Perthshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Perthshire
Perthshire
Former County constituency; for the House of Commons
Subdivisions of Scotland	Perthshire
1708–1885
Seats	One
Replaced by	Eastern Perthshire; Western Perthshire

Perthshire was a Scottish county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1801 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 until 1885, representing a seat for one Member of Parliament (MP).

Creation[edit]

The British parliamentary constituency was created in 1708 following the Acts of Union, 1707 and replaced the former Parliament of Scotland shire constituency of Perthshire.

Boundaries[edit]

The constituency was created to cover the county of Perth, minus the burgh of Perth, which was a component of the Perth Burghs constituency. The Scottish Reform Act 1832 transferred from Perthshire to Clackmannanshire and Kinross-shire the parishes of Tulliallan, Culross and Muckhart and the Perthshire portions of the parishes of Logie and Fossaway.

History[edit]

The constituency elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system until the seat was abolished in 1885.^[1] ^[2] ^[3] ^[4] ^[5]

As a result of the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, the Perthshire constituency was divided to create Eastern Perthshire and Western Perthshire in 1885.

Members of Parliament[edit]

	Member	Party	Notes
15 June 1708	Dougal Stewart	Tory	Also sat for Buteshire^[6]
25 October 1710	Lord James Murray
10 February 1715	Lord James Murray		Later 2nd Duke of Atholl
By-election, 31 December 1724	David Graeme
By-election, 28 April 1726	Mungo Haldane		Previously MP for Stirlingshire 1715–22, and for Dunbartonshire 1722–25
12 October 1727	John Drummond
9 May 1734	Lord John Murray
21 April 1761	John Murray
By-election, 23 March 1764	David Graeme		Diplomat and British Army general
By-election, 11 June 1773	James Murray		of Strowan
By-election, 11 April 1794	Thomas Graham
19 May 1807	Lord James Murray		Later 1st Baron Glenlyon
By-election, 19 March 1812	James Drummond	Tory
By-election, 6 April 1824	Sir George Murray	Tory^[7]
29 December 1832	The Earl of Ormelie	Whig^[7]	Later 2nd Marquess of Breadalbane
By-election, 5 May 1834	Sir George Murray	Conservative^[7]
17 January 1835	Hon. Fox Maule	Whig^[7]
4 August 1837	Viscount Stormont	Conservative^[7]
By-election, 9 March 1840	Henry Home-Drummond	Conservative^[7]
1846	Henry Home-Drummond	Peelite^[8]
16 July 1852	Sir William Stirling, Bt	Conservative	Changed name to Sir William Stirling-Maxwell in March 1866
23 November 1868	Charles Stuart Parker	Liberal	MP for Perth 1878–92
12 February 1874	Sir William Stirling-Maxwell, Bt	Conservative
By-election, 4 February 1878	Henry Home-Drummond-Moray	Conservative
5 April 1880	Sir Donald Currie	Liberal	subsequently MP for Western Perthshire
1885	constituency divided. See Eastern Perthshire and Western Perthshire

Election results[edit]

Elections in the 1830s[edit]

General election 1830: Perthshire^[7]^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Tory	George Murray	Unopposed
Registered electors			239
	Tory hold

General election 1831: Perthshire^[7]^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Tory	George Murray	Unopposed
Registered electors			239
	Tory hold

General election 1832: Perthshire^[7]^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	John Campbell	1,666	60.4
	Tory	George Murray	1,093	39.6
Majority			573	20.8
Turnout			2,759	86.8
Registered electors			3,180
	Whig gain from Tory

Campbell succeeded to the peerage, becoming 2nd Marquess of Breadalbane and causing a by-election.

By-election, 5 May 1834: Perthshire^[7]^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Tory	George Murray	1,464	53.6	+14.0
	Whig	Robert Graham	1,268	46.4	−14.0
Majority			196	7.2	N/A
Turnout			2,732	79.8	−7.0
Registered electors			3,425
	Tory gain from Whig		Swing	+14.0

General election 1835: Perthshire^[7]^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Fox Maule	1,453	51.5	−8.9
	Conservative	George Murray	1,371	48.5	+8.9
Majority			82	3.0	−17.8
Turnout			2,824	76.6	−10.2
Registered electors			3,689
	Whig hold		Swing	−8.9

General election 1837: Perthshire^[7]^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Murray	1,495	52.0	+3.5
	Whig	Fox Maule	1,379	48.0	−3.5
Majority			116	4.0	N/A
Turnout			2,874	64.6	−12.0
Registered electors			4,452
	Conservative gain from Whig		Swing	+3.5

Elections in the 1840s[edit]

Murray succeeded to the peerage, becoming 4th Earl of Mansfield and causing a by-election.

