Dundee (UK Parliament constituency)

Dundee
Former burgh constituency for the House of Commons
Major settlements	Dundee
1832–1950
Seats	1832–1868: One 1868–1950: Two
Replaced by	Dundee East Dundee West

Dundee was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1832 to 1950, when it was split into Dundee East and Dundee West.

From 1832 to 1868 it elected one Member of Parliament (MP) using the first-past-the-post voting system, and from 1868 until its abolition for the 1950 general election it elected two MPs using the bloc vote system.

Politics and history of the constituency

Winston Churchill became Member of Parliament for Dundee in a by-election of 1908 soon after losing his Manchester North West seat and retained the seat until 1922.

In 1906, the explorer Ernest Shackleton unsuccessfully ran as a candidate for the Liberal Unionist Party.

Boundaries

The boundaries of the constituency, as set out in the Representation of the People (Scotland) Act 1832, were-

"From the Point, on the East of the Town, at which the Shore of the Firth of Tay would be cut by a straight Line to be drawn from the Tower (in Fife) of Mr. Dalgleish of Scotscraig to the Point at which the Stobsmuir Road is joined by the old Road by Stobsmuir and Clepington and the old Craigie Road, in a straight Line to the said Point at which the Stobsmuir Road is joined by the old Road by Stobsmuir and Clepington and the old Craigie Road; thence, Westward, along the old Road by Stobsmuir and Clepington to the Point called Kings Cross, at which the several Boundaries of the Parishes of Dundee, Strathmartin, and Liff meet; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Liff Road which is distant Twelve hundred Yards (measured along the Liff Road) to the West of the Point at which the Newtyle Road leaves the same; thence in a straight Line drawn due South to the Shore of the Firth of Tay; thence along the Shore of the Firth of Tay to the Point first described."

Members of Parliament

Election	Party		Member	Party		Member
1832 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #FF7F00;" data-sort-value="British Whig Party" |	Whig	George Kinloch	1 seat until 1868
1833 by-election style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #FF7F00;" data-sort-value="British Whig Party" |	Whig	Sir Henry Brooke Parnell
1841 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #FF7F00;" data-sort-value="British Whig Party" |	Whig	George Duncan
1857	rowspan="3" bgcolor=Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color |	[[Liberal Party (UK)|Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/shortname]]				Sir John Ogilvy
1868 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #FFD700;" data-sort-value="Liberal Party (UK)" |	Liberal		George Armitstead
1873 by-election	rowspan="2" bgcolor=Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color |		[[Liberal Party (UK)|Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/shortname]]	James Yeaman
1874 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #FFD700;" data-sort-value="Liberal Party (UK)" |	Liberal	Edward Jenkins
1880 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #FFD700;" data-sort-value="Liberal Party (UK)" |	Liberal	George Armitstead style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #FFD700;" data-sort-value="Liberal Party (UK)" |	Liberal	Frank Henderson
1885 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #FFD700;" data-sort-value="Liberal Party (UK)" |	Liberal	Charles Carmichael Lacaita	rowspan="4" bgcolor=Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color |	[[Liberal Party (UK)|Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/shortname]]	Edmund Robertson
1888 by-election style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #FFD700;" data-sort-value="Liberal Party (UK)" |	Liberal	Joseph Firth Bottomley Firth
1889 by-election	bgcolor=Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color |	[[Liberal Party (UK)|Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/shortname]]	John Leng
1906	rowspan="2" bgcolor=Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color |	[[Labour Party (UK)|Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/shortname]]	Alexander Wilkie
1908 by-election style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #FFD700;" data-sort-value="Liberal Party (UK)" |	Liberal			Winston Churchill
1922 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour	E. D. Morel	rowspan="3" bgcolor=Template:Scottish Prohibition Party/meta/color |	[[Scottish Prohibition Party|Template:Scottish Prohibition Party/meta/shortname]]	Edwin Scrymgeour
1924 by-election style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour	Thomas Johnston
1929 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour	Michael Marcus
1931 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #5555FF;" data-sort-value="Unionist Party (Scotland)" |	Unionist	Florence Horsbrugh style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #FFD700;" data-sort-value="Liberal Party (UK)" |	Liberal	Dingle Foot
1945 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour	John Strachey style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour	Thomas Cook
1950	Constituency divided. See Dundee East and Dundee West

Election results

1868-1950

Elections in the 1940s

John Strachey

General Election 1945: Dundee (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Thomas Fotheringham Cook	48,804	28.6
	Labour	Evelyn John St Loe Strachey	48,393	28.4
	Liberal	Dingle Mackintosh Foot	33,230	19.5
	Conservative	Florence Gertrude Horsbrugh	32,309	18.9
	SNP	Arthur Donaldson	7,775	4.56
Majority			15,163	8.9
Turnout				79.2
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1935: Dundee (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Florence Gertrude Horsbrugh	50,542	26.8
	Liberal	Dingle Mackintosh Foot	49,632	26.4
	Labour	Michael Marcus	44,457	23.6
	Labour	R. Gibson	43,747	23.2
Majority			6,085	3.2
Majority			5,175	2.8
Turnout				84.7
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1931: Dundee (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Dingle Mackintosh Foot	52,048	29.6
	Conservative	Florence Gertrude Horsbrugh	48,556	27.7
	Labour	Michael Marcus	32,573	18.6
	Scottish Prohibition	Edwin Scrymgeour	32,229	18.3
	Communist	Robert J. Stewart	10,264	5.8
Majority			19,475	11.0
Majority			15,983	9.1
Turnout				84.8
	Liberal gain from Labour		Swing
	Conservative gain from Scottish Prohibition		Swing

