Smethwick (UK Parliament constituency)
Smethwick | |
---|---|
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons | |
1918–February 1974 | |
Seats | one |
Created from | Handsworth |
Replaced by | Warley East |
Smethwick was a
Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat will be re-established for the next general election. It will be formed from the (to be abolished) Warley constituency, with the addition of most of the Blackheath ward.[1]
History
The constituency gained national interest during the 1918 general election when the Suffragette leader Christabel Pankhurst decided to stand as a Woman's Party candidate supporting the Coalition. She was one of 17 women candidates standing for Parliament at the first opportunity. This was her one and only parliamentary campaign which she lost to the Labour candidate.[2]
In 1945 the constituency held the first post-war by-election when the winning Labour candidate,
Boundaries
The County Borough of Smethwick.
Proposed
The re-established constituency will be composed of the following (as they existed on 1 December 2020):
- The Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell wards of: Abbey; Blackheath (polling districts BLA, BLB, BLC, BLD, BLE, BLF and BLH); Bristnall; Langley; Old Warley; St. Pauls; Smethwick; Soho and Victoria.[5]
It will comprise the whole of the current Warley constituency, with the addition of the bulk of the Blackheath ward from Halesowen and Rowley Regis (to be abolished), thus bringing its electorate within the permitted range.
Members of Parliament
Election | Member | Party | |
---|---|---|---|
1918 | John Davison | Labour | |
1926 | Sir Oswald Mosley | Labour | |
1931 | New Party | ||
1931 | Roy Wise | Conservative | |
1945 | Alfred Dobbs | Labour | |
1945 | Patrick Gordon Walker | Labour | |
1964 | Peter Griffiths | Conservative | |
1966 | Andrew Faulds | Labour | |
Feb 1974 | constituency abolished: see Warley East |
Elections
Elections in the 2020s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | John Spellar[6] |
Elections in the 1970s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Andrew Faulds | 16,077 | 52.2 | −2.2 | |
Conservative | B. Brian Rathbone | 13,968 | 45.4 | +1.3 | |
Liberal | Mihir Gupta | 747 | 2.4 | New | |
Majority | 2,109 | 6.8 | −3.5 | ||
Turnout | 30,792 | 68.1 | −7.3 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | -1.7 |
Elections in the 1960s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Andrew Faulds | 18,440 | 54.4 | +11.8 | |
Conservative | Peter Griffiths | 14,950 | 44.1 | −3.5 | |
British National | R. Stanley | 508 | 1.5 | New | |
Majority | 3,490 | 10.3 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 33,898 | 75.4 | +1.3 | ||
Labour gain from Conservative | Swing | −7.6 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Peter Griffiths | 16,690 | 47.6 | +2.3 | |
Labour | Patrick Gordon Walker | 14,916 | 42.6 | −12.1 | |
Liberal | David Hugill | 3,172 | 9.0 | New | |
Independent
|
Dudley Trevor Davies | 262 | 0.8 | New | |
Majority | 1,774 | 5.0 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 35,040 | 74.1 | −1.8 | ||
Conservative gain from Labour | Swing | −7.2 |
Elections in the 1950s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Patrick Gordon Walker | 20,670 | 54.7 | −3.5 | |
Conservative | Peter Griffiths | 17,126 | 45.3 | +3.5 | |
Majority | 3,544 | 9.4 | −7.0 | ||
Turnout | 37,796 | 75.9 | +0.4 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | -3.5 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Patrick Gordon Walker | 23,151 | 58.2 | −2.4 | |
Conservative | John Wells
|
16,656 | 41.8 | +2.4 | |
Majority | 6,495 | 16.4 | −4.8 | ||
Turnout | 39,807 | 75.5 | −8.5 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | -2.5 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Patrick Gordon Walker | 27,739 | 60.6 | −1.5 | |
Conservative | A. Norman Giles | 18,012 | 39.4 | +1.5 | |
Majority | 9,727 | 21.2 | −3.0 | ||
Turnout | 45,751 | 83.5 | -3.4 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | -1.5 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Patrick Gordon Walker | 28,750 | 62.1 | −6.7 | |
