Hyde (UK Parliament constituency)

Hyde was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 until 1918. It was seated in the town of Hyde, Cheshire.

Hyde
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
County	Cheshire
Major settlements	Hyde
1885–1918
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Stalybridge & Hyde
Created from	Mid Cheshire

From the 1918 general election onwards, the town has been represented in parliament through the constituency of Stalybridge and Hyde.

Boundaries

The constituency, officially Cheshire, Hyde Division, was created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 and consisted of the following parishes and townships in north east Cheshire:[1] Bredbury, the part of Brinnington outside the Municipal Borough of Stockport, Godley , Hattersley, Hollingworth, Hyde, Marple, Mottram, Newton, Offerton, Romiley, Tintwistle, Torkington and Werneth.

Abolition

The Representation of the People Act 1918 reorganised constituencies throughout Great Britain. The bulk of the Hyde constituency was merged with parliamentary borough of Stalybridge to form the new seat of Stalybridge and Hyde. The Bredbury, Marple and Romiley areas passed to the Macclesfield constituency, while Offerton and Torkington were included in Knutsford.[1]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Thomas Ashton	Liberal
	1886	Joseph Watson Sidebotham	Conservative
	1900	Edward Chapman	Conservative
	1906	Duncan Schwann	Liberal
	1910	Francis Neilson	Liberal
	1916 by-election	Thomas Owen Jacobsen	Liberal
	1918	Constituency abolished. See Stalybridge and Hyde

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

Ashton

General election 1885: Hyde [2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Thomas Ashton	4,546	53.3	N/A
	Conservative	William Legh	3,990	46.7	N/A
Majority			556	6.6	N/A
Turnout			8,536	91.5	N/A
Registered electors			9,328
	Liberal win (new seat)

Sidebotham

General election 1886: Hyde [2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Joseph Watson Sidebotham	4,328	52.7	+6.0
	Liberal	Thomas Ashton	3,885	47.3	-6.0
Majority			443	5.4	N/A
Turnout			8,213	88.0	-3.5
Registered electors			9,328
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+6.0

Elections in the 1890s

General election 1892: Hyde [2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Joseph Watson Sidebotham	4,525	51.7	-1.0
	Liberal	Thomas Ashton	4,220	48.3	+1.0
Majority			305	3.4	-2.0
Turnout			8,745	90.8	+2.8
Registered electors			9,629
	Conservative hold		Swing	-1.0

General election 1895: Hyde [2][3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Joseph Watson Sidebotham	4,735	52.4	+0.7
	Liberal	George Wood Rhodes	3,844	42.6	-5.7
	Ind. Labour Party	George Smith Christie	448	5.0	N/A
Majority			891	9.8	+6.4
Turnout			9,027	88.4	−2.4
Registered electors			10,208
	Conservative hold		Swing	+3.2

Elections in the 1900s

Brunner

General election 1900: Hyde [2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Edward Chapman	4,774	53.2	+0.8
	Liberal	John Brunner	4,195	46.8	+4.2
Majority			579	6.4	-3.4
Turnout			8,969	88.5	+0.1
Registered electors			10,485
	Conservative hold		Swing	-1.7

General election 1906: Hyde [2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Duncan Swann	5,545	55.3	+8.5
	Conservative	Edward Chapman	4,482	44.7	-8.5
Majority			1,063	10.6	N/A
Turnout			10,027	88.6	+3.1
Registered electors			11,314
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+8.5

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: Hyde [2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Francis Neilson	4,476	39.5	-15.8
	Conservative	Tom Eastham	4,461	39.3	-7.5
	Labour	William Crawford Anderson	2,401	21.2	n/a
Majority			15	0.2	-10.4
Turnout				93.2	+4.6
	Liberal hold		Swing	-4.1

General election December 1910: Hyde [2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Francis Neilson	5,562	51.4	+11.9
	Conservative	Tom Smith	5,268	48.6	+9.3
Majority			294	2.8	+2.6
Turnout				89.0	-4.2
	Liberal hold		Swing	+1.3

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;

• Liberal: Francis Neilson
• Unionist: James Leadbitter Knott

1916 Hyde by-election[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Thomas Owen Jacobsen	4,089	56.0	+4.6
	Independent	DP Davies	3,215	44.0	n/a
Majority			874	12.0	+9.2
Turnout				54.7	-34.3
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

• nominee of the National Union of Attested Married Men, an organisation opposed to the government's policy on conscription.

References

1. F A Youngs Jr., Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol.II: Northern England, London, 1991
2. British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, FWS Craig
3. Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1901

Sources

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "H" (part 4)