Edinburgh Central (UK Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with Edinburgh Central (Scottish Parliament constituency).

Edinburgh Central
Former burgh constituency
for the House of Commons
Outline map
Boundary of Edinburgh Central in Scotland for the 2001 general election
Subdivisions of ScotlandCity of Edinburgh
1885–2005
SeatsOne
Created fromEdinburgh
Replaced byEdinburgh East
Edinburgh North & Leith
Edinburgh South West
Edinburgh West

Edinburgh Central was a burgh constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (at Westminster) from 1885 to 2005. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

In 1999, a Scottish Parliament constituency was created with the same name and boundaries, and continues in use. See Edinburgh Central (Scottish Parliament constituency).

From 1925 until 1999, the Member of Parliament for the Westminster constituency was an ex officio member of the Board of Trustees of the National Library of Scotland. Since 1999, that role has been taken by the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Scottish Parliament constituency.

Boundaries

1885–1918: The Municipal Wards of St. Giles, George Square, and St. Leonard, except so much as is comprised in the Edinburgh East Division (being the part to the north of a line drawn along the centres of East and West Richmond Streets).

1918–1950: The George Square, St. Giles' and St. Leonard's Municipal Wards of Edinburgh.

1950–1955: The George Square, Holyrood, and St Giles wards of the county of the city of Edinburgh.

1955–1974: The George Square, Holyrood, and St Giles wards of the county of the city of Edinburgh; and part of Gorgie-Dalry ward.

1974–1983: The George Square, Gorgie-Dalry, Holyrood, and St Giles wards of the county of the city of Edinburgh; and part of Merchiston ward.

1983–1997: The City of Edinburgh District electoral divisions of Dalry/Shandon, Haymarket/Tollcross, Murrayfield/Dean, New Town/Stockbridge, and St Giles/Holyrood.

1997–2005: The City of Edinburgh District electoral divisions of Dalry/Shandon, Fountainbridge/Tollcross, Moat/Stenhouse, Murrayfield/Dean, and St Giles/Holyrood.

The 1997–2005 boundaries covered a central portion of the City of Edinburgh council area, including Edinburgh Old Town, the West End, Holyrood and Murrayfield. The constituency was one of six covering the city council area.

At the 2005 general election, the constituency area was divided between Edinburgh East, Edinburgh North and Leith, Edinburgh South West and Edinburgh West.[1]

Members of Parliament

Election Member[2] Party
1885 John Wilson Independent Liberal
1886 William McEwan Liberal
1900 George Mackenzie Brown Liberal
1906 Charles Edward Price Liberal
1918 William Graham Labour
1931 James Guy Unionist
1941 by-election Frank Watt Unionist
1945 Andrew Gilzean Labour
1951 Thomas Oswald Labour
Feb. 1974 Robin Cook Labour
1983 Alex Fletcher Conservative
1987 Alistair Darling Labour

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1885: Edinburgh Central[3][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent Liberal John Wilson 2,930 41.9
Liberal James Hall Renton 1,683 24.1
Conservative John Scott Napier 1,606 23.0
Independent Liberal Adam William Black 770 11.0
Majority 1,247 17.8
Turnout 6,989 84.5
Registered electors 8,269
Independent Liberal win (new seat)
McEwan
General election 1886: Edinburgh Central[3][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal William McEwan 3,760 62.7 +38.6
Liberal Unionist John Wilson 2,236 37.3 −4.6
Majority 1,524 25.4 N/A
Turnout 5,996 72.5 −12.0
Registered electors 8,269
Liberal gain from Independent Liberal Swing +21.6

Elections in the 1890s

General election 1892: Edinburgh Central[5][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal William McEwan 3,733 63.0 +0.3
Liberal Unionist Arthur Knatchbull Connell 1,758 29.7 −7.6
Scottish Trades Councils (Scottish Socialist Federation) John Wilson 434 7.3 New
Majority 1,975 33.3 +7.9
Turnout 5,925 76.7 +4.2
Registered electors 7,725
Liberal hold Swing +4.0

