West Stirlingshire (UK Parliament constituency)

West Stirlingshire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, to which it elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post electoral system.

West Stirlingshire
Former County constituency
for the House of Commons
Subdivisions of ScotlandStirlingshire
Major settlementsBridge of Allan, Denny and Dunipace
1918–1983
Number of membersOne
Replaced byStirling, Falkirk West, Cumbernauld & Kilsyth, Clackmannan, Strathkelvin & Bearsden and Monklands West[1]
Created fromStirlingshire, Clackmannan & Kinross and Stirling Burghs

The constituency was created for the 1918 general election, as one of two divisions of the Parliamentary County of Stirling and Clackmannan. It was then defined as the Central and Western County Districts of the County of Stirling including all burghs within their boundaries, save for the Burgh of Stirling.[2] From 1950 onwards, due to local government changes, it was defined as the Burghs of Bridge of Allan, Denny and Dunipace and the Central No. 1, Central No. 2, Western No. 1, Western No. 2 and Western No. 3 Districts of the County of Stirling.[3]

The constituency was abolished for the 1983 general election.

Members of Parliament
ElectionMember[4]Party
1918 Harry Hope Unionist Party
1922 Tom Johnston Labour
1924 Guy Dalrymple Fanshawe Unionist Party
1929 Tom Johnston Labour
1931 James Campbell Ker Unionist Party
1935 Tom Johnston Labour
1945 Alfred Balfour Labour
1959 William Baxter Labour
Oct 1974 Dennis Canavan Labour
1983 constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1910s
General election 1918: West Stirlingshire[5][6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
C Unionist Harry Hope 6,893 51.9
Labour Tom Johnston 3,809 28.7
Liberal Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham 2,582 19.4
Majority 3,084 23.2
Turnout 13,284 59.1
Unionist win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s
General election 1922: West Stirlingshire[5][7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Tom Johnston 8,919 52.4 +23.7
Unionist Harry Hope 8,104 47.6 -4.3
Liberal
  • William Wright
Majority 815 4.8 28.0
Turnout 17,023 74.1 +15.0
Labour gain from Unionist Swing +14.0
  • Wright died the day after being nominated, so his name did not appear on the ballot.
General election 1923: West Stirlingshire[5][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Tom Johnston 9,242 51.9 -0.5
Unionist Harry Hope 6,182 34.7 -12.9
Liberal Robert Ian Aonas MacInnes 2,390 13.4 New
Majority 3,060 17.2 +12.4
Turnout 17,814 74.7 +0.6
Labour hold Swing +6.2
General election 1924: West Stirlingshire[5][9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Guy Dalrymple Fanshawe 10,043 50.7 +16.0
Labour Tom Johnston 9,749 49.3 -2.6
Majority 294 1.4 N/A
Turnout 19,792 81.0 +6.3
Unionist gain from Labour Swing +9.3
General election 1929: West Stirlingshire[5][10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Tom Johnston 15,179 56.7 +7.4
Unionist Guy Dalrymple Fanshawe 11,589 43.3 -7.4
Majority 3,590 13.4 N/A
Turnout 26,768 82.7 +1.7
Labour gain from Unionist Swing +7.4

Elections in the 1930s
General election 1931: West Stirlingshire[5][11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist James Campbell Ker 14,771 53.3 +10.0
Labour Tom Johnston 12,952 46.7 -10.0
Majority 1,819 6.6 N/A
Turnout 27,723 84.0 +1.3
Unionist gain from Labour Swing +10.0
General election 1935: West Stirlingshire[5][12]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Tom Johnston 16,015 55.1 +8.4
Unionist Arthur Paterson Duffes 13,053 44.9 -8.4
Majority 2,962 10.2 N/A
Turnout 29,068 82.3 -1.7
Labour gain from Unionist Swing +8.4

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;

Elections in the 1940s
General election 1945: West Stirlingshire[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Alfred Balfour 16,066 54.4 -0.7
Unionist J.C.L. Anderson 13,489 45.6 +0.7
Majority 2,577 8.8 -1.4
Turnout 29,555 75.0 -7.3
Labour hold Swing -0.7

