North Angus and Mearns (UK Parliament constituency)

Angus North and Mearns
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
Subdivisions of Scotland	Kincardineshire, Angus
1950–1983
Number of members	One
Replaced by	East Angus, Kincardine and Deeside and South Aberdeen[1]
Created from	Forfar, Kincardine and Western Aberdeenshire and Montrose Burghs

Angus North and Mearns, Scotland, was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1950 to 1983. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post voting system.

It was unsuccessfully contested in 1950 by the actor James Robertson Justice.

Boundaries

The constituency was created by the Representation of the People Act 1948, and was defined as consisting of:^[2]

• The county of Kincardine inclusive of all the burghs situated therein;
• In the county of Angus
  • The burghs of Brechin and Montrose;
  • The districts of Brechin and Montrose.

Redistribution

The boundaries of the constituency were unaltered at the next redistribution of seats, which came into effect in 1974.^[3] Counties and burghs were abolished for local government purposes in 1975, but parliamentary boundaries were unaffected until 1983. In that year the constituency was abolished. A new Kincardine and Deeside constituency was formed with similar boundaries.^[4]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1950	Colin Thornton-Kemsley	Conservative and National Liberal
	1964	Alick Buchanan-Smith	Conservative
1983		constituency abolished

Election results

Elections of the 1950s

General Election 1950: North Angus and Mearns ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Sir Colin Norman Thornton-Kemsley	15,485	51.6	N/A
	Labour	James Robertson Justice	8,304	27.7	N/A
	Liberal	Tom Adam	6,233	20.8	N/A
Majority			7,181	23.9	N/A
Turnout			30,022	81.4	N/A
	Unionist win (new seat)

General Election 1951: North Angus and Mearns ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Sir Colin Norman Thornton-Kemsley	18,515	64.1	+12.5
	Labour	John Mackie	10,356	35.9	+8.2
Majority			8,159	28.3
Turnout			28,871	76.3	−5.1
	Unionist hold		Swing	+2.2

General Election 1955: North Angus and Mearns ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Sir Colin Norman Thornton-Kemsley	18,516	69.0	+4.9
	Labour	Charles Buick	8,323	31.0	−4.9
Majority			10,193	38.0
Turnout			26,839	72.3	−4.0
	Unionist hold		Swing	+4.9

General Election 1959: North Angus and Mearns ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Sir Colin Norman Thornton-Kemsley	17,536	67.4	−1.6
	Labour	Robert Hughes	8,486	32.6	+1.6
Majority			9,050	34.8
Turnout			26,022	71.3	−1.0
	Unionist hold		Swing	−1.6

Elections of the 1960s

General Election 1964: North Angus and Mearns ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Alick Laidlaw Buchanan-Smith	13,401	49.3	−18.1
	Liberal	Kenneth Alfred John Barton	9,268	34.1	N/A
	Labour	Mrs. Mary Klopper	4,513	16.6	−16.0
Majority			4,133	15.2
Turnout			27,182	77.0	+5.7
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1966: North Angus and Mearns ^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Alick Laidlaw Buchanan-Smith	13,286	50.4	+1.1
	Liberal	Kenneth Alfred John Barton	7,756	29.4	−4.7
	Labour	Christopher Thomas Walker	5,318	20.2	+3.6
Majority			5,530	21.0
Turnout			26,360	76.2	−0.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	+2.9

Elections of the 1970s

General Election 1970: North Angus and Mearns ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Alick Laidlaw Buchanan-Smith	14,687	53.1	+2.7
	Labour	James Gourlay	5,092	18.4	−1.8
	SNP	James A. McGuigan	4,677	16.9	N/A
	Liberal	John J. Grimond	3,312	11.6	−17.8
Majority			9,595	34.7
Turnout			27,768	74.6	−1.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election February 1974: North Angus and Mearns ^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Alick Laidlaw Buchanan-Smith	14,288	48.8	−4.3
	SNP	Henry Cunison Deans Rankin	6,837	23.4	+6.5
	Liberal	John Clifford Hall	4,412	15.1	+3.5
	Labour	Alexander Arnold Charles Stanley	3,745	12.8	−5.6
Majority			7,451	25.5
Turnout			29,282	72.7	−1.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election October 1974: North Angus and Mearns ^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Alick Laidlaw Buchanan-Smith	11,835	43.6	−5.2
	SNP	Iain McDonald Murray	9,284	34.2	+10.8
	Labour	James Norman Stewart McEwan	3,344	12.3	−0.5
	Liberal	Malcolm Gray Bruce	2,700	9.9	−5.2
Majority			2,551	9.4
Turnout			27,163	78.7	+6.0
	Conservative hold		Swing	−8.0

General Election 1979: North Angus and Mearns

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Alick Laidlaw Buchanan-Smith	18,302	57.5	+11.9
	SNP	Iain McDonald Murray	7,387	23.2	−11.0
	Labour	Hugh McMahon	6,132	19.3	+7.0
Majority			10,915	34.3
Turnout			31,821	73.8	−4.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	+11.5

References

1. "'Angus North and Mearns', Feb 1974 - May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
2. Representation of the People Act 1948, First Schedule, Parliamentary Constituencies, Part III, Scotland
3. The Parliamentary Constituencies (Scotland) Order 1970 (S.I.1970/1680)
4. Parliamentary Constituencies (Scotland) Order 1983 (S.I. 1983/422)
5. Whitaker's Almanack 1950
6. Whitaker's Almanack 1951
7. Whitaker's Almanack 1955
8. Whitaker's Almanack 1963
9. Whitaker's Almanack 1965
10. Whitaker's Almanack 1967
11. Whitaker's Almanack 1971
12. Whitaker's Almanack 1975
13. Whitaker's Almanack 1975

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "A" (part 2)