Kilmarnock (UK Parliament constituency)

Kilmarnock
Kilmarnock
Former County constituency; for the House of Commons
Subdivisions of Scotland	Ayrshire
Major settlements	Kilmarnock
1918–1983
Seats	One
Created from	Kilmarnock Burghs, Ayrshire North and Ayrshire South
Replaced by	Kilmarnock and Loudoun

Kilmarnock was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 to 1983. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

The constituency included the area of the former parliamentary burgh of Kilmarnock. The parliamentary burgh had been, previously, a component of the Kilmarnock Burghs constituency.

Prominent Members for this seat included long-serving Scottish Secretary Willie Ross, and senior judge Craigie Mason Aitchison.

Boundaries

1918 to 1950

The constituency was created by the Representation of the People Act 1918 as one of four constituencies covering the county of Ayr and the county of Bute. Of the other three constituencies, two were county constituencies: Bute and Northern Ayrshire and South Ayrshire. The third, Ayr Burghs, was a district of burghs constituency. All four constituencies were entirely within the boundaries of the two counties.

The Kilmarnock constituency consisted of "The county district of Kilmarnock, inclusive of all burghs situated therein except insofar as included in the Ayr District of Burghs."

The counties of Ayr and Bute had been covered, previously, by the five constituencies of Ayr Burghs, Buteshire, Kilmarnock Burghs, North Ayrshire and South Ayrshire. Two of these, Ayr Burghs and Kilmarnock Burghs, had included areas (parliamentary burghs) outside the two counties.

1950 to 1974

Constituency boundaries were redrawn in 1950, creating five constituencies to cover the counties of Ayr and Bute. Ayr Burghs was abolished and two new county constituencies, Ayr and Central Ayrshire, were created. Part of the Kilmarnock constituency was transferred to the new Central Ayrshire constituency.

1974 to 1975

In 1974, the boundary between the Kilmarnock and Ayrshire Central constituencies was redrawn to enlarge Kilmarnock.

1975 to 1983

In 1975, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, local government counties were abolished and replaced by a system of regions and districts. The areas of the counties of Ayr and Bute were merged into the Strathclyde region and, thus, the Kilmarnock constituency became one of a number covering the region. Eight years were to elapse before new constituency boundaries took account of new local government boundaries.

In 1983 the Kilmarnock constituency was merged into the Kilmarnock and Loudoun constituency.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member^[1]	Party
	1918	Alexander Shaw	Coalition Liberal
	1922	Alexander Shaw	Liberal
	1923	Robert Climie	Labour
	1924	Charles MacAndrew	Scottish Unionist Party
	1929	Robert Climie	Labour
	1929 by-election	Craigie Aitchison	Labour
	1931	Craigie Aitchison	National Labour
	1933 by-election	Kenneth Lindsay	National Labour
	1945	Clarice Shaw	Labour
	1946 by-election	Willie Ross	Labour
	1979	William McKelvey	Labour
1983		constituency abolished: see Kilmarnock and Loudoun

Election results

Elections in the 1910s

General election 1918: Kilmarnock ^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
C	Liberal	Alexander Shaw	13,568	67.1
	Co-operative Party	Peter Malcolm	6,652	32.9
Majority			6,916	34.2
Turnout			20,220	62.6
Registered electors			32,298
	Liberal win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Kilmarnock ^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Alexander Shaw	12,991	54.7	−12.4
	Labour	Robert Climie	10,752	45.3	New
Majority			2,239	9.4	−24.8
Turnout			23,743	71.5	+8.9
Registered electors			33,210
	Liberal hold		Swing	−12.4

General election 1923: Kilmarnock ^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Climie	10,992	43.2	−2.1
	Liberal	Donald Maclean	8,185	32.1	−22.6
	Unionist	Alexander Morrice Mackay	6,298	24.7	New
Majority			2,807	11.1	N/A
Turnout			25,475	75.7	+4.2
Registered electors			33,652
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing	+10.3

General election 1924: Kilmarnock ^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Charles MacAndrew	14,237	52.2	+27.5
	Labour	Robert Climie	13,054	47.8	+4.6
Majority			1,183	4.4	N/A
Turnout			27,291	79.5	+3.8
Registered electors			34,315
	Unionist gain from Labour		Swing	+11.5

General election 1929: Kilmarnock
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Climie	17,368	48.2	+0.4
	Unionist	Charles MacAndrew	10,939	30.4	−21.8
	Liberal	James Rutherford	7,700	21.4	New
Majority			6,429	17.8	N/A
Turnout			36,007	77.8	−1.7
Registered electors			46,310
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+11.1

1929 Kilmarnock by-election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Craigie Aitchison	18,465	55.6	+7.4
	Unionist	Charles MacAndrew	13,270	40.0	+9.6
	Communist	Isabel Brown	1,448	4.4	New
Majority			5,195	15.6	−2.2
Turnout			33,183	71.7	−6.1
Registered electors			46,310
	Labour hold		Swing	−1.1

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Kilmarnock
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Labour	Craigie Aitchison	21,803	59.6	*New*
	Ind. Labour Party	John Pollock	14,767	40.4	New
Majority			7,036	19.2	+3.6
Turnout			36,580	79.5	+7.8
	National Labour gain from Labour		Swing	N/A

