West Fife (UK Parliament constituency)

West Fife
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
Subdivisions of Scotland	Fife
1885–1974 (1974)
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Central Fife, Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy^[1]
Created from	Fife

West Fife was a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 until 1974. It is famous for providing the Communist Party Of Great Britain with its longest-serving Member of Parliament. Along with East Fife, it was formed by dividing the old Fife constituency.

Boundaries

From 1885 the constituency consisted of the parishes of Abbotshall, Aberdour, Auchterderran, Auchtertool, Ballingry, Beath, Burntisland, Dalgetty, Dunfermline, Dysart, Inverkeithing, Kinghorn, Kinglassie, Kirkcaldy, Leslie, Markinch, Saline, Torryburn and Wemyss.^[2]

The constituency contained:

the burghs of Culross, Leslie and Markinch
the Districts of Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy and Lochgelly
part of the District of Wemyss the remainder being in East Fife

From 1918 it consisted of "The Dunfermline County District, inclusive of all burghs situated therein except insofar as included in the Dunfermline District of Burghs, together with so much of the Kirkcaldy County District, inclusive of all burghs situated therein, as is included neither in the Eastern Division nor in the Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy Districts of Burghs."

For later changes see:

the House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats)(Scotland)(West Fife and Kirkcaldy Burghs) Order 1953; and
the Parliamentary Constituencies (Scotland) (West Fife and Dunfermline Burghs) Order, 1960

Members of Parliament

Election		Member^[3]	Party
	1885	Robert Preston Bruce	Liberal
	1889	Augustine Birrell	Liberal
	1900	John Deans Hope	Liberal
	1910	William Adamson	Labour
	1931	Charles Black Milne	Unionist
	1935	Willie Gallacher	Communist
	1950	Willie Hamilton	Labour
Feb 1974		constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1885: West Fife ^[4]^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Robert Preston Bruce	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal win (new seat)

General Election 1886: West Fife ^[6]^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Robert Preston Bruce	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

Birrell

Fife West by-election, 1889
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Augustine Birrell	3,551	56.3	n/a
	Liberal Unionist	Randolph Gordon Erskine-Wemyss	2,758	43.7	n/a
Majority			793	12.6	n/a
Turnout				71.6	n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

Elections in the 1890s

General Election 1892: West Fife ^[8]^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Augustine Birrell	5,215	76.2	+19.9
	Liberal Unionist	Robert Yellowlees	1,633	23.8	-19.9
Majority			3,582	52.4	+39.8
Turnout				69.9	-1.7
	Liberal hold		Swing	+19.9

General Election 1895: West Fife ^[10]^[11]^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Augustine Birrell	4,719	61.4	-14.8
	Liberal Unionist	Randolph Gordon Erskine-Wemyss	2,965	38.6	+14.8
Majority			1,754	22.8	-29.6
Turnout				72.2	+2.3
	Liberal hold		Swing	-14.8

Elections in the 1900s

Hope

General Election 1900: West Fife ^[13]^[14]^[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	John Deans Hope	4,352	64.7	+3.3
	Liberal Unionist	Gavin William Ralston	2,374	35.3	-3.3
Majority			1,978	29.4	+6.6
Turnout				60.0	-12.2
	Liberal hold		Swing	+3.3

General Election 1906: West Fife ^[16]^[17]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	John Deans Hope	6,692	79.0	+14.3
	Conservative	Nelson B Constable	1,776	21.0	-14.3
Majority			4,916	58.0	+28.6
Turnout				55.4	-4.6
	Liberal hold		Swing	+14.3

Elections in the 1910s

General Election January 1910: West Fife ^[18]^[19]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	John Deans Hope	6,159	47.8	-31.2
	Labour	William Adamson	4,736	37.7	n/a
	Liberal Unionist	Gavin William Ralston	1,994	15.5	-5.5
Majority			1,423	10.1	-47.9
Turnout				73.1	+17.7
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

William Adamson

General Election December 1910: West Fife ^[20]^[21]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	William Adamson	6,128	53.0	+15.3
	Liberal	John Deans Hope	5,425	47.0	-0.8
Majority			703	6.0	16.1
Turnout				61.4	-11.7
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing

General Election 1914/15:

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

Labour: William Adamson
Unionist: Joseph Hume Menzies ^[22]

General Election 1918: Fife West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	William Adamson	10,664	72.6
	Unionist	Joseph Hume Menzies	4,020	27.4
Majority			6,644	45.2
Turnout				48.2	-13.2
	Labour hold		Swing

endorsed by the Coalition Government

Elections in the 1920s

General election of 1922

In the 1922 general election, Rt Hon. William Adamson was elected unopposed.

