1918–1950: "That portion of the city which is bounded by a line commencing at a point in the municipal boundary at its intersection with the centre line of the
River Kelvin, thence southeastward, southward and southwestward along the centre line of the River Kelvin to the centre line of the
North British Railway (Stobcross Branch), thence north-westward along the centre of the said North British Railway to its intersection with the municipal boundary, thence northeastward along the municipal boundary to the point of commencement".
1950–1955: The Kelvinside and Partick (West) wards of the county of the city of Glasgow, and part of the Partick (East) ward.[1]
1955–1974: The Kelvinside and Partick West wards of the county of the city of Glasgow, and part of the Whiteinch ward.[2]
1974–1983: The Glasgow wards of Kelvinside, Partick West, and Whiteinch.
1983–1997: The City of Glasgow District electoral divisions of Kelvindale/Kelvinside, Partick/Anderston, and Scotstoun/Broomhill.
History
Along with
Glasgow Cathcart, Hillhead was one of two safe
Conservative Party seats in Glasgow for several decades. However,
Labour reduced the Conservatives' majorities in both constituencies in the 1970s; Labour even won Cathcart in
1979 (making it the only seat the Conservative Party lost in its electoral victory that year), while Hillhead remained Conservative with a narrow majority. In the subsequent
by-election of 1982, the Conservatives lost their last seat in Glasgow not to Labour, but to the year-old
SDP, with the former Labour cabinet minister
Roy Jenkins becoming the new MP for the constituency. Jenkins retained the seat for the SDP in the
1983 general election, but lost the seat to
George Galloway of the Labour Party in
1987.
The constituency's boundaries were significantly altered for the 1983 general election and it was estimated by the
BBC and
ITN that on the new boundaries Labour would have captured the seat with a majority of just over 2,000 votes in
1979, thus making this a notional SDP gain from Labour.[17] Neil Carmichael was the sitting Labour MP for the
Glasgow Kelvingrove constituency which had been abolished for this election.[18]