Winston Churchill became Member of Parliament for Dundee in a by-election of 1908 soon after losing his Manchester North West seat and retained the seat until 1922.
From its creation in 1832 the seat did not return a Conservative member until 1931 when Florence Horsbrugh was elected.[3] Originally a Liberal stronghold, the seat was one of the first in Scotland to return a Labour candidate, Alexander Wilkie, who was elected in 1906.[4]
At the 1918 general election both Churchill, still then a Liberal, and Wilkie were supported by the local Unionists, as well as their own party organisations.[5] From 1923 onwards the Conservatives/Unionists and Liberals each ran only one candidate in the constituency. This was part of an unofficial agreement between the two parties at a local level, with the understanding being that their supporters would give their other vote to the other party's candidate.[6]
"From the Point, on the East of the Town, at which the Shore of the Firth of Tay would be cut by a straight Line to be drawn from the Tower (in Fife) of Mr. Dalgleish of Scotscraig to the Point at which the Stobsmuir Road is joined by the old Road by Stobsmuir and Clepington and the old Craigie Road, in a straight Line to the said Point at which the Stobsmuir Road is joined by the old Road by Stobsmuir and Clepington and the old Craigie Road; thence, Westward, along the old Road by Stobsmuir and Clepington to the Point called Kings Cross, at which the several Boundaries of the Parishes of Dundee, Strathmartin, and Liff meet; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Liff Road which is distant Twelve hundred Yards (measured along the Liff Road) to the West of the Point at which the Newtyle Road leaves the same; thence in a straight Line drawn due South to the Shore of the Firth of Tay; thence along the Shore of the Firth of Tay to the Point first described."[7]
^Baxter, Kenneth; Kenefick William (2011). "Labour Politics and the Dundee Working Class c 1895-1936". In Jim Tomlinson and Christopher A. Whatley (ed.). Jute No More. Dundee: Dundee University Press. p. 205. ISBN978-1-84586-090-5.
^Baxter, Kenneth; Kenefick William (2011). "Labour Politics and the Dundee Working Class c 1895-1936". In Jim Tomlinson and Christopher A. Whatley (ed.). Jute No More. Dundee: Dundee University Press. p. 205. ISBN978-1-84586-090-5.