Note: The John Wilson who stood as a candidate in 1892 is not the same John Wilson that stood in 1885 and 1886[6][7]

General election 1895: Edinburgh Central[8][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal William McEwan Unopposed
Liberal hold

Elections in the 1900s

Brown
Conan Doyle
General election 1900: Edinburgh Central[8][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal George Mackenzie Brown 3,028 55.2 N/A
Liberal Unionist Arthur Conan Doyle 2,459 44.8 N/A
Majority 569 10.4 N/A
Turnout 5,487 71.9 N/A
Registered electors 7,630
Liberal hold Swing N/A
Price
General election 1906: Edinburgh Central[9][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Charles Price 3,935 67.9 +12.7
Liberal Unionist J. Douglas G. Walker 1,857 32.1 −12.7
Majority 2,078 35.8 +25.4
Turnout 5,792 83.6 +11.7
Registered electors 6,926
Liberal hold Swing +12.7

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: Edinburgh Central[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Charles Price 3,965 66.7 −1.2
Liberal Unionist David A. Scott 1,980 33.3 +1.2
Majority 1,985 33.4 −2.4
Turnout 5,945 84.9 +1.3
Liberal hold Swing -1.2
General election December 1910: Edinburgh Central[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Charles Price 3,771 65.9 −0.8
Conservative Geoffrey Reynolds Yonge Radcliffe 1,947 34.1 +0.8
Majority 1,824 31.8 −1.6
Turnout 5,718 81.4 −3.5
Liberal hold Swing -0.8

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 the July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

General election 1918: Edinburgh Central[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour William Graham 7,161 51.3 New
C Liberal Joseph Dobbie 6,797 48.7 −17.2
Majority 364 2.6 N/A
Turnout 13,958 45.2 −36.2
Registered electors 30,867
Labour gain from Liberal Swing N/A
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Edinburgh Central[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour William Graham 12,876 57.9 +6.6
National Liberal George McCrae 9,371 42.1 −6.6
Majority 3,505 15.8 +13.2
Turnout 22,247 71.8 +26.6
Registered electors 30,970
Labour hold Swing +6.6
General election 1923: Edinburgh Central[12]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour William Graham 13,186 67.9 +10.0
Liberal Thomas Lamb 6,225 32.1 −10.0
Majority 6,961 35.8 +20.0
Turnout 19,411 59.7 −12.1
Registered electors 32,492
Labour hold Swing +10.0
General election 1924: Edinburgh Central[13]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour William Graham 13,628 60.5 −7.4
Unionist Allan Beaton 8,897 39.5 New
Majority 4,731 21.0 −14.8
Turnout 22,525 68.8 +9.1
Registered electors 32,744
Labour hold Swing N/A
General election 1929: Edinburgh Central[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour William Graham 16,762 59.0 −1.5
Liberal Harold Alexander 6,745 23.8 New
Unionist John Mackie 4,889 17.2 −22.3
Majority 10,017 35.2 +14.2
Turnout 28,396 69.3 +0.5
Registered electors 40,975
Labour hold Swing +10.4

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Edinburgh Central[14]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist James Guy 17,293 59.3 +42.1
Labour William Graham 10,566 36.2 −22.8
Communist Fred Douglas 1,319 4.5 New
Majority 6,727 23.1 N/A
Turnout 29,178 74.2 +4.9
Unionist gain from Labour Swing +29.1
General election 1935: Edinburgh Central[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist James Guy 12,612 54.0 −5.3
Labour Andrew Gilzean 9,659 41.4 +5.2
Liberal Richard Archibald Barlow 1,086 4.6 New
Majority 2,953 12.6 −11.5
Turnout 23,357 64.5 −9.7
Unionist hold Swing -5.2

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 from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected;

