Wigtownshire, was a Scottish constituency of the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1801 and of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

from 1801 to 1918. It was represented by one

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

Creation

The British parliamentary constituency was created in 1708 following the Acts of Union, 1707 and replaced the former

Parliament of Scotland The Parliament of Scotland ( sco, Pairlament o Scotland; gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba) was the legislature of the Kingdom of Scotland from the 13th century until 1707. The parliament evolved during the early 13th century from the king's council o ...

shire constituency of

Wigtownshire Wigtownshire or the County of Wigtown (, ) is one of the historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Wigtownshire was an administrative county used for local government. Since 1975 the area has f ...

which had previously been represented by two Shire Commissioners. The first British general election in Wigtownshire was in 1708. In 1707–08, members of the 1702–1707

were co-opted to serve in the 1st Parliament of Great Britain. See

Scottish representatives to the 1st Parliament of Great Britain The Scottish representatives to the first Parliament of Great Britain, serving from 1 May 1707 to 26 May 1708, were not elected like their colleagues from England and Wales, but rather hand-picked. The forty five men sent to London in 1707, to t ...

, for further details.

Boundaries

was a Scottish shire (later known as a county). The constituency included the whole shire, except that between 1708 and 1885 the burghs of Stranraer,

New Galloway New Galloway ( gd, Gall-Ghàidhealaibh Nuadh) is a town in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire in Dumfries and Galloway. It lies on the west side of the valley of the Water of Ken, north of the end of Loch Ken. Before the local governme ...

, Whithorn and

Wigtown Wigtown ( (both used locally); gd, Baile na h-Ùige) is a town and former royal burgh in Wigtownshire, of which it is the county town, within the Dumfries and Galloway region in Scotland. It lies east of Stranraer and south of Newton Stewart. ...

, formed part of the Wigtown Burghs constituency.

History

The constituency elected one

Member of Parliament (MP) A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members often ...

by the

first past the post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...

system until the seat was abolished in 1918. In 1918 the

area was combined with

Kirkcudbrightshire Kirkcudbrightshire ( ), or the County of Kirkcudbright or the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright is one of the historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Kirkcudbrightshire was an administrative count ...

to form the

Galloway Galloway ( ; sco, Gallowa; la, Gallovidia) is a region in southwestern Scotland comprising the historic counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. It is administered as part of the council area of Dumfries and Galloway. A native or ...

constituency.

Members of Parliament

Pre-1832 election results

Elections in the 1830s

Election results 1832-1868

Elections in the 1830s

Elections in the 1840s

Elections in the 1850s

Dalrymple resigned by accepting the office of

Steward of the Manor of Northstead The office of Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead functions as a procedural device to allow a member of Parliament (MP) to resign from the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. As members of the House of Commons are forbidden ...

, causing a by-election.

Elections in the 1860s

Election results 1868-1880

Elections in the 1860s

Elections in the 1870s

Stewart succeeded to the peerage, becoming Earl of Galloway.

Elections in the 1880s

Election results 1885-1918

Elections in the 1880s

In July 1886, Sir Herbert Maxwell accepted office as a Junior Lord of the Treasury, causing a by-election.

Elections in the 1890s

Elections in the 1900s

Elections in the 1910s

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; *Unionist: *Liberal: At the 1915 Wigtownshire by-election, Hew Hamilton Dalrymple (Conservative) was returned unopposed on 12 February 1915.

References

Sources

* ''British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885'', compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press 1977) * ''British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918'', compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press 1974) * ''The Parliaments of England'' by Henry Stooks Smith (1st edition published in three volumes 1844–50), second edition edited (in one volume) by F.W.S. Craig (Political Reference Publications 1973)) * {{Scottish Westminster constituencies (style 1) Politics of Dumfries and Galloway Historic parliamentary constituencies in Scotland (Westminster) Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1918 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1708 Wigtownshire