Election of University's First Member of Parliament, 1868
In 1868, Lyon Playfair, 1st Baron Playfair (1818-1898) was elected as Edinburgh University's first Member of Parliament.
Between 1868 and 1918, the Universities of Edinburgh and St Andrews elected a joint Member of the British Parliament. The electorate consisted of graduates of both universities. At the General Election of 1868, the two universities elected Lyon Playfair who had been Professor of Chemistry at Edinburgh since 1858. Upon taking up his seat in Parliament, Playfair resigned his Chair to be replaced by Alexander Crum Brown (1838-1922).
In 1918, the Edinburgh and St Andrews Universities constituency was united with the Glasgow and Aberdeen Universities constituency to form the Combined Scottish Universities constituency, which returned three MPs. It was abolished in 1950 since when the Scottish universities have had no direct Parliamentary representation.