Lanark (UK Parliament constituency)

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

Lanark
Former County constituency
for the House of Commons
1918–1983
Number of membersOne
Replaced byClydesdale, Motherwell North and Motherwell South[1]
Created fromSouth Lanarkshire and Mid Lanarkshire

There was also an earlier Lanark Burghs constituency, from 1708 to 1832.

Boundaries

From 1918 the constituency consisted of "The Upper Ward County District, inclusive of all burghs situated therein, together with the part of the Middle Ward County District which is contained within the parishes of Avondale, East Kilbride, Glassford, and Stonehouse."

The Representation of the People Act 1948 provided that the constituency was to consist of "(i) The burghs of Biggar and Lanark; and (ii) the first, second and third districts and, so far as not included in the Hamilton constituency, the fourth and fifth districts."

Members of Parliament
ElectionMember[2]Party
1918 Walter Elliot Unionist
1923 Thomas Scott Dickson Labour
1924 Stephen Mitchell Unionist
1929 Thomas Scott Dickson Labour
1931 Alec Douglas-Home, Lord Dunglass Unionist
1945 Tom Steele Labour
1950 Alec Douglas-Home, Lord Dunglass Unionist
1951 Patrick Maitland Unionist
1959 Judith Hart Labour
1983 Constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1910s
General election 1918: Lanark [3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
C Unionist Walter Elliot 12,976 69.0
Labour James C. Welsh 5,821 31.0
Majority 7,155 38.0
Turnout 18,797 68.5
Registered electors 27,434
Unionist win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s
General election 1922: Lanark [4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Walter Elliot 12,005 55.0 −14.0
Labour Thomas Dickson 9,812 45.0 +14.0
Majority 2,193 10.0 −28.0
Turnout 21,817 75.0 +6.5
Registered electors 29,074
Unionist hold Swing −14.0
General election 1923: Lanark [5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Thomas Dickson 11,384 50.5 +5.5
Unionist Walter Elliot 11,154 49.5 −5.5
Majority 230 1.0 N/A
Turnout 22,538 74.9 −0.1
Registered electors 30,071
Labour gain from Unionist Swing +5.5
Elizabeth Mitchell
General election 1924: Lanark [6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Stephen Mitchell 12,714 48.4 −1.1
Labour Thomas Dickson 11,426 43.5 −7.0
Liberal Elizabeth Mitchell 2,126 8.1 New
Majority 1,288 4.9 N/A
Turnout 26,266 84.3 +9.4
Registered electors 31,164
Unionist gain from Labour Swing +3.0
General election 1929: Lanark [7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Thomas Dickson 15,054 48.7 +5.2
Unionist Stephen Mitchell 12,652 41.0 −7.4
Liberal James Mullo Weir 3,177 10.3 +2.2
Majority 2,402 7.7 N/A
Turnout 30,883 78.8 −5.5
Registered electors 39,201
Labour gain from Unionist Swing +6.3

Elections in the 1930s
General election 1931: Lanark[8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Alec Douglas-Home, Lord Dunglass 20,675 63.63
Ind. Labour Party Jack Gibson 11,815 36.37 New
Majority 8,860 27.26
Turnout 32,490 82.48
Unionist gain from Labour Swing
General election 1935: Lanark [9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Alec Douglas-Home, Lord Dunglass 17,759 56.75
Labour Jack Gibson 10,950 34.99
Ind. Labour Party William Carlin 2,583 8.25
Majority 6,809 21.76
Turnout 31,292 75.96
Unionist hold Swing

Election in the 1940s
General election 1945: Lanark
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Tom Steele 17,784 52.80
Unionist Alec Douglas-Home, Lord Dunglass 15,900 47.20
Majority 1,884 5.60
Turnout 33,684 74.93
Labour gain from Unionist Swing

Elections in the 1950s
General election 1950: Lanark [10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Alec Douglas-Home, Lord Dunglass 19,890 50.88
Labour Tom Steele 19,205 49.12
Majority 685 1.76
Turnout 39,095 84.70
Unionist gain from Labour Swing
General election 1951: Lanark [11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Patrick Maitland 21,467 52.18
Labour William L. Taylor 19,674 47.82
Majority 1,793 4.36
Turnout 41,141 97.31
Unionist hold Swing
General election 1955: Lanark [12]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Patrick Maitland 21,828 51.12
Labour John Mackie 20,870 48.88
Majority 958 2.24
Turnout 42,698 85.87
Unionist hold Swing
General election 1959: Lanark [13]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Judith Hart 25,171 50.54
Unionist Patrick Maitland 24,631 49.46
Majority 540 1.08
Turnout 49,802 87.23
Labour gain from Unionist Swing

Elections in the 1960s
General election 1964: Lanark [14]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Judith Hart 30,242 54.82
Unionist William Beale 24,922 45.18
Majority 5,320 9.64
Turnout 55,164 85.97
Labour hold Swing
General election 1966: Lanark [15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Judith Hart 29,735 51.65
Conservative William Beale 21,995 38.21
SNP Harry Rankin 5,838 10.14 New
Majority 7,740 13.44
Turnout 57,568 83.72
Labour hold Swing

Elections in the 1970s
General election 1970: Lanark [16]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Judith Hart 30,194 45.03
Conservative Alan C.S. MacDougall 27,721 41.35
SNP Harry Rankin 7,859 11.72
Communist David McDowall 1,273 1.90 New
Majority 2,473 3.68
Turnout 67,047 79.45
Labour hold Swing
General election February 1974: Lanark
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Judith Hart 16,823 41.69
Conservative Alan C. S. MacDougall 14,723 36.49
SNP Thomas McAlpine 8,803 21.82
Majority 2,100 5.20
Turnout 40,349 83.96
Labour hold Swing
General election October 1974: Lanark
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Judith Hart 14,948 37.56
SNP Thomas McAlpine 14,250 35.81
Conservative A Bell 9,222 23.17
Liberal Fred McDermid 1,374 3.45 New
Majority 698 1.75
Turnout 39,794 82.21
Labour hold Swing
General election 1979: Lanark
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Judith Hart 18,118 43.2 +5.6
Conservative A Bell 12,979 30.9 +7.7
SNP Thomas McAlpine 7,902 18.8 -17.0
Liberal Fred McDermid 2,967 7.1 +3.7
Majority 5,139 12.2 +10.5
Turnout 41,966 81.8 -0.4
Labour hold Swing

Notes and references
  1. "'Lanark', Feb 1974 - May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Archived from the original on 3 April 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  2. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "L" (part 1)
  3. Whitaker's Almanack, 1920
  4. The Times, 17 November 1922
  5. The Times, 8 December 1923
  6. Oliver & Boyd's Edinburgh Almanack, 1927
  7. The Times, 1 June 1929
  8. Whitaker's Almanack, 1934
  9. Whitaker's Almanack, 1939
  10. The Times Guide to the House of Commons
  11. The Times Guide to the House of Commons
  12. The Times Guide to the House of Commons
  13. The Times Guide to the House of Commons
  14. The Times Guide to the House of Commons
  15. The Times Guide to the House of Commons
  16. The Times Guide to the House of Commons

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