British Elections 1950-1970

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The Golden Age of Capitalism also known as the Post War period. All about coats; macs and gannex. Pipes and boats. Profumo and Poulson. Suez. You've never had it so good, rivers of blood and the white heat of technology. Nationalised industries, full employment, new suburbs, the end of the slums, the building of the tower blocks. Bevan versus Gaitskell. The death of King Cotton, a serious illness for King Coal. The heyday of the Scottish Unionists and also their downfall. The motorways, the ring-roads and the running down of rail. Consumerism, affluence and Must Labour Lose? T. Dan Smith, Sir Herbert Manzoni, Dr Beeching, Ernest Marples, Ike Hayward and Sam Watson. Two Party Politics. Churchill and Attlee still around, despite everything. Television and televised politics; 'an emotional spasm' and a by-election in Rochdale. Dennis Potter finding a new vocation. A Parliament for Wales? No, but a Secretary of State. The obligatory pan-shot of miniskirts, the Beatles, the World Cup; that kind of thing. Aberfan. In Place of Strife, Immigration, Racism and a surprising programme of social liberalism. I could go on and on and on.

You get it. You know the period. This thread will be a little like 1918-1945, but I'll be able to keep it up on a more regular basis as access to data is not so tricky.

This is Birmingham, 1950.

The key is the usual one, the city is one in transition. Those tiny constituencies in the centre were not tiny in terms of population; the slums were packed tight around the tiny city centre and all four central constituencies had some. Edgbaston was still genuinely posh (and included the city centre because of bizarre ward boundaries), Handsworth proudly petty bourgeois. All of that changed - or started to - during this period.

[Phony Moderate]

The Golden Age of Capitalism also known as the Post War period.

I'm not sure I agree with that, but w/e.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Northants, incorporating the Soke of Peterborough.

It is important to remember that Northants in this period was a very different place to now; in a surprising number of ways it was actually closer to how it was in John Clare's time. It was still a broadly rural county dominated by traditional industries (especially boots and shoes) with a strong current of old fashioned radicalism of the shop-keeper and cobbler kind that had morphed into rural support for the Labour Party. The growth of heavy industry around Corby (and subsequent Scottish immigration) actually fitted into this pattern quite well; certainly it changed the place less than what has happened in recent decades. Obviously this picture becomes less and less true as the years rolled by. Notes for each constituency; you should be able to work out which is which from the descriptions. Development around Northampton towards the end of the period should be factored in to all relevant constituencies (the map shows which clearly enough) as I can't be bothered to be that repetitive.

1. South Northamptonshire - overwhelmingly rural and agricultural, this was a reliable Conservative seat but not exceptionally safe. The main towns were Daventry, Towcester and Brackley, though all were still quite small they were still characterised by traditional industries (Daventry in particular) and were base of the surprisingly large Labour vote in the constituency (though it's important not to exaggerate that). South Northants didn't show the drift towards the Tories seen in Wellingborough, which is a little surprising. At a guess it may have been because of changes in Daventry; first through industrial expansion (a ball bearing factory was set up there in the mid 50s), and the through Birmingham overspill in the 1960s. In the 1950s the seat had a notable MP in Reginald Manning-Buller who would later become a dreadful Lord Chancellor.

2. Northampton - a centre of the boot-and-shoe industry as well as an important market town, Northampton was the largest town in the county but a lot smaller then than it is today (it was designated a New Town in the late 1960s and boomed accordingly). That it had a Labour MP throughout the period was not entirely because of its status as a minor industrial centre or its radical history, but also because of the strong personal appeal of that MP; the colourful Reginald Paget. If my memory is right, the most working class/Labour parts of the town were the older bits especially further east.

3. Wellingborough - the only seat in the county to change hands during this period. This was an area of small towns dominated by the footwear industry; Wellingborough was by far the largest (and became a destination for London overspill in the late 1960s), but Rushden, Earls Barton, Irthlingborough, Higham Ferrers, Irchester and Raunds were all significant. The decline of that industry led to a longterm decline in the Labour vote; the Conservative victor of the 1967 by-election was to hold Wellingborough and see his majorities bloom until his shock defeat in 1997. I'm not quite sure about internal voting patterns (it's always been an odd area), though I suspect that Rushden and Higham Ferrers were the most Conservative of the towns.

