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Aberdeenshire
Aberdeenshire
Former county constituency; for the House of Commons
Subdivisions of Scotland	Aberdeenshire
1708–1868
Seats	One
Replaced by	Eastern Aberdeenshire ; Western Aberdeenshire

Aberdeenshire was a Scottish county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1800 and of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 until 1868.

In 1868 it was divided to create Eastern Aberdeenshire and Western Aberdeenshire.

Creation

The British parliamentary constituency was created in 1708 following the Acts of Union 1707 and replaced the former Parliament of Scotland shire constituency of Aberdeenshire .

Boundaries

When created in 1708, the constituency covered the county of Aberdeen minus the burgh of Aberdeen, which was part of the Aberdeen Burghs constituency.^{[citation needed]}

Under the Representation of the People (Scotland) Act 1832 the Aberdeen burgh constituency was created to cover the burgh plus areas previously within the Aberdeenshire constituency.^[1]

History

The constituency elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system until the seat was abolished for the 1868 general election.^[2] ^[3] ^[4] ^[5] ^[6]

In 1868, the Representation of the People (Scotland) Act 1868 divided Aberdeenshire to form Eastern Aberdeenshire and Western Aberdeenshire, and these new constituencies were first used in the 1868 general election.

Members of Parliament

	Member	Party	Notes
1708	Lord Haddo	Tory
1709 by-election	Sir Alexander Cumming, Bt	Tory^[3]
1722	Sir Archibald Grant, Bt	Opposition Whig^[3]	expelled due to his role in the Charitable Corporation
1732 by-election	Sir Arthur Forbes, Bt	Whig^[3]
1747	Andrew Mitchell	Whig^[3]	MP for Elgin Burghs 1755–1771
1754	Lord Adam Gordon	Pro-Administration	MP for Kincardineshire 1774–1788
1768	Alexander Garden	Independent
1786 by-election	George Skene	Whig	MP for Elgin Burghs 1806–1807
1790	James Ferguson	Tory	MP for Banffshire 1789–1790
Sept 1820 by-election	William Gordon	Tory^[8]	Royal Navy officer, Commander-in-Chief, The Nore
1834	William Gordon	Conservative^[8]	Royal Navy officer, Commander-in-Chief, The Nore
1854 by-election	Lord Haddo	Peelite^[9]^[10]^[11]	succeeded as Earl of Aberdeen in 1860
1859	Lord Haddo	Liberal	succeeded as Earl of Aberdeen in 1860
1861 by-election	William Leslie	Conservative	resigned May 1866
1866 by-election	William Dingwall Fordyce	Liberal	afterwards MP for East Aberdeenshire
1868	constituency divided: see Eastern Aberdeenshire and Western Aberdeenshire

Election results

Elections in the 1830s

General election 1830: Aberdeenshire^[8]^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Tory	William Gordon	Unopposed
Registered electors			184
	Tory hold

General election 1831: Aberdeenshire^[8]^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Tory	William Gordon	75	68.2
	Whig	Sir Michael Bruce, 8th Baronet	32	29.1
	Tory	John Gordon	3	2.7
Majority			43	39.1
Turnout			110	59.8
Registered electors			184
	Tory hold

General election 1832: Aberdeenshire^[8]^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Tory	William Gordon	1,183	54.1	−14.1
	Whig	Sir Michael Bruce, 8th Baronet	1,002	45.9	+16.8
Majority			181	8.2	−30.9
Turnout			2,185	96.2	+36.4
Registered electors			2,271
	Tory hold		Swing	−15.5

General election 1835: Aberdeenshire^[8]^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	William Gordon	Unopposed
Registered electors			2,271
	Conservative hold

General election 1837: Aberdeenshire^[8]^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	William Gordon	1,220	60.2
	Whig	Sir Thomas Burnett, 8th Baronet	807	39.8
Majority			413	20.4
Turnout			2,027	67.7
Registered electors			2,996
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1840s

General election 1841: Aberdeenshire^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	William Gordon	Unopposed
Registered electors			3,181
	Conservative hold

Gordon was appointed a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty, requiring a by-election.

By-election, 21 September 1841: Aberdeenshire^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Gordon	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

General election 1847: Aberdeenshire^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	William Gordon	Unopposed
Registered electors			3,694
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1850s

General election 1852: Aberdeenshire^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	William Gordon	Unopposed
Registered electors			4,022
	Conservative hold

Gordon resigned by accepting the office of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds, causing a by-election.

By-election, 22 August 1854: Aberdeenshire^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Peelite	George Hamilton-Gordon	Unopposed
	Peelite gain from Conservative

General election 1857: Aberdeenshire^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Peelite	George Hamilton-Gordon	Unopposed
Registered electors			4,682
	Peelite gain from Conservative

General election 1859: Aberdeenshire^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	George Hamilton-Gordon	Unopposed
Registered electors			4,952
	Liberal hold

Elections in the 1860s

Hamilton-Gordon succeeded as 5th Earl of Aberdeen, causing a by-election.

By-election, 13 February 1861: Aberdeenshire^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Leslie	851	56.1	*New*
	Liberal	Arthur Hamilton-Gordon^[14]	665	43.9	N/A
Majority			186	12.2	N/A
Turnout			1,516	30.8	N/A
Registered electors			4,928
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	N/A

General election 1865: Aberdeenshire^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	William Leslie	Unopposed
Registered electors			4,384
	Conservative gain from Liberal

Leslie resigned, causing a by-election.

By-election, 15 May 1866: Aberdeenshire^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Dingwall Fordyce	2,175	66.7	*New*
	Conservative	James Dalrymple-Horn-Elphinstone	1,088	33.3	N/A
Majority			1,087	33.4	N/A
Turnout			3,263	73.4	N/A
Registered electors			4,447
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	N/A

References

^ Representation of the People (Scotland) Act 1832, Schedules (A) (County constituencies) and (M) (boundaries of Aberdeen burgh constituency).
^ "Aberdeenshire". History of Parliament Online (1690-1715). Retrieved 27 March 2019.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Aberdeenshire". History of Parliament Online (1715-1754). Retrieved 27 March 2019.
^ "Aberdeenshire". History of Parliament Online (1754-1790). Retrieved 27 March 2019.
^ "Aberdeenshire". History of Parliament Online (1790-1820). Retrieved 27 March 2019.
^ "Aberdeenshire". History of Parliament Online (1820-1832). Retrieved 27 March 2019.
^ Stooks Smith, Henry. (1973) [1844–1850]. Craig, F. W. S. (ed.). The Parliaments of England (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 615. ISBN 0-900178-13-2.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Smith, Henry Stooks (1842). The Register of Parliamentary Contested Elections (Second ed.). Simpkin, Marshall & Company. p. 195.
^ "Elgin Courier". 25 August 1854. p. 2. Retrieved 5 September 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "The County Election". Aberdeen Herald and General Advertiser. 26 August 1854. p. 5. Retrieved 5 September 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "Summary of the Week". Oxford University and City Herald. 26 August 1854. pp. 8–9. Retrieved 5 September 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ ^a ^b Fisher, David R. "Aberdeenshire". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m 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.
^ "Aberdeenshire Election – 1861". Aberdeen Press and Journal. 27 February 1861. p. 2. Retrieved 26 March 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.