Elections in the 1920s

Henderson-Stewart

General Election 1929: Dundee (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Scottish Prohibition	Edwin Scrymgeour	50,073	29.2	+5.7
	Labour	Michael Marcus	47,602	27.7	+1.2
	Liberal	James Henderson-Stewart	33,890	19.8	−0.8
	Unionist	Frederick William Wallace	33,868	19.7	−3.0
	Communist	Robert J. Stewart	6,160	3.6	−3.1
Majority			16,183	9.4
Majority			13,712	7.9
Turnout				82.5	−1.3
	Scottish Prohibition hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Dundee by-election, 1924

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Thomas Johnston	22,973	69.2
	Liberal	Ernest Emil Darwin Simon	10,234	30.8
Majority			12,739	38.4
Turnout			33,207	42.4	−41.4
	Labour hold		Swing

E D Morel

General Election 1924: Dundee (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Edmund Dene Morel	32,846	26.5	+3.8
	Scottish Prohibition	Edwin Scrymgeour	29,193	23.5	−1.6
	Conservative	Frederick William Wallace	28,118	22.7	+3.0
	Liberal	A R Duncan	25,566	20.6	−1.8
	Communist	Robert J. Stewart	8,340	6.7	−3.4
Majority			4,728	3.8
Majority			1,075	0.8
Turnout				83.8
	Labour hold		Swing
	Scottish Prohibition hold		Swing

Willie Gallacher

General Election 1923: Dundee (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Scottish Prohibition	Edwin Scrymgeour	25,753	25.1	−2.5
	Labour	Edmund Dene Morel	23,345	22.7	−2.9
	Liberal	Sir John William Pratt	23,031	22.4	+16.7
	Unionist	Frederick William Wallace	20,253	19.7	n/a
	Communist	William Gallacher	10,380	10.1	+5.1
Majority			2,722	2.7
Majority			314	0.3
Turnout				72.5	−8.0
	Scottish Prohibition hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Robert Pilkington

General Election 1922: Dundee (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Scottish Prohibition	Edwin Scrymgeour	32,578	27.6	+12.5
	Labour	Edmund Dene Morel	30,292	25.6	−10.5
	National Liberal	D J MacDonald	22,244	18.8	n/a
	National Liberal	Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill	20,466	17.3	−20.2
	Liberal	Robert Rivington Pilkington	6,681	5.7	n/a
	Communist	William Gallacher	5,906	5.0	n/a
Majority			10,334	8.8
Majority			8,048	6.8
Turnout				80.5
	Scottish Prohibition gain from National Liberal		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1918: Dundee (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	Rt Hon. Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill	25,788	37.5
	Labour	Alexander Wilkie	24,822	36.1
	Scottish Prohibition	Edwin Scrymgeour	10,423	15.1
	Labour	James Sunney Brown	7,769	11.3
Majority			15,365	22.4
Majority			14,399	21.0
Turnout				46.6
	National Liberal hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

By-election July 1917: Dundee

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	Rt Hon. Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill	7,302	78.2
	Scottish Prohibition	Edwin Scrymgeour	2,036	21.8
Majority			5,266
	National Liberal hold		Swing

General Election Dec 1910: Dundee (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill	9,240	30.2	−3.9
	Labour	Alexander Wilkie	8,957	29.3	−3.6
	Liberal Unionist	Sir George Washington Baxter	5,685	18.6	+4.8
	Conservative	John Hall Seymour Lloyd	4,914	16.0	+1.6
	Scottish Prohibition	Edwin Scrymgeour	1,825	6.0
	Liberal hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Winston Churchill

General Election Jan 1910: Dundee (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill	10,747	34.1
	Labour	Alexander Wilkie	10,365	32.9
	Conservative	John Hall Seymour Lloyd	4,552	14.4
	Liberal Unionist	James Glass	4,339	13.8
	Scottish Prohibition	Edwin Scrymgeour	1,512	4.8
	Liberal hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1900s

G. H. Stuart

Dundee by-election, 1908

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill	7,099	44.0
	Conservative	George Washington Baxter	4,370	27.1
	Independent Labour	George Harold Stuart	4,014	24.9
	Scottish Prohibition	Edwin Scrymgeour	655	4.1	N/A
Majority			2,709	16.8
Turnout			16,138
	Liberal hold		Swing