General Election 1923: Fife West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Rt Hon. William Adamson	12,204	65.4	n/a
	Independent Labour	Philip Hodge	6,459	34.6	n/a
Majority			5,745	30.8	n/a
Turnout			18,663	57.4	n/a
	Labour hold		Swing	n/a

General Election 1924: Fife West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Rt Hon. William Adamson	14,685	70.9
	Unionist	J MacRobert	6,015	29.1
Majority			8,670	41.8
Turnout			20,700	63.0	+5.6
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1929: Fife West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Rt Hon. William Adamson	17,668	60.0	-10.9
	Communist	William Gallacher	6,040	20.5	n/a
	Unionist	A.B. Brown	5,727	19.5	-9.6
Majority			11,628	39.5	-2.3
Turnout			29,435	69.7	+6.7
	Labour hold		Swing	n/a

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931: Fife West^[23]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Unionist	Charles Black Milne	12,997	42.1
	Labour	Rt Hon. William Adamson	11,063	35.8
	Communist	William Gallacher	6,829	22.1
Majority			1,914	6.3
Turnout				71.4
	Unionist gain from Labour		Swing

General Election 1935: Fife West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Communist	William Gallacher	13,462	37.4
	Labour	Rt Hon. William Adamson	12,869	35.7
	Unionist	Charles Black Milne	9,667	26.9
Majority			593	1.7
Turnout				77.8
	Communist gain from Unionist		Swing

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Fife West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Communist	William Gallacher	17,636	42.1
	Labour	William Winter Hamilton	15,580	37.3
	Liberal National	Robert Scott Stevenson	8,597	20.6
Majority			2,056	4.8
Turnout				75.4
	Communist hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: Fife West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	William Winter Hamilton	23,576	54.8
	National Liberal	Patrick William Neill Fraser	10,131	23.6
	Communist	William Gallacher	9,301	21.6
Majority			13,445	31.2
Turnout				84.9
	Labour gain from Communist		Swing

General Election 1951: Fife West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	William Winter Hamilton	29,195	64.9
	National Liberal	John Patterson Fyfe	11,038	24.6
	Communist	William Lauchlan	4,728	10.5
Majority			18,157	40.4
Turnout				85.6
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Fife West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	William Winter Hamilton	26,849	62.6
	Unionist	Norman Russell Wylie	10,638	24.8
	Communist	William Lauchlan	5,389	12.6
Majority			16,211	37.8
Turnout				80.3
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1959: Fife West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	William Winter Hamilton	25,554	56.1
	Unionist	Alick Laidlaw Buchanan-Smith	11,257	24.7
	Fife Socialist League	Lawrence Daly	4,886	10.7	N/A
	Communist	William Lauchlan	3,828	8.4
Majority			14,297	31.4
Turnout				81.3
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1964: Fife West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	William Winter Hamilton	28,806	65.5
	Unionist	John B. M. Gall	11,880	27.0
	Communist	William Lauchlan	3,273	7.5
Majority			16,926	38.5
Turnout				78.6
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1966: Fife West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	William Winter Hamilton	27,123	63.1
	Conservative	John B. M. Gall	8,300	19.3
	SNP	Robert R. Patrick	6,046	14.1	N/A
	Communist	Archibald D. MacMillan	1,542	3.6
Majority			18,823	43.8
Turnout				76.8
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: Fife West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	William Winter Hamilton	29,929	61.1
	Conservative	Gary McLaughlan	12,837	26.2
	SNP	James Halliday	5,386	11.0
	Communist	Archibald D. MacMillan	855	1.7
Majority			17,092	34.9
Turnout				74.2
	Labour hold		Swing

References

↑ Statutory Instrument 1970 No. 1680 (section Part II) The Parliamentary Constituencies (Scotland) Order 1970
↑ Redistribution of Seats Act 1885
↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "F"
↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, FWS Craig
↑ The Liberal Year Book, 1907
↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, FWS Craig
↑ The Liberal Year Book, 1907
↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, FWS Craig
↑ The Liberal Year Book, 1907
↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, FWS Craig
↑ The Liberal Year Book, 1907
↑ Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1901
↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, FWS Craig
↑ The Liberal Year Book, 1907
↑ Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1901
↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, FWS Craig
↑ The Liberal Year Book, 1907
↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, FWS Craig
↑ Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1916
↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, FWS Craig
↑ Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1916
↑ Daily Record 22 May 1914
↑ Whitaker's Almanack, 1934

Sources

Election results, 1950 - 1974
F. W. S. Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918 - 1949
F. W. S. Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1885 - 1918

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