilmarnock Burghs by-election, 1915[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Alexander Shaw	Unopposed
	Liberal hold

See also

• Former United Kingdom Parliament constituencies

References

1. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "K" (part 2)
2. Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885 (e-book) |format= requires |url= (help) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.
3. Smith, Henry Stooks (1842). The Register of Parliamentary Contested Elections (Second ed.). Simpkin, Marshall & Company. p. 205. Retrieved 2 September 2018 – via Google Books.
4. Boase, George Clement (1896). "Pleydell-Bouverie, Edward" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. 45. London: Smith, Elder & Co. |access-date= requires |url= (help)
5. "Leicester Journal". 31 May 1844. pp. 2–3. Retrieved 2 September 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
6. "Kilmarnock Election". Ayr Advertiser; or, West Country Journal. 23 May 1844. p. 4. Retrieved 2 September 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
7. "Glasgow Gazette". 10 July 1852. p. 3. Retrieved 2 September 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
8. Debrett's House of Commons, 1870
9. "The Rev. Mr Thomson at Port-Glasgow". Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald. 14 November 1868. p. 3. Retrieved 19 February 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
10. "Kilmarnock". Newcastle Journal. 17 November 1868. p. 4. Retrieved 19 February 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
11. "The General Election". Glasgow Herald. 7 April 1880. pp. 7–8. Retrieved 2 December 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
12. "Renfrew". Paisley and Renfrewshire Gazette. 27 March 1880. p. 6. Retrieved 2 December 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
13. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1889
14. Craig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885–1918. London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 9781349022984.
15. Whitaker's Almanack, 1893
16. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1901
17. Whitaker's Almanack, 1907
18. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1916
19. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 by Craig, F.W.S. (1974)
20. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 by Craig, F. W. S. (1974)