Conservative | J. Fallon | 17,553 | 37.9 | +6.7 | |
Majority | 11,197 | 24.2 | −13.4 | ||
Turnout | 46,303 | 86.9 | +21.5 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | -6.7 |
Elections in the 1940s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Patrick Gordon Walker | 19,364 | 68.8 | +2.9 | |
Conservative | Gilbert Harold Samuel Edgar | 8,762 | 31.2 | −2.9 | |
Majority | 10,602 | 37.6 | +5.8 | ||
Turnout | 43,020 | 65.4 | −7.0 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | −2.9 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Alfred Dobbs | 20,522 | 65.9 | +18.4 | |
Conservative | Gilbert Harold Samuel Edgar | 10,637 | 34.1 | −18.4 | |
Majority | 9,885 | 31.8 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 31,159 | 72.4 | +1.7 | ||
Labour gain from Conservative | Swing | −18.4 |
Elections in the 1930s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Roy Wise | 16,575 | 52.5 | −7.6 | |
Labour | Charles Wortham Brook | 15,023 | 47.5 | +7.6 | |
Majority | 1,552 | 5.0 | −17.2 | ||
Turnout | 31,598 | 70.7 | −4.0 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | −7.7 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Roy Wise | 20,945 | 60.1 | +25.9 | |
Labour | W. Ernest Lawrence | 13,927 | 39.9 | −14.9 | |
Majority | 7,018 | 20.2 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 34,872 | 74.7 | −4.2 | ||
Conservative gain from Labour | Swing | +20.3 |
Elections in the 1920s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Oswald Mosley | 19,550 | 54.8 | −2.3 | |
Unionist
|
Roy Wise | 12,210 | 34.2 | +0.5 | |
Liberal | Maude Egerton Marshall | 3,909 | 11.0 | +1.8 | |
Majority | 7,340 | 20.6 | −2.8 | ||
Turnout | 35,669 | 78.9 | +0.3 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | -1.4 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Oswald Mosley | 16,077 | 57.1 | +4.8 | |
Unionist
|
Marshall James Pike | 9,495 | 33.7 | −14.0 | |
Liberal | Edwin Bayliss | 2,600 | 9.2 | New | |
Majority | 6,582 | 23.4 | +18.8 | ||
Turnout | 35,862 | 78.6 | +0.4 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | −9.4 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | John Davison | 14,491 | 52.3 | −2.4 | |
Unionist
|
Marshall James Pike | 13,238 | 47.7 | +2.4 | |
Majority | 1,253 | 4.6 | −4.8 | ||
Turnout | 27,729 | 78.2 | +6.5 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | -2.4 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | John Davison | 13,550 | 54.7 | +4.0 | |
Unionist
|
Edmund Brocklebank | 11,217 | 45.3 | −4.0 | |
Majority | 2,333 | 9.4 | +8.0 | ||
Turnout | 24,767 | 71.7 | −4.2 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | −4.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | John Davison | 13,141 | 50.7 | −1.5 | |
Unionist
|
Arthur Henry Addenbrooke Simcox | 12,759 | 49.3 | +1.5 | |
Majority | 382 | 1.4 | −3.0 | ||
Turnout | 25,900 | 75.9 | +21.2 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | -1.5 |
Elections in the 1910s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | John Davison | 9,389 | 52.2 | ||
Women's Party | Christabel Pankhurst | 8,614 | 47.8 | ||
Majority | 775 | 4.4 | |||
Turnout | 18,003 | 54.7 | |||
Labour win (new seat) |
See also
- List of former United Kingdom Parliament constituencies
- Smethwick (the town)
- 1926 Smethwick by-election
- 1945 Smethwick by-election
- Smethwick in the 1964 general election
References
- ^ "West Midlands | Boundary Commission for England". boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
- ^ Hallam, David J.A. Taking on the Men: the first women parliamentary candidates 1918, Studley 2018, chapter two "Pankhurst in Smethwick".
- ^ Ibid page 24, footnote.
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
- ^ "The Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023". Schedule 1 Part 8 West Midlands region.
- ^ John Spellar [@spellar] (11 June 2023). "having been reselected last year overwhelmingly and endorsed by the NEC for the new seat of Smethwick I can assure you that rumours of my demise are much exaggerated, you need more reliable sources" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
- ^ Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench