| Dumfriesshire | |
| Parliament: | uk |
| Map1: | Dumfriesshire1997 |
| Map Entity: | Scotland |
| Map Size: | 260px |
| Map Year: | 2001 |
| Year: | 1708 |
| Abolished: | 2005 |
| Type: | County |
| Elects Howmany: | one |
| Region: | Scotland |
Dumfriesshire was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of Great Britain (at Westminster) from 1708 to 1801 and in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (also at Westminster) from 1801 until 2005. It was known as Dumfries from 1950.
The British parliamentary constituency was created in 1708 following the Acts of Union, 1707 and replaced the former Parliament of Scotland shire constituency of Dumfries & Annandale.
The constituency was virtually unchanged until it was redistributed in 2005. It was redistributed to Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale and Dumfries and Galloway as part of a major reorganisation of Scottish constituencies. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
From 1885 to 1918 it comprised the shire districts of the county.[6] From 1918 all the burghs were added.[7]
| Year | Member | Party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1708 | James Johnstone | |||
| 1709 | William Grierson | |||
| 1711 | James Murray | Tory[8] | ||
| 1713 | Sir William Johnstone | |||
| 1722 | Charles Erskine | |||
| 1741 | Sir John Douglas | |||
| 1747 | Lord Charles Douglas | |||
| 1755 | James Veitch | |||
| 1761 | Lt Gen Archibald Douglas | |||
| 1774 | Sir Robert Laurie | |||
| 1804 | Sir William Johnstone Hope | Tory[9] | ||
| 1830 | Tory[10] | |||
| 1832 | Reform Act 1832 franchise expanded | |||
| Election | Member | Party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1832 | John Hope-Johnstone (1) | Conservative | ||
| 1847 | Archibald Douglas | Conservative | ||
| Feb 1857 | John Hope-Johnstone (1) | Conservative | ||
| 1865 | George Gustavus Walker | Conservative | ||
| 1868 | Liberal | |||
| Mar. 1869 | George Gustavus Walker | Conservative | ||
| 1874 | John Hope-Johnstone (2) | Conservative | ||
| 1880 | Sir Robert Jardine | Liberal | ||
| 1886 | Liberal Unionist | |||
| 1892 | William Herries Maxwell | Liberal Unionist | ||
| 1895 | Robinson Souttar | Liberal | ||
| 1900 | William Herries Maxwell | Liberal Unionist | ||
| 1906 | Percy Molteno | Liberal | ||
| 1918 | William Murray | Unionist | ||
| 1922 | William Chapple | Liberal | ||
| 1924 | John Charteris | Unionist | ||
| 1929 | Dr Joseph Hunter 1 | Liberal | ||
| 1931 | National Liberal | |||
| 1935 by-election | Sir Henry Fildes | National Liberal | ||
| 1945 | Niall Macpherson | National Liberal | ||
| 1963 by-election | David Anderson | Conservative | ||
| 1964 | Sir Hector Monro | Conservative | ||
| 1997 | Russell Brown | Labour | ||
| 2005 | constituency abolished | |||
1 Dr Hunter was elected in 1929 as a Liberal candidate, but in the split after the 1931 general election, he joined the National Liberals.
Douglas was appointed Comptroller of the Household, requiring a by-election.
Douglas succeeded to the peerage, becoming 8th Marquess of Queensberry and causing a by-election.
Waterlow was disqualified, owing to holding a government contract at the time of the election, causing a by-election.
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;