Shaw had held the seat since the general election in July 1945, but ill-health had prevented her from ever attending the House of Commons.
The Labour Party candidate was 35-year-old Willie Ross, a schoolteacher before World War II who was recently demobilised from the British Army, where he had risen to the rank of Major.
At the 1945 general election he had unsuccessfully contested the Ayr Burghs constituency.
The result was a victory for Ross, who held the seat with a fractionally increased share of the vote.
He held the seat until he stepped down at the 1979 general election, having been Secretary of State for Scotland for two periods totalling 8 years.