Bilston (UK Parliament constituency)
Bilston was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Bilston in what is now the southeast of the city of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Bilston | |
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Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons | |
1950–February 1974 | |
Number of members | one |
Replaced by | Wolverhampton South East |
Wolverhampton Bilston | |
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Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons | |
1918–1950 | |
Number of members | one |
Created from | Wolverhampton South |
As well as the town of Bilston, which had been heavily industrialised town since the 19th century, it also incorporated the nearby communities of Sedgley and Coseley, both of which were still predominantly rural villages when the parliamentary seat was created in 1918, but by the time the constituency changed from Wolverhampton Bilston to Bilston 32 years later they were rapidly expanding into towns, and had expanded further still when the constituency was finally abolished in 1974.
History
The area was created, as a Staffordshire borough constituency, for the 1918 general election. It was named as a division of Wolverhampton. From the 1950 general election the Wolverhampton prefix was dropped from the official constituency name. The seat was abolished for the February 1974 general election, when it was largely replaced by the new Wolverhampton South East constituency.
Boundaries
1918–1950: The constituency consisted of the then Urban Districts of Bilston, Coseley and Sedgley.
1950–1974: By 1950 Bilston was a Municipal Borough. Coseley and Sedgley were still Urban Districts in the constituency. In 1966 most of Sedgley was incorporated into an expanded borough of Dudley, which also took in the south of Coseley, while the remainder of Sedgley was transferred to Wolverhampton and Seisdon and sections of Coseley were transferred to Wolverhampton and West Bromwich.
Members of Parliament
Year | Member | Party | |
---|---|---|---|
1918 | T. E. Hickman | Coalition Conservative | |
1922 | Charles Howard-Bury | Conservative | |
1924 | John Baker | Labour | |
1931 | Geoffrey Peto | Conservative | |
1935 | Ian Hannah | Conservative | |
1944 by-election | William Gibbons | Conservative | |
1945 | Will Nally | Labour | |
1955 | Bob Edwards | Labour Co-op | |
Feb 1974 | constituency abolished: see Wolverhampton South East |
Election results
Elections in the 1910s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
C | Unionist | T. E. Hickman | 10,343 | 60.5 | n/a |
Labour | John William Kynaston | 6,744 | 39.5 | n/a | |
Majority | 3,599 | 21.0 | n/a | ||
Turnout | 59.9 | n/a | |||
Unionist win (new seat) | |||||
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government. |
Elections in the 1920s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unionist | Charles Howard-Bury | 12,297 | 54.2 | -6.3 | |
Labour | John Baker | 10,392 | 45.8 | +6.3 | |
Majority | 1,905 | 8.4 | -12.6 | ||
Turnout | 73.8 | +13.9 | |||
Unionist hold | Swing | -6.3 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unionist | Charles Howard-Bury | 10,186 | 41.6 | -12.6 | |
Labour | John Baker | 9,085 | 37.1 | -8.7 | |
Liberal | John Prentice | 5,205 | 21.3 | n/a | |
Majority | 1,101 | 4.5 | -3.9 | ||
Turnout | 74.9 | +1.1 | |||
Unionist hold | Swing | -1.9 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | John Baker | 14,583 | 53.2 | +16.1 | |
Unionist | Charles Howard-Bury | 12,840 | 46.8 | -5.2 | |
Majority | 1,743 | 6.4 | 10.9 | ||
Turnout | 82.0 | +7.1 | |||
Labour gain from Unionist | Swing | +5.5 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | John Baker | 18,679 | 50.7 | -2.5 | |
Unionist | S.J. Thompson | 13,635 | 37.1 | -9.7 | |
Liberal | Gilbert Salter | 4,475 | 12.2 | n/a | |
Majority | 5,044 | 13.6 | +7.2 | ||
Turnout | 85.4 | +3.4 | |||
Labour hold | Swing | +3.6 |
Elections in the 1930s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Geoffrey Peto | 20,620 | 55.04 | ||
Labour | John Baker | 16,847 | 44.96 | ||
Majority | 3,773 | 10.07 | |||
Turnout | 81.37 | ||||
Conservative gain from Labour | Swing | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Ian Hannah | 18,689 | 51.2 | ||
Labour | David Mort | 17,820 | 48.8 | ||
Majority | 869 | 2.4 | |||
Turnout | 70.9 | ||||
Conservative hold | Swing |
Elections in the 1940s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | William Gibbons | 9,693 | 50.63 | ||
Ind. Labour Party | A. Eaton | 9,344 | 49.08 | ||
Majority | 349 | 1.55 | |||
Turnout | 19,037 | ||||
Conservative hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour Co-op | Will Nally | 31,493 | 66.96 | ||
Conservative | William Gibbons | 14,691 | 31.24 | ||
Ind. Labour Party | A. Eaton | 849 | 1.81 | ||
Majority | 16,802 | 35.72 | |||
Turnout | 73.08 | ||||
Labour Co-op gain from Conservative | Swing | ||||
Elections in the 1950s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour Co-op | Will Nally | 29,919 | 62.62 | ||
Conservative | J Godrich | 17,858 | 37.38 | ||
Majority | 12,061 | 25.24 | |||
Turnout | 83.50 | ||||
Labour Co-op hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour Co-op | Will Nally | 31,381 | 61.86 | ||
National Liberal and Conservative | Charles Gordon-Spencer | 19,352 | 38.14 | ||
Majority | 12,029 | 23.71 | |||
Turnout | 82.76 | ||||
Labour Co-op hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour Co-op | Bob Edwards | 26,490 | 57.62 | ||
Conservative | E Anne Marsh | 19,482 | 42.38 | ||
Majority | 7,008 | 15.24 | |||
Turnout | 74.36 | ||||
Labour Co-op hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour Co-op | Bob Edwards | 27,068 | 53.50 | ||
Conservative | F John Oxford | 23,523 | 46.50 | ||
Majority | 3,545 | 7.01 | |||
Turnout | 76.81 | ||||
Labour Co-op hold | Swing |
Elections in the 1960s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour Co-op | Bob Edwards | 27,986 | 53.13 | ||
Conservative | F John Oxford | 24,686 | 46.87 | ||
Majority | 3,300 | 6.27 | |||
Turnout | 74.18 | ||||
Labour Co-op hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour Co-op | Bob Edwards | 29,794 | 56.93 | ||
Conservative | F John Oxford | 22,541 | 43.07 | ||
Majority | 7,253 | 13.86 | |||
Turnout | 73.21 | ||||
Labour Co-op hold | Swing |
Elections in the 1970s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour Co-op | Bob Edwards | 27,240 | 50.9 | ||
Conservative | Charles Irving | 26,240 | 49.1 | ||
Majority | 1,000 | 1.9 | |||
Turnout | 69.4 | ||||
Labour Co-op hold | Swing |
See also
References
- Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)
- Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 3)