Wirral (UK Parliament constituency)

Wirral
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1885–1983
Number of members	one

Wirral was a county constituency which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system.

The constituency was located on the Wirral Peninsula, historically part of Cheshire in North West England, and was created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 for the 1885 general election. From 1974, its territory was split between the newly-created Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, part of the metropolitan county of Merseyside, and the borough of Ellesmere Port and Neston which remained part of Cheshire.

It was abolished for the 1983 general election, and was succeeded by the constituencies of Ellesmere Port and Neston, Wirral South and Wirral West.

Boundaries

1950-1974: The Muncipal Borough of Ellesmere Port; and the Urban Districts of Hoylake, Neston, and Wirral.

1974-1983: The Urban Districts of Hoylake, Neston, and Wirral; and the County Borough of Birkenhead wards of Prenton and Upton.

Members of Parliament

	Member	Party
1885	Edward Cotton-Jodrell	Conservative
1900	Joseph Hoult	Conservative
1906	William Lever	Liberal
Jan 1910	Gershom Stewart	Conservative
1923	Stephen Roxby Dodds	Liberal
1924	John Grace	Conservative
1931	George Christopher Clayton	Conservative
1935	Alan Crosland Graham	Conservative
1945	Selwyn Lloyd	Conservative
1971	Selwyn Lloyd	Speaker
1976 by-election	David Hunt	Conservative
1983	constituency abolished: see Ellesmere Port and Neston, Wirral South and Wirral West

Election results

1970s

General Election 1979: Wirral Electorate
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Hunt	44,519	59.0
	Labour	C. Ryder	21,188	28.1
	Liberal	R. Barnett	9,769	12.9
Majority			23,331	30.9
Turnout				77.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

Wirral by-election, 1976
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Hunt	34,675
	Labour	Adrian Bailey	10,562
	Liberal	Michael Gayford	5,914
	English National	Frank Hansford-Miller	466
	Independent Conservative	Hilary Miller	307
Majority			24,112
Turnout
	Conservative gain from Speaker		Swing

General Election October 1974: Wirral
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Speaker	Selwyn Lloyd	35,705	50.8
	Labour	P. R. Thomas	22,217	31.6
	Liberal	Michael Gayford	12,345	17.6
Majority			13,488	19.2
Turnout				75.5
	Speaker hold		Swing

General Election February 1974: Wirral
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Speaker	Selwyn Lloyd	38,452	51.2
	Labour	A. J. Whipp	22,605	30.1
	Liberal	Michael Gayford	14,123	18.8
Majority			15,847	21.1
Turnout				81.5
	Speaker gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election 1970: Wirral Electorate 94,520
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rt Hon. John Selwyn B Lloyd	38,655	55.1
	Labour	R Gordon Paterson	22,197	31.7
	Liberal	Miss Geraldine Jones	9,276	13.2
Majority			16,458	23.5
Turnout				74.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

1960s

General Election 1966: Wirral Electorate 82,056
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rt Hon. John Selwyn B Lloyd	31,477	48.12
	Labour	Dennis V Hunt	21,624	33.06
	Liberal	Peter Howell Williams	12,313	18.82
Majority			9,853	15.06
Turnout			65,414	79.72
	Conservative hold		Swing	+3.9

General Election 1964: Wirral Electorate 78,856
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rt Hon. John Selwyn B Lloyd	32,084	50.05
	Labour	Mrs. Millicent Aspin	17,445	27.21
	Liberal	Peter Howell Williams	14,574	22.74
Majority			14,639	22.84
Turnout			64,103	81.29
	Conservative hold		Swing

1950s

General Election 1959: Wirral Electorate 71,025
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rt Hon. John Selwyn B Lloyd	39,807	67.92
	Labour	Frederick W Venables	18,805	32.08
Majority			21,002	35.83
Turnout			58,612	82.52
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Wirral Electorate 64,082
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rt Hon. John Selwyn B Lloyd	33,027	67.40
	Labour	Reginald B Chrimes	15,976	32.60
Majority			27,051	34.80
Turnout			49,003	76.46
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1951: Wirral
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rt Hon. John Selwyn B Lloyd	32,631	65.23
	Labour	Reginald B Chrimes	17,392	34.77
Majority			15,239	30.46
Turnout				81.74
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1950: Wirral Electorate : 59,642
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rt Hon. John Selwyn B Lloyd	29,232	57.05
	Labour	HA Kelly	15,993	31.21
	Liberal	Thomas Mercer Banks	6,018	11.74
Majority			13,239	25.84
Turnout				85.92
	Conservative hold		Swing

1940s

General Election 1945: Wirral Electorate 109,762
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Selwyn Brooke Lloyd	42,544	51.40
	Labour	Miss Agnes L Bulley	25,919	31.32
	Liberal	Brig. Eric Dorman-Smith	14,302	17.28
Majority			16,625	20.09
Turnout				75.40
	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 from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected; Conservative: Alan Crosland Graham, Liberal: Thomas Mercer Banks, Labour: Miss A L Bulley.

1930s

General Election 1935: Wirral Electorate 82,413
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alan Crosland Graham	41,617	72.58
	Labour	Stanley Wormald	15,801	27.52
Majority			25,816	44.96
Turnout				69.67
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1931: Wirral Electorate
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Christopher Clayton	44,935	81.53
	Labour	Stanley Wormald	10,117	18.47
Majority			34,758	63.07
Turnout				77.02
	Conservative hold		Swing

1920s

General Election 1929 Electorate 63,004
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	John Grace	23,522	47.5
	Liberal	Stephen Roxby Dodds	15,158	30.6
	Labour	George Beardsworth	10,876	21.9
Majority
Turnout				78.7
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1924 Electorate 37,232
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	John Grace	17,705
	Liberal	Stephen Roxby Dodds	11,697
Majority
Turnout
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing

General Election 1923 Electorate 35,518
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Stephen Roxby Dodds	13,631
	Unionist	Gershom Stewart	11,791
Majority			1,840	7.2
Turnout
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing

General Election 1922 Electorate 34,150
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Gershom Stewart	12,888
	Liberal	Stephen Roxby Dodds	8,014
	Labour	James Edward Cameron Grant	4,363
Majority			4,874	19.3
Turnout
	Unionist hold		Swing

1910s

General Election 1918 Electorate 31,264
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Gershom Stewart	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Unionist hold		Swing	n/a

denotes candidate who was endorsed by the Coalition Government.

1900s

William Lever

General Election 1906: Wirral^[1] Electorate 19,388
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Hesketh Lever	8,833	55.3	+9.8
	Conservative	Joseph Hoult	7,132	44.7	-9.8
Majority			1,701	10.6	19.6
Turnout			15,965	82.3	+7.4
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+9.8

References

↑ British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)

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

References

Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd edition ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 4)

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Tiverton	Constituency represented by the Chancellor of the Exchequer 1960–1962	Succeeded by Barnet
Preceded by Southampton Itchen	Constituency represented by the Speaker 1971–1976	Succeeded by Cardiff West