British Elections 1918-1945
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Filuwaúrdjan
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« Reply #150 on: January 27, 2014, 11:10:24 AM »



A very safe Labour seat in Yorkshire - held at all elections during the period - seemingly made up of leftovers from other constituencies. Note that the part in Morley was not Morley town but the Ardsley area, while the bits that were (by 1940) in Denby Dale and Kirkburton were basically just the villages of Emley and Flockton.
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YL
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« Reply #151 on: January 27, 2014, 01:46:15 PM »

Presumably the "hole" is the Wakefield parliamentary borough?

In 1918 Rothwell was defined as "The rural districts of Hunslet and Wakefield, and
the urban districts of Ardsley East and West, Emley, Flockton, Horbury, Rothwell, and Stanley."  So some of the weirdness is due to local government changes, but even so it would have been an odd seat -- a sort of badly deformed Wakefield doughnut -- in 1918.
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Filuwaúrdjan
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« Reply #152 on: January 27, 2014, 01:51:50 PM »

Indeed it is.

As well as being a leftovers constituency, it was also pretty clearly an attempt to draw another mining seat: Emley and Flockton are/were pit villages (with their own UDCs until the 30s!), and Hunslet RD had an important mining element at Middleton (later annexed to Leeds and the site of a huge council estate). Those that drew the boundaries in 1917 seem to have often prioritised economic similarities to geographical links.
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rob in cal
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« Reply #153 on: January 28, 2014, 01:40:55 AM »

   I've often wondered what an election held in the late 30's, but before WW 2 started would have looked like, say some time between the Munich conference and the start of the war.  Based on all the by-elections held, I'd guess a narrower Tory victory with serious losses but comfortable enough margin to retain power. 
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EPG
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« Reply #154 on: January 28, 2014, 04:29:36 PM »
« Edited: January 28, 2014, 04:32:02 PM by EPG »

  I've often wondered what an election held in the late 30's, but before WW 2 started would have looked like, say some time between the Munich conference and the start of the war.  Based on all the by-elections held, I'd guess a narrower Tory victory with serious losses but comfortable enough margin to retain power.  

I can't link, but in a lecture titled "Britain in the Twentieth Century: The Road to War", Vernon Bogdanor writes:
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In a later lecture, he notes:

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Oh - As for Rothwell, it's the old Normanton constituency from 1885, minus the expanded boroughs of Normanton and Wakefield, with those parts replaced by Ardsley and Hunslet to the north. Ardsley was associated with the Wakefield poor law union. The only alternative constituency for Hunslet was Barkston Ash, given the integrity of the Leeds borough boundary, and Rothwell was much more socially similar. In the modern era, we'd probably have "Rothwell and Wakefield North", and "Emley and Wakefield South", but that's the borough boundary question again!
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DistingFlyer
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« Reply #155 on: January 31, 2014, 11:17:09 AM »
« Edited: February 02, 2014, 12:40:06 PM by DistingFlyer »

Here's a map for 1945, minus the new & changed seats. The orange in Chelmsford is Common Wealth and, like in the 1935, the purple in Glasgow are ILP and the brown (in Fife & London) are Communist.

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YL
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« Reply #156 on: January 31, 2014, 01:32:49 PM »

It's curious, given modern patterns, that West Derbyshire was Labour while High Peak was Tory.  Both seem to have covered basically similar areas to the modern constituencies (West Derbyshire having been renamed Derbyshire Dales in 2010).

In West Derbyshire's case an Independent Labour candidate, Charles White, had won a 1944 by-election and stood as an official Labour candidate in 1945, when he held on narrowly.
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Filuwaúrdjan
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« Reply #157 on: January 31, 2014, 01:42:17 PM »

Charles White (Labour MP from 1944 until he retired in 1950 - the seat immediately reverted to type) was the son of Charles White (Liberal MP from 1918 until his death in 1923 - in that case the seat also immediately reverted to type). Both were popular local government figures in Matlock.
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Filuwaúrdjan
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« Reply #158 on: January 31, 2014, 02:23:40 PM »

Regarding High Peak, it seems to have included about half of Marple UD in 1945. Might that have made some difference? There's also the issue that most of the population was (is) on the eastern fringes of Manchester, where in '45 Labour performances were generally less stunning than in Derbyshire.
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Filuwaúrdjan
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« Reply #159 on: February 02, 2014, 11:08:23 AM »

Oh - As for Rothwell, it's the old Normanton constituency from 1885, minus the expanded boroughs of Normanton and Wakefield, with those parts replaced by Ardsley and Hunslet to the north. Ardsley was associated with the Wakefield poor law union. The only alternative constituency for Hunslet was Barkston Ash, given the integrity of the Leeds borough boundary, and Rothwell was much more socially similar. In the modern era, we'd probably have "Rothwell and Wakefield North", and "Emley and Wakefield South", but that's the borough boundary question again!