4. Kettering - the most industrial constituency in Northants, Kettering was originally conceived as a constituency of small industrial towns (again, dominated - for the most part - by the footwear industry. Kettering was the largest, others included Desborough, Burton Latimer and Rothwell) and agricultural areas to the west (the strongest part of the seat for the Tories) but became increasingly dominated by the steel town of Corby, which was also a designated New Town and (as everyone knows) home to a huge number of Scottish immigrants. Corby enabled Labour to hold Kettering comfortably enough even in bad elections. The MP from 1964 was Sir Geoffrey de Freitas the High Commissioner to Ghana 1961-1964 and previously the MP for Lincoln (1950-1962) and Nottingham Central (1945-1950). He is mostly remembered for refusing to become Speaker in 1972.

6. Peterborough - a very strange constituency made up of the Soke of Peterborough (the area transfered to Cambridgeshire in the 1970s) and rural eastern Northants. The Soke was dominated by the ancient city of Peterborough; at this point a railway and minor industrial centre, noted for its large brickworks. It provided the base for the sizeable Labour vote that never quite managed to take the seat. Conservative votes piled up in the rest of the constituency; in the rural parts of the Soke and in predominantly agricultural eastern Northants. The largest towns in the latter were Thrapston and Oundle (home of a large private school). This produced a polarised constituency (although that probably shouldn't be exaggerated) and a famous result; in 1966 Sir Harmar Nicholls was re-elected by just three votes.

[Harry Hayfield]

Wales 1950 - 1970

1950


1951
https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/GALLERY/1566_15_07_07_5_12_20.bmp

1955
https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/GALLERY/1566_15_07_07_5_13_22.bmp

1959
https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/GALLERY/1566_15_07_07_5_14_04.bmp

1964
https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/GALLERY/1566_15_07_07_5_14_43.bmp

1966
https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/GALLERY/1566_15_07_07_5_15_33.bmp

1970
https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/GALLERY/1566_15_07_07_5_20_03.bmp

Vote and Seats Summary in next post

[Harry Hayfield]

Wales 1950 - 1970 (Votes and Seats)
1950: Lab 58% Con 27% Lib 13% Plaid 1% Others 1%
1951: Lab 61% Con 31% Lib 8% Plaid 1% Others 0%
1955: Lab 58% Con 30% Lib 7% Plaid 3% Others 2%
1959: Lab 56% Con 33% Lib 5% Plaid 5% Others 0%
1964: Lab 58% Con 29% Lib 8% Plaid 4% Others 1%
1966: Lab 61% Con 28% Lib 6% Plaid 4% Others 1%
1970: Lab 52% Con 28% Plaid 12% Lib 7% Others 2%

1950: Lab 27 Lib 5 Con 4
1951: Lab 27 Con 6 Lib 3
1955: Lab 27 Con 6 Lib 3
1959: Lab 27 Con 7 Lib 2
1964: Lab 28 Con 6 Lib 2
1966: Lab 32 Con 3 Lib 1
1970: Lab 27 Con 7 Lib 1 Ind Lab 1

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Because those are bitmap files, I've converted all but the first one into links - otherwise there might be problems with users with slow connections.

[afleitch]

I can finally use these

[minionofmidas]

Rural Wales 1950 vs 1951 has always mildly amazed me.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Rural Wales 1950 vs 1951 has always mildly amazed me.

The results in Anglesey and Conwy were because of a significant movement of people who voted Liberal in 1950 to the Tories; which will have been partly due to the dreadful financial position the Liberal Party found itself in in 1951 (they made a big mistake in 1950 and tried to run candidates everywhere they could, despite no longer having the mass support that could make that worthwhile. I'm not sure how many deposits they lost, but 475 candidates at 9% of the vote for all of them in total when the deposit was still set very high... um... ouch). It just happened that in the one seat Labour were narrowly ahead of the Tories in 1950 and that in the other the Liberals were narrowly ahead of Labour. Merioneth was a little different; there the main difference was a Plaid candidate in 1950 but none in 1951. Seems that most of the committed Nats decided that Labour were the lesser of the two evils; either that or there was a laughable amount of churn. Labour also had excellent candidates in the two seats it gained, though the incumbent in Conwy wasn't a bad candidate either; just unlucky that the vote-split he'd won on in 1950 basically ended only a year later (the Liberals had actually tried very hard to win there in 1950).

[Filuwaúrdjan]

As far as that Glasgow outlines series goes, you can really see the impact of slum clearance can't you. How many 1950-1955 constituencies are inside the current Glasgow Central?

[Harry Hayfield]

Rural Wales 1950 vs 1951 has always mildly amazed me.

Rural Wales 1950 - 1951
Constituencies Covered: Ynys Mon, Brecon and Radnor, Caernarfon, Cardigan, Carmarthen, Denbigh, Merioneth, Monmouth, Montgomery, Pembroke

1950
Labour 155,114 votes (40.51%) winning 3 seats
Conservatives and allies 112,921 votes (29.49%) winning 2 seats
Liberals 107,259 votes (28.01%) winning 5 seats
Plaid Cymru 7,636 votes (1.99%) winning 0 seats

1951
Labour 168,012 votes (44.17% +3.76%) winning 5 seats (+2)
Conservative and allies 106,551 votes (28.01% -1.48%) winning 2 seats (unchanged)
Liberals 105,783 votes (27.81% -0.20%) winning 3 seats (-2)

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Edinburgh and the Lothians. Once again, it should be possible to work out where's where from descriptions. Edinburgh itself is an interesting case of dramatic changes in voting patterns not resulting in any seats changing hands. The descriptions may well be very wrong in places!

1. Berwick & East Lothian - a huge, diverse rural constituency that stretched from Edinburgh down to the border that was a tight-fought marginal throughout the period, though not one that paid much heed to the national swing; a Unionist hold in 1964 and a Labour hold in 1970. As the name implies it was made up of two district areas, rural Berwickshire, and East Lothian which included most of the population. The Labour vote would have been anchored in the ancient coalfield around Tranent and Prestonpans, while Berwickshire was a Tory stronghold (unless my memory plays tricks on me). I'd be interested how the rest of the seat voted; Dunbar is IIRC fairly Labour and North Berwick quite Tory now, but were they then? This constituency would later be a Conservative gain in the first 1974 election and a Labour gain in the second.

2. Midlothian - a mining constituency and Labour stronghold. Major towns included Dalkeith and Bonnyrigg. The constituency also included a considerable rural element - and the town of Penicuik - which presumably made the Labour majorities less mountainous than would otherwise have been the case, but the Labour majority never fell below 15%.

3. West Lothian - like Midlothian a mining constituency and a safe Labour seat. After that, the similarities end; West Lothian also included Livingston New Town and the coastal towns of Bo'ness and Queensferry, while the principle opposition to Labour from the famous by-election in 1963 onwards was the SNP. The MP elected in that by-election was Tam Dalyell, his opponent Billy Wolfe, important names as candidate names go. Other towns in the constituency included Linlithgow, Bathgate and Armadale.

4. Edinburgh Leith - covered Edinburgh's port (once a burgh of its own) and so was actually further north than Edinburgh North. As well as Leith proper it included Granton (was that in the old burgh or not?). In 1955 it was Labour's safest seat in the city, by 1970 it was the most marginal. Presumably the decline of the port and subsequent demographic changes played a role in that?

5. Edinburgh North - covered the New Town and points north to Leith, and west to Murrayfield. A safe Unionist seat with a consistent majority, meaning that it was the safest Tory seat in the city by 1970.