Elections in the 1940s

1941 Edinburgh Central by-election[16]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Frank Watt 4,771 71.0 +17.0
Ind. Labour Party Thomas Taylor 1,950 29.0 N/A
Majority 2,821 42.0 +29.4
Turnout 6,721 20.0 −44.5
Unionist hold Swing N/A
General election 1945: Edinburgh Central[17]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Andrew Gilzean 10,921 54.3 +12.9
Unionist Frank Watt 6,701 33.3 −20.7
Liberal Norman Archibald Donald 2,262 11.2 +6.6
Independent Scottish Nationalist Hume Sleigh 232 1.2 New
Majority 4,220 21.0 N/A
Turnout 20,116 59.7 −4.8
Labour gain from Unionist Swing +16.8

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Edinburgh Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Andrew Gilzean 16,568 47.92 −6.4
Unionist Frank Watt 13,631 39.43 +6.1
Liberal Leonard Gellatly 3,446 9.97 −1.2
Communist Donald Fraser Renton 646 1.87 New
Independent Scottish Nationalist Hume Sleigh 283 0.82 −0.4
Majority 2,937 8.49 −12.5
Turnout 34,574 74.33 +14.6
Labour hold Swing -6.2
General election 1951: Edinburgh Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Thomas Oswald 18,429 52.24 +4.32
Unionist William J M Kean 16,847 47.76 +8.33
Majority 1,582 4.48 −4.01
Turnout 35,276 76.70 +2.37
Labour hold Swing -2.01
General election 1955: Edinburgh Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Thomas Oswald 16,735 51.44 −0.80
Unionist Ralph Harris 15,796 48.56 +0.80
Majority 939 2.88 −1.60
Turnout 32,531 68.85 −7.85
Labour hold Swing -0.8
General election 1959: Edinburgh Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Thomas Oswald 15,849 50.99 −0.45
Unionist Norman Wylie 15,232 49.01 +0.45
Majority 617 1.98 −0.90
Turnout 31,081 72.65 +3.80
Labour hold Swing -0.45

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Edinburgh Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Thomas Oswald 14,124 53.9 +2.91
Unionist Nicholas Fairbairn 12,082 46.1 −2.91
Majority 2,042 7.8 +5.82
Turnout 26,206 71.62 −1.03
Labour hold Swing +2.91
General election 1966: Edinburgh Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Thomas Oswald 13,682 58.6 +4.7
Conservative Nicholas Fairbairn 9,667 41.4 −4.7
Majority 4,015 17.2 +9.4
Turnout 23,349 68.86 −2.76
Labour hold Swing +4.7

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Edinburgh Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Thomas Oswald 9,561 46.16 −12.44
Conservative Malcolm Rifkind 8,000 38.62 +2.78
SNP Rena Moore 1,666 8.04 New
Liberal Anthony Oliver 1,486 7.17 New
Majority 1,561 7.54 −9.66
Turnout 20,713 66.00 2.86
Labour hold Swing -8.61
General election February 1974: Edinburgh Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Robin Cook 11,354 37.85 −8.31
Conservative P Jones 10,393 34.64 −3.98
Liberal Christopher Scott 4,180 13.93 +6.76
SNP AW Stephen Rae 4,074 13.58 +5.54
Majority 961 3.19 −4.35
Turnout 30,001 73.57 +7.57
Labour hold Swing -2.17
General election October 1974: Edinburgh Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Robin Cook 11,129 40.27 +2.42
Conservative P Jones 7,176 25.97 −8.67
SNP AW Stephen Rae 6,866 24.85 +11.27
Liberal Christopher Scott 2,463 8.91 −5.02
Majority 3,953 14.30 +11.11
Turnout 27,634 67.47 −6.10
Labour hold Swing +5.55
General election 1979: Edinburgh Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Robin Cook 12,191 47.8 +7.5
Conservative David McLetchie 7,530 29.5 +3.5
Liberal Stewart Donaldson 3,096 12.1 +3.2
SNP Gavin Kennedy 2,486 9.8 −15.0
SLP Colin Boyd 176 0.7 New
Majority 4,661 18.3 +4.0
Turnout 25,479 67.5 0.0
Labour hold Swing +2.0

Elections in the 1980s

Although the Edinburgh Central seat had been won by the Labour Party in 1979, had that election been fought on the new boundaries it was estimated that the Conservatives would have won the seat by a majority of 1,971.[18]

