Kingston upon Hull Central (UK Parliament constituency)

Kingston upon Hull Central
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
1885–1983
Number of members	one

Kingston upon Hull Central was a parliamentary constituency in the city of Kingston upon Hull in East Yorkshire. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

The constituency was created for the 1885 general election, and abolished for the 1955 general election. It was then re-created for the February 1974 general election, and abolished again for the 1983 general election.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1885–1955

	Member^[1]	Party
1885	Henry Seymour King	Conservative
1911 by-election	Sir Mark Sykes	Conservative
1919 by-election	Joseph Kenworthy	Liberal
1926	Joseph Kenworthy	Labour
1931	Basil Barton	Conservative
1935	Walter Windsor	Labour
1945	Mark Hewitson	Labour
1955	constituency abolished

MPs 1974–1983

Event		Member^[1]	Party
	Feb 1974	Kevin McNamara	Labour
	1983	constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1910s

General Election January 1910: Hull Central^[2] Electorate 8,181
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sir Henry Seymour King	3,606	50.1
	Liberal	Robert William Aske	3,586	49.9
Majority			20	0.2
Turnout				87.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election December 1910: Hull Central^[3] Electorate 8,181
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sir Henry Seymour King	3,625	51.5	+1.4
	Liberal	Robert William Aske	3,418	48.5	-1.4
Majority			207	3.0	+2.8
Turnout				86.1	-1.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	+2.4

Kingston upon Hull Central by-election, 1911^[4] Electorate
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Tatton Benvenuto Mark Sykes	3,823	51.9	+0.4
	Liberal	Sir Robert William Aske	3,545	48.1	-0.4
Majority				3.8	+0.8
Turnout			7,368
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.4

General Election 1918 Electorate 31,421
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Col. Sir Mark Sykes	13,805	80.1
	Liberal	Rev. Roderick Morris Kedward	3,434	19.9
Majority			10,371	60.2
Turnout			17,239	54.9
	Unionist hold		Swing

denotes candidate who was endorsed by the Coalition Government.

Joseph Kenworthy

Kingston upon Hull Central by-election, 1919
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Joseph Kenworthy	8,616	52.8	+32.9
	Unionist	Lord Eustace Percy	7,699	47.2	-32.9
Majority			917	5.6	65.8
Turnout				51.9	-3.0
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing	+32.9

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1922: Electorate 35,037
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Joseph Montague Kenworthy	15,374	55.5	+2.7
	Conservative	Herbert William Looker	12,347	44.5	-2.7
Majority			3,027	11.0	+5.4
Turnout			27,721	79.1	+27.2
	Liberal hold		Swing	+2.7

General Election 6 December 1923: Electorate 36,085
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Joseph Montague Kenworthy	15,847
	Conservative	Edward Wooll	10,507
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election, 29 October 1924 Electorate 36,514
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Joseph Montague Kenworthy	15,234
	Conservative	Lancelot Evelyn Gaunt	12,904
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

Kingston-upon-Hull Central by-election, 1926
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Joseph Montague Kenworthy	16,145
	Conservative	Lancelot Evelyn Gaunt	11,466
	Liberal	Charles Iain Kerr	2,885
Majority
Turnout			30,496
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing

General Election, 30 May 1929 Electorate 44,439
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Joseph Montague Kenworthy	18,815	54.1
	Conservative	Lawrence Kimball	11,181	32.1
	Liberal	Alfred Samuel Doran	4,802	13.8
Majority			7,634	22.0
Turnout				78.3
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931: Kingston upon Hull Central Electorate 43,153
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Basil Kelsey Barton	19,773	55.10
	Labour	Joseph Montague Kenworthy	16,113	44.90
Majority			3,660	10.20
Turnout				83.16
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General Election 1935: Kingston upon Hull Central Electorate 43,153
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Walter Windsor	14,851	52.88
	Conservative	Basil Kelsey Barton	13,231	47.12
Majority			1,620	5.77
Turnout				75.63
	Labour gain from Conservative		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 from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected;

Labour: Walter Windsor,
Conservative: Diana Spearman (Mrs. A. C. Spearman)^[5]
Liberal:

General Election 1945: Kingston upon Hull Central Electorate 20,482
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Capt. Mark Hewitson	8,786	58.75
	Conservative	Diana Spearman	4,106	27.46
	Liberal	C Stanley Bell	2,062	13.79
Majority			4,680	31.30
Turnout				73.01
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: Kingston upon Hull Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Capt. Mark Hewitson	27,351	56.49
	Conservative	RO Wilberforce	15,951	32.95
	Liberal	AR Hardcastle	5,113	10.56
Majority			11,400	23.55
Turnout				78.19
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1951: Kingston upon Hull Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Capt. Mark Hewitson	29,674	61.71
	Conservative	WR Bull	18,413	38.29
Majority			11,261	23.42
Turnout				76.33
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: Kingston upon Hull Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Kevin McNamara	22,318	52.14
	Conservative	J Tillett	14,725	34.40
	Liberal	J Bryant	5,069	11.84
	National Front	A Braithwaite	422	0.99
	Socialist Unity	PM Stanton	274	0.64
Majority			7,593	17.74
Turnout				70.41
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election October 1974: Kingston upon Hull Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Kevin McNamara	22,417	52.35
	Conservative	PWJ Carver	12,596	29.41
	Liberal	N Turner	7,810	18.24
Majority			9,821	22.93
Turnout				67.67
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election February 1974: Kingston upon Hull Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Kevin McNamara	26,855	58.27
	Conservative	PWJ Carver	19,236	41.73
Majority			7,619	16.53
Turnout				73.51
	Labour hold		Swing

Notes and references

Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.

↑ 1.0 1.1 Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "H" (part 4)
↑ British parliamentary election results 1885-1918, FWS Craig
↑ British parliamentary election results 1885-1918, FWS Craig
↑ British parliamentary election results 1885-1918, FWS Craig
↑ Hull Daily Mail, 24 Jun 1938