6. Edinburgh East - was made up of working class residential areas east of the Old Town and Musselburgh (outside the city boundaries then and now). As you'd expect this was usually a safe Labour seat, but was nearly lost in 1959. Was there a specific reason for this, or just another example of implausible Unionist success (near success in this case) in unlikely places?

7. Edinburgh West - middle class suburbia; Murrayfield and points west. But also half of Granton. An utterly safe seat in 1955, but the Tory position had eroded considerably by 1970; a majority of under 15pts in a solid-ish victory nationally.

8. Edinburgh Central - this was basically the Old Town and surrounds. A dependable Labour seat prone to low swings, though quite close in 1959.

9. Edinburgh Pentlands - covered the city's southwestern suburbs. A middle class Unionist stronghold in the 50s, turned a nailbiter that never quite fell from the 60s onwards. A lot of estates were built in part of this constituency at some point; early 1960s? That would clear things up, I think.

10. Edinburgh South - remarkably similar comments to West, except that this seat was (obviously) in the southeast of the city. Morningside and points south, basically.

[Harry Hayfield]

I would be very interested in your explaination as to why the SNP won the Western Isles in 1970, but Plaid failed to hold on to Carmarthen?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Comment on mah pretty maps, peepel!

I would be very interested in your explaination as to why the SNP won the Western Isles in 1970, but Plaid failed to hold on to Carmarthen?

I've no idea why the SNP took the Western Isles in 1970; it's an area that sometimes suddenly turfs out one party without reference to patterns elsewhere. But Plaid failed to hold Carmarthen because they overstretched themselves badly in South Wales; they made a serious effort in Aberdare and at least a semi-serious one in Llanelli (with a star candidate and everything) and so on. They also misdiagnosed the reasons for winning Carmarthen in the first place.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkfordshire. Again things should be clear from descriptions, though I've grouped these by counties as I've done three in one. Note that I'm a little fuzzy about some of these places, so, eh...

A. Oxfordshire

1. Banbury - covered the entire western half of Oxfordshire. The main town was Banbury (a minor industrial centre, major railway centre and ancient market town), while other population centres included Witney, Chipping Norton and Kidlington. It also included a significant agricultural element (and a rural Labour vote in places). The constituency moved strongly away from Labour during this period; in 1955 the majority was the lowest in Oxfordshire and looked like an attractive future target, but by 1966 it wasn't swinging and by 1970 it was clearly established as a safe Tory seat. Demographic changes were largely responsible, as Oxford suburbia continued to expand and as the area moved into range for London commuters.

2. Henley - covered the entire eastern half of Oxfordshire, stretching from Bicester (a large town with some industry and thus Labour voters), to Thame and then to Henley and such places full of extremely rich Tories. A safe Tory constituency, the majority in 1970 (though large) is little smaller than I'd have expected; I think parts of the newly developed Blackbird Leys estate may have been still inside the constituency, which might explain that.

3. Oxford - covered the entire of the city of Oxford as it was in 1955. It definitely didn't included Marston, and may not have included Wolvercote and the Blackbird Leys estate (not entirely sure on either count as the base map wasn't so detailed). But this was an important period in Oxford's political history, as the continued expansion of the motor industry and changing attitudes even in the most conservative of academic institutions (though the first point was far more important!) finally resulted in the city turning red, even if only for a single term. A famous electoral duel between the terribly proper former diplomat Montague Woodhouse (Tory) and the equally proper former diplomat Evan Luard (Labour) began in 1964 and would continue - through a total of five General Elections - until 1974. Woodhouse had helped to plan that coup in Iran, while Luard had resigned in protest at Suez. As befits a terribly proper diplomat turned Labour MP, Luard eventually ended up in the SDP. It scarcely needs pointing out that the Labour vote was based in Cowley, the Tory vote in the posher parts of the city, particularly North Oxford.

