Peebles and Southern Midlothian (UK Parliament constituency)

Peebles and Southern Midlothian was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Westminster) from 1918 to 1950. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post voting system.

Peebles and Southern Midlothian
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
1918–1950
Seats	One
Created from	Peebles & Selkirk Midlothian
Replaced by	Midlothian & Peeblesshire

Boundaries

The Peebles and Southern Midlothian constituency was described in the Representation of the People Act 1918 as comprising:

The county of Peebles with all the burghs situated therein, and the Gala Water and Lasswade County Districts of Midlothian (except that part of the latter district which is included in the Northern Division) with all burghs situated therein except the burghs of Leith and Musselburgh.

Until 1918 the area of the constituency was, at least nominally, partly within the Peebles and Selkirk constituency and partly within the Midlothian constituency.

When the constituency was abolished in 1950 the Midlothian and Peeblesshire constituency was created.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member [1]	Party
	1918	Sir Donald Maclean Previously MP for Peebles and Selkirk	Liberal
	1922	Joseph Westwood	Labour
	1923
	1924
	1929
	1931	Archibald Maule Ramsay Interned under Defence Regulation 18B in 1940 on suspicion of being a Nazi sympathiser	Unionist
	1935
	1945	David Pryde Subsequently member for Midlothian and Peebles	Labour
1950		constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1910s

Donald Maclean

General election 1918: Peebles and Southern Midlothian^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Donald Maclean	7,429	60.6
	Labour	James Gold	4,830	39.4
Majority			2,599	21.2
Turnout			12,259	52.6
	Liberal win (new seat)

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Peebles and Southern Midlothian ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Joseph Westwood	6,394	36.0	−3.4
	Unionist	Archibald Crawford	5,992	33.7	New
	Liberal	Donald Maclean	5,377	30.3	−30.3
Majority			402	2.3	N/A
Turnout			17,723	75.7	+23.1
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing

General election 1923: Peebles and Southern Midlothian ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Joseph Westwood	7,882	43.0	+7.0
	Unionist	Archibald Crawford	6,203	33.8	+0.1
	Liberal	William Mitchell	4,245	23.2	−7.1
Majority			1,679	9.2	+6.9
Turnout			18,330	76.9	+1.2
	Labour hold		Swing	+3.4

General election 1924: Peebles and Southern Midlothian ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Joseph Westwood	7,797	40.8	−2.2
	Unionist	Charles Baillie-Hamilton	6,723	35.3	+1.5
	Liberal	William Mitchell	4,550	23.9	+0.7
Majority			1,074	5.5	−3.7
Turnout			19,070	78.8	+1.9
	Labour hold		Swing	-1.8

General election 1929: Peebles and Southern Midlothian ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Joseph Westwood	11,161	45.5	+4.7
	Unionist	Hylton Murray-Philipson	7,736	31.5	−3.8
	Liberal	James McGowan	5,648	23.0	−0.9
Majority			3,425	14.0	+8.5
Turnout			24,545	75.7	−3.1
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.2

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Peebles and Southern Midlothian^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Archibald Maule Ramsay	17,435	65.5	+34.0
	Labour	Joseph Westwood	9,185	34.5	−11.0
Majority			8,250	31.0	N/A
Turnout			26,620	79.7	+4.0
	Unionist gain from Labour		Swing

General election 1935: Peebles and Southern Midlothian ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Archibald Maule Ramsay	13,671	52.8	−12.7
	Labour	David Pryde	12,209	47.2	+12.7
Majority			1,462	5.6	−25.4
Turnout			25,880	74.9	−4.8
	Unionist 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;

• Unionist:
• Labour: David Pryde^[9]

Elections in the 1940s

General election 1945: Peebles and Southern Midlothian^[10] Electorate 37,844

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Pryde	15,546	55.7	+8.5
	Unionist	James Latham McDiarmid Clyde	9,050	32.4	−20.4
	Liberal	Leonard Gellatly	3,299	11.8	New
Majority			6,496	23.3	N/A
Turnout			27,895	73.7	−1.2
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing

References

1. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "P" (part 1)
2. Whitaker's Almanack, 1920
3. The Times, 17 November 1922
4. The Times, 8 December 1923
5. Oliver & Boyd's Edinburgh Almanac, 1927
6. The Times, 1 June 1929
7. Whitaker's Almanack, 1934
8. Whitaker's Almanack, 1939
9. Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939
10. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, FWS Craig