| Edinburgh | |
| Parliament: | uk |
| Year: | 1708 |
| Abolished: | 1885 |
| Type: | Burgh |
| Elects Howmany: | 1708–1832: One 1832–1885: Two |
| Region: | Scotland |
| Towns: | Edinburgh |
Edinburgh was a burgh constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1801 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 until 1885.
The British parliamentary constituency was created in 1708 following the Acts of Union, 1707 and replaced the former Parliament of Scotland burgh constituency of Edinburgh.
The constituency elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system until representation was increased to two members in 1832.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] It was abolished in 1885, being split into Edinburgh Central, Edinburgh South, Edinburgh East and Edinburgh West.
The boundaries of the constituency, as set out in the Representation of the People (Scotland) Act 1832, were-
"From a Point on the Road from Leith to Queensferry which is distant Four hundred Yards (measured along such Road) to the West of the Point at which the same meets the Inverleith Road at the House called Golden Acre, in a straight Line to the North-western Corner of the Enclosure of John Watsons Institution; thence in a straight Line to the Second Stone Bridge, marked No. 2, on the Union Canal; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the Western Wall of the Enclosure of the Lunatic Asylum at Morningside meets the Jordan or Pow Burn; thence down the Jordan or Pow Burn to a Point which is distant One hundred and fifty Yards (measured along such Burn) below the Arch over the same on the Carlisle Road; thence in a straight Line to the Summit of Arthur's Seat, thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the Feeder enters the Western Side of Lochend Loch; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which Pilrig Street joins Leith Walk; thence along Pilrig Street and the Bonnington Road to the Point at which the latter meets the Road from Leith to Queensferry; thence along the Road from Leith to Queensferry to the Point first described."[6]
| Election | Member | Party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1709 by-election | ||||
| Sir James Stewart | Whig | |||
| Sir George Warrender | ||||
| 1721 by-election | ||||
| William Alexander | ||||
| 1762 by-election | James Coutts | |||
| 1768 | Sir Lawrence Dundas | Whig | ||
| 1781 | Sir Lawrence Dundas | Whig | ||
| 1781 by-election | James Hunter Blair | |||
| 1784 by-election | Sir Adam Fergusson | |||
| Henry Dundas | Tory | |||
| 1803 by-election | Charles Hope | Tory | ||
| 1805 by-election | George Abercromby | Whig | ||
| Sir Patrick Murray | ||||
| 1812 by-election | William Dundas | Tory | ||
| 1831 | Robert Dundas | Tory | ||
Under the Representation of the People Act 1832, Edinburgh's representation was increased to two members.
| Election | 1st Member | 1st Party | 2nd Member | 2nd Party | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1832 | Francis Jeffrey | Whig[7] | James Abercromby, later Baron Dunfermline | Whig | |||
| 1834 by-election | Sir John Campbell, later Baron Campbell | Whig | |||||
| 1839 by-election | Thomas Babington Macaulay, later Baron Macaulay | Whig[8] [9] [10] | |||||
| 1841 | Sir William Gibson-Craig | Whig[11] [12] | |||||
| 1847 | Charles Cowan | Radical[13] [14] [15] [16] | |||||
| 1852 | Thomas Babington Macaulay | Whig | |||||
| 1856 by-election | Adam Black | Whig[17] [18] | |||||
| 1859 | Liberal | James Moncreiff, later Baron Moncreiff | Liberal | ||||
| 1865 | Duncan McLaren | Liberal | |||||
| 1868 | John Miller | Liberal | |||||
| 1874 | James Cowan | Liberal | |||||
| 1880 | |||||||
| January 1881 by-election | John McLaren | Liberal | |||||
| August 1881 by-election | Thomas Buchanan | Liberal | |||||
| 1882 by-election | Samuel Danks Waddy | Liberal | |||||
| 1885 | constituency divided: see Central, East, South and West divisions | ||||||