By-election, 9 March 1840: Perthshire^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Henry Home-Drummond	1,586	58.4	+6.4
	Whig	George Drummond Stewart^[11]	1,128	41.6	−6.4
Majority			458	16.8	+12.8
Turnout			2,714	64.3	−0.3
Registered electors			4,224
	Conservative hold		Swing	+6.4

General election 1841: Perthshire^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Henry Home-Drummond	Unopposed
Registered electors			4,224
	Conservative hold

General election 1847: Perthshire^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Peelite	Henry Home-Drummond	Unopposed
Registered electors			4,187
	Peelite gain from Conservative

Elections in the 1850s[edit]

General election 1852: Perthshire^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	William Stirling	Unopposed
Registered electors			4,938
	Conservative gain from Peelite

General election 1857: Perthshire^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	William Stirling	Unopposed
Registered electors			3,415
	Conservative hold

General election 1859: Perthshire^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	William Stirling	Unopposed
Registered electors			3,368
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1860s[edit]

General election 1865: Perthshire^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	William Stirling	Unopposed
Registered electors			3,448
	Conservative hold

General election 1868: Perthshire^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Stuart Parker	2,046	53.7	*New*
	Conservative	William Stirling-Maxwell	1,767	46.3	N/A
Majority			279	7.4	N/A
Turnout			3,813	78.2	N/A
Registered electors			4,876
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1870s[edit]

General election 1874: Perthshire^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Stirling-Maxwell	2,554	55.4	+9.1
	Liberal	Charles Stuart Parker	2,060	44.6	−9.1
Majority			494	10.8	N/A
Turnout			4,614	83.8	+5.6
Registered electors			5,505
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+9.1

Stirling-Maxwell's death caused a by-election.

1878 Perthshire by-election^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Henry Home-Drummond-Moray	2,439	52.0	-3.4
	Liberal	Algernon Greville-Nugent^[12]	2,255	48.0	+3.4
Majority			184	4.0	-6.8
Turnout			4,694	83.6	-0.2
Registered electors			5,613
	Conservative hold		Swing	-3.4

Elections in the 1880s[edit]

General election 1880: Perthshire^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Donald Currie	2,764	52.8	+8.2
	Conservative	Henry Home-Drummond-Moray	2,472	47.2	−8.2
Majority			292	5.6	N/A
Turnout			5,236	88.5	+4.7
Registered electors			5,918
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+8.2

Notes and references[edit]

^ "Perthshire". History of Parliament Online (1690-1715). Retrieved 9 June 2019.
^ "Perthshire". History of Parliament Online (1715-1754). Retrieved 9 June 2019.
^ "Perthshire". History of Parliament Online (1754-1790). Retrieved 9 June 2019.
^ "Perthshire". History of Parliament Online (1790-1820). Retrieved 9 June 2019.
^ "Perthshire". History of Parliament Online (1820-1832). Retrieved 9 June 2019.
^ Dougal Stewart was also returned for Buteshire at the general election in 1708 and appears to have been permitted to sit for both seats until his appointment as a Lord of Session on 7 Jun 1709. No writ for a fresh election appears to have been issued before the general election in 1710
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l Stooks Smith, Henry (1842). The Register of Parliamentary Contested Elections: Containing the Uncontested Elections Since 1830. London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co. pp. 208–209. Retrieved 8 May 2020 – via Google Books.
^ "Perthshire". Montrose, Arbroath and Brechin review; and Forfar and Kincardineshire advertiser. 13 August 1847. p. 2. Retrieved 14 September 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ ^a ^b Fisher, David R. "Perthshire". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (e-book) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. p. 599. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.
^ "London Evening Standard". 4 March 1840. p. 3. Retrieved 18 August 2019 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "The Perthshire Election". Dundee Evening Telegraph. 26 January 1878. p. 4. Retrieved 15 January 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.

Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "P" (part 1)

[HOP1690-1] "Perthshire". History of Parliament Online (1690-1715). Retrieved 9 June 2019.

[HOP1715-2] "Perthshire". History of Parliament Online (1715-1754). Retrieved 9 June 2019.

[HOP1754-3] "Perthshire". History of Parliament Online (1754-1790). Retrieved 9 June 2019.

[HOP1790-4] "Perthshire". History of Parliament Online (1790-1820). Retrieved 9 June 2019.

[HOP1820-5] "Perthshire". History of Parliament Online (1820-1832). Retrieved 9 June 2019.

[6] Dougal Stewart was also returned for Buteshire at the general election in 1708 and appears to have been permitted to sit for both seats until his appointment as a Lord of Session on 7 Jun 1709. No writ for a fresh election appears to have been issued before the general election in 1710

[stookssmith-7] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l Stooks Smith, Henry (1842). The Register of Parliamentary Contested Elections: Containing the Uncontested Elections Since 1830. London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co. pp. 208–209. Retrieved 8 May 2020 – via Google Books.

[8] "Perthshire". Montrose, Arbroath and Brechin review; and Forfar and Kincardineshire advertiser. 13 August 1847. p. 2. Retrieved 14 September 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.

[hop1820-1832-9] Fisher, David R. "Perthshire". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 8 May 2020.

[craig1832-10] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (e-book) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. p. 599. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.

[11] "London Evening Standard". 4 March 1840. p. 3. Retrieved 18 August 2019 – via British Newspaper Archive.

[12] "The Perthshire Election". Dundee Evening Telegraph. 26 January 1878. p. 4. Retrieved 15 January 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.

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