1961 Midlothian County Council election

Elections to Midlothian County Council were held on 10 May 1961. Midlothian was one of the four divisions that made up the historic region of Lothian in Scotland. The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 established Midlothian as an administrative county, governed by a County Council.

The administrative county of Midlothian (1889–1974), shown within northern Britain.

The county was divided into 39 electoral divisions, each of which returned one member. In 1961 there were contests in 16 of these.

Following the election the council was composed of 30 Labourites, eight Moderates, and one Communist.

Aggregate results

Midlothian County Council election, 1961
Contested Seats

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	30	4	1	3	76.92	54.84	5,038
	Moderates	8	1	4	3	20.51	36.66	3,368
	Communist	1	0	0		2.56	3.56	327
	Independent	0	0	0		0	2.88	265
	Independent Labour	0	0	0		0	2.05	188

Results by division

Limefield & Parkhead

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	W. G. Rankine	299
	Independent Labour	A. Dickson	188
Majority			111
Turnout
	Labour hold

Polbeth

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	A. Hartley	343
	Communist	J. McArthur	327
Majority			16
Turnout
	Labour hold

Newbridge

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Mrs Elizabeth Dickson	200
	Moderates	H. Gibson	178
Majority			22.0
Turnout
	Labour gain from Moderates

Currie

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	R. Sinclair	641	50.08
	Moderates	S. C. Black	639	49.92
Majority			2	0.16
Turnout			1,280
	Labour hold

Glencorse

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Moderates	Sir I. H. Maxwell Inglis	342
	Labour	J. McCarron	89
Majority			253
Turnout
	Moderates hold

Kirkhill

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Moderates	J. Jardin	224
	Labour	J. Bolton	187
Majority			37
Turnout
	Moderates hold

Bilston

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	D. Delaney	289
	Moderates	D. Ferguson	158
Majority			131
Turnout
	Labour gain from Moderates

Melville

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Moderates	R. D. R. Dundas	352	52.1
	Labour	A. Walker	323	47.8
Majority			29	2.3
Turnout			675
	Moderates gain from Labour

Inveresk West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	R. K. Horsburgh	306
	Moderates	T. Wright	201
Majority			105
Turnout
	Labour hold

Inveresk East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	T. White	424
	Independent	P. Smith	88
	Labour	Gillan (Incumbent)	69
Majority			336
Turnout
	Labour gain from Labour

Newbattle First

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	A. Anderson	493
	Moderates	S. B. Syme	170
Majority			323
Turnout
	Labour hold

Newbattle Second

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Moderates	A. Aikman	311
	Labour	J. McGuff	226
	Independent	J. McFarlane	52
Majority			85
Turnout
	Moderates hold

Arniston Second

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	J. M. Gaynor	416
	Independent	T. Kerr	125
Majority			291
Turnout
	Labour hold

Gorebridge

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	R. Burnside	246
	Moderates	J. S. Aytoun	213
Majority			33
Turnout
	Labour hold

Borthwick & Temple

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Mrs Mary W. Samuel	292
	Moderates	J. Waugh	282
Majority			10
Turnout
	Labour gain from Moderates

Crichton & Fala

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Moderates	C. H. K. Corsar	298
	Labour	J. Duncan	195
Majority			103
Turnout
	Moderates hold

West Calder

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	?	Unopposed
	Labour hold