Willesden West (UK Parliament constituency)

Willesden West
Willesden West
Former Borough constituency; for the House of Commons
1918–February 1974
Seats	one
Created from	Harrow (small part of)
Replaced by	Brent East and Brent South

Willesden West was a

constituency in Middlesex adjoining the County of London and forming part of the London conurbation, in London itself from 1965. It returned one member to the House of Commons of the UK Parliament

1918–1974.

The outcome of the seat switched permanently to electing the Labour candidate, in 1923 — save for the four-year term when the party's number of MPs fell from 327 to 52 seats (1931-1935) and when the seat elected notable women's right advocate Mrs Mavis Tate.

History

Willesden West constituency within the parliamentary county of Middlesex, showing boundaries used from 1918 to 1945.

Willesden West constituency within the parliamentary county of Middlesex, showing boundaries used from 1945 to 1950.

Until 1918, Willesden formed part of the

London Boroughs created by the London Government Act 1963 came into use for the February 1974 general election. The area of the constituency was divided between the two new seats of Brent East and Brent North.^[1]

Boundaries

The 1918 legislation created a new

wards of the urban district: Church End, Harlesden, Roundwood, Stonebridge and Willesden Green. The remaining six wards formed the Willseden East division. In 1933 Willesden was incorporated as a municipal borough, although this made no change to the parliamentary divisions.^[1]

When constituencies were redrawn prior to the

Kensal Rise, Manor, Roundwood, Stonebridge and Willesden Green. Kensal Rise had previously formed part of Willesden East.^[1]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1918	Charles Pinkham	Conservative
	1922	George James Furness	Conservative
	1923	Samuel Viant	Labour
	1931	Mavis Tate	Conservative
	1935	Samuel Viant	Labour
	1959	Laurie Pavitt	Labour
Feb 1974		constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1910s

General election 1918: Willesden West^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
C	Unionist	Charles Pinkham	10,503	54.1
	Labour	Samuel Viant	7,217	37.2
	Liberal	John Smyth Crone	1,697	8.7
Majority			3,286	16.9
Turnout			19,417	53.3
	Unionist win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Willesden West^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	George James Furness	13,328	51.5	-2.6
	Labour	Samuel Viant	12,529	48.5	+11.3
Majority			799	3.0	-13.9
Turnout			25,857	66.7	+13.4
	Unionist hold		Swing

General election 1923: Willesden West^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Samuel Viant	14,004	51.3	+2.8
	Unionist	George James Furness	8,256	30.3	-18.2
	Liberal	David Cleghorn Thomson	5,030	18.4	New
Majority			5,748	21.0	N/A
Turnout			27,290	69.1	+1.4
	Unionist		Swing	+12.0

General election 1924: Willesden West^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Samuel Viant	14,884	47.3	-4.0
	Unionist	Mitford Brice	13,539	43.0	+12.7
	Liberal	James McCulloch	3,061	9.7	-8.7
Majority			1,345	4.3	-16.7
Turnout			31,484	77.6	+8.5
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1929: Willesden West^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Samuel Viant	20,583	52.3	+5.0
	Unionist	Malcolm McCorquodale	12,779	32.4	-9.6
	Liberal	Arthur Lewis Leighton	6,038	15.3	+5.6
Majority			7,804	19.9	+15.6
Turnout			39,400	73.4	-4.2
	Labour hold		Swing	+7.8

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Willesden West^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mavis Tate	23,910	60.6	+28.2
	Labour	Samuel Viant	15,550	39.4	-12.9
Majority			8,360	21.2	N/A
Turnout			39,460	71.7	-1.7
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General election 1935: Willesden West^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Samuel Viant	19,402	54.1	+14.7
	Conservative	Sigmund Samuel	16,472	45.9	-14.7
Majority			2,930	8.2	N/A
Turnout			35,874	64.4	-7.3
	Labour gain from Conservative		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 and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected;

Labour: Samuel Viant^[3]
Conservative:

Elections in the 1940s

General election 1945: Willesden West^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Samuel Viant	26,566	72.2	+18.1
	Conservative	JB Cartland	10,236	27.8	-18.1
Majority			16,330	44.4	+36.2
Turnout			36,802	70.5	+6.1
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Willesden West^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Samuel Viant	33,963	61.1	-11.1
	Conservative	Attracta Rewcastle	17,848	32.1	+3.3
	Liberal	Sirdar Karan S.B. Ahluwalia	2,853	5.1	New
	Communist	David Michaelson^[5]	938	1.7	New
Majority			16,115	29.0	-15.4
Turnout			55,602	83.2	+12.7
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1951: Willesden West^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Samuel Viant	35,296	64.3	+3.2
	Conservative	John L Bott	19,632	35.7	+3.6
Majority			15,664	28.6	-0.4
Turnout			54,928
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1955: Willesden West^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Samuel Viant	29,185	61.8	-2.5
	Conservative	Peter B Kenyon	18,074	38.2	+2.5
Majority			11,111	23.6	-5.0
Turnout			47,259	74.4
	Labour hold		Swing	-2.5

General election 1959: Willesden West^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Laurence Pavitt	25,680	57.2	-4.6
	Conservative	Pamela S Brookes	17,946	39.9	+1.7
	Communist	Leslie G Burt	1,324	2.9	New
Majority			7,734	17.3	-5.7
Turnout			44,950	73.0	-1.4
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Willesden West^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Laurence Pavitt	23,862	62.8	+5.6
	Conservative	John S Grose	12,961	34.2	-5.7
	Communist	Leslie G Burt	1,130	3.0	+0.1
Majority			10,901	28.6	+11.3
Turnout			37,953	63.5	-9.5
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing

General election 1966: Willesden West^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Laurence Pavitt	24,944	68.5	+5.7
	Conservative	A Pamela Thomas	10,362	28.4	-5.7
	Communist	Leslie G Burt	1,140	3.1	+0.1
Majority			14,582	40.1	+11.5
Turnout			36,446	63.6	+0.1
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	+5.7

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Willesden West^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Laurence Pavitt	21,918	67.2	-1.3
	Conservative	Ronald F Dyason	10,163	31.2	+2.8
	Communist	Leslie G Burt	515	1.6	-1.5
Majority			11,755	36.0	-4.1
Turnout			32,596	59.3	-4.3
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	+2.0

References

^
ISBN 0-901050-67-9
.

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
^ Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
^ Walker, Michael. "Michaelson David". Retrieved 30 April 2017.
^ ^a ^b F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1973

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

[youngs-1] 
ISBN 0-901050-67-9
.

[ReferenceA-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig

[3] Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939

[ReferenceB-4] British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig

[5] Walker, Michael. "Michaelson David". Retrieved 30 April 2017.

[ReferenceC-6] F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1973

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