Bothwell (UK Parliament constituency)

Bothwell
Bothwell
Former county constituency; for the House of Commons
Subdivisions of Scotland	Lanarkshire
1918–1983
Seats	One
Created from	North West Lanarkshire and North East Lanarkshire
Replaced by	Motherwell North, Glasgow Shettleston, Hamilton, Monklands East and Monklands West

Bothwell was a county constituency in Lanarkshire represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 to 1983. It was formed by the division of Lanarkshire constituency.

Boundaries

From 1918 the constituency consisted of "The part of the Middle Ward County District which is contained within the parishes of Old Monkland and Bothwell, exclusive of all burghs or portions of burghs situated therein."

The Representation of the People Act 1948 provided that the constituency was to consist of "The sixth district, the electoral divisions of Baillieston, Mount Vernon and Carmyle, Springboig and Garrowhill in the ninth district and that part of the electoral division of Old Monkland in the said ninth district which is bounded on the North by the city of Glasgow and the burgh of Coatbridge, on the West by the electoral division of Baillieston and on the South and East by the electoral divisions of Tannochside and Bellshill North."^[2]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1918	David MacDonald	Unionist
	1919 by-election	John Robertson	Labour
	1926 by-election	Joseph Sullivan	Labour
	1931	Helen Shaw	Unionist
	1935	James C. Welsh	Labour
	1945	John Timmons	Labour
	1964	James Hamilton	Labour
1983		constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1910s

General election 1918: Bothwell ^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
C	Unionist	David MacDonald	9,359	50.9
	Labour	John Robertson	9,027	49.1
Majority			332	1.8
Turnout			18,386	69.2
Registered electors			26,572
	Unionist win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

1919 Bothwell by-election^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Robertson	13,135	68.8	+19.7
C	Liberal	James Moffat	5,967	31.2	N/A
Majority			7,168	37.6	N/A
Turnout			19,102	71.9	+2.7
Registered electors			26,572
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	N/A
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Bothwell ^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Robertson	13,872	57.0	+7.9
	Unionist	Peter Denniston Ridge-Beedle	10,484	43.0	−7.9
Majority			3,388	14.0	N/A
Turnout			24,356	78.2	+9.0
Registered electors			31,149
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+7.9

General election 1923: Bothwell ^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Robertson	14,211	60.2	+3.2
	Unionist	Peter Denniston Ridge-Beedle	7,569	32.0	−11.0
	Liberal	John Dick Scott	1,846	7.8	New
Majority			6,642	28.2	+14.2
Turnout			23,626	73.1	−5.1
Registered electors			32,342
	Labour hold		Swing	+7.1

General election 1924: Bothwell ^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Robertson	14,591	56.3	−3.9
	Unionist	Helen Shaw	11,314	43.7	+11.7
Majority			3,277	12.6	−15.6
Turnout			25,905	79.3	+6.2
Registered electors			32,665
	Labour hold		Swing	−7.8

1926 Bothwell by-election^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Joseph Sullivan	14,830	59.7	+3.4
	Unionist	Alexander Morrice Mackay	8,740	35.2	−8.5
	Liberal	Ernest Young	1,276	5.1	New
Majority			6,090	24.5	+11.9
Turnout			24,846	74.2	−5.1
Registered electors			33,505
	Labour hold		Swing	+6.0

General election 1929: Bothwell ^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Joseph Sullivan	17,006	55.2	−1.1
	Unionist	Helen Shaw	12,077	39.3	−4.4
	Communist	Helen Crawfurd	1,677	5.5	New
Majority			4,929	15.9	+3.3
Turnout			30,760	72.7	−6.6
Registered electors			42,312
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.7

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Bothwell ^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Helen Shaw	16,571	49.98
	Labour	Joseph Sullivan	14,423	43.50
	Communist	Barney McCourt^[10]	2,163	6.52
Majority			2,148	6.48	N/A
Turnout			33,157	77.71
	Unionist gain from Labour		Swing

General election 1935: Bothwell ^[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Welsh	20,900	60.30
	Unionist	Helen Shaw	13,761	39.70
Majority			7,139	20.60	N/A
Turnout			34,661	78.64
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing

