Middlesbrough West (UK Parliament constituency)

Middlesbrough West
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
County North Riding of Yorkshire
1918–1974
Number of members One
Replaced by Thornaby
Created from Middlesbrough

Middlesbrough West was a parliamentary constituency in the town of Middlesbrough in North East England. 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 voting system.

The constituency was created for the 1918 general election, and abolished for the February 1974 general election.

Boundaries

When created in 1918, the constituency consisted of the County Borough of Middlesbrough wards of Acklam, Ayrsome, Cannon, Cleveland, Linthorpe, and Newport.

In the 1950 redistribution the Acklam, Ayresome, and Linthorpe wards remained in the seat and the Municipal Borough of Thornaby-on-Tees was added. The other Middlesbrough wards from this seat were transferred to Middlesbrough East.

In 1964 a local redistribution affecting Middlesbrough took effect. Four additional Middlesbrough wards were transferred from Middlesbrough East and added to the existing West constituency; namely Crescent, Gresham, Park, and Whinney Banks.

Members of Parliament

ElectionMemberParty
1918 Trevelyan Thomson Liberal
1928 by-election Frank Kingsley Griffith Liberal
1940 by-election Harcourt Johnstone Liberal
1945 by-election Donald Bennett Liberal
1945 Geoffrey Cooper Labour
1951 Sir Jocelyn Simon Conservative
1962 by-election Jeremy Bray Labour
1970 John Sutcliffe Conservative
Feb 1974 constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1918:

Electorate 32,286

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Sgt. Walter Trevelyan Thomson 10,958
Labour Concemore Thomas Cramp 5,350
Majority
Turnout
Liberal hold Swing

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1922: Middlesbrough West, Electorate: 35,448
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Walter Trevelyan Thomson 16,811
National Liberal Dr. Harry Driffield Levick 7,422
Majority
Turnout
Liberal hold Swing
General Election 1923: Middlesbrough West, Electorate: 35,362
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Walter Trevelyan Thomson 16,837
Labour James Dundas White 7,443
Majority
Turnout
Liberal hold Swing
General Election 1924: Middlesbrough West, Electorate: 35,362
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Walter Trevelyan Thomson unopposed
Liberal hold Swing
Middlesbrough West by-election, 1928
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Frank Kingsley Griffith 10,717 36.2
Labour A R Ellis 10,628 36.0
Conservative Stanley Sadler 8,213 27.8
Majority 89 0.2
Turnout 29,558 83.2
Liberal hold Swing
General Election 1929: Middlesbrough West, Electorate: 43,915
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Frank Kingsley Griffith 14,674 40.6
Labour A R Ellis 13,328 36.9
Conservative A E Baucher 8,137 22.5
Majority 1,346 3.7
Turnout
Liberal hold Swing

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931: Middlesbrough West, Electorate: 45,929
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Frank Kingsley Griffith 26,011 66.61
Labour H Kegie 13,040 33.39
Majority 12,971 33.32
Turnout 85.02
Liberal hold Swing
General Election 1935: Middlesbrough West, Electorate: 45,929
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Frank Kingsley Griffith 13,689 36.18
Labour H Kegie 12,764 33.73
National Labour William Arthur Spofforth 11,387 30.09
Majority 925 2.44
Turnout 79.39
Liberal hold Swing

Elections in the 1940s

A General election was due to take place before the end of 1940, but was postponed due to the Second World War. By 1939, the following candidates had been selected to contest this constituency;

General Election 1939/40: 45,929
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Frank Kingsley Griffith
National Labour Thomas K. Briggs[1]
Middlesbrough West by-election, 1940
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Harcourt Johnstone Unopposed N/A N/A
Liberal hold Swing N/A
Middlesbrough West by-election, 1945
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Air Vice Marshal Donald Clifford Tyndall Bennett Unopposed N/A N/A
Liberal hold Swing N/A
General Election 1945: Middlesbrough West, Electorate: 48,595
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Geoffrey Cooper 20,071 53.48
Liberal Air Vice Marshal Donald Clifford Tyndall Bennett 17,458 46.52
Majority 2,613 6.96
Turnout 77.23
Labour gain from Liberal Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: Middlesbrough West
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Geoffrey Cooper 21,593 46.31
Conservative L Wright 17,760 38.09
Liberal Charles Philip Fothergill 7,273 15.60
Majority 3,833 8.22
Turnout 86.42
Labour hold Swing
General Election 1951: Middlesbrough West
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Jocelyn Edward Salis Simon 24,622 52.22
Labour David Dunwoodie 22,525 47.78
Majority 2,097 4.45
Turnout 86.29
Conservative gain from Labour Swing
General Election 1955: Middlesbrough West
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Jocelyn Edward Salis Simon 25,495 58.44
Labour Mrs. Rita A. Smythe 18,134 41.56
Majority 7,361 16.87
Turnout 82.45
Conservative hold Swing
General Election 1959: Middlesbrough West
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Jocelyn Edward Salis Simon 24,602 54.88
Labour Edward Joseph Fletcher 15,892 35.45
Liberal G W Ian Hodgson 4,336 9.67
Majority 8,710 19.43
Turnout 84.49
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1960s and 1970s

Middlesbrough West by-election, 1962
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Jeremy Bray 15,095
Conservative Bernard Connelly 12,825
Liberal George Edwin Scott 9,829
Independent RE Eckley 189
Independent M Thompson 117
Majority 2,270
Turnout
Labour gain from Conservative Swing
General Election 1964: Middlesbrough West
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Jeremy Bray 19,904 44.75
Conservative AJ Sumption 18,759 42.17
Liberal Cartmell John Alexander Rettie 5,816 13.08
Majority 1,145 2.57
Turnout 84.07
Labour hold Swing
General Election 1966: Middlesbrough West
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Jeremy Bray 23,649 54.48
Conservative John Sutcliffe 19,756 45.52
Majority 3,893 8.97
Turnout 81.47
Labour hold Swing
General Election 1970: Middlesbrough West
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Sutcliffe 22,374 50.44
Labour Jeremy Bray 21,986 49.56
Majority 388 0.87
Turnout 75.05
Conservative gain from Labour Swing

See also

References

  1. ↑ Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer 27 February 1939