Kilmarnock was a

county constituency In the United Kingdom (UK), each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one member to the House of Commons. Within the United Kingdom there are five bodies with members elected by electoral districts called "constituenc ...

of the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

from 1918 to 1983. It elected one

Member of Parliament (MP) A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members often ...

by the

first past the post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

system of election. The constituency included the area of the former parliamentary burgh of Kilmarnock. The parliamentary burgh had been, previously, a component of the Kilmarnock Burghs constituency. Prominent Members for this seat included long-serving

Scottish Secretary The secretary of state for Scotland ( gd, Rùnaire Stàite na h-Alba; sco, Secretar o State fir Scotland), also referred to as the Scottish secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the Unit ...

Willie Ross, and senior judge Craigie Mason Aitchison.

Boundaries

1918 to 1950

The constituency was created by the

Representation of the People Act 1918 The Representation of the People Act 1918 was an Act of Parliament passed to reform the electoral system in Great Britain and Ireland. It is sometimes known as the Fourth Reform Act. The Act extended the franchise in parliamentary elections, also ...

as one of four constituencies covering the

county of Ayr Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of R ...

and the

county of Bute The County of Bute ( gd, Siorrachd Bhòid), also known as Buteshire, is a historic county and registration county of Scotland. The county comprises a number of islands in the Firth of Clyde, between the counties of Argyll and Ayrshire, the p ...

. Of the other three constituencies, two were county constituencies: Bute and Northern Ayrshire and

South Ayrshire South Ayrshire ( sco, Sooth Ayrshire; gd, Siorrachd Àir a Deas, ) is one of thirty-two council areas of Scotland, covering the southern part of Ayrshire. It borders onto Dumfries and Galloway, East Ayrshire and North Ayrshire. On 30 June 2 ...

. The third, Ayr Burghs, was a

district of burghs constituency The Act of Union 1707 and pre-Union Scottish legislation provided for 14 Members of Parliament (MPs) from Scotland to be elected from districts of burghs. All the parliamentary burghs (burghs represented in the pre-Union Parliament of Scotland) ...

. All four constituencies were entirely within the boundaries of the two counties. The Kilmarnock constituency consisted of "The county district of Kilmarnock, inclusive of all burghs situated therein except insofar as included in the Ayr District of Burghs." The counties of Ayr and Bute had been covered, previously, by the five constituencies of Ayr Burghs, Buteshire, Kilmarnock Burghs,

North Ayrshire North Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Àir a Tuath, ) is one of 32 council areas in Scotland. The council area borders Inverclyde to the north, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire to the northeast, and East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire to the east and so ...

and South Ayrshire. Two of these, Ayr Burghs and Kilmarnock Burghs, had included areas (

parliamentary burgh In the United Kingdom (UK), each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one member to the House of Commons. Within the United Kingdom there are five bodies with members elected by electoral districts called "constituenc ...

s) outside the two counties.

1950 to 1974

Constituency boundaries were redrawn in 1950, creating five constituencies to cover the counties of Ayr and Bute. Ayr Burghs was abolished and two new county constituencies,

Ayr Ayr (; sco, Ayr; gd, Inbhir Àir, "Mouth of the River Ayr") is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. It is the administrative centre of the South Ayrshire Subdivisions of Scotland, council area and the historic Shires of Scotlan ...

and

Central Ayrshire Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

, were created. Part of the Kilmarnock constituency was transferred to the new Central Ayrshire constituency.

1974 to 1975

In 1974, the boundary between the Kilmarnock and Ayrshire Central constituencies was redrawn to enlarge Kilmarnock.

1975 to 1983

In 1975, under the

Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (c. 65) is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom that altered local government in Scotland on 16 May 1975. The Act followed and largely implemented the report of the Royal Commission on Local Gove ...

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

were abolished and replaced by a system of regions and districts. The areas of the counties of Ayr and Bute were merged into the

Strathclyde Strathclyde ( in Gaelic, meaning "strath (valley) of the River Clyde") was one of nine former local government regions of Scotland created in 1975 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and abolished in 1996 by the Local Government et ...

region and, thus, the Kilmarnock constituency became one of a number covering the region. Eight years were to elapse before new constituency boundaries took account of new local government boundaries. In 1983 the Kilmarnock constituency was merged into the Kilmarnock and Loudoun constituency.

Members of Parliament

Election results

Elections in the 1910s

Elections in the 1920s

Elections in the 1930s

Elections in the 1940s

Elections in the 1950s

Elections in the 1960s

Elections in the 1970s

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kilmarnock (Uk Parliament Constituency) Historic parliamentary constituencies in Scotland (Westminster) Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1918 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1983 Politics of Kilmarnock