Edinburgh North (UK Parliament constituency)

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

This article is about the pre-1983 constituency. For the similarly named post-1997 constituency, see Edinburgh North and Leith (UK Parliament constituency).

Edinburgh North was a burgh constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 to 1983. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP), using the first-past-the-post voting system.

Edinburgh North
Former burgh constituency for the House of Commons
Major settlements	Edinburgh
1918–1983
Seats	One
Created from	Edinburgh Central, Edinburgh West and Leith Burghs
Replaced by	Edinburgh Central, Edinburgh Leith, Edinburgh East and Edinburgh West[1]

Boundaries

1918–1950: The Broughton, Calton, St. Andrew's and St. Stephen's wards of the county of the city of Edinburgh.^[2]

1950–1955: The Broughton, Calton and St. Andrew's wards of the county of the city of Edinburgh.^[3]

1955–1974: The Broughton, Calton and St. Andrew's wards of the county of the city of Edinburgh, and part of the St. Bernard's ward.^[4]

1974–1983: The Broughton, Calton, St. Andrew's and St. Bernard's wards of the county of the city of Edinburgh.^[5]

Members of Parliament

Year		Member[6]	Party
	1918	James Avon Clyde	Unionist
	1920 by-election	Patrick Ford	Unionist
	1923	Peter Raffan	Liberal
	1924	Sir Patrick Ford	Unionist
	1935	Alexander Erskine-Hill	Unionist
	1945	George Willis	Labour
	1950	James Latham Clyde	Unionist
	1955 by-election	William Milligan	Unionist
	1960 by-election	Lord Dalkeith	Unionist
	1965		Conservative
	1973 by-election	Alexander Fletcher	Conservative
1983		constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1910s

General election 1918: Edinburgh North^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Unionist	Rt Hon. James Avon Clyde	11,879	63.0
	Liberal	James Johnston	6,986	37.0
Majority			4,893	26.0
Turnout			18,865	53.0
	Unionist win
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

Runciman

1920 Edinburgh North by-election^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Patrick Johnstone Ford	9,944	44.8	−18.2
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Walter Runciman	8,469	38.1	+1.1
	Labour	David Graham Pole	3,808	17.1	New
Majority			1,475	6.7	−19.3
Turnout			22,221	62.3	+9.3
	Unionist hold		Swing	-9.7

General election 1922: Edinburgh North^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Patrick Johnstone Ford	14,805	61.8	+17.0
	Liberal	P. H. Allan	9,165	38.2	+0.1
Majority			5,640	23.6	+16.9
Turnout			23,970
	Unionist hold		Swing	+8.4

General election 1923: Edinburgh North^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Peter Wilson Raffan	13,744	55.7	+17.5
	Unionist	Patrick Johnstone Ford	10,909	44.3	−17.5
Majority			2,835	11.4	N/A
Turnout			24,653	66.3
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing	+17.5

Stewart

General election 1924: Edinburgh North^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Patrick Johnstone Ford	14,461	49.3	+5.0
	Labour	Eleanor Stewart	8,192	27.9	New
	Liberal	Peter Wilson Raffan	6,669	22.7	−33.0
Majority			6,269	21.4	N/A
Turnout			29,322	78.0	+11.7
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	N/A

General election 1929: Edinburgh North^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Sir Patrick Johnstone Ford	13,993	39.7	−9.6
	Labour	Eleanor Stewart	11,340	32.2	+4.3
	Liberal	William Mitchell	9,877	28.1	+5.4
Majority			2,653	7.5	−13.9
Turnout			35,210	73.8	−4.2
	Unionist hold		Swing	-6.9

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Edinburgh North^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Sir Patrick Johnstone Ford	26,361	75.03	+35.3
	Labour	Robert Gibson	8,771	24.97	−7.2
Majority			17,590	50.06	+42.5
Turnout			35,132	74.38	+0.60
Registered electors			47,234
	Unionist hold		Swing	+19.05

Chrystal Macmillan

General election 1935: Edinburgh North^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Alexander Galloway Erskine Erskine-Hill	20,776	66.53	−8.50
	Labour	Gerald Walker Crawford	8,654	27.71	+2.74
	Liberal	Jessie Chrystal Macmillan	1,798	5.76	New
Majority			12,122	38.82	−11.26
Turnout			31,228	66.75	−7.63
Registered electors			46,786
	Unionist hold		Swing	-5.62

Elections in the 1940s

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;

• Unionist: Alexander Erskine-Hill
• Labour: Gerald Walker Crawford

General election 1945: Edinburgh North^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Eustace George Willis	12,825	45.10	+17.39
	Unionist	Sir Alexander Galloway Erskine Erskine-Hill	12,270	43.14	−23.39
	Liberal	Charles Hampton Johnston	3,344	11.76	+6.00
Majority			555	1.96	N/A
Turnout			28,439	64.75	−2.00
Registered electors			43,921
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+20.39

