Lanark Burghs (also known as Linlithgow Burghs) was a district of burghs constituency of the House of Commons 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 ...

(at

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...

) from 1708 to 1832, representing a seat for one

Member of Parliament 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 of ...

(MP). There was also a later Lanark county constituency, from 1918 to 1983.

Creation

The British parliamentary constituency was created in 1708 following the

Acts of Union, 1707 The Acts of Union ( gd, Achd an Aonaidh) were two Acts of Parliament: the Union with Scotland Act 1706 passed by the Parliament of England, and the Union with England Act 1707 passed by the Parliament of Scotland. They put into effect the te ...

and replaced the former

Parliament of Scotland The Parliament of Scotland ( sco, Pairlament o Scotland; gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba) was the legislature of the Kingdom of Scotland from the 13th century until 1707. The parliament evolved during the early 13th century from the king's council o ...

burgh constituencies of Linlithgow, Lanark, Peebles and Selkirk.

Boundaries

The constituency covered four

burgh A burgh is an autonomous municipal corporation in Scotland and Northern England, usually a city, town, or toun in Scots. This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when King David I created the first royal burghs. Burg ...

s: Linlithgow in the

county of Linlithgow West Lothian ( sco, Wast Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Iar) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and was one of its historic counties. The county was called Linlithgowshire until 1925. The historic county was bounded geographically by the Av ...

, Lanark in the

county of Lanark Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark ( gd, Siorrachd Lannraig; sco, Lanrikshire), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the central Lowlands of Scotland. Lanarkshire is the most populous county in Scotlan ...

, Peebles in the county of Peebles, and Selkirk in the

county of Selkirk Selkirkshire or the County of Selkirk ( gd, Siorrachd Shalcraig) is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county of Scotland. It borders Peeblesshire to the west, Midlothian to the north, Roxburghshire to the east, and Dumfrie ...

History

The constituency elected one Member of Parliament (MP) 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 until the seat was abolished for the 1832 general election. For the 1832 general election, as a result of the Representation of the People (Scotland) Act 1832, Peebles was merged into the county constituency of

Peeblesshire Peeblesshire ( gd, Siorrachd nam Pùballan), the County of Peebles or Tweeddale is a historic county of Scotland. Its county town is Peebles, and it borders Midlothian to the north, Selkirkshire to the east, Dumfriesshire to the south, and Lan ...

, Selkirk was merged into the county constituency of Selkirkshire, and the remaining burghs were combined with Airdrie and

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

, both in the county of Lanark, to form Falkirk Burghs. At the same time, however, the boundaries of burghs for parliamentary election purposes ceased be necessarily those for other purposes.

Members of Parliament

Elections in the 1830s

Elections in the 1820s

Notes and references

Historic parliamentary constituencies in Scotland (Westminster) Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1708 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1832 Politics of South Lanarkshire Lanark Politics of the Scottish Borders Politics of West Lothian 1708 establishments in Scotland 1832 disestablishments {{Scotland-poli-stub