Montrose Burghs (UK Parliament constituency)

Montrose Burghs was a district of burghs constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1832 until 1950.

Montrose Burghs
Former district of burghs constituency for the House of Commons
1832–1950
Seats	One
Created from	Aberdeen Burghs and Perth Burghs
Replaced by	North Angus & Mearns and South Angus

The constituency elected one Member of Parliament (MP) to represent the parliamentary burghs of Montrose, Arbroath, Brechin, Forfar and Inverbervie.

In 1950, Montrose, Brechin and Inverbervie were merged into North Angus and Mearns, and Arbroath and Forfar were merged into South Angus.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1832	Horatio Ross	Whig[1]
	1835	Patrick Chalmers	Radical[2][3]
	1842 by-election	Joseph Hume	Radical[4][5][6][7]
	1855 by-election	William Edward Baxter	Radical[8][9][10]
	1859		Liberal
	1885	John Shiress Will	Liberal
	1896 by-election	John Morley	Liberal
	1908 by-election	Robert Harcourt	Liberal
	1918	John Sturrock	Coalition Liberal
	1922		National Liberal
	1923		Liberal
	1924	Robert Hutchison	Liberal
	1930		Independent Liberal
	1931		National Liberal
	1932 by-election	Charles Kerr	National Liberal
	1940 by-election	John Maclay	National Liberal
1950		constituency abolished: see North Angus & Mearns and South Angus

Elections

Elections in the 1830s

General election 1832: Montrose Burghs ^[11][1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	Horatio Ross	796	59.8
	Radical	Patrick Chalmers	535	40.2
Majority			261	19.6
Turnout			1,331	89.1
Registered electors			1,494
	Whig win (new seat)

General election 1835: Montrose Burghs ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Radical	Patrick Chalmers	Unopposed
Registered electors			1,551
	Radical gain from Whig

General election 1837: Montrose Burghs ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Radical	Patrick Chalmers	Unopposed
Registered electors			1,636
	Radical hold

Elections in the 1840s

General election 1841: Montrose Burghs ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Radical	Patrick Chalmers	Unopposed
Registered electors			1,403
	Radical hold

Chalmers resigned by accepting the office of Steward of the Manor of Northstead, causing a by-election.

By-election, 16 April 1842: Montrose Burghs ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Radical	Joseph Hume	Unopposed
	Radical hold

General election 1847: Montrose Burghs ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Radical	Joseph Hume	532	69.7	N/A
	Radical	David Greenhill[12][13]	231	30.3	N/A
Majority			301	39.4	N/A
Turnout			763	64.8	N/A
Registered electors			1,178
	Radical hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1850s

General election 1852: Montrose Burghs ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Radical	Joseph Hume	Unopposed
Registered electors			1,586
	Radical hold

Hume's death caused a by-election.

William Baxter

By-election, 9 March 1855: Montrose Burghs ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Radical	William Edward Baxter	478	52.4	N/A
	Whig	John Ogilvy[14][15]	434	47.6	N/A
Majority			44	4.8	N/A
Turnout			912	57.5	N/A
Registered electors			1,585
	Radical hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1857: Montrose Burghs ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Radical	William Edward Baxter	Unopposed
Registered electors			1,575
	Radical hold

General election 1859: Montrose Burghs ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Edward Baxter	Unopposed
Registered electors			1,651
	Liberal hold

Elections in the 1860s

General election 1865: Montrose Burghs ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Edward Baxter	Unopposed
Registered electors			1,806
	Liberal hold

General election 1868: Montrose Burghs ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Edward Baxter	3,199	75.7	N/A
	Conservative	William Macdonald Macdonald[16]	1,027	24.3	New
Majority			2,172	51.4	N/A
Turnout			4,226	66.7	N/A
Registered electors			6,337
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1870s

General election 1874: Montrose Burghs ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Edward Baxter	3,333	64.0	−11.7
	Conservative	William Macdonald Macdonald[16]	1,875	36.0	+11.7
Majority			1,458	28.0	−23.4
Turnout			5,208	66.0	−0.7
Registered electors			7,891
	Liberal hold		Swing	−11.7

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1880: Montrose Burghs ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Edward Baxter	Unopposed
Registered electors			8,343
	Liberal hold

John Shiress Will

General election 1885: Montrose Burghs ^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Shiress Will	3,532	49.9	N/A
	Independent Liberal	Alexander Gordon	2,779	39.3	New
	Conservative	Alexander Mackenzie	763	10.8	New
Majority			753	10.6	N/A
Turnout			7,074	78.9	N/A
Registered electors			8,963
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1886: Montrose Burghs ^[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Shiress Will	3,357	61.7	+11.8
	Liberal Unionist	Arthur Patton	2,088	38.3	+27.5
Majority			1,269	23.4	+12.8
Turnout			5,445	60.7	−18.2
Registered electors			8,963
	Liberal hold		Swing	+6.4