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Edinburgh North^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	James Latham McDiarmid Clyde	17,826	51.21	+8.07
	Labour	Eustace George Willis	13,683	39.31	−5.79
	Liberal	Iain Padruig Crawford	3,303	9.49	−2.27
Majority			4,143	11.90	N/A
Turnout			34,812	78.71	+13.96
Registered electors			44,226
	Unionist gain from Labour		Swing	+6.93

General election 1951: Edinburgh North^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	James Latham McDiarmid Clyde	20,836	58.79	+7.58
	Labour	Eustace George Willis	14,604	41.21	+1.90
Majority			6,232	17.58	+5.68
Turnout			35,440	80.01	+1.30
Registered electors			44,294
	Unionist hold		Swing	+2.84

1955 Edinburgh North by-election^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	William Rankine Milligan	11,413	59.41	+0.62
	Labour	George Scott	7,799	40.59	−0.62
Majority			3,614	18.82	+1.24
Turnout			19,212
	Unionist hold		Swing

General election 1955: Edinburgh North^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	William Rankine Milligan	20,425	61.73	+2.94
	Labour	George Scott	12,664	38.27	−2.94
Majority			7,761	23.46	+5.88
Turnout			33,089	72.01	−8.00
Registered electors			45,952
	Unionist hold		Swing	+2.94

General election 1959: Edinburgh North^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	William Rankine Milligan	19,991	64.02	+2.29
	Labour	George Gordon Stott	11,235	35.98	−2.29
Majority			8,756	28.04	+4.59
Turnout			31,226	73.87	+1.86
Registered electors			42,270
	Unionist hold		Swing	+2.29

Elections in the 1960s

1960 Edinburgh North by-election^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Walter Francis John Montagu Douglas Scott, Lord Dalkeith	12,109	54.20	−9.82
	Labour	Ronald King Murray	6,775	30.32	−5.66
	Liberal	Richard McPake	3,458	15.50	New
Majority			5,334	23.87	−4.17
Turnout			22,342	53.10	−20.77
	Unionist hold		Swing	-2.05

General election 1964: Edinburgh North^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Walter Francis John Montagu Douglas Scott, Lord Dalkeith	17,094	58.23	−5.79
	Labour	Alexander D Reid	12,264	41.77	+5.79
Majority			4,830	16.46	−11.58
Turnout			29,358	73.60	−0.27
Registered electors			39,888
	Unionist hold		Swing	-5.79

General election 1966: Edinburgh North^[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Walter Francis John Montagu Douglas Scott, Lord Dalkeith	13,765	50.30	−7.93
	Labour	Walter S Dalgleish	10,730	39.21	−2.56
	Liberal	Lawrence W Oliver	2,871	10.49	New
Majority			3,035	11.09	−5.36
Turnout			27,366	73.85	+0.25
Registered electors			37,056
	Conservative hold		Swing	-2.69

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Edinburgh North^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Walter Francis John Montagu Douglas Scott, Earl of Dalkeith	13,005	52.85	+2.55
	Labour	Robert Finlayson Cook	9,127	37.09	−2.12
	Liberal	C Alistair Dow	2,475	10.06	−0.43
Majority			3,878	15.76	+4.67
Turnout			24,607	70.05	−3.80
Registered electors			35,128
	Conservative hold		Swing	+2.34

1973 Edinburgh North by-election^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alexander MacPherson Fletcher	7,208	38.69	−14.16
	Labour	Robert Cairns	4,467	23.98	−13.11
	SNP	William Cuthbertson Wolfe	3,526	19.11	New
	Liberal	Ronald Guild	3,431	18.42	+8.36
Majority			2,741	14.71	−1.05
Turnout			18,632
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election February 1974: Edinburgh North^[21][1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alexander MacPherson Fletcher	16,417	45.78	−7.07
	Labour	Robert Cairns	9,404	26.23	−10.86
	Liberal	Ronald Harrower Guild	5,487	15.30	+5.24
	SNP	James Lynch	4,550	12.69	N/A
Majority			7,013	19.56	+3.80
Turnout			35,858	76.40	+6.35
Registered electors			46,936
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.90

General election October 1974: Edinburgh North^[22][1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alexander MacPherson Fletcher	12,856	39.34	−6.44
	Labour	Martin John O'Neill	8,465	25.90	−0.32
	SNP	James Lynch	7,681	23.50	+10.82
	Liberal	Murdoch MacDonald	3,677	11.25	−4.05
Majority			4,391	13.44	−6.12
Turnout			32,679	69.21	−7.19
Registered electors			47,215
	Conservative hold		Swing	-3.06

General election 1979: Edinburgh North^[23][1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alexander MacPherson Fletcher	14,170	43.59	+4.25
	Labour	Neil Lindsay	9,773	30.06	+4.16
	Liberal	Ronald Harrower Guild	5,045	15.52	+4.27
	SNP	Donald Neil MacCormick	3,521	10.83	−12.67
Majority			4,397	13.53	+0.09
Turnout			32,509	71.76	+2.55
Registered electors			45,303
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.04