Combined Scottish Universities (UK Parliament constituency)

The Combined Scottish Universities was a three-member university constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 until 1950. It was created by merging the single-member constituencies of Glasgow and Aberdeen Universities and Edinburgh and St Andrews Universities.

Combined Scottish Universities
Former University constituency
for the House of Commons
1918–1950
Number of membersThree
Created fromGlasgow & Aberdeen Universities
Edinburgh and St Andrews Universities

Boundaries

The constituency was not a physical area but was rather elected by the graduates of the Scottish Universities of St Andrews, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen.

The constituency returned three Members of Parliament to Westminster, elected by Single Transferable Vote. The by-elections used the first past the post voting system.

This University constituency was created by the Representation of the People Act 1918 and abolished in 1950 by the Representation of the People Act 1948.

Members of Parliament
Election1st Member1st Party2nd Member2nd Party3rd Member3rd Party
1918 Sir William Cheyne Coalition Conservative Dugald McCoig Cowan Coalition Liberal Sir Henry Craik Coalition Conservative
1922 Sir George Berry Unionist Liberal Unionist
Apr 1927 John Buchan Unionist
1931 Noel Skelton Unionist
Mar 1934 George Alexander Morrison Liberal
Jun 1935 National Liberal Sir John Kerr Unionist
Jan 1936 Ramsay MacDonald National Labour
Feb 1938 Sir John Anderson National
Apr 1945 Sir John Boyd-Orr Independent
Nov 1946 Walter Elliot Unionist
1950 University constituencies abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1910s
Dugald Cowan
General election, November 1918: Combined Scottish Universities [1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Unionist YWatson Cheyne 3,719
Liberal YDugald Cowan 3,499
Unionist YHenry Craik 3,286
Labour Peter Macdonald 1,581
Independent William Robert Smith 850

Elections in the 1920s
General election, November 1922: Combined Scottish Universities
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Unionist George Andreas Berry unopposed
Liberal Dugald Cowan unopposed
Unionist Henry Craik unopposed
General election, December 1923: Combined Scottish Universities
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Unionist George Andreas Berry unopposed
Liberal Dugald Cowan unopposed
Unionist Henry Craik unopposed
General election, 1924: Combined Scottish Universities [2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Unionist Henry Craik 7,188 40.8
Liberal Dugald Cowan 5,011 28.4
Unionist George Andreas Berry 3,781 21.5
Labour John Martin Munro 1,639 9.3
1927 Combined Scottish Universities by-election
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Unionist John Buchan 16,963 87.7
Labour Hugh Guthrie 2,378 12.3
Majority 14,585 75.4
Turnout 19,341 55.1 +0.0
Unionist hold Swing
Combined Scottish Universities (3 seats) [3]
PartyCandidateFPv%Count 1Count 2
Unionist John Buchan 39.7 9,959  
Liberal Dugald Cowan 26.7 6,698  
Unionist George Berry 22.9 5,755 9,262
Labour James Kerr 10.7 2,691 2,867
Electorate: 43,192   Valid: 25,103   Quota: 6,276   Turnout:

    Elections in the 1930s
    General election, October 1931: Combined Scottish Universities
    Party Candidate Votes % ±
    Unionist John Buchan unopposed
    Liberal Dugald Cowan unopposed
    Unionist Noel Skelton unopposed
    1934 Combined Scottish Universities by-election
    Party Candidate Votes % ±
    Liberal George Morrison 18,070 79.2
    Labour Robert Gibson 4,750 20.8
    Majority 13,320 58.4
    Turnout 44.3
    Liberal hold Swing
    1935 Combined Scottish Universities by-election
    Party Candidate Votes % ±
    Unionist John Graham Kerr 20,507 82.7 N/A
    Labour Naomi Mitchison 4,293 17.3 N/A
    Majority 16,214 65.4 N/A
    Turnout 24,800 48.1 N/A
    Unionist hold Swing N/A
    General election, November 1935: Combined Scottish Universities [4]
    Party Candidate Votes % ±
    Unionist John Graham Kerr 8,252
    Liberal National George Morrison 7,529
    Unionist Noel Skelton[5] 7,479
    SNP Andrew Dewar Gibb 3,865
    1936 Combined Scottish Universities by-election [6]
    Party Candidate Votes % ±
    National Labour Ramsay MacDonald 16,393 56.5 N/A
    SNP Andrew Dewar Gibb 9,034 31.1 +16.9
    Labour David Cleghorn Thomson 3,597 12.4 N/A
    Majority 7,359 37.4
    Turnout 54.8 +3.6
    National Labour gain from Unionist Swing N/A
    1938 Combined Scottish Universities by-election [7]
    Party Candidate Votes % ±
    National Independent John Anderson 14,042 48.8 −7.7
    Independent Frances H. Melville 5,618 19.5 N/A
    SNP Andrew Dewar Gibb 5,246 18.2 −12.9
    Independent Progressive Peter Chalmers Mitchell 3,868 13.5 N/A
    Majority 8,424 29.3 +3.9
    Turnout 52.1 −2.7
    National hold Swing

    Elections in the 1940s
    1945 Combined Scottish Universities by-election
    Party Candidate Votes % ±
    Independent John Boyd-Orr 20,197 71.2
    Liberal National R.M. Munro 8,177 28.8
    Majority 12,020 28.8 +3.9
    Turnout 28,374 44.6 −7.5
    Registered electors 63,581
    Independent gain from Liberal National Swing
    1945 United Kingdom general election: Combined Scottish Universities
    Party Candidate Votes % ±
    National YJohn Anderson 16,011 48.8
    Independent YJohn Boyd-Orr 10,685 32.6
    Labour Halliday Sutherland 2,860 8.7
    Liberal Ralph Somerville Weir 1,872 5.7
    Unionist YJohn Graham Kerr 1,361 4.2
    Turnout 32,789 51.6
    National hold Swing N/A
    Independent hold Swing N/A
    Unionist hold Swing N/A
    1946 Combined Scottish Universities by-election
    Party Candidate Votes % ±
    Unionist Walter Elliot 22,152 68.2 +64.0
    Labour C. E. M. Joad 3,731 11.5 +2.8
    Liberal John Bannerman 2,593 8.0 +2.3
    Independent J. G. Jameson 2,080 6.4 N/A
    Liberal National Robert Scott Stevenson 1,938 5.9 N/A
    Majority 18,421 56.7
    Turnout 32,494 50.7 −0.9
    Unionist gain from Independent Swing N/A

    References
    1. Whitaker's Almanack, 1920
    2. Oliver and Boyd's Edinburgh Almanack, 1927
    3. The Times, 11 June 1929
    4. The Times, 26 November 1935
    5. Skelton died on 22 November, and his election has announced posthumously
    6. "Ex-Premier returned to Parliament. 7359 Majority in Universities By-election". The Glasgow Herald. 4 February 1936. p. 9. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
    7. "Universities By-election. Sir J. Anderson's Success". The Glasgow Herald. 1 March 1938. p. 3. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
    Parliament of the United Kingdom
    Preceded by
    Woolwich West    		 Constituency represented by the Chancellor of the Exchequer
    1943–1945    		 Succeeded by
    Bishop Auckland
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