Alexander Wilkie

General Election 1906: Dundee (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Edmund Robertson	9,276	31.7	+1.5
	Labour	Alexander Wilkie	6,833	23.3
	Liberal	Henry Robson	6,122	20.9	−6.4
	Liberal Unionist	Ernest Shackleton	3,865	13.2	−6.8
	Conservative	A Duncan Smith	3,183	10.9	−9.2
Majority			5,411	18.5
Majority			711	2.4
Turnout			29,279	81.9	+12.4
	Liberal hold		Swing
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing

Edmund Robertson

General Election 1900: Dundee (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Edmund Robertson	7,777
	Liberal	Sir John Leng	7,650
	Conservative	Alexander Duncan Smith	5,181
	Liberal Unionist	J.E. Graham	5,152
Registered electors			18,655

Elections in the 1890s

Sir John Leng

General Election 1895: Dundee (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Edmund Robertson	7,602
	Liberal	Sir John Leng	7,592
	Liberal Unionist	William Charles Smith	5,390
	Conservative	Edward Jenkins	4,318
	Ind. Labour Party	James MacDonald	1,313

General Election 1892: Dundee (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Leng	8,484
	Liberal	Edmund Robertson	8,191
	Conservative	William Dalgleish	5,659
	Liberal Unionist	William Charles Smith	5,066
	Scottish Trades Councils Labour	James MacDonald	354
Registered electors			18,214

Elections in the 1880s

By-election 1889: Dundee

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Leng	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
Majority			N/A	N/A	N/A
Turnout			N/A	N/A	N/A
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

By-election 1888: Dundee

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Joseph Firth	7,856
	Liberal Unionist	Lieut Gen Sir Henry Daly KCB	4,217
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1886: Dundee (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Edmund Robertson	8,236
	Liberal	Charles Lacaita	8,216
	Liberal Unionist	Brinsley de Courcy Nixon	3,545
	Liberal Unionist	Lieut Gen Sir Henry Daly KCB	3,346
Majority
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1885: Dundee (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Lacaita	8,261
	Liberal	Edmund Robertson	7,187
	Conservative	Alexander Hay Moncur	6,279
	Conservative	Edward Jenkins	5,149
Majority
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1880: Dundee (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	George Armitstead	9,168
	Liberal	Frank Henderson	6,750
	Conservative	James Yeaman	4,993
Majority			4,975
Majority			1,757
Registered electors			14,566
	Liberal hold		Swing
	Liberal hold		Swing

Elections in the 1870s

General Election 1874: Dundee (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	James Yeaman	6,595
	Liberal	Edward Jenkins	6,048
	Liberal	Sir John Ogilvy	4,401
	Liberal	J. M. D. Meiklejohn	2,231
	Conservative	J A L Gloag	573
Majority			2,194
Majority			1,647
Registered electors			17,814
	Liberal hold		Swing
	Liberal hold		Swing

Dundee by-election, 1873

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	James Yeaman	5,297
	Liberal	Edward Jenkins	4,010
	Liberal	J F Stephens	1,086
Majority			1,287
Registered electors			16,652
	Liberal hold		Swing

Elections in the 1860s

General Election 1868: Dundee (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	George Armitstead	7,738
	Liberal	Sir John Ogilvy	7,661
	Liberal	J A Guthrie	3,548
	Liberal	H W Scott	2,085
Majority			4,190
Majority			4,113
Registered electors			14,798
	Liberal hold		Swing
	Liberal hold		Swing

1832-1868

General Election 1865: Dundee

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir John Ogilvy
Registered electors			3,039
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1859: Dundee

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir John Ogilvy
Registered electors			2,317
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1857: Dundee

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Sir John Ogilvy	1,092
	Whig	George Armitstead	847
Majority			145
Registered electors			2,343
	Whig hold		Swing

General Election 1852: Dundee

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	George Duncan
Registered electors			3,190
	Whig hold		Swing

General Election 1847: Dundee

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	George Duncan
Registered electors			2,635
	Whig hold		Swing

General Election 1841: Dundee

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	George Duncan	577
	Whig	J B Smith	445
Majority			132
Registered electors			2,739
	Whig hold		Swing

General Election 1837: Dundee

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Sir Henry Brooke Parnell, Bt	663
	Tory	John Gladstone	381
Majority			282
Registered electors			2,214
	Whig hold		Swing

Dundee by-election, 1835

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Sir Henry Brooke Parnell, Bt
Registered electors
	Whig hold		Swing

General Election 1835: Dundee

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Sir Henry Brooke Parnell, Bt
Registered electors			1,751
	Whig hold		Swing

Dundee by-election, 1833

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Sir Henry Brooke Parnell, Bt
Registered electors
	Whig hold		Swing

General Election 1832: Dundee

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	George Kinloch	852
	Whig	D C Guthrie	593
Majority			259
Registered electors			1,622

Sources

• F. W. S. Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1832 - 1885
• F. W. S. Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918 - 1949
• Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench 1889
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "D" (part 4)