B. Buckinghamshire

1. Buckingham - a large constituency covering the north of the county but not as rural as first impressions might indicate; the north of the constituency included that several large semi-industrial towns, two of which were railway towns (Bletchley and Wolverton) and strongly Labour. This made for a polarised constituency that swung with the national tide. The Labour candidate from 1959 was... um... Robert Maxwell. Yeah, that Robert Maxwell. I understand that the area is now home to a place with concrete cows and named after a pair of economists with starkly opposed views.

2. Aylesbury - this constituency was based around Aylesbury and stretched down to Chesham. Aylesbury was/is a large market town with a bit of industry, so was probably the least Tory included part of a solid Tory constituency.

3. Wycombe - prosperous constituency dominated by High Wycombe (which had some light industry and actually went Labour in 1945), but also including posh places along the Thames like Marlow. Solidly Tory, despite 1945.

4. South Buckinghamshire - extremely rich commuterland that formed a ring around the industrial town of Slough. Towns of note included Beaconsfield and Amersham. One of the safest Tory seats in Great Britain; the majority never fell below 25% and was usually much higher.

5. Eton & Slough - everything you need to know about the social attitudes of the British establishment in the 1950s is contained in this short constituency name. The name, correctly, designates a constituency made up of two distinct towns. But tiny Eton comes before massive Slough. Now, comrades, why might this be? Could it possibly because Slough was a notoriously ugly industrial town that had sprouted up out of nowhere in a couple of decades and was a centre for immigration, while Eton is home to a comically exclusive private school? I'm sure that an alternative explanation exists, but I can't think of one. This was an interesting constituency in other respects, always Labour (though never with a huge majority) except in 1964, of all years. The incumbent that year was legendary left-wing gadfly Fenner Brockway who was 75 at the time of the election and who had spent his time as the constituency's MP arguing for unilateralism and - significantly in an area that was a centre for immigration - for race relations legislation. It was almost certainly the latter that did him in though, to his eternal credit, the victorious Tory (Anthony Meyer; later the MP for West Flint and the stalking horse challenger to Thatcher in 1989) refused to endorse the racist campaign tactics of certain local Tory activists. The MP from 1966 was Joan Lestor.

C. Berkshire

1. Abingdon - covered the north of the county and included Abingdon, Didcot, Wantage, some western suburbs of Oxford and a lot of rural (and presumably still genuinely agricultural; at least in 1955) areas. This was normally a safe Tory seat, but Labour did oddly well in 1966, cutting the majority down to around 5pts (though, as often happens, one large swing was followed by another in the opposite direction). The base of the Labour vote would obviously have been in Didcot, but there must have been other areas of relative strength. Trouble is, I don't know the area so can't really guess. Almost the entire constituency is now in Oxfordshire for administrative purposes. The MP throughout the period was the extremely right-wing Airey Neave, best known for being killed by the INLA in 1979.

2. Newbury - covered the south west of the county and had rural elements but was certainly not a purely rural constituency; it included a large part of Reading. Other major towns included Newbury and Thatcham. Generally a safe Tory constituency with a significant and consistent Liberal vote.

3. Reading - covered the bulk of Reading, a large prosperous town based around light industries (famously biscuits) that was too large for a single constituency and too small for two (see Newbury). The legendary Commons bookie and Left stalwart Ian Mikardo held on against all odds in 1955 thanks to his advanced (for the time) campaigning methods, but was swept away in 1959 (and found a much safer seat for himself in the East End). After that it swung with the national tide, though Labour were unlucky to miss out in 1964.

4. Wokingham - posh outer commuterland of which I know very little. Also included part of Reading, but nowhere near as big a slice as Newbury. A rock solid Tory seat with a majority over 10pts even in 1966.

5. Windsor - like Wokingham only more so. Had (and has) royal associations, of course. Main towns were Windsor and Maidenhead; in fact the boundaries were basically the same as the current unitary authority (except the latter includes Eton, then in Buckinghamshire). As safe as you'd expect.

[minionofmidas]

Berkfordshire.

?

I understand that the area is now home to a place with concrete cows and named after a pair of economists with starkly opposed views.

