Bilston (UK Parliament constituency)

Bilston
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
1950 (1950)February 1974 (February 1974)
Number of members one
Wolverhampton Bilston
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
1918 (1918)1950 (1950)
Number of members one

Bilston was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Bilston in what is now the southeast of the city of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

As well as the town of Bilston, which had been heavily industrialised town since the 19th century, it also incorporated the nearby communities of Sedgley and Coseley, both of which were still predominantly rural villages when the parliamentary seat was created in 1918, but by the time the constituency changed from Wolverhampton Bilston to Bilston 32 years later they were rapidly expanding into towns, and had expanded further still when the constituency was finally abolished in 1974.

Contents

History

The area was created, as a Staffordshire borough constituency, for the 1918 general election. It was named as a division of Wolverhampton. From the 1950 general election the Wolverhampton prefix was dropped from the official constituency name. The seat was abolished for the February 1974 general election, when it was largely replaced by the new Wolverhampton South East constituency.

Boundaries

1918-1950: The constituency consisted of the then Urban Districts of Bilston, Coseley and Sedgley.

1950-1974: By 1950 Bilston was a Municipal Borough. Coseley and Sedgley were still Urban Districts in the constituency. In 1966 there were some changes to the boundaries of the two Urban Districts.

Members of Parliament

Year Member Party
1918 Thomas Edgecumbe Hickman Coalition Conservative
1922 Charles Kenneth Howard-Bury Conservative
1924 John Baker Labour
1931 Geoffrey Kelsall Peto Conservative
1935 Ian Campbell Hannah Conservative
1944 William Ernest Gibbons Conservative
1945 Will Nally Labour
1955 Robert Edwards Labour
Feb 1974 constituency abolished: see Wolverhampton South East

Election results

See also

References