North Ayrshire (UK Parliament constituency)

North Ayrshire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1868 until 1918. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP), using the first-past-the-post voting system.

North Ayrshire
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
Subdivisions of Scotland	Ayrshire
1868–1918
Seats	One
Created from	Ayrshire
Replaced by	Bute and Northern Ayrshire and Kilmarnock

Boundaries

The Representation of the People (Scotland) Act 1868 provided that the new North Ayrshire constituency was to consist of the District of Cunningham, consisting of the parishes of Ardrossan, Dalry, Dreghorn, Fenwick, Irvine, Kilbirnie, Kilmarnock, Kilmaurs, Kilwinning, Largs, Loudoun, Stevenston, Stewarton, West Kilbride and Beith, and the parish of Dunlop so far as situated within the County of Ayr.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1868	William Finnie	Liberal
	1874	Roger Montgomerie	Conservative
	1880	Robert Cochran-Patrick	Conservative
	1885	Hugh Elliot	Liberal
	1886		Liberal Unionist
	1892	Thomas Cochrane	Liberal Unionist
	1910	Andrew Anderson	Liberal
	1911	Duncan Campbell	Unionist
	1916	Aylmer Hunter-Weston	Unionist
1918		constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1860s

General election 1868: North Ayrshire ^[1][2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Finnie	1,397	51.4
	Conservative	Roger Montgomerie	1,322	48.6
Majority			75	2.8
Turnout			2,719	84.5
Registered electors			3,219
	Liberal win (new seat)

Elections in the 1870s

General election 1874: North Ayrshire^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Roger Montgomerie	1,562	54.6	+6.0
	Liberal	William Finnie	1,301	45.4	−6.0
Majority			261	9.2	N/A
Turnout			2,863	84.0	−0.5
Registered electors			3,407
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+6.0

Elections in the 1880s

John Balfour

General election 1880: North Ayrshire ^[3][2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Cochran-Patrick	1,636	50.9	−3.7
	Liberal	John Balfour	1,581	49.1	+3.7
Majority			55	1.8	−7.4
Turnout			3,217	88.3	+4.3
Registered electors			3,642
	Conservative hold		Swing	−3.7

General election 1885: North Ayrshire ^[4][5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Hugh Elliot	5,700	54.6	+5.5
	Conservative	Robert Cochran-Patrick	4,740	45.4	−5.5
Majority			960	9.2	N/A
Turnout			10,440	83.8	−4.5
Registered electors			12,465
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+5.5

General election 1886: North Ayrshire ^{[4] [5]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Hugh Elliot	Unopposed
	Liberal Unionist gain from Liberal

Elections in the 1890s

Wedderburn

General election 1892: North Ayrshire ^[6][5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Thomas Cochrane	5,346	52.2	N/A
	Liberal	William Wedderburn	4,898	47.8	New
Majority			448	4.4	N/A
Turnout			10,244	83.5	N/A
Registered electors			12,261
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1895: North Ayrshire^[7][5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Thomas Cochrane	5,612	53.4	+1.2
	Liberal	William Robertson	4,902	46.6	−1.2
Majority			710	6.8	+2.4
Turnout			10,514	81.9	−1.6
Registered electors			12,837
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	1.2

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: North Ayrshire^[7][5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Thomas Cochrane	5,985	55.5	+2.1
	Liberal	A. Williamson	4,791	44.5	−2.1
Majority			1,194	11.0	+4.2
Turnout			10,776	78.9	−3.0
Registered electors			13,657
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	+2.1

General election 1906: North Ayrshire^[8][5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Thomas Cochrane	5,603	43.6	−11.9
	Liberal	Andrew Anderson	4,587	35.6	−8.9
	Scottish Workers	James Brown	2,683	20.8	New
Majority			1,106	8.0	−3.0
Turnout			12,873	82.5	+3.6
Registered electors			15,597
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	−1.5

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: Ayrshire North^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Andrew Anderson	6,189	44.4	+8.8
	Liberal Unionist	Thomas Cochrane	5,951	42.7	−0.9
	Labour	James Brown	1,801	12.9	−7.9
Majority			238	1.7	N/A
Turnout			13,941	84.7	+2.2
Registered electors			16,453
	Liberal gain from Liberal Unionist		Swing	+3.5

General election December 1910: Ayrshire North^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Andrew Anderson	7,286	51.2	+6.8
	Unionist	Duncan Campbell	6,932	48.8	+6.1
Majority			354	2.4	+0.7
Turnout			14,218	85.3	+0.6
Registered electors			16,665
	Liberal hold		Swing	+0.4

1911 North Ayrshire by-election^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Duncan Campbell	7,318	50.9	+2.1
	Liberal	Andrew Anderson	7,047	49.1	−2.1
Majority			271	1.8	N/A
Turnout			14,365	84.9	−0.4
Registered electors			16,926
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+2.1

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;

• Unionist: Duncan Campbell
• Liberal: Andrew Anderson

Hunter-Weston

1916 North Ayrshire by-election^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Aylmer Hunter-Weston	7,149	84.6	+35.7
	Peace by Negotiation	Humphrey Chalmers*	1,300	15.4	New
Majority			5,849	69.2	N/A
Turnout			8,449	48.6	−36.7
Registered electors			17,385
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	N/A

*Chalmers was supported by the Union of Democratic Control and contested the 1918 general election as a Labour Party candidate.

See also

• Former United Kingdom Parliament constituencies

References

1. Debrett's House of Commons, 1870
2. 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.
3. The Times, 29 April 1880
4. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1889
5. Craig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885–1918. London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 9781349022984.
6. Whitaker's Almanack, 1893
7. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1901
8. Whitaker's Almanack, 1907
9. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1916

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "A" (part 3)