Penrith and Cockermouth (UK Parliament constituency)

Penrith and Cockermouth
Former County constituency
for the House of Commons
1918–1950
Number of members one
Replaced by Penrith and The Border and Workington
Created from Cockermouth and Penrith

Penrith and Cockermouth was a parliamentary constituency centred on the towns of Penrith and Cockermouth in Cumberland, 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 system.

History

The constituency was created for the 1918 general election, and abolished for the 1950 general election.

Members of Parliament

ElectionMemberParty
1918 James William Lowther Speaker
1921 Sir H. Cecil Lowther Unionist
1922 Levi Collison Liberal
1923 Arthur Carlyne Niven Dixey Unionist
1935 Alan Vincent Gandar Dower Conservative
1950 constituency abolished: see Penrith & The Border

Elections

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1918

Electorate

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Speaker Rt Hon. James William Lowther unopposed N/A N/A
Speaker win

Elections in the 1920s

Penrith and Cockermouth by-election, 1921
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Sir Henry Cecil Lowther 7,678 50.1 N/A
Liberal Levi Collison 7,647 49.9 N/A
Majority 31 0.2 N/A
Turnout 15,325 74.0 N/A
Unionist hold Swing N/A
General Election 1922

Electorate 21,498

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Levi Collison 9,114 51.1
Unionist Sir Henry Cecil Lowther 8,736 48.9
Majority 378 2.2
Turnout 83.0
Liberal gain from Unionist Swing
General Election 1923

Electorate 21,735

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Arthur Carlyne Niven Dixey 9,205 50.9 +2.0
Liberal Levi Collison 8,878 49.1 -2.0
Majority 327 1.8 4.0
Turnout 83.2 +0.2
Unionist gain from Liberal Swing +2.0
General Election 1924

Electorate 22,166

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Arthur Carlyne Niven Dixey 11,431 67.9
Labour F Tait 5,404 32.1 n/a
Majority 6,027 35.8 +34.0
Turnout 75.9
Unionist hold Swing n/a
General Election 1929

Electorate 27,465

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Arthur Carlyne Niven Dixey 10,595 45.2
Liberal Arthur Holgate 8,750 37.4 n/a
Labour Archibald Dodd 4,073 17.4
Majority 1,845 7.8
Turnout 85.3
Unionist hold Swing

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931

Electorate 28,068

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Arthur Carlyne Niven Dixey 12,904 53.1 +7.9
Liberal Arthur Holgate 11,412 46.9
Majority 1,492 6.2
Turnout 86.6 +1.3
Conservative hold Swing
General Election 1935

Electorate 28,737

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Alan Vincent Gandar Dower 14,496 64.3
Labour Harold Smith 8,036 35.7 n/a
Majority 6,460 28.6 +22.4
Turnout 78.4
Conservative hold Swing

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;

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1945

Electorate 30,676

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Lt-Col. Alan Vincent Gandar Dower 9,198 37.8 -26.5
Liberal Noel F Newsome 6,579 27.0 n/a
Labour Lt-Col. Leonard Foster Browne 6,350 26.1 -9.6
National Independent T Mitchell 2,204 9.1 n/a
Majority 2,619 10.8
Turnout 79.3
Conservative hold Swing n/a

References

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

    Parliament of the United Kingdom
    Preceded by
    Penrith    		 Constituency represented by the Speaker
    1918–1921     		Succeeded by
    Halifax