While the English wiki article simply states that it was named for the village of Milton (or Middleton) Keynes, the German wiki articly actually runs "Contrary to a widespread misconception, Milton Keynes is named neither for the poet John Milton nor for the economists Milton Friedman and John Maynard Keynes."

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Berkfordshire.

?

LOL

I feel that mistake is far too good to correct.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Computer just ate a fairly long post

But this is the map part - Leicestershire:



I'll probably edit proper stuff in later. But for now I'll just note that the main pattern is one of demographic change (as Leicester suburbs expanded and as new immigrants arrived in Leicester; producing an electoral backlash not remarked on as often as those in other cities for whatever reason) coupled with unusually strong swings towards the end of the period. I don't really understand the reasons for the weird swings in Bosworth, though the Labour candidate being Woodrow Wyatt from 1959 might explain matters a little. Leicester South East included the posh suburb of Oadby from outside the city boundaries (explaining why it was such a rock-solid Tory seat), and Leicester South West was lost in a by-election at the height of the Wilson government's unpopularity. Harborough (the southern constituency) had over 100,000 electors by 1970.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

London; as always a bigger image can be found using the magic of right clicking.

There's obviously not point even attempting to write brief notes for the constituencies in this case. So general observations will do, though if anyone (anyone!) wants to know something about a specific constituency or group of constituencies, feel free to ask. I might even know the answer.

1. Defining London is problematic during this period. One reason is that the official definition of London changed; the old London County Council was replaced by the Greater London Council in 1965 (the official boundaries - with some minor alterations - ever since). Defining London as the LCC area during this period makes no sense as it only covered the inner boroughs, while it isn't actually possible to use the boundaries of the GLC as a starting point as these constituencies were drawn over a decade before the GLC was established. So I've decided to define London as the LCC are, plus all of Middlesex and any constituency that was clearly part of a continuous blob (but which did not extend miles and miles out into what was then countryside), so as to distinguish between 'proper' suburbs and orbital towns. Which means that (for example) Romford has not been classed as London, while Spelthorne (for the most part never part of the LCC or GLC!) has.

2. Throughout this period the docks were still active - if declining - and continued to employ thousands. A political culture that stretched back to the great strike of 1889 (well, sort of) continued to define the part of the city around the docks, and Labour majorities never fell below 45% in the four constituencies most dependent on the docks. In the same vein, this was the heyday of the massive Ford assembly plant in Dagenham.

3. The noticeable movement towards Labour in certain inner suburbs and inner western residential districts was indeed a consequence of those areas moving downmarket as a result of middle class residents moving further out (except for Putney; that was because some large council estates were built). Many of the new residents were immigrants, though London is slightly unusual in that the voting power of new minorities took a little longer to filter through than in, say, Birmingham.

4. I doubt it was intentional, but the boundaries covering what is now Merton MB worked out as a wickedly effective Tory gerrymander.

5. It doesn't show on the map, but do you want to know which constituency was consistently the best for the Liberals during this period? Finchley.

[Novelty]

Where there no libs in London during that period then?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Where there no libs in London during that period then?

They held Orpington (just off the map; will be on the Kent one) in 64 and 66, but none were elected in the area I've covered. And none would be in a General Election until Simon Hughes in 1983 (Graham Tope won Sutton & Cheam in a by-election in 1972, but lost his seat in the first election of 1974).

[afleitch]

Wonderfully high quality maps; how did you make them?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Wonderfully high quality maps; how did you make them?

Paint () and a steady hand. But the source is a series of OS boundary maps from the 1950s some of which are more detailed than others, and the style with the different types of thick outlines is period; influenced by the very pretty maps Manzoni drew.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Cheshire. Long term shifts very much at work, as I suppose you can tell. As always, I may be talking complete nonsense. Do try to be aware of that.

