Kilmarnock Burghs (UK Parliament constituency)

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

Boundaries

The constituency consisted 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.

Member of Parliament

Election		Member[1]	Party
	1832	John Dunlop	Liberal[2]
	1835	John Bowring	Radical
	1837	John Campbell Colquhoun	Conservative[2]
	1841	Alexander Johnston	Liberal[2]
	May 1844 by-election	Edward Pleydell Bouverie	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	William Glynne Charles Gladstone	Liberal
	1915 by-election	Alexander Shaw	Liberal
1918		constituency abolished: see Kilmarnock

Election results

Elections in the 1860s

General Election 1868: Kilmarnock Burghs^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Edward Pleydell Bouverie	2,892
		E. Chadwick	1,146
		Rev R. Thompson	999

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1885: Kilmarnock Burghs^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Peter Sturrock	3,645	40.2
	Liberal	John Dick Peddie	3,513	38.7
	Independent Liberal	Viscount Dalrymple	1,862	20.5
	Independent Conservative	John Steven Storr	55	0.6
Majority
Turnout				86.6
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing

General Election 1886: Kilmarnock Burghs^[4]

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	11.9
Turnout				80.6
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+6.0

Elections in the 1890s

General Election 1892: Kilmarnock Burghs^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Stephen Williamson	5,110	54.1	-1.1
	Conservative	Charles Scott Dickson	4,335	45.9	+1.1
Majority			775	8.2	-2.2
Turnout				84.2
	Liberal hold		Swing	-1.1

General Election 1895: Kilmarnock Burghs^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	John McAusland Denny	5,432	51.8	+5.9
	Liberal	Stephen Williamson	5,051	48.2	-5.9
Majority			381	3.6	11.8
Turnout				87.2	+3.0
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+5.9

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1900: Kilmarnock Burghs^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	John McAusland Denny	6,076	51.6	-0.2
	Liberal	Adam Rolland Rainy	5,692	48.4	+0.2
Majority			384	3.2	-0.4
Turnout				86.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	-0.2

General Election 1906: Kilmarnock Burghs^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Adam Rolland Rainy	8,268	59.0	+10.6
	Conservative	Thomas W McIntyre	5,743	41.0	-10.6
Majority			2,525	18.0	21.2
Turnout				87.4	+1.0
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+10.6

Elections in the 1910s

Adam Rainy

General Election Jan 1910: Kilmarnock Burghs^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Adam Rolland 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				88.9
	Liberal hold		Swing	+2.1

W. Gladstone

General Election December 1910: Kilmarnock Burghs^[9]

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

J.D. Rees

Alex Shaw

Kilmarnock Burghs by-election, 1911^[10]

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

Kilmarnock District by-election, 1915^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Hon. Alexander Shaw	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

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. (1989) [1977]. British parliamentary election results 1832–1885 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 552. ISBN 0-900178-26-4.. Note: Craig does not distinguish between Whigs, Radicals, and Liberals, labellling them all as "Liberal"
3. Debrett's House of Commons, 1870
4. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1889
5. Whitaker's Almanack, 1893
6. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1901
7. Whitaker's Almanack, 1907
8. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1916
9. British parliamentary election results 1885-1918 by Craig, F.W.S. (1974)
10. British parliamentary election results 1885-1918 by Craig, F. W. S. (1974)