Oswestry (UK Parliament constituency)

Oswestry
Former County constituency
for the House of Commons
1885–1983
Number of members one
Replaced by North Shropshire
Created from North Shropshire

Oswestry is a United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency. It was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 to 1983, when it was renamed North Shropshire. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post method of election.

Members of Parliament

ElectionMemberParty
1885 Stanley Leighton Conservative
1901 by-election Hon. George Ralph Ormsby-Gore Conservative
1904 by-election Allan Heywood Bright Liberal
1906 William Clive Bridgeman Conservative
1929 Maj. Bertie Leighton Conservative
1945 Oliver Poole Conservative
1950 David Ormsby-Gore Conservative
1961 by-election John Biffen Conservative
1983 Constituency abolished
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Election results

Oswestry by-election, 1901
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Hon. George Ralph Ormsby-Gore 4,518 56.5
Liberal Allan Heywood Bright 3,430 42.9
Majority 1,088
Conservative hold Swing {{{swing}}}
Turnout 7,990

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1918: Oswestry[1]

Electorate 31,977

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist 12,276 59.2
Labour Thomas Morris 8,467 40.8
Majority 3,809 18.4
Turnout 64.9
Unionist hold Swing

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1922: Oswestry[2]

Electorate 31,923

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Rt Hon. William Clive Bridgeman 12,837 50.2 -9.0
Liberal Russell Sidebottom 6,660 26.0 n/a
Labour Thomas Morris 6,105 23.8
Majority 6,177 24.2
Turnout 80.2 +15.3
Unionist hold Swing
General Election 1923: Oswestry[3]

Electorate 32,595

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Rt Hon. William Clive Bridgeman 11,528 46.6
Liberal Russell Sidebottom 9,713 39.3
Labour Sidney Ronald Campion 3,477 14.1
Majority 1,815 7.3 -16.9
Turnout 75.8
Unionist hold Swing
William Bridgeman
General Election 1924: Oswestry[4]

Electorate 32,913

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Rt Hon. William Clive Bridgeman 14,316 55.1
Liberal Russell Sidebottom 6,143 23.7
Labour Thomas Morris 5,503 21.2
Majority 8,173 31.4
Turnout 78.9
Unionist hold Swing
General Election 1929: Oswestry[5]

Electorate 41,953

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Bertie Leighton 15,544 47.0
Liberal John Share Jones 10,565 32.0
Labour H S Evans 6,944 21.0
Majority 4,989 15.0
Turnout 78.8
Unionist hold Swing

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931: Oswestry[6]

Electorate 42,928

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Bertie Leighton 23,740 74.0 +27.0
Labour WE Warder 8,343 26.0 +5.0
Majority 15,397 48.0
Turnout 32,083 74.7
Conservative hold Swing
General Election 1935: Oswestry[7]

Electorate 43,767

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Bertie Leighton Unopposed n/a n/a
Conservative hold Swing n/a

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;

General Election 1945: Oswestry[8]

Electorate 48,673

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Oliver Brian Sanderson Poole 19,082 54.7
Labour GDE Boyd-Carpenter 10,777 30.9
Liberal Lt. L Corbet Burcher 5,049 14.5
Majority 8,305 23.8
Turnout 71.7
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1959: Oswestry[9]

Electorate 50,772

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative David Ormsby-Gore 21,055 55.9
Labour Glyn Thomas 10,531 28.0
Liberal Denis G. Rees 6,068 16.1
Majority 10,524 27.9
Turnout 37,654 74.2
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1960s

Oswestry by-election, 1961[10]

Electorate

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Biffen 12,428 40.8 -15.1
Liberal J. R. Buchanan 8,647 28.4 +12.3
Labour Alastair Brian Walden 8,519 28.0 -0.0
Patriotic Front John E. Dayton 839 2.8 n/a
Majority 3,781 12.4 -15.5
Turnout 30,433 60.8 -13.4
Conservative hold Swing -13.7
General Election 1964: Oswestry[11]

Electorate 50,066

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Biffen 18,154 47.4 +6.6
Labour George J. Costley 11,407 29.8 +1.8
Liberal Thomas R. Crowther 8,745 22.8 -5.6
Majority 6,747 17.6 +5.2
Turnout 38,709
Conservative hold Swing +2.4

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: Oswestry[12]

Electorate 55,641

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative William John Biffen 20,361 50.7
Labour Neil Turner 10,801 26.9
Liberal Dr Edward Paul Cadbury 8,963 22.3 +6.0
Majority 9,560 23.8
Turnout 40,125 72.0
Conservative hold Swing +5.5
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

References

  1. ↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, F W S Craig
  2. ↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, F W S Craig
  3. ↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, F W S Craig
  4. ↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, F W S Craig
  5. ↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, F W S Craig
  6. ↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, F W S Craig
  7. ↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, F W S Craig
  8. ↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, F W S Craig
  9. ↑ F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1973
  10. ↑ F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1973
  11. ↑ F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1973
  12. ↑ British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig

See also