Elections in the 1940s

General election 1945: Bothwell
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Timmons	25,369	65.8	+5.5
	Unionist	Helen Shaw	13,207	34.2	−5.5
Majority			12,162	31.6	+11.0
Turnout			38,576	73.12	−5.52
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Bothwell
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Timmons	25,715	56.7	−9.1
	Unionist	Norman Cadzow	19,605	43.3	+9.1
Majority			6,110	13.4	−8.2
Turnout			45,320	84.54	+11.42
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1951: Bothwell
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Timmons	26,529	56.3	−0.4
	Unionist	Norman Cadzow	20,591	43.7	+0.4
Majority			5,938	12.60	−0.8
Turnout			47,120	85.96	+1.42
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1955: Bothwell
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Timmons	23,365	54.2	−2.1
	Unionist	William Graham Greig	19,755	45.8	+2.1
Majority			3,610	8.37	−4.23
Turnout			43,120	78.93	−7.03
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1959: Bothwell
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Timmons	25,119	54.7	+0.5
	Unionist	William Graham Greig	20,767	45.3	−0.5
Majority			4,352	9.4	+1.0
Turnout			45,886	82.17	+3.24
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Bothwell
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Hamilton	27,556	60.4	+5.7
	Conservative	James Brown Highgate	18,068	39.6	−5.7
Majority			9,488	20.80	+11.4
Turnout			45,624	80.44	−1.73
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1966: Bothwell
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Hamilton	27,166	61.0	+0.6
	Conservative	James Brown Highgate	16,198	36.3	−0.7
	Communist	Thomas Woods	1,209	2.7	New
Majority			10,968	24.7	+3.9
Turnout			44,573	77.78	−2.66
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Bothwell
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Hamilton	26,431	54.7	−6.3
	Conservative	James Brown Highgate	15,720	32.5	−3.8
	SNP	Tom McAlpine	6,157	12.8	New
Majority			10,711	22.17	−2.4
Turnout			42,151	75.32	−2.46
	Labour hold		Swing

General election February 1974: Bothwell^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Hamilton	22,326	46.8	−7.9
	Conservative	David McAllister	12,725	26.7	−5.8
	SNP	Gerald Alexander Fisher	6,710	14.1	+1.3
	Liberal	James Park	5,362	11.2	New
	Communist	David Bolton	562	1.2	New
Majority			9,601	20.13	−2.04
Turnout			47,685	81.22	+5.90
	Labour hold		Swing

General election October 1974: Bothwell^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Hamilton	22,086	48.64	+1.82
	SNP	John McCool	11,138	24.53	+10.46
	Conservative	David Anderson Roser	8,125	17.89	−8.79
	Liberal	Terry Grieve	4,057	8.93	−2.31
Majority			10,948	24.11	+3.98
Turnout			45,406	76.50	−4.72
	Labour hold		Swing	-4.32

General election 1979: Bothwell^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Hamilton	26,492	54.97	+6.33
	Conservative	James Lang Patrick Scott	11,275	23.40	+5.51
	Liberal	Terry Grieve	5,225	10.84	+1.91
	SNP	John McCool	5,202	10.79	−13.74
Majority			15,217	31.57	+7.46
Turnout			48,194	78.61	+2.11
	Labour hold		Swing	+0.41

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "'Bothwell', Feb 1974 - May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Archived from the original on 26 March 2016. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
^ Representation of the People Act 1948, First Schedule
^ Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
^ Whitaker's Almanack, 1920
^ The Times, 17 November 1922
^ The Times, 8 December 1923
^ ^a ^b Oliver & Boyd's Edinburgh Almanac, 1927
^ The Times, 29 March 1926
^ Whitaker's Almanack, 1934
^ Walker, Michael. "McCourt Barney". Graham Stevenson. Archived from the original on 25 June 2017. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
^ Whitaker's Almanack, 1939

Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 3)

[ElectionWeb74-1] "'Bothwell', Feb 1974 - May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Archived from the original on 26 March 2016. Retrieved 18 March 2016.

[2] Representation of the People Act 1948, First Schedule

[3] Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.

[4] Whitaker's Almanack, 1920

[5] The Times, 17 November 1922

[6] The Times, 8 December 1923

[ReferenceA-7] Oliver & Boyd's Edinburgh Almanac, 1927

[8] The Times, 29 March 1926

[9] Whitaker's Almanack, 1934

[10] Walker, Michael. "McCourt Barney". Graham Stevenson. Archived from the original on 25 June 2017. Retrieved 25 June 2017.

[11] Whitaker's Almanack, 1939

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