Elections in the 1890s

General election 1892: Montrose Burghs^[19][20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Shiress Will	3,941	65.3	+3.6
	Liberal Unionist	Robert Arthur Lockhart	2,090	34.7	−3.6
Majority			1,851	30.6	+7.2
Turnout			6,031	71.5	+10.8
Registered electors			8,436
	Liberal hold		Swing	+3.6

General election 1895: Montrose Burghs^[21][20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Shiress Will	3,594	59.3	−6.0
	Liberal Unionist	George Washington Baxter	2,462	40.7	+6.0
Majority			1,132	18.6	−12.0
Turnout			6,056	71.4	−0.1
Registered electors			8,484
	Liberal hold		Swing	−6.0

John Morley

1896 Montrose Burghs by-election^[21][20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Morley	4,565	64.0	+4.7
	Conservative	John Wilson	2,572	36.0	−4.7
Majority			1,993	28.0	+9.4
Turnout			7,137	82.1	+10.7
Registered electors			8,692
	Liberal hold		Swing	+4.7

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: Montrose Burghs^[21][20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Morley	3,960	62.4	+3.1
	Liberal Unionist	John Birrell Don	2,390	37.6	−3.1
Majority			1,570	24.8	+6.2
Turnout			6,350	71.5	+0.1
Registered electors			8,881
	Liberal hold		Swing	+3.1

General election 1906: Montrose Burghs^[22][20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Morley	4,416	69.7	+7.3
	Conservative	Alexander Sprot	1,922	30.3	−7.3
Majority			2,494	39.4	+14.6
Turnout			6,338	75.7	+4.2
Registered electors			8,373
	Liberal hold		Swing	+7.3

Montrose Burghs by-election, 1908^[18][20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Robert Harcourt	3,083	46.7	−23.0
	Ind. Labour Party	Joseph Burgess	1,937	29.4	New
	Conservative	Andrew Constable	1,576	23.9	−6.4
Majority			1,146	17.3	−22.1
Turnout			6,596	80.4	+4.7
Registered electors			8,205
	Liberal hold		Swing	−8.3

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: Montrose Burghs ^[18][20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Robert Harcourt	3,606	50.9	−18.8
	Ind. Labour Party	Joseph Burgess	1,888	26.6	N/A
	Conservative	William Low	1,592	22.5	−7.8
Majority			1,718	24.3	−15.1
Turnout			7,086	84.2	+8.5
Registered electors			8,414
	Liberal hold		Swing	−5.5

General election December 1910: Montrose Burghs ^[18][20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Robert Harcourt	3,878	64.3	+13.4
	Conservative	William Low	2,155	35.7	+13.2
Majority			1,723	28.6	+4.3
Turnout			6,033	72.0	−12.2
Registered electors			8,383
	Liberal hold		Swing	+0.1

General Election 1914–15:

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

• Liberal: Robert Harcourt
• Unionist: John Hossell Henderson^[23]
• Labour: James Maxton

General election 1918: Montrose Burghs ^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Liberal	John Sturrock	9,309	76.0	+11.7
	Labour	H. N. Brailsford	2,940	24.0	New
Majority			6,369	52.0	+23.4
Turnout			12,249	49.1	−22.9
Registered electors			24,956
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Montrose Burghs^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	John Sturrock	8,407	54.4	−21.6
	Labour	John Carnegie	7,044	45.6	+21.6
Majority			1,363	8.8	−43.2
Turnout			15,451	62.7	+13.6
Registered electors			24,628
	National Liberal gain from Liberal		Swing	−21.6

General election 1923: Montrose Burghs ^[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Sturrock	8,717	55.3	+0.9
	Labour	John Carnegie	7,032	44.7	−0.9
Majority			1,685	10.6	+1.8
Turnout			15,749	62.9	+0.2
Registered electors			25,031
	Liberal hold		Swing	+0.9

General election 1924: Montrose Burghs ^[27]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Robert Hutchison	9,226	57.2	+1.9
	Labour	Thomas Barron	6,914	42.8	−1.9
Majority			2,312	14.4	+3.8
Turnout			16,140	68.5	+5.6
Registered electors			23,568
	Liberal hold		Swing	+1.9

General election 1929: Montrose Burghs^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Robert Hutchison	11,715	55.5	−1.7
	Labour	Thomas Irwin	9,381	44.5	+1.7
Majority			2,334	11.0	−3.4
Turnout			21,096	71.3	+2.8
Registered electors			29,573
	Liberal hold		Swing	−1.7

