Dudley (UK Parliament constituency)

Dudley
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
1832–February 1974
Number of members One
Replaced by Dudley East
Dudley West

Dudley was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Dudley in Worcestershire (now in the West Midlands).

It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system.

History

The borough of Dudley returned two members to Parliament in 1294, Benedict Andrew and Ralph Clerk de Duddlegh, but not to any subsequent one.[1]

The constituency was created by the Reform Act 1832 for the 1832 general election. It was abolished for the February 1974 general election, when it was replaced by the new Dudley East and Dudley West constituencies, which expanded beyond the town's historic boundaries to include Coseley and part of Sedgley in Dudley East (previously in the old Bilston constituency), as well as Kingswinford, Brierley Hill, and the remainder of Sedgley in Dudley West. All of these areas had been incorporated into the Dudley borough in 1966.[2]

Members of Parliament

ElectionMemberParty
1832 Sir John Campbell Whig
1834 Thomas Hawkes
1844 John Benbow
1855 Sir Stafford Henry Northcote Conservative
1857 Henry Brinsley Sheridan Liberal
1886 Brooke Robinson Conservative
1906 Arthur George Hooper Liberal
1910 Sir Arthur Griffith-Boscawen Conservative
1921 by-election James Wilson Labour
1922 Cyril Lloyd Conservative
1929 Oliver Baldwin Labour
1931 Dudley Joel Conservative
1941 by-election Cyril Lloyd Conservative
1945 George Wigg Labour
1968 by-election Donald Williams Conservative
1970 John Gilbert Labour
Feb 1974 constituency abolished: see Dudley East and Dudley West

Election results

Elections in the 1900s

A.G. Hooper
General Election 1906 Dudley[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Arthur George Hooper 8,296 52.4 +4.8
Conservative Gilbert Henry Claughton 7,542 47.6 -4.8
Majority 754 4.8 9.6
Turnout 90.2 +12.4
Liberal gain from Conservative Swing +4.8
Griffith-Boscawen
December 1910 General Election: Dudley
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Arthur Griffith-Boscawen 8,260
Liberal Arthur George Hooper 7,900
Majority 360
Conservative gain from Liberal Swing
Turnout

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1918: Dudley[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist 9,126 60.2
Labour William Bridgland Steer 6,048 39.8
Majority 3,080 20.4
Turnout 60.4
Unionist hold Swing

Elections in the 1920s

Dudley by-election, 1921[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour James Wilson 10,244 50.7
Unionist Rt Hon Sir Arthur Sackville Trevor Griffith-Boscawen
Majority
Turnout 79.9
Labour gain from Unionist Swing
General Election 1922: Dudley[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Cyril Edward Lloyd 12,876 60.2
Labour James Wilson 8,522 39.8
Majority 4,354 20.4
Turnout 82.5
Unionist gain from Labour Swing
General Election 1923: Dudley[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Cyril Edward Lloyd 10,227 49.4
Liberal F J Ballard 8,510 41.1
Labour R F Smith 1,958 9.5
Majority 1,717 8.3
Turnout 78.9
Unionist hold Swing
General Election 1924: Dudley[8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Cyril Edward Lloyd 11,199 52.1
Labour Oliver Ridsdale Baldwin 10,314 47.9
Majority 885 4.2
Turnout 80.2
Unionist hold Swing
General Election 1929: Dudley[9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Oliver Ridsdale Baldwin 13,551 47.6 -0.3
Unionist Cyril Edward Lloyd 10,508 36.9
Liberal T. I. Clough 4,399 15.5
Majority
Turnout 81.6
Labour gain from Unionist Swing

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931: Dudley
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Dudley Jack Barnato Joel 16,009 56.94
Labour W Hodgkiss 12,105 43.06
Majority 3,904 13.89
Turnout 80.75
Conservative gain from Labour Swing
General Election 1935: Dudley
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Dudley Jack Barnato Joel 13,958 54.81
Labour Rt Hon. William Wedgwood Benn 11,509 45.19
Majority 2,449 9.62
Turnout 75.29
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1939/40

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected;

Dudley by-election, 1941
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Cyril Edward Lloyd
Independent
Majority
Turnout
Conservative hold Swing
General Election 1945: Dudley
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Rt Hon. George Edward Cecil Wigg 15,439 62.77
Conservative Esme Tatton Cecil Brinton 9,156 37.23
Majority 6,283 25.55
Turnout 73.81
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: Dudley
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Rt Hon. George Edward Cecil Wigg 32,856 54.62
Conservative Roy Alexander Farran 19,825 32.96
Liberal Bertram Samuel White 7,470 12.42
Majority 13,031 21.66
Turnout 86.83
Labour hold Swing
General Election 1951: Dudley
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Rt Hon. George Edward Cecil Wigg 34,376 58.36
Conservative Harold Benjamin Soref 24,525 41.64
Majority 9,851 16.72
Turnout 83.65
Labour hold Swing
General Election 1955: Dudley
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Rt Hon. George Edward Cecil Wigg 31,384 54.87
Conservative Thomas Douglas Wilson 20,333 35.55
Liberal Wallace Leslie Lawler 5,479 9.58
Majority 11,051 19.32
Turnout 79.83
Labour hold Swing
General Election 1959: Dudley
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Rt Hon. George Edward Cecil Wigg 31,826 54.94
Conservative Frank E. Spiller 26,101 45.06
Majority 5,725 9.88
Turnout 79.54
Labour hold Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1964: Dudley
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Rt Hon. George Edward Cecil Wigg 30,250 53.20
Conservative David Arthur Russell Howell 19,980 35.02
Liberal Robert CS Fowler 6,829 11.97
Majority 10,270 18.00
Turnout 76.53
Labour hold Swing
General Election 1966: Dudley
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Rt Hon. George Edward Cecil Wigg 32,693 59.1
Conservative William Donald Williams 22,671 40.9
Majority 10,022 18.1
Turnout 55,364 73.9
Labour hold Swing
Dudley by-election, 1968
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative William Donald Williams 28,016 58.1 +17.2
Labour John William Gilbert 16,360 34.0 25.1
Liberal Derek Bird 3,809 7.9 N/A
Majority 11,656 24.2 N/A
Turnout 48,185 63.5 -10.4
Conservative gain from Labour Swing +21.2
General Election 1970: Dudley
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour John William Gilbert 29,499 50.29
Conservative William Donald Williams 29,163 49.71
Majority 336 0.57
Turnout 71.92
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

See also

References

  1. Treadway Russell Nash, History and Antiquities of the County of Worcester I (1781), introduction, xxxii.
  2. "Dudley CB/MB through time". Vision of Britain. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
  3. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  4. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
  5. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
  6. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
  7. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
  8. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
  9. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
  10. Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939