1. Wallasey - then, as now, covered the tip of the Wirral Peninsular and an odd mixture of places; docks around Seacombe, seaside resorts (largest was New Brighton) and suburbs. Functionally the entire constituency was a Liverpool suburb, thus explaining its transformation from a safe Tory seat in 1955 to a tight marginal in the late 60s and early 70s. The MP throught the period was the monstrously corrupt Ernest Marples, a cabinet minister in the Macmillan government responsible for (amongst other things) postcodes, parking meters, motorways (he owned (for a while through his wife) a road-construction company - Marples-Ridgway - and was responsible for approving contracts that his own firm...) and appointing Dr Beeching. He ended up doing a runner to Monaco to avoid being convicted of fraud and paying millions in unpaid taxes. I don't make any of this up, it's all true.

2. Birkenhead - covered almost all of Birkenhead CB. A very working class constituency with docks and poverty that followed the usual Liverpool-area pattern of swinging very heavily towards Labour during this period; halfway marginal in 1955, Burke and Hare was a safe seat by 1970. It's MP from 1964 was Edmund Dell who abandoned the prospect of rising to the top of ICI to enter politics. Many years later he joined the SDP and a long time after that he wrote a strange, if interesting, history of the Labour Party.

3. Bebington - a suburban constituency on the Wirral that included parts of Birkenhead (Tranmere stretching over to Prenton) and various dormitory towns, such as Bebington and Eastham. It also included the Lever's model factory town of Port Sunlight. The usual Liverpool-area pattern applies here as well; a safe Tory seat in the 1950s turned into a key marginal by the 1960s. Tranmere would presumably have been the most Labour part of the constituency and the small commuter towns in the middle of the Wirral the most Tory. At a guess most of the rest of the constituency voted Tory in the 50s and became swing territory afterwards.

4. Wirral - essentially outer Liverpool suburbia, this constituency covered the eastern half of the Wirral peninsular (including posh places like Hoylake and West Kirby) to more humdrum (but still affluent) towns like Neston, before reaching the Mersey at Ellesmere Port. Although this constituency moved from ultra-safe to merely safe, it wasn't changed by the usual swing in the Liverpool area, so much as the rapid development of Ellesmere Port; the Vauxhall Motors works that now define the town were established in 1962. Selwyn Lloyd (Foreign Secretary 1955-1960, Chancellor 1960-1962) was the MP throughout this period and became Speaker in 1971.

5. Chester - based on the ancient city of Chester and the surrounding rural areas (well, those in England). Chester has traditionally been a rather bourgeois sort of city (though with some industry, much of it related to the railways) and was initial a safe Tory seat. It swung away during this period and was quite close in 1966 (though the majority was back to over 10pts in 1970). Chester grew rapidly during the postwar period and this growth included the massive Blacon estate, though weakening Tory results also fit into the general pattern of this area.

6. Runcorn - covered the area immediately south of the Manchester Ship Canal in the north of the county. Although Runcorn was an industrial town and port based on the chemicals industry, the rest of the constituency was varying shades of prosperous. Its political tone was set by the affluent towns south of the ship canal, the largest of which was Lymm, and the area around Frodsham. Runcorn was designated a New Town in 1964, but major development didn't start until the end of this period. This was a safe Tory seat and the majority never fell below 10pts.

7. Northwich - a strangely shaped constituency based around Northwich (a large town with an economy based around salt; mostly in the form of the chemicals industry by this point) but which also included a large slice of prosperous central Cheshire. Always a Tory constituency, but also very volatile; safe in the 50s, Labour nearly gained it in 1966 (and had reason to curse the weird boundaries) but didn't even come close in 1970.

8. Nantwich - a rural constituency covering the southernmost part of the county. It included the affluent town of Nantwich, rural south Cheshire and the old salt towns of Winsford and Middlewich. The latter would have been quite Labour (especially Winsford; which became dominated by Liverpool overspill towards the end of the period), producing a polarised constituency which was usually quite safe, but where Labour was strong enough to produce half a scare in good years, like 1966.

9. Crewe - dominated by the railway town of Crewe, this constituency also included the much smaller towns of Sandbach and Alsager. Crewe was more than just a railway town during this period (though the works still employed well over ten thousand, if my memory is right) and included other high-end manufacturing employers, in particular the Rolls Royce factory. This produced stable working class employment, heavy unionisation and a Labour stronghold; there was never any question of Crewe being outvoted by the rest of the constituency. Unlike the rest of Cheshire there was a clear drift away from Labour during this period; the majority in 1955 was higher than at all elections other than 1966.

