South Lanarkshire (UK Parliament constituency)

South Lanarkshire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Westminster) from 1868 to 1918. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post voting system.

South Lanarkshire
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
Subdivisions of Scotland	County of Lanark
1868–1918
Seats	One
Replaced by	Lanark

Boundaries

The Representation of the People (Scotland) Act 1868 provided that the South Lanarkshire constituency was to consist of the parishes of Biggar, Cambusnethan, Carluke, Carmichael, Carnwath, Carstairs, Covington and Thankerton, Crawford, Crawfordjohn, Dalserf, Dolphinton, Douglas, Dunsyre, Lanark, Lesmahagow, Libberton, Pitinain, Shotts, Stonehouse, Walston, Wandell and Lamington, Wiston and Roberton, and so much of the parishes of Culter and Moffat as is situated in the County of Lanark.

The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 provided that the constituency was to consist of:

the parishes of Biggar, Carluke, Carmichael, Carnwath, Carstairs, Covington and Thankerton, Crawford, Crawfordjohn, Culter, Dolphinton, Douglas, Dunsyre, Lamington and Wandel, Lanark, Lesmahagow, Liberton, Pettinain, Symington, Walston, Wiston and Roberton, Moffat, Avondale, Stonehouse, Glasford, and East Kilbride; so much of the parish of Cathcart as adjoins East Kilbride, and so much of the parish of Kirkpatrick-Juxta as may be in the county of Lanark.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member^[1]	Party
	1868	John Hamilton	Liberal
	1874	Sir Windham Carmichael-Anstruther	Conservative
	1880	John Hamilton	Liberal
	1886	James Hozier	Conservative
	1906	Walter Menzies	Liberal
	1913 b-e	Hon. William Watson	Unionist
1918		Constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1860s

General election 1868: South Lanarkshire ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Hamilton	1,328	54.5
	Conservative	Sir Norman Macdonald Lockhart, 4th Baronet	1,107	45.5
Majority			221	9.0
Turnout			2,435	84.8
Registered electors			2,871
	Liberal win (new seat)

Elections in the 1870s

General election 1874: South Lanarkshire ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Windham Carmichael-Anstruther	1,347	50.4	+4.9
	Liberal	John Hamilton	1,326	49.6	−4.9
Majority			21	0.8	N/A
Turnout			2,673	83.2	−1.6
Registered electors			3,214
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+4.9

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1880: South Lanarkshire ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Hamilton	1,808	55.8	+6.2
	Conservative	Windham Carmichael-Anstruther	1,430	44.2	−6.2
Majority			378	11.6	N/A
Turnout			3,238	88.3	+5.1
Registered electors			3,666
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+6.2

General election 1885: South Lanarkshire ^[3][4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Hamilton	4,583	58.5	+2.7
	Conservative	James Hozier	3,245	41.5	−2.7
Majority			1,338	17.0	+5.4
Turnout			7,828	87.2	−1.1
Registered electors			8,981
	Liberal hold		Swing	+2.7

General election 1886: South Lanarkshire ^[3][4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Hozier	3,577	50.1	+8.6
	Liberal	John Hamilton	3,559	49.9	-8.6
Majority			18	0.2	N/A
Turnout			7,136	79.5	-7.7
Registered electors			8,981
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+8.6

Elections in the 1890s

General election 1892: South Lanarkshire ^[5][4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Hozier	4,032	52.4	+2.3
	Liberal	Thomas Hedderwick	3,664	47.6	−2.3
Majority			368	4.8	+4.6
Turnout			7,696	87.3	+7.8
Registered electors			8,818
	Conservative hold		Swing	+2.3

General election 1895: South Lanarkshire ^[6][4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Hozier	4,053	51.5	-0.9
	Liberal	Robert Lambie	3,823	48.5	+0.9
Majority			230	3.0	-1.8
Turnout			7,876	86.2	-1.1
Registered electors			9,136
	Conservative hold		Swing	-0.9

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: South Lanarkshire ^[6][4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Hozier	3,968	53.0	+1.5
	Liberal	Walter Menzies	3,516	47.0	−1.5
Majority			452	6.0	+3.0
Turnout			7,484	81.9	−4.3
Registered electors			9,134
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.5

 

Walter Menzies

General election 1906: South Lanarkshire ^[7][4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Walter Menzies	4,816	57.6	+10.6
	Conservative	James Dennistoun Mitchell	3,541	42.4	−10.6
Majority			1,275	15.2	N/A
Turnout			8,357	84.0	+2.1
Registered electors			9,950
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+10.6

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: South Lanarkshire ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Walter Menzies	5,346	59.0	+1.4
	Conservative	James Dennistoun Mitchell	3,715	41.0	-1.4
Majority			1,631	18.0	+2.8
Turnout			9,061	85.3	+1.3
	Liberal hold		Swing

General election December 1910: South Lanarkshire ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Walter Menzies	5,160	56.6	-2.4
	Liberal Unionist	Charles Mackinnon Douglas	3,963	43.4	+2.4
Majority			1,187	13.2	-4.8
Turnout			9,123	84.8	-0.5
	Liberal hold		Swing	-2.4

1913 South Lanarkshire by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	William Watson	4,257	42.8	-0.6
	Liberal	George Morton (QC)	4,006	40.3	-16.3
	Labour	Thomas Gibb	1,674	16.8	New
Majority			251	2.5	N/A
Turnout			9,937
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+7.8

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: William Watson
• Liberal: George Morton (QC)^[9]
• Labour:

References

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. Debrett's House of Commons and Judicial Bench, 1889
4. Craig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885-1918. London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 9781349022984.
5. Whitaker's Almanack, 1893
6. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1901
7. Whitaker's Almanack, 1907
8. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1916
9. Hamilton Advertiser 28 Feb 1914