Wick Burghs (UK Parliament constituency)

Wick Burghs
Former District of Burghs constituency
for the House of Commons
Major settlements Cromarty, Dingwall, Dornoch, Kirkwall, Tain and Wick
1832–1918
Number of members One
Replaced by Caithness and Sutherland and Ross and Cromarty
Created from Cromartyshire and Tain Burghs

Wick Burghs, sometimes known as Northern Burghs, was a 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.

A similar constituency had been known as Tain Burghs from 1708 to 1832.

Boundaries

The constituency was a district of burghs representing the parliamentary burghs of Cromarty, Dingwall, Dornoch, Kirkwall, Tain and Wick.[1] Apart from Cromarty, these burghs had been previously components of Tain Burghs.[2] In 1918 Dornoch and Wick were merged into Caithness and Sutherland, Kirkwall into Orkney and Shetland and Cromarty, Dingwall and Tain into Ross and Cromarty.[3][4] The first election in Wick Burghs was in 1832. The franchise was extended to wider groups of the population than under the old system of burgh councillors electing a burgh commissioner to participate in the election. From 1832 the votes from each burgh were added together to establish the result.

Members of Parliament

ElectionMember[5]Party
1832 constituency created
1832 James Loch Liberal
1852 Samuel Laing Liberal
1857 Lord John Hay Liberal
1859 Samuel Laing Liberal
1860 by-election William Coutts Keppel, Viscount Bury Liberal
1865 Samuel Laing Liberal
1868 George Loch Liberal
1872 by-election John Pender Liberal
1885 John Macdonald Cameron Liberal
1892 Sir John Pender Liberal Unionist
1896 by-election Thomas Charles Hunter Hedderwick Liberal
1900 Sir Arthur Bignold Conservative
1910 Robert Munro Liberal
1918 constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1910s

Wick District by-election, 1913[6]

Electorate 3,094

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Rt Hon. Robert Munro 1,577 58.2 +4.5
Unionist A.G. Mackenzie 1,134 41.8 -4.5
Majority 443 16.4 9.0
Turnout 2,711 87.6 -5.2
Liberal hold Swing +4.5
General Election December 1910: Wick Burghs[7]

Electorate 3,037

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Robert Munro 1,515 53.7 -1.2
Unionist Sir Arthur Bignold 1,304 46.3 +1.2
Majority 211 7.4 -2.4
Turnout 2,819 92.8
Liberal hold Swing -1.2
General Election Jan 1910: Wick Burghs[8]

Electorate 3,037

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Robert Munro 1,537 54.9
Unionist Sir Arthur Bignold 1,262 45.1
Majority 9.8
Turnout
Liberal gain from Unionist Swing
General Election 1906: Wick Burghs[9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Sir Arthur Bignold 1,362
Liberal W. Thomson 1,266
General Election 1900: Wick Burghs[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Unionist Arthur Bignold 1,154
Liberal Thomas Charles Hunter Hedderwick 1,041
By-election 2 Jun 1896: Wick Burghs[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Thomas Charles Hunter Hedderwick 1,054
Liberal Unionist William Charles Smith 842
General Election 1895: Wick Burghs[12]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Unionist Sir John Pender GCMG 913
Liberal Thomas Charles Hunter Hedderwick 859
General Election 1892: Wick Burghs[13]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Unionist Sir John Pender GCMG 952
Liberal John Macdonald Cameron 825
General Election 1886: Wick Burghs[14]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal John McDonald Cameron 910
Liberal Unionist John Pender 686
General Election 1885: Wick Burghs[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal John McDonald Cameron 913
Liberal John Pender 868
General Election 1868: Wick Burghs[16]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal George Loch 850
Liberal Samuel laing 634

See also


Notes and references

  1. ↑ For the burghs included see Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 and 1885-1918.
  2. ↑ For the burghs included in Tain Burghs (and the pre-1832 franchise) see Namier and Brooke, The House of Commons, 1754-1790.
  3. ↑ For the boundary changes in 1918 see Craig, Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972.
  4. ↑ Representation of the People Act 1918, Ninth Schedule - Parliamentary Counties, Scotland
  5. ↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 3)
  6. ↑ Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1916
  7. ↑ British parliamentary election results 1885-1918, Craig, F. W. S. (1974)
  8. ↑ Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1916
  9. ↑ Whitaker's Almanack, 1907
  10. ↑ Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1901
  11. ↑ Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1901
  12. ↑ Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1901
  13. ↑ Whitaker's Almanack, 1893
  14. ↑ Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1889
  15. ↑ Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1889
  16. ↑ Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1870

Sources

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