West Stirlingshire (UK Parliament constituency)

West Stirlingshire
Former County constituency
for the House of Commons
Subdivisions of Scotland	Stirlingshire
Major settlements	Bridge of Allan, Denny and Dunipace
1918 (1918)–1983 (1983)
Number of members	One

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.

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.^[1] 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.^[2]

The constituency was abolished for the 1983 general election.

1 Members of Parliament
2 Politics and history of the constituency
3 Election results
4 See also
5 References

Members of Parliament

Election		Member^[3]	Party
	1918	Harry Hope	Coalition Conservative
	1922	Thomas Johnston	Labour
	1924	Guy Dalrymple Fanshawe	Conservative
	1929	Thomas Johnston	Labour
	1931	James Campbell Ker	Conservative
	1935	Thomas Johnston	Labour
	1945	Alfred Balfour	Labour
	1959	William Baxter	Labour
	Oct 1974	Dennis Canavan	Labour
1983		constituency abolished

Politics and history of the constituency

Election results

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1918: Stirling & Clackmannan Western ^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Coalition Conservative	Harry Hope	6,893
	Labour	Thomas Johnston	3,809
	Liberal	Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham	2,582

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1922: Stirling & Clackmannan Western ^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Thomas Johnston	9,919
	Conservative	Sir Harry Hope	8,104

General Election 1923: Stirling & Clackmannan Western ^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Thomas Johnston	9,242
	Conservative	Sir Harry Hope	6,182
	Liberal	R. MacInnes	2,390

General Election 1924: Stirling & Clackmannan Western ^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Com Guy Dalrymple Fanshawe	10,043
	Labour	Thomas Johnston	9,747

General Election 1929: Stirling & Clackmannan Western ^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Thomas Johnston	15,179
	Conservative	Capt. Guy Dalrymple Fanshawe	11,589

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931: Stirling & Clackmannan Western^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Campbell Ker CSI CIE	14,771
	Labour	Rt Hon Thomas Johnston	12,952

General Election 1935: Stirling & Clackmannan Western ^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Rt Hon Thomas Johnston	16,015
	Conservative	A.P. Duffes KC	13,053

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Stirling Western
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alfred Balfour	16,066	54.36
	Conservative	J. Anderson	13,489	45.64
Majority				8.72
Turnout				75.18
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: Stirlingshire West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alfred Balfour	19,930	55.63	+1.27
	Conservative	B. Anderson	15,894	44.37	−1.27
Majority				11.27	+2.55
Turnout				85.68	+10.50
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1951: Stirlingshire West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alfred Balfour	20,893	56.03	+0.4
	Conservative	B. Anderson	16,396	43.97	−0.4
Majority				12.06	+0.79
Turnout				86.67	+0.99
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Stirlingshire West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alfred Balfour	18,836	54.59	−1.44
	Conservative	W. Gay	15,669	45.41	+1.44
Majority				9.18	−2.88
Turnout				80.06	−6.61
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1959: Stirlingshire West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William Baxter	21,008	57.55	+2.96
	Conservative	W. Gay	15,497	42.45	−2.96
Majority				15.10	+5.92
Turnout				83.56	+3.5
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1964: Stirlingshire West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William Baxter	21,144	58.77	+1.22
	Conservative	J. Barr	14,834	41.23	−1.22
Majority				17.54	+2.44
Turnout				81.19	−2.37
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1966: Stirlingshire West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William Baxter	17,513	48.59	−10.18
	SNP	R. McIntyre	9,381	26.03	N/A
	Conservative	J. Hardie	9,148	25.38	−15.85
Majority				22.56	+5.02
Turnout				82.42	+1.23
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: Stirlingshire West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William Baxter	18,884	48.89	+0.30
	Conservative	J. Glen	11,465	29.68	+4.30
	SNP	R. McIntyre	8,279	21.43	−4.60
Majority				19.21	−3.35
Turnout				78.94	−3.48
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election February 1974: Stirlingshire West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William Baxter	17,730	40.85	−8.04
	SNP	J. Jones	12,886	29.69	+8.26
	Conservative	T. Price	12,789	29.46	−0.22
Majority				11.16	−8.05
Turnout				82.07	+3.13
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election October 1974: Stirlingshire West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Dennis Canavan	16,698	39.04	−1.81
	SNP	J. Jones	16,331	38.18	+6.49
	Conservative	D. Mitchell	7,875	18.41	−11.05
	Liberal	I. MacFarlane	1,865	4.36	N/A
Majority				0.86	−10.30
Turnout				80.71	−1.36
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1979: Stirlingshire West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Dennis Canavan	22,516	47.70	+8.66
	Conservative	A. McCurley	12,160	25.76	+7.35
	SNP	J. Jones	8,627	18.27	−19.91
	Liberal	D. Cant	3,905	8.27	+3.91
Majority				21.94	+21.08
Turnout				81.96	+1.25
	Labour hold		Swing

Westminster constituencies of Scotland

1708 to 1832 1832 to 1868 1868 to 1885 1885 to 1918 1918 to 1950 1950 to 1955 1955 to 1974 1974 to 1983 1983 to 1997 1997 to 2005

Current constituencies (2005 to present)

Aberdeen North Aberdeen South Airdrie & Shotts Angus Argyll & Bute Ayr, Carrick & Cumnock Banff & Buchan Berwickshire, Roxburgh & Selkirk Caithness, Sutherland & Easter Ross Central Ayrshire Coatbridge, Chryston & Bellshill Cumbernauld, Kilsyth & Kirkintilloch East Dumfries & Galloway Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale & Tweeddale Dundee East Dundee West Dunfermline & West Fife East Dunbartonshire East Kilbride, Strathaven & Lesmahagow East Lothian East Renfrewshire Edinburgh East Edinburgh North & Leith Edinburgh South Edinburgh South West Edinburgh West Falkirk Glasgow Central Glasgow East Glasgow North Glasgow North East Glasgow North West Glasgow South Glasgow South West Glenrothes Gordon Inverclyde Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey Kilmarnock & Loudoun Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath Lanark & Hamilton East Linlithgow & East Falkirk Livingston Midlothian Moray Motherwell & Wishaw Na h-Eileanan an Iar North Ayrshire & Arran North East Fife Ochil & South Perthshire Orkney & Shetland Paisley & Renfrewshire North Paisley & Renfrewshire South Perth & North Perthshire Ross, Skye & Lochaber Rutherglen & Hamilton West Stirling West Aberdeenshire & Kincardine West Dunbartonshire

References

^ "Report of the Boundary Commission (Scotland)", Cd. 8759, Schedule–Part I, section 21.
^ "Initial Report of the Boundary Commission for Scotland", Cmd. 7270, p. 26.
^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 5)
^ Whitaker's Almanack, 1920
^ The Times, 17 November 1922
^ The Times, 8 December 1923
^ Oliver & Boyd's Edinburgh Almanac, 1927
^ The Times, 1 June 1929
^ Whitaker's Almanack, 1934
^ Whitaker's Almanack, 1939

==Sources ==

Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd edition ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
http://www.politicsresources.net