Manchester Rusholme (UK Parliament constituency)

Manchester Rusholme
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
1918–1950
Number of members one
Replaced by Manchester Ardwick, Manchester Gorton and Manchester Withington
Created from Manchester South and Stretford

Manchester Rusholme was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Rusholme district of Manchester. 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 constituency was created by the Representation of the People Act for the 1918 general election, and abolished for the 1950 general election.

Boundaries

The constituency was created as Manchester, Rusholme Division by the Representation of the People Act 1918, and was defined as consisting of three wards of the county borough of Manchester, namely Levenshulme, Longsight and Rusholme.[1]

The division consisted of areas that had been included with Manchester's municipal boundaries in 1890 and 1909.[2] Since the previous redistribution of seats in 1885, they had formed part of the Stretford Division of Lancashire.

The seat was abolished by the Representation of the People Act 1948, with its area being redistributed between Manchester Ardwick (Longsight), Manchester Gorton (Levenshulme) and Manchester Withington (Rusholme) borough constituencies.[3]

Members of Parliament

ElectionMemberParty
1918 Robert Burdon Stoker Coalition Conservative
1919 John Henry Thorpe Coalition Conservative
1923 Charles Masterman Liberal
1924 Sir Frank Boyd Merriman Conservative
1933 Edmund Ashworth Radford Conservative
1944 Frederick William Cundiff Conservative
1945 Hugh Lester Hutchinson Labour
1949 Labour Independent Group
1950 constituency abolished

Election results

Election in the 1910s

General Election 1918

Electorate 30,421

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Robert Burdon Stoker 12,447 66.1
Liberal Walter Butterworth 3,690 19.3
Labour Mrs Emmeline P. Pethick-Lawrence 2,985 15.6
Majority 8,748 45.8
Turnout
Conservative hold Swing
By-Election 1919

Electorate 30,421

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Henry Thorpe 9,394 45.7 -20.4
Labour Dr. Robert Dunstan 6,412 31.2 +15.6
Liberal William Mather Rutherford Pringle 3,923 19.1 -0.2
National Party Roger Bowan Crewdson 815 4.0 n/a
Majority 2,982 14.5 -31.3
Turnout 67.5
Conservative hold Swing

Election in the 1920s

General Election 1922

Electorate 31,225

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Henry Thorpe 11,765 47.9 +2.2
Liberal E Frederick M Sutton 6,421 26.1 +7.0
Labour Albert Ernest Wood 6,397 -
Majority 5,344 21.8 +7.3
Turnout 77.8 +10.3
Conservative hold Swing
Charles Masterman
General Election 1923

Electorate 32,253

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Rt Hon. Charles Frederick Gurney Masterman 10,901 43.4 +17.3
Conservative John Henry Thorpe 8,876 35.3 -12.6
Labour William Paul 5,366 21.3
Majority 2,025 8.1 +29.9
Turnout 78.0 +0.2
Liberal gain from Conservative Swing
General Election 1924

Electorate 33,147

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Frank Boyd Merriman 13,341 50.4
Liberal Rt Hon. Charles Frederick Gurney Masterman 7,772 29.4
Communist William Paul 5,328 20.2
Majority 5,569 21.0
Turnout 79.8
Conservative gain from Liberal Swing
General Election 1929: Manchester Rusholme [4]

Electorate 42,289

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Sir Frank Boyd Merriman 14,230 42.8 -7.6
Liberal Philip Guedalla 10,958 32.9 +3.5
Labour Jerrold Adshead 8,080 24.3 +4.1
Majority 3,272 9.9 -11.1
Turnout 33,268 78.7 -1.1
Conservative hold Swing -5.5

Election in the 1930s

General Election 1931

Electorate 44,743

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Sir Frank Boyd Merriman 24,817 69.3
Labour Jerrold Adshead 6,319 17.6
Liberal Frank Crane Thornborough 4,658 13.0
Majority 18,498 51.7
Turnout 35,794 80.0
Conservative hold Swing
By-Election 1933

Electorate 45,112

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Edmund Ashworth Radford 13,904 50.8
Labour Rev. George Saville Woods 11,005 40.1
Independent Liberal Dr Percy McDougall 2,503 9.1
Majority 2,899 10.7
Turnout 60.8
Conservative hold Swing
General Election 1935

Electorate 45,068

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Edmund Ashworth Radford 19,678 62.6
Labour A Knight 9,258 29.4
Independent Liberal Dr P. McDougall 2,525 8.0
Majority 10,420 33.2
Turnout 69.8
Conservative hold Swing

Election in the 1940s

General Election 1940 Another election was due to take place by 1940 but did not take place due to the outbreak of war. The following candidates had alreasdy been selected to fight this election;

Manchester Rusholme by-election, 1944
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Frederick William Cundiff 8,430 53.3
Common Wealth H.W. Blomerley 6,670 42.1
Independent Labour C.J. Taylor 734 4.6
Majority 1,760 11.2
Turnout 34.7
General Election 1945
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Hugh Lester Hutchinson 15,408 43.4
Conservative Frederick William Cundiff 15,398 43.4
Liberal George Chappell 4,673 13.2
Majority 10 0.0
Turnout 47,486 74.7

References

  1. ↑ Ninth Schedule, Part I: Parliamentary Boroughs, 1918 c.64 sch.9
  2. ↑ F A Youngs Jr., Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol.II: Northern England, London, 1991
  3. ↑ First Schedule: Parliamentary Constituencies, 1948 c.65 sch.1
  4. ↑ British parliamentary election results, 1918-1949 by FWS Craig
  5. ↑ The Liberal Magazine 1939