General election 1983: Edinburgh Central[19]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Alexander Fletcher 14,095 38.0 −2.6
Labour Richard Kerley 11,529 31.1 −4.7
SDP Dr Marion Macleod 9,498 25.6 +14.2
SNP Ronald Halliday 1,810 4.9 −6.9
Communist D.W. Carson 119 0.3 New
Majority 2,566 6.9 −1.9
Turnout 37,051 64.9
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1987: Edinburgh Central[20]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Alistair Darling 16,502 40.2 +9.1
Conservative Alexander Fletcher 14,240 34.7 −3.3
Liberal Andrew Myles 7,333 17.9 −7.7
SNP Brian Shaw 2,559 6.2 +1.3
Green Linda Hendry 438 1.1 New
Majority 2,262 5.5 N/A
Turnout 41,072 69.0 +4.1
Registered electors 59,529
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1992: Edinburgh Central[21]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Alistair Darling 15,189 38.8 −1.4
Conservative Paul Martin 13,063 33.4 −1.3
SNP Lynne J. Devine 5,539 14.2 +8.0
Liberal Democrats Andrew B. Myles 4,500 11.5 −6.4
Scottish Green Robin Harper 630 1.6 +0.5
Liberal Richard Wilson 235 0.6 New
Majority 2,126 5.4 −0.1
Turnout 39,156 69.3 +0.3
Registered electors 56,527
Labour hold Swing -0.1
Hyslop
General election 1997: Edinburgh Central[22]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Alistair Darling 20,125 47.1 +8.3
Conservative Mike D.A. Scott-Hayward 9,055 21.2 −12.2
SNP Fiona Hyslop 6,750 15.8 +1.6
Liberal Democrats Karen J. Utting 5,605 13.1 +1.6
Scottish Green Linda Hendry 607 1.4 −0.2
Referendum Austin G. Skinner 495 1.2 New
Independent Mark E. Benson 98 0.2 New
Majority 11,070 25.9 +20.5
Turnout 42,735 66.8 −2.5
Registered electors 63,969
Labour hold Swing +8.4

Elections in the 2000s

Darling
General election 2001: Edinburgh Central[23][24]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Alistair Darling 14,495 42.1 −5.0
Liberal Democrats Andrew B. Myles 6,353 18.5 +5.4
Conservative Alastair Orr 5,643 16.4 −4.8
SNP Ian McKee 4,832 14.1 −1.7
Scottish Green Graeme Farmer 1,809 5.3 +3.9
Scottish Socialist Kevin Williamson 1,258 3.7 New
Majority 8,142 23.6 −2.3
Turnout 34,390 52.0 −14.8
Labour hold Swing −5.2

See also

Notes and references

  1. ^ "Fifth Periodical Review". Boundary Commission for Scotland. Archived from the original on 9 October 2007.
  2. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "E" (part 1)
  3. ^ a b Debrett's House of Commons and Judicial Bench, 1889
  4. ^ a b c d e f Craig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885-1918. London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 9781349022984.
  5. ^ Whitaker's Almanack, 1893
  6. ^ London Daily News, 1885-11-27
  7. ^ The Late Mr John Wilson, Linlithgowshire Gazette, 1910-04-12
  8. ^ a b Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1901
  9. ^ Whitaker's Almanack, 1907
  10. ^ a b Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1916
  11. ^ a b c Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
  12. ^ The Times, 8 December 1923
  13. ^ Oliver and Boyd's Edinburgh Almanack, 1927
  14. ^ Whitaker's Almanack, 1934
  15. ^ Whitaker's Almanack, 1939
  16. ^ Whitaker's Almanack, 1944
  17. ^ Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
  18. ^ The Times Guide to the House of Commons June 1983. London: Times Newspapers Ltd. 1983. p. 279. ISBN 0-7230-0255-X.
  19. ^ "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  20. ^ "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  21. ^ "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  22. ^ "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  23. ^ "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  24. ^ Vote 2001: Edinburgh Central, BBC News