10. Knutsford - that bizarrely shaped thick jagged line of deepest blue. As well as a large slice of rural Cheshire, the constituency included the towns of Hale, Wilmslow and Alderley Edge. This was one of the safest Tory seats in the country, though you probably worked that out from that little list...

11. Altrincham & Sale - on the Lancashire border and (on the Cheshire side) surrounded by Knutsford. Affluent Manchester suburbia containing the large suburbs of... well... Altrincham and Sale. This was a very safe seat in the 1950s and much less so (though still safe) by 1970. I presume that this was mostly down to demographic change in the Sale end of the constituency, though I may be wrong. The MP from a by-election in 1965 onwards was Anthony Barber, Edward Heath's unsuccessful and unpopular Chancellor and previously the last non-Labour MP for Doncaster.

12. Macclesfield - the constituency east of Knutsford that is almost always dark blue but which looks sort of light in comparison. The largest town was Macclesfield and the constituency also included Congleton, other major settlements included Bollington and Poynton. While Labour voters existed in areas (particularly in the grottier parts of Macclesfield), this was already a commuter constituency and, for the most part, voted like it.

13. Cheadle - affluent suburbs ringing Stockport. Cheadle, Hazel Grove, Bramhall and Marple; a picture of suburban comfort and one of Labour's worst constituencies in the country. Initially rock-solid Tory, the Liberals started to build up serious steam and took narrowly seized the constituency with a celebrity candidate in 1966 (Michael Winstanley; the 'Radio Doctor') before losing it narrowly in 1970. Not quite sure why they started to do so well here, but I don't know the area at all.

14. Stockport South - covered almost all of the historically Cheshire part of Stockport. Stockport was one of a group of textile towns in the North West that Labour had traditionally underperformed in; it was a two-member borough in 1945 and actually stayed Tory. Labour's fortunes improved dramatically during this period; a swing against the swing in 1959 foreshadowed gains in 1964. Stockport South then gave Labour a double-digit margin in 1966 and stuck with the party in 1970. Labour support would have been strongest in the industrial west of the constituency, while the Tories would have done better in middle class residential areas like Davenport.

15. Stockport North - covering the Lancashire side of the town and a small part of what was Cheshire (Stockport was a County Borough, obviously, so such things had no practical impact). North was more suburban than South; most of the population lived in Heaton (a middle class residential area on the other side of the Mersey to the older parts of Stockport) and Reddish, a Lancashire industrial town that had been absorbed into the borough. While Stockport South was won easily in 1964 and held in 1970, Stockport North was only narrowly gained in 1964 and was narrowly lost in 1970. Reddish was, shockingly enough, the most Labour part of the constituency.

16. Stalybridge & Hyde – Cheshire’s tail and Serial Killer Central. This was a textile constituency, but an unusually diverse one; it stretched from rural Tintwistle (now in Derbyshire) and Longdendale, to the large mill towns of Stalybridge and Hyde, the mining and cotton town of Dukinfield and the humdrum commuter towns of Bredbury and Romiley. During this period parts of the constituency were chosen as the location for large Manchester overspill estates, something that helped to tilt a finely balanced marginal firmly in Labour’s direction. Hyde and Dukinfield were both Labour established strongholds, Stalybridge leaned towards the party (though not, as far as I’m aware, by as much) and the core of the Tory vote came from Bredbury and Romiley. I presume the rural areas were pretty close, if not all that electorally important. A man called Roy Oldham was elected to Longdendale UD in the late 60s. I gather that he was in local government for a few years after that. Always Labour, Stalybridge & Hyde shifted from being an extremely tight marginal in the 1950s to being halfway secure by 1970.

[Serenity Now]

This thread is excellent. I'm afraid I don't have any comments on the details as of yet.