Elections in the 1950s
General election 1950: West Stirlingshire
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Alfred Balfour 19,930 55.63 +1.27
Unionist Betty Harvie Anderson 15,894 44.37 −1.27
Majority 4,036 11.27 +2.55
Turnout 35,824 85.68 +10.50
Labour hold Swing
General election 1951: West Stirlingshire
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Alfred Balfour 20,893 56.03 +0.4
Unionist Betty Harvie Anderson 16,396 43.97 −0.4
Majority 4,497 12.06 +0.79
Turnout 37,289 86.67 +0.99
Labour hold Swing
General election 1955: West Stirlingshire[14]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Alfred Balfour 18,836 54.59 −1.44
Unionist W Allan Gay 15,669 45.41 +1.44
Majority 3,167 9.18 −2.88
Turnout 34,505 80.06 −6.61
Labour hold Swing
General election 1959: West Stirlingshire[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour William Baxter 21,008 57.55 +2.96
Unionist W Allan Gay 15,497 42.45 −2.96
Majority 5,511 15.10 +5.92
Turnout 36,505 83.56 +3.5
Labour hold Swing

Elections in the 1960s
General election 1964: West Stirlingshire[16]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour William Baxter 21,144 58.77 +1.22
Unionist John Barr 14,834 41.23 −1.22
Majority 11,112 17.54 +2.44
Turnout 35,978 81.19 −2.37
Labour hold Swing
General election 1966: West Stirlingshire
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour William Baxter 17,513 48.59 −10.18
SNP Robert McIntyre 9,381 26.03 New
Conservative J. Donald M. Hardie 9,148 25.38 −15.85
Majority 8,132 22.56 +5.02
Turnout 36,042 82.42 +1.23
Labour hold Swing

Elections in the 1970s
General election 1970: West Stirlingshire
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour William Baxter 18,884 48.89 +0.30
Conservative John Glen 11,465 29.68 +4.30
SNP Robert McIntyre 8,279 21.43 −4.60
Majority 7,419 19.21 −3.35
Turnout 38,628 78.94 −3.48
Labour hold Swing
General election February 1974: West Stirlingshire
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour William Baxter 17,730 40.85 −8.04
SNP Janette Jones 12,886 29.69 +8.26
Conservative T. Price 12,789 29.46 −0.22
Majority 4,844 11.16 −8.05
Turnout 43,405 82.07 +3.13
Labour hold Swing
General election October 1974: West Stirlingshire
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Dennis Canavan 16,698 39.04 −1.81
SNP Janette Jones 16,331 38.18 +6.49
Conservative David Mitchell 7,875 18.41 −11.05
Liberal Iain MacFarlane 1,865 4.36 New
Majority 367 0.86 −10.30
Turnout 42,769 80.71 −1.36
Labour hold Swing
General election 1979: West Stirlingshire
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Dennis Canavan 22,516 47.70 +8.66
Conservative Anna McCurley 12,160 25.76 +7.35
SNP Janette Jones 8,627 18.27 −19.91
Liberal David Stewart Patrick Cant 3,905 8.27 +3.91
Majority 10,356 21.94 +21.08
Turnout 47,208 81.96 +1.25
Labour hold Swing

References
  1. "'Stirlingshire West', Feb 1974 - May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  2. "Report of the Boundary Commission (Scotland)", Cd. 8759, Schedule–Part I, section 21.
  3. "Initial Report of the Boundary Commission for Scotland", Cmd. 7270, p. 26.
  4. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 5)
  5. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, FWS Craig
  6. Whitaker's Almanack, 1920
  7. The Times, 17 November 1922
  8. The Times, 8 December 1923
  9. Oliver & Boyd's Edinburgh Almanac, 1927
  10. The Times, 1 June 1929
  11. Whitaker's Almanack, 1934
  12. Whitaker's Almanack, 1939
  13. Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939

Sources

See also
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