Buteshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Buteshire
Former County constituency
for the House of Commons
1708–1918
Replaced by Bute and Northern Ayrshire
Created from Buteshire

Buteshire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1801 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1918.

From 1708 to 1832 Buteshire and Caithness were paired as alternating constituencies: one of the constituencies elected a Member of Parliament (MP) to one parliament, the other to the next. The areas which were covered by the two constituencies are quite remote from each other, Caithness in the northeast of Scotland and Buteshire in the southwest.

From 1832 to 1918, Buteshire was represented continuously by its own MP.

Boundaries

From 1708 to 1832, the Buteshire constituency covered the county of Bute minus the parliamentary burgh of Rothesay, which was a component of the Ayr Burghs constituency. In 1832, Rothesay was merged into the Buteshire constituency.

By 1892, Bute had become a local government county and, throughout Scotland, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889, county boundaries had been redefined for all purposes except parliamentary representation. 26 years were to elapse before constituency boundaries were redrawn, by the Representation of the People Act 1918, to take account of new local government boundaries.

In 1918, the Bute and Northern Ayrshire county constituency was created, to cover the county of Bute and a northern portion of the county of Ayr. The rest of the county of Ayr was divided between three other constituencies, all entirely within the county: the county constituencies of South Ayrshire and Kilmarnock, and a remodelled Ayr Burghs.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1708 to 1832

Election Member Party
1708 Dugald Stewart
1710 John Montgomerie
1710 none
1713 John Campbell, later Duke of Argyll Whig
1715 none
1722 Patrick Campbell
1727 none
1734 Patrick Campbell
1741 none
1747 James Stuart-Mackenzie
1754 none
1761 James Stuart I
1762 Henry Wauchope
1768 none
1774 James Stuart II (later Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie)
1780 none
1784 James Stuart II
1790 none
1796 Frederick Stuart
1802 none
1806 James Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie
1807 none
1812 John Marjoribanks[1]
1818 none
1820 Lord Patrick Crichton-Stuart
1826 none
1830 Sir William Rae, 3rd Baronet
1831 none

MPs 1832 to 1918

Election Member Party
1832 Charles Stuart Conservative
1833 by-election Sir William Rae Conservative
1842 by-election James Archibald Stuart-Wortley Conservative
1857 Liberal
1859 David Mure Conservative
1865 by-election George Boyle Conservative
1865 James Lamont Liberal
1868 Charles Dalrymple Conservative
1880 Thomas Russell Liberal
1880 by-election Charles Dalrymple Conservative
1885 James Robertson Conservative
1891 by-election Andrew Murray Conservative
1905 Norman Lamont Liberal
January 1910 Sir Harry Hope Conservative
1918 constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1860s

General Election 1868: Buteshire[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Charles Dalrymple 527
___ Burns 362

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1885: Buteshire[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative James Patrick Bannerman Robertson 1,374
Liberal Robert A Maclean 1,090
Majority 284
Turnout
Conservative hold Swing
General Election 1886: Buteshire[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative James Patrick Bannerman Robertson 1,364
Liberal Rev. Nigel MacNeill 819
Majority 545
Turnout
Conservative hold Swing

After James Robertson accepted office as Solicitor General for Scotland in July 1886, he was returned unopposed at a by-election on 12 August.[3]

Elections in the 1890s

Buteshire by-election, 1891[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Andrew Graham Murray 1,335 n/a
Liberal J McCulloch 990 n/a
Majority 345 n/a
Turnout n/a
Conservative hold Swing n/a
General Election 1892: Buteshire[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Andrew Graham Murray 1,466
Liberal Robert Earle M Smith 1,013
Majority 453
Turnout
Conservative hold Swing
General Election 1895: Buteshire[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Andrew Graham Murray unopposed n/a n/a
Conservative hold Swing n/a

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1900: Buteshire[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Andrew Graham Murray 1,241 n/a
Liberal Norman Lamont 1,046 n/a
Majority 195 n/a
Turnout n/a
Conservative hold Swing n/a
Buteshire by-election, 1905[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Liberal Norman Lamont 1,460 50.6
Conservative Edward Theodore Salvesen 1,426 49.4
Majority 34 1.2
Turnout
Liberal gain from Conservative Swing
Norman Lamont
General Election 1906: Buteshire[8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Liberal Norman Lamont 1,637 51.9
Conservative Guy Thomas Speir 1,517 48.1
Majority 120
Turnout
Liberal hold Swing

Elections in the 1910s

General Election Jan 1910: Buteshire[9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Harry Hope 1,531
Liberal Norman Lamont 1,372
Majority
Turnout
Conservative gain from Liberal Swing
Rosslyn Mitchell
General Election Dec 1910: Buteshire[9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Harry Hope 1,569
Liberal Edward Rosslyn Mitchell 1,316
Majority
Turnout
Conservative hold Swing

References

  1. ↑ Marjoribanks,Roger (2014) "Edinburgh Portrait, Sir John Marjoribanks , Bart, MP (1763–1833)" The Book of the Edinburgh Club, Volume 10, Pp 151-156, ISBN 0-9517284-9-0
  2. ↑ Debrett's House of Commons, 1870
  3. 1 2 3 Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1889
  4. ↑ The Liberal Year Book, 1908
  5. ↑ Whitaker's Almanack, 1893
  6. 1 2 Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1901
  7. ↑ British parliamentary election results 1885-1918 by Craig
  8. ↑ Whitaker's Almanack, 1907
  9. 1 2 Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1916

Sources

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