Wick Burghs (UK Parliament constituency)

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

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

Election		Member^[5]	Party
1832		constituency created
	1832	James Loch	Whig^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9]
	1852	Samuel Laing	Radical^[10]
	1857	Lord John Hay	Whig^[11]
	1859	Samuel Laing	Liberal
	1860 by-election	William 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 Hedderwick	Liberal
	1900	Sir Arthur Bignold	Liberal Unionist
	1910	Robert Munro	Liberal
1918		constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1830s

General election 1832: Wick Burghs^[12]^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Whig	James Loch	Unopposed
Registered electors			366
	Whig win (new seat)

General election 1835: Wick Burghs^[12]^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Whig	James Loch	Unopposed
Registered electors			571
	Whig hold

General election 1837: Wick Burghs^[12]^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Whig	James Loch	Unopposed
Registered electors			680
	Whig hold

Elections in the 1840s

General election 1841: Wick Burghs^[12]^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	James Loch	270	58.8	*N/A*
	Conservative	George Dempster	189	41.2	New
Majority			81	17.6	N/A
Turnout			459	61.9	N/A
Registered electors			742
	Whig hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1847: Wick Burghs^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Whig	James Loch	Unopposed
Registered electors			690
	Whig hold

Elections in the 1850s

General election 1852: Wick Burghs^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Radical	Samuel Laing	233	53.6	*New*
	Whig	James Loch	202	46.4	N/A
Majority			31	7.2	N/A
Turnout			435	62.2	N/A
Registered electors			699
	Radical gain from Whig		Swing	N/A

General election 1857: Wick Burghs^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	John Hay	318	59.9	*N/A*
	Whig	Alexander Nesbitt Shaw^[13]	213	40.1	N/A
Majority			105	19.8	N/A
Turnout			531	83.6	+21.4
Registered electors			635
	Whig gain from Radical		Swing	N/A

General election 1859: Wick Burghs^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	Samuel Laing	Unopposed
Registered electors			657
	Liberal hold

Elections in the 1860s

Laing resigned after being appointed a member of the Council of India, causing a by-election.

By-election, 1 December 1860^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Keppel	Unopposed
	Liberal hold

General election 1865: Wick Burghs^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	Samuel Laing	Unopposed
Registered electors			793
	Liberal hold

General election 1868: Wick Burghs^[14]^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	George Loch	851	57.3	*N/A*
	Liberal	Samuel Laing	635	42.7	N/A
Majority			216	14.6	N/A
Turnout			1,486	88.8	N/A
Registered electors			1,673
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1870s

Loch resigned, causing a by-election.

By-election, 28 Feb 1872: Wick Burghs^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Pender	704	58.6	*N/A*
	Independent Liberal	Robert Reid^[15]^[16]	498	41.4	New
Majority			206	17.2	+2.6
Turnout			1,202	83.5	−5.3
Registered electors			1,439
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1874: Wick Burghs^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Pender	857	54.0	*N/A*
	Liberal	James Bryce^[17]	730	46.0	N/A
Majority			127	8.0	−6.6
Turnout			1,587	88.5	−0.3
Registered electors			1,793
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1880: Wick Burghs^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	John Pender	Unopposed
Registered electors			1,754
	Liberal hold

General election 1885: Wick Burghs^[18]^[19]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Wick Radical Workingmen's Association	John Macdonald Cameron	913	51.3	*New*
	Liberal	John Pender	868	48.7	N/A
Majority			45	2.6	N/A
Turnout			1,781	88.4	N/A
Registered electors			2,015
	Wick Radical Workingmen's Association gain from Liberal		Swing	N/A

Cameron was supported by the Highland Land League, and ally of the Crofter MPs.

General election 1886: Wick Burghs^[18]^[19]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Macdonald Cameron	910	57.0	+8.3
	Liberal Unionist	John Denison-Pender^[20]	686	43.0	New
Majority			224	14.0	N/A
Turnout			1,596	79.2	-9.2
Registered electors			2,015
	Liberal gain from Wick Radical Workingmen's Association		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1890s

General election 1892: Wick Burghs^[21]^[19]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	John Pender	952	53.6	+10.6
	Liberal	John Macdonald Cameron	825	46.4	−10.6
Majority			127	7.2	N/A
Turnout			1,777	80.5	+1.3
Registered electors			2,208
	Liberal Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+10.6

General election 1895: Wick Burghs^[19]^[22]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	John Pender	913	50.7	-2.9
	Liberal	Thomas Hedderwick	889	49.3	+2.9
Majority			24	1.4	-5.8
Turnout			1,802	81.7	+1.2
Registered electors			2,205
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	-2.9

Pender's resignation caused a by-election.

By-election, 2 Jun 1896: Wick Burghs^[22]^[19]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Hedderwick	1,054	55.6	+6.3
	Liberal Unionist	William Charles Smith	842	44.4	-6.3
Majority			212	11.2	N/A
Turnout			1,896	83.3	+1.6
Registered electors			2,277
	Liberal gain from Liberal Unionist		Swing	+6.3

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: Wick Burghs^[19]^[22]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Arthur Bignold	1,154	52.6	+1.9
	Liberal	Thomas Hedderwick	1,041	47.4	−1.9
Majority			113	5.2	+3.8
Turnout			2,195	79.9	−1.8
Registered electors			2,746
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	+1.9

General election 1906: Wick Burghs^[23]^[19]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Arthur Bignold	1,362	51.8	-0.8
	Liberal	William Thomson	1,266	48.2	+0.8
Majority			96	3.6	-1.6
Turnout			2,628	91.0	+11.1
Registered electors			2,887
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	-0.8

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: Wick Burghs^[24]^[19]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Robert Munro	1,537	54.9	+6.7
	Liberal Unionist	Arthur Bignold	1,262	45.1	-6.7
Majority			275	9.8	N/A
Turnout			2,799	92.7	+1.7
	Liberal gain from Liberal Unionist		Swing	+6.7

General election December 1910: Wick Burghs^[19]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Robert Munro	1,515	53.7	-1.2
	Liberal Unionist	Arthur Bignold	1,304	46.3	+1.2
Majority			211	7.4	-2.4
Turnout			2,819	92.8	+0.1
	Liberal hold		Swing	-1.2

1913 Wick Burghs by-election^[24]^[19]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	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

Notes and references

Sources

The House of Commons 1754-1790, by Sir Lewis Namier and John Brooke (HMSO 1964)
British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885, compiled and edited by F. W. S. Craig (The Macmillan Press 1997)
Chronology of British Parliamentary By-elections 1833-1987, compiled and edited by F. W. S. Craig (Parliamentary Research Services 1987)
British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press 1974)
Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)
Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 3)
Debrett's House of Commons and Judicial Bench, 1889 (for 1885 and 1886 results)
Whitaker's Almanack, 1907 (for 1906 results)

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