Edinburgh and St Andrews Universities (UK Parliament constituency)

Edinburgh and St Andrews Universities
Edinburgh and St Andrews Universities
Former University constituency; for the House of Commons
1868–1918
Seats	1
Replaced by	Combined Scottish Universities

Edinburgh and St Andrews Universities was a university constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1868 until 1918. It was merged with the Glasgow and Aberdeen Universities constituency to form the Combined Scottish Universities constituency.

Electorate[edit]

As a university constituency, the constituency had no geographical basis. Instead, its electorate consisted of graduates from the University of Edinburgh and the University of St Andrews.

Members of Parliament[edit]

Election		Member	Party
	1868	Lyon Playfair, later Baron Playfair	Liberal
	1885	John Macdonald	Conservative
	1888 by-election	Moir Tod Stormonth Darling	Conservative
	1890 by-election	Sir Charles Pearson	Conservative
	1896 by-election	Sir William Overend Priestley	Conservative
	1900 by-election	Sir John Batty Tuke	Conservative
	Jan. 1910	Sir Robert Finlay, later Viscount Finlay	Liberal Unionist
	1912	Sir Robert Finlay, later Viscount Finlay	Unionist
	1916 by-election	Christopher Nicholson Johnston	Unionist
	1917 by-election	Sir Watson Cheyne	Unionist
1918		constituency abolished: see Combined Scottish Universities

Election results[edit]

Elections in the 1910s[edit]

By-election, 1917: Edinburgh & St Andrews Universities^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Watson Cheyne	Unopposed
	Unionist hold

By-election, 1916: Edinburgh & St Andrews Universities^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Christopher Nicholson Johnston	Unopposed
	Unionist hold

General election December 1910: Edinburgh & St Andrews Universities ^[2]^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Robert Finlay	Unopposed
	Liberal Unionist hold

General election January 1910: Edinburgh & St Andrews Universities ^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Robert Finlay	5,205	65.9	−2.0
	Liberal	Alexander Russell Simpson	2,693	34.1	New
Majority			2,512	31.8	−4.0
Turnout			7,898	69.8	+5.1
Registered electors			11,319
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1900s[edit]

General election 1906: Edinburgh & St Andrews Universities ^[3]^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Batty Tuke	4,893	67.9	*N/A*
	Free Trader	John Strachey	2,310	32.1	New
Majority			2,583	35.8	N/A
Turnout			7,203	64.7	N/A
Registered electors			11,131
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1900: Edinburgh & St Andrews Universities ^[4]^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Batty Tuke	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

By-election, 1900: Edinburgh & St Andrews Universities ^[4]^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Batty Tuke	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1890s[edit]

By-election, 1896: Edinburgh and St Andrews Universities^[1]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Priestley	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

Pearson was raised to the Bench, as a Senator of the College of Justice.

General election 1895: Edinburgh and St Andrews Universities^[1]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charles Pearson	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

General election 1892: Edinburgh and St Andrews Universities^[1]^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charles Pearson	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

By-election, 1890: Edinburgh and St Andrews Universities^[1]^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charles Pearson	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

Stormonth-Darling was raised to the Bench, as a Senator of the College of Justice.

Elections in the 1880s[edit]

By-election, 6 Nov 1888: Edinburgh & St Andrews Universities ^[7]^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Moir Tod Stormont Darling	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

Caused by Macdonald's appointment as Lord Justice Clerk, becoming Lord Kingsburgh.

By-election, 13 Aug 1886: Edinburgh & St Andrews Universities ^[7]^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Macdonald	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

Caused by Macdonald being appointed Lord Advocate.

General election 1886: Edinburgh & St Andrews Universities ^[7]^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Macdonald	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

General election 1885: Edinburgh & St Andrews Universities ^[7]^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Macdonald	2,840	53.7	+4.4
	Liberal	John Eric Erichsen	2,453	46.3	−4.4
Majority			387	7.4	N/A
Turnout			5,293	77.2	−6.1
Registered electors			6,860
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+4.4

General election 1880: Edinburgh & St Andrews Universities^[8]^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Lyon Playfair	2,522	50.7	*N/A*
	Conservative	Edward Robert Bickersteth^[10]	2,448	49.3	New
Majority			74	1.4	N/A
Turnout			4,970	83.3	N/A
Registered electors			5,966
	Liberal hold		Swing

At Edinburgh Playfair had received 1,742 votes and Bickersteth 1526, and at St Andrew's Playfair received 512 votes and Bickersteth 698. Eleven of Playfair's ballot papers had not been counted "Owing to certain information".

Elections in the 1870s[edit]

General election 1874: Edinburgh & St Andrews Universities ^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	Lyon Playfair	Unopposed
Registered electors			4,861
	Liberal hold

By-election, 4 Dec 1873: Edinburgh & St Andrews Universities ^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Lyon Playfair	Unopposed
	Liberal hold

Caused by Playfair's appointment as Postmaster General of the United Kingdom.

Elections in the 1860s[edit]

General election 1868: Edinburgh & St Andrews Universities ^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Lyon Playfair	2,322	52.9
	Conservative	Archibald Campbell Swinton	2,067	47.1
Majority			255	5.8
Turnout			4,389	89.9
Registered electors			4,880
	Liberal win (new seat)

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ Craig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885-1918. London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 9781349022984.
^ ^a ^b Debrett's House of Commons and Judicial Bench, 1916
^ Whitaker's Almanack, 1907
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1901
^ Whitaker's Almanack, 1893
^ The Times, 4 May 1900
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Debrett's House of Commons and Judicial Bench, 1889
^ "Edinburgh And St Andrew's Universities". The Cornishman. No. 92. 15 July 1880. p. 5.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (e-book) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.
^ "Election Intelligence". Reading Mercury. 21 February 1880. p. 6. Retrieved 25 November 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.

Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "E" (part 1)
Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1977]. British parliamentary election results 1832–1885 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 617. ISBN 0-900178-26-4.
Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1974]. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 571. ISBN 0-900178-27-2.

[craig1885-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ Craig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885-1918. London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 9781349022984.

[ReferenceA-2] Debrett's House of Commons and Judicial Bench, 1916

[3] Whitaker's Almanack, 1907

[debrett1901-4] Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1901

[5] Whitaker's Almanack, 1893

[6] The Times, 4 May 1900

[ReferenceC-7] Debrett's House of Commons and Judicial Bench, 1889

[8] "Edinburgh And St Andrew's Universities". The Cornishman. No. 92. 15 July 1880. p. 5.

[craig1832-9] Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (e-book) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.

[10] "Election Intelligence". Reading Mercury. 21 February 1880. p. 6. Retrieved 25 November 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.

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v t e University constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
England	Cambridge University (1603–1950) Oxford University (1603–1950) London University (1868–1950) Combined English Universities (1918–1950)
Ireland	Dublin University (1801–1922) National University of Ireland (1918–1922) Queen's University of Belfast (1918–1950)
Scotland	Glasgow and Aberdeen Universities (1868–1918) Edinburgh and St Andrews Universities (1868–1918) Combined Scottish Universities (1918–1950)
Wales	University of Wales (1918–1950)

v t e University of Edinburgh
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v t e University of St Andrews
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