Birkenhead East (UK Parliament constituency)

Birkenhead East was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Birkenhead area of Merseyside. It 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.

Birkenhead East
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
1918–1950
Number of members	one
Replaced by	Birkenhead, Bebington
Created from	Birkenhead and Wirral

History

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

Boundaries

The County Borough of Birkenhead wards of Argyle, Bebington, Clifton, Egerton, and Mersey, and the part of the borough which lay between the eastern boundary of Argyle, Mersey and Bebington wards and the centre of the bed of the River Mersey.

Members of Parliament

Year		Member	Party
	1918	Alfred Bigland	Unionist
	1922	Graham White	Liberal
	1924	William Henry Stott	Unionist
	1929	Graham White	Liberal
	1945	Frank Soskice	Labour
1950		constituency abolished

Election results

Election in the 1910s

General election 1918: Birkenhead East[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
C	Unionist	Alfred Bigland	13,012	64.5	n/a
	Labour	John Finigan	5,399	26.7	n/a
	Liberal	Graham White	1,787	8.8	n/a
Majority			7,613	37.8	n/a
Turnout				60.7	n/a
	Unionist win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Election in the 1920s

General election 1922: Birkenhead East [2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Graham White	14,690	57.8	+49.0
	Unionist	Alfred Bigland	10,745	42.2	-22.3
Majority			3,945	15.6	53.4
Turnout				77.5
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing	+35.7

General election 1923: Birkenhead East [3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Graham White	15,845	63.5	+5.7
	Unionist	Luke Lees	9,091	36.5	-5.7
Majority			6,754	27.0	+11.4
Turnout				74.1	-3.4
	Liberal hold		Swing	+5.7

General election 1924: Birkenhead East [4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	William Henry Stott	11,328	40.3	+3.8
	Liberal	Graham White	9,275	33.0	-30.5
	Labour	James Coulthard	7,496	26.7	n/a
Majority			2,053	7.3
Turnout				81.0	+6.9
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing

General election 1929: Birkenhead East [5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Graham White	13,157	35.9	+2.9
	Unionist	Edmund Brocklebank	11,860	32.3	-8.0
	Labour	James Coulthard	11,654	31.8	+5.1
Majority			1,297	3.6	10.9
Turnout				78.8	-2.2
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing	+5.5

Election in the 1930s

General election 1931: Birkenhead East[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Graham White	26,938	73.2	+37.3
	Labour	Charles McVey	9,868	26.8	-5.0
Majority			17,070	46.4	+36.5
Turnout				79.1	+0.3
	Liberal hold		Swing	+21.2

• Conservative candidate Walter Fletcher withdrew 17 days before polling day[7]

General election 1935: Birkenhead East[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Graham White	16,548	48.1	-25.1
	Conservative	S J Hill	9,854	28.6	n/a
	Labour	Mary Mercer	8,028	23.3	-3.5
Majority			6,694	19.5	-17.0
Turnout				74.2	-4.9
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

Election in the 1940s

General election 1945: Birkenhead East:[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Frank Soskice	14,790	45.5	+22.2
	Liberal	Graham White	10,140	31.1	-17.0
	Conservative	Frederick Newell Bucher	7,624	23.4	-5.2
Majority			4,650	14.4	n/a
Turnout				73.6	-0.6
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing	+19.6

References

1. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
2. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
3. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
4. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
5. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
6. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
7. "Obituary: Sir Walter Fletcher Former M.P. For Bury". The Times. 7 April 1956. p. 11.
8. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
9. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig

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