Dumfriesshire was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of Great Britain (at Westminster) from 1708 to 1801 and in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (also at Westminster) from 1801 until 2005. It was known as Dumfries from 1950.
Creation
The British parliamentary constituency was created in 1708 following the Acts of Union, 1707 and replaced the former Parliament of Scotland shire constituency of Dumfries & Annandale.
History
The constituency was virtually unchanged until it was redistributed in 2005. It was redistributed to Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale and Dumfries and Galloway as part of a major reorganisation of Scottish constituencies. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system.
Boundaries
From 1885 to 1918 it comprised the shire districts of the county. From 1918 all the burghs were added.
Members of Parliament
MPs 1708–1832
{|class="wikitable"
!colspan="2"|Year!!Member!!Party
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
| 1708
| James Johnstone
|
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
| 1709
| William Grierson
|
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1711
| James Murray
| Tory
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
| 1713
| Sir William Johnstone
|
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
| 1722
| Charles Erskine
|
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
| 1741
| Sir John Douglas
|
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
| 1747
| Lord Charles Douglas
|
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
| 1755
| James Veitch
|
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
| 1761
| Lt Gen Archibald Douglas
|
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
| 1774
| Sir Robert Laurie
|
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1804
| Sir William Johnstone Hope
| Tory
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1830
| John Hope-Johnstone
| Tory
|-
|colspan="2" align="center"| 1832
|colspan="2"|Reform Act 1832: franchise expanded
|}
MPs 1832–2005
{|class="wikitable"
!colspan="2"|Election!!Member!!Party
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1832
| John Hope-Johnstone (1)
| Conservative
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1847
| Archibald Douglas
| Conservative
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| Feb 1857
| John Hope-Johnstone (1)
| Conservative
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1865
| George Gustavus Walker
| Conservative
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1868
| Sydney Waterlow <!-- baronetcy in 1873, so don't display here -->|| Liberal
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| Mar. 1869
| George Gustavus Walker
| Conservative
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1874
| John Hope-Johnstone (2)
| Conservative
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1880
|rowspan="2"| Sir Robert Jardine
| Liberal
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1886
| Liberal Unionist
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1892
| William Herries Maxwell
| Liberal Unionist
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1895
| Robinson Souttar
| Liberal
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1900
| William Herries Maxwell
| Liberal Unionist
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1906
| Percy Molteno
| Liberal
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1918
| William Murray
| Unionist
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1922
| William Chapple
| Liberal
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1924
| John Charteris
| Unionist
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1929
|rowspan="2"| Dr Joseph Hunter <sup>1</sup>
| Liberal
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1931
| National Liberal
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1935 by-election
| Sir Henry Fildes
| National Liberal
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1945
| Niall Macpherson
| National Liberal
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1963 by-election
| David Anderson
| Conservative
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1964
| Sir Hector Monro
| Conservative
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1997
| Russell Brown
| Labour
|-
|colspan="2" align="center"| 2005
|colspan="2"|constituency abolished
|}
<sup>1</sup> Dr Hunter was elected in 1929 as a Liberal candidate, but in the split after the 1931 general election, he joined the National Liberals.
Election results
thumb|center|734x734px|Dumfriesshire election results
Elections in the 1830s
Elections in the 1890s
thumb|120px|Souttar
Elections in the 1900s
thumb|120px|Molteno
Elections in the 1910s
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 July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;
- Liberal:
- Unionist: William T. Shaw
Elections in the 1920s
thumb|120px|Keswick
thumb|120px|Chapple