West Bromwich (UK Parliament constituency)

West Bromwich
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
1885–February 1974
Number of members	One

West Bromwich was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 until 1974. It centred on West Bromwich, in the West Midlands. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post voting system.

History

The constituency was created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 for the 1885 general election. It was abolished for the February 1974 general election, when it was divided into West Bromwich East and West Bromwich West.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party	Notes
	1885	John Horton Blades	Liberal
	1886	Sir James Ernest Spencer	Conservative
	1906	Alfred Ernest William Hazel	Liberal
	Jan 1910	Viscount Lewisham	Conservative
	1918	Frederick Owen Roberts	Labour
	1931	Alexander Ramsay	Conservative
	1935	Frederick Roberts	Labour	Died in office October 1941
	1941 by-election	John Dugdale	Labour	Died in office March 1963
	1963 by-election	Maurice Foley	Labour	Resigned 1973
	1973 by-election	Betty Boothroyd	Labour	Subsequently MP for West Bromwich West; later Speaker of the House of Commons
	Feb 1974	constituency abolished: see West Bromwich East and West Bromwich West

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1885: West Bromwich[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Horton Blades	3,988	55.7	n/a
	Conservative	James Ernest Spencer	3,171	44.3	n/a
Majority			817	11.4	n/a
Turnout				81.8	n/a
	Liberal win (new seat)

General Election 1886: West Bromwich[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Ernest Spencer	3,660	54.2
	Liberal	TJ Moore	3,091	45.8
Majority			569	8.4
Turnout				77.2
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing

Elections in the 1890s

General Election 1892: West Bromwich[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Ernest Spencer	4,474	56.6
	Liberal	TL Roberts	3,429	43.4
Majority			1,045	13.2
Turnout				86.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1895: West Bromwich[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Ernest Spencer	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Conservative hold		Swing	n/a

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1900: West Bromwich[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Ernest Spencer	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Conservative hold		Swing	n/a

General Election 1906: West Bromwich[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Alfred Ernest William Hazel	5,475	56.2	n/a
	Conservative	Viscount Lewisham	4,259	43.8	n/a
Majority			1,216	12.4	n/a
Turnout				90.8	n/a
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	n/a

Elections in the 1910s

General Election January 1910: West Bromwich[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Viscount Lewisham	5,672	53.5
	Liberal	Alfred Ernest William Hazel	4,937	46.5
Majority			735	7.6
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election December 1910: West Bromwich[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Viscount Lewisham	5,010	50.0
	Liberal	Alfred Ernest William Hazel	5,008	50.0
Majority			2	0.0
Turnout				88.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1914/15:

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

• Unionist: Viscount Lewisham
• Liberal: Alfred Ernest William Hazel^[9]

Elections in the 1940s

1941

• West Bromwich by-election, 1941: John Dugdale returned unopposed

General Election 1945: West Bromwich
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Dugdale	27,979	69.9	+18.6
	Conservative	Gerald Nabarro	12,028	30.1	−18.6
Majority			15,951	39.8	+37.2
Turnout			40,007	72.5	−2.3
	Labour hold		Swing	+18.6

• Changes are calculated against the results of the 1935 general election, rather than the uncontested 1941 by-election

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1959: West Bromwich
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Dugdale	26,702	57.4	−4.2
	Conservative	A. H. Windrum	19,809	42.6	+4.4
Majority			6,893	14.8	−8.8
Turnout			46,511	72.6	+2.4
	Labour hold		Swing	−4.2

Elections in the 1960s

West Bromwich by-election, 1963
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Maurice Foley	20,510	58.7	+1.3
	Conservative	G. Hawkins	8,246	26.5	−16.1
	Liberal	N. R. W. Mawle	6,161	17.6	N/A
Majority			12,264	35.1	+20.3
Turnout			34,917
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

West Bromwich by-election, 1973
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Betty Boothroyd	15,907	53.21	-2.02
	Conservative	David Bell	7,582	25.36	-19.41
	National Front	Martin Webster	4,789	16.02	N/A
	Independent	Joshua Churchman	1,616	5.41	N/A
Majority			8,325	27.85
Turnout			29,894
	Labour hold		Swing

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 2)