1933 Kilmarnock by-election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Labour	Kenneth Lindsay	12,577	34.8	−24.8
	Labour	James Barr	9,924	27.4	New
	Ind. Labour Party	John Pollock	7,575	20.9	−19.5
	Scottish Party	Alexander MacEwen	6,098	16.9	New
Majority			2,653	7.4	−11.8
Turnout			36,174	77.3	−2.2
	National Labour hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1935: Kilmarnock ^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Labour	Kenneth Lindsay	19,115	50.9	+16.1
	Labour	James Crawford	12,558	33.4	+6.0
	Ind. Labour Party	John Pollock	3,582	9.5	-11.4
	SNP	T. W. Campbell	2,346	6.2	-10.7
Majority			6,557	17.5	+10.1
Turnout			37,601	78.8	+1.5
	National Labour hold		Swing	+5.0

Elections in the 1940s

General election 1945: Kilmarnock
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Clarice Shaw	23,837	59.4	+26.0
	Unionist	George E.O. Walker	16,300	40.6	New
Majority			7,537	18.8	N/A
Turnout			40,137	76.1	−2.7
	Labour gain from National Labour		Swing	N/A

1946 Kilmarnock by-election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Willie Ross	22,456	59.7	+0.3
	Unionist	George E.O. Walker	12,239	32.5	−8.1
	SNP	George Dott	2,932	7.8	New
Majority			10,217	27.2	+8.4
Turnout			37,627	68.4	−7.7
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.2

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Kilmarnock^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Willie Ross	22,412	56.58	-2.80
	Unionist	McInnes Shaw	14,179	35.80	-4.80
	Liberal	John Gibson Thomson	2,157	5.45	New
	Communist	Isabel Brown	860	2.17	New
Majority			8,233	20.79	+2.0
Turnout			39,608	86.15	+10.1
Registered electors			45,974
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.0

General election 1951: Kilmarnock^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Willie Ross	24,664	60.72	+4.14
	Unionist	Norman Macleod Glen	15,955	39.28	+3.48
Majority			8,709	21.44	+0.65
Turnout			40,619	86.66	+0.51
Registered electors			46,869
	Labour hold		Swing	+0.33

General election 1955: Kilmarnock^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Willie Ross	23,324	60.89	+0.17
	Unionist	John Sutherland^[10]	14,983	39.11	-0.17
Majority			8,341	21.78	+0.34
Turnout			38,307	81.07	-5.59
Registered electors			47,254
	Labour hold		Swing	+0.17

General election 1959: Kilmarnock^[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Willie Ross	25,379	62.72	+1.83
	Unionist	R Ian McNaught	15,087	37.28	-1.83
Majority			10,292	25.44	+3.66
Turnout			40,466	82.43	+1.36
Registered electors			49,090
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.83

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Kilmarnock^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Willie Ross	25,173	62.29	-0.43
	Unionist	Graham H Webster^[13]	10,796	26.71	-10.57
	Liberal	Ian M Will	4,443	10.99	New
Majority			14,377	35.58	+10.16
Turnout			40,412	82.77	+0.34
Registered electors			48,824
	Labour hold		Swing	+5.04

General election 1966: Kilmarnock^[14]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Willie Ross	26,036	68.54	+6.25
	Conservative	Albert McQuarrie	11,949	31.46	+4.75
Majority			14,087	37.08	+1.50
Turnout			37,985	79.02	-3.75
Registered electors			48,073
	Labour hold		Swing	+0.75

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Kilmarnock^[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Willie Ross	24,477	59.3	-9.2
	Conservative	G Law	11,476	27.8	-3.6
	SNP	Alistair MacInnes	2,836	6.9	New
	Liberal	Archibald James Wight	2,459	6.0	New
Majority			13,001	31.52	-5.6
Turnout			41,248	79.1	0.0
	Labour hold		Swing

General election February 1974: Kilmarnock^[16]^[17]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Willie Ross	23,544	47.20	-12.14
	Conservative	Kenneth Alexander Ross	13,817	27.70	-0.12
	SNP	Alistair MacInnes	7,644	15.32	+7.44
	Liberal	Archibald James Wight	4,878	9.78	+3.82
Majority			9,727	19.50	-12.02
Turnout			49,883	83.25	+3.19
	Labour hold		Swing

General election October 1974: Kilmarnock ^[17]^[18]^[19]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Willie Ross	22,184	45.69	-1.51
	SNP	Alistair MacInnes	14,655	30.19	+14.86
	Conservative	William Adams	9,203	18.96	-8.74
	Liberal	Kevin Purcell	2,508	5.17	-4.61
Majority			7,529	15.50	-4.00
Turnout			48,550	80.41	-2.84
	Labour hold		Swing	-8.18

General election 1979: Kilmarnock^[17]^[20]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William McKelvey	25,718	52.56	+6.87
	Conservative	John Corbett	14,251	29.12	+10.17
	SNP	Alistair MacInnes	8,963	18.32	-11.87
Majority			11,467	23.44	+7.93
Turnout			48,932	81.08	+0.67
	Labour hold		Swing	-1.65

References

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

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