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Montrose Burghs^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	Robert Hutchison	17,212	77.0	N/A
	Labour	Arthur Fraser Macintosh	5,137	23.0	−21.5
Majority			12,075	54.0	+43.0
Turnout			22,349	74.6	+3.3
	National Liberal hold		Swing

1932 Montrose Burghs by-election^[28]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	Charles Kerr	7,963	46.9	−30.1
	Labour	Tom Kennedy	7,030	41.4	+18.4
	National (Scotland)	Douglas Emslie	1,996	11.7	New
Majority			933	5.5	−48.5
Turnout			16,989	56.7	−17.9
	National Liberal hold		Swing

General election 1935: Montrose Burghs ^[29]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	Charles Kerr	15,198	69.6	−7.4
	Labour	James Erskine Harper	6,632	30.4	+7.4
Majority			8,566	39.2	−14.8
Turnout			21,830	70.6	−4.0
	National Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1939–40

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected;

• Liberal National: John Maclay
• Labour: Olive R Crutchley^[30]

Elections in the 1940s

1940 Montrose Burghs by-election^[31]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	John Maclay	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	National Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1945: Montrose Burghs ^[32]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	John Maclay	13,966	58.2	−11.4
	Labour	Thomas Alexander MacNair	10,011	41.8	+11.4
Majority			3,955	16.4	−22.8
Turnout			24,007	72.3	+1.7
	National Liberal hold		Swing

References

1. Smith, Henry Stooks (1842). The Register of Parliamentary Contested Elections (Second ed.). Simpkin, Marshall & Company. p. 207. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
2. Churton, Edward (1838). The Assembled Commons or Parliamentary Biographer. pp. 52–53.
3. Warwick, William Atkinson (1841). The House of Commons: As Elected to the Fourteenth Parliament of the United Kingdom Being the Second of Victoria. London: Saunders and Otley. p. 131.
4. Simkin, John (August 2014) [1997]. "Joseph Hume". Spartacus Educational. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
5. Taylor, Miles; Millington, Chris (13 June 2015) [2012]. "Joseph Hume, 1777–1855". Liberal HISTORY. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
6. Fisher, David R. (2009). Fisher, David R. (ed.). "HUME, Joseph (1777–1855), of 38 York Place, Portman Square and 6 Bryanston Square, Mdx. and Burnley Hall, Norf". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
7. Parolin, Christina (2010). Radical Spaces: Venues of popular politics in London, 1790–c. 1845. Canberra: ANU E Press. pp. 162–163. ISBN 9781921862007.
8. "The Montrose District of Burghs". The Scotsman. 7 March 1855. p. 3. Retrieved 2 September 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
9. "Review of the Week". Glasgow Sentinel. 10 March 1855. p. 4. Retrieved 2 September 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
10. "Berkshire Chronicle". 17 March 1855. pp. 4–5. Retrieved 2 September 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
11. Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885 (e-book) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.
12. "Nomination for the Montrose District of Burghs". Dundee, Perth, and Cupar Advertiser. 6 August 1847. p. 2. Retrieved 17 August 2019 – via British Newspaper Archive.
13. "Montrose". Dundee Courier. 10 August 1847. p. 3. Retrieved 17 August 2019 – via British Newspaper Archive.
14. McIntosh, Iain D. "Sir John Ogilvy, 9th Baronet of Inverquharity". Provincial Grand Lodge of Forfarshire. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
15. Hawkins, Angus (2015). Victorian Political Culture: 'Habits of Heart & Mind'. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 202. ISBN 978-0-19-872848-1. LCCN 2014951692.
16. "Montrose District of Burghs". Montrose, Arbroath and Brechin review; and Forfar and Kincardineshire advertiser. 6 February 1874. p. 4. Retrieved 6 January 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
17. British parliamentary election results, 1885–1918 (Craig)
18. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1889
19. Whitaker's Almanack, 1893
20. Craig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885–1918. London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 9781349022984.
21. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1901
22. Whitaker's Almanack, 1907
23. Dundee Courier 29 April 1914
24. Whitaker's Almanack, 1920
25. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, FWS Craig
26. The Times, 8 December 1923
27. Oliver & Boyd's Edinburgh Almanac, 1927
28. Whitaker's Almanack, 1934
29. Whitaker's Almanack, 1939
30. Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939
31. Whitaker's Almanack, 1944
32. Whitaker's Almanack, 1946

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "M" (part 3)
• Debrett's House of Commons and Judicial Bench, 1889