Ah, so more an attempt (a successful one, obviously) to preserve a mining constituency, rather than to create one. Makes sense.

Though Hunslet Rural (which may win the coverted prize for most absurd sounding local government area name) didn't actually include Hunslet, which was in Leeds South.
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EPG
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« Reply #160 on: February 02, 2014, 12:46:07 PM »

It's curious, given modern patterns, that West Derbyshire was Labour while High Peak was Tory.  Both seem to have covered basically similar areas to the modern constituencies (West Derbyshire having been renamed Derbyshire Dales in 2010).

In West Derbyshire's case an Independent Labour candidate, Charles White, had won a 1944 by-election and stood as an official Labour candidate in 1945, when he held on narrowly.

The Conservatives won a bigger percentage vote in Western Derbyshire than High Peak in 1945, as in every election since 1923, I think. However, High Peak had a Liberal who won 16%. As was mentioned by Ippikin earlier, Charles White in Western Derbyshire was the son of a Liberal MP. He faced no Liberal opposition.

Oh - As for Rothwell, it's the old Normanton constituency from 1885, minus the expanded boroughs of Normanton and Wakefield, with those parts replaced by Ardsley and Hunslet to the north. Ardsley was associated with the Wakefield poor law union. The only alternative constituency for Hunslet was Barkston Ash, given the integrity of the Leeds borough boundary, and Rothwell was much more socially similar. In the modern era, we'd probably have "Rothwell and Wakefield North", and "Emley and Wakefield South", but that's the borough boundary question again!

Ah, so more an attempt (a successful one, obviously) to preserve a mining constituency, rather than to create one. Makes sense.

Yes - the bias towards continuity of constituency arrangements, where possible.
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Filuwaúrdjan
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« Reply #161 on: February 02, 2014, 12:53:40 PM »

A phenomenon that also saw the highly questionable retention of the Caernarvon Boroughs constituency, of course.
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DistingFlyer
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« Reply #162 on: February 02, 2014, 01:12:34 PM »

A phenomenon that also saw the highly questionable retention of the Caernarvon Boroughs constituency, of course.

One of the most remarkable results of the election, given that the Tories hadn't won it in nearly sixty years, but a close three-way contest (only 807 votes separating first from third) allowed them to squeak in.
The same thing happened in Caithness & Sutherland - another Tory gain - where only 59 votes separated first from third.
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EPG
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« Reply #163 on: February 02, 2014, 01:40:55 PM »

In Carnarvon DoB, Conservatives kept their 1935 support while many Lloyd George voters (as well as new voters, I presume) chose Labour, who stood their first candidate since 1929.
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Filuwaúrdjan
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« Reply #164 on: February 02, 2014, 01:50:59 PM »

The 1917 boundary changes are the key to that result: in order to make the seat even vaguely excusable, they added the upmarket coastal resort of Llandudno (a much larger town than any of the Boroughs the constituency was named for) and also a couple of granite quarrying towns (Llanfairfechan and Penmaenmawr) which boosted the population nicely. Llandudno would normally have been a Tory stronghold and the quarrying towns would likely have leaned towards Labour, but this wasn't an issue so long as Lloyd George was the Liberal candidate, because otherwise staunchly Labour working class people in North Wales loved him. Once removed from the picture, the seat was always going to be highly vulnerable. I think the Liberals blamed the loss of the seat (a loss they'd expected) on 'wartime changes' to the constituency (i.e. BBC people in Bangor and so on), which remains one of the worst excuses for a lost seat I've ever come across.
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stepney
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« Reply #165 on: March 06, 2014, 08:43:56 AM »



Report of the Boundary Commission (England & Wales), Volume 1, 1917 (Cd. 8756)
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Filuwaúrdjan
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« Reply #166 on: March 06, 2014, 10:34:06 AM »

Grin
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EPG
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« Reply #167 on: March 06, 2014, 05:46:33 PM »

Gosh - but, then again, this was a parliament that included extra seats for certain university graduates...
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ChrisDR68
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« Reply #168 on: March 09, 2014, 06:39:05 AM »

Here's a shaded map for 1935 - the outline comes from an Alternate History forum but is obviously based on the Boothroyd drawing. I've removed most of the urban insets but have kept London, which has so many tiny seats that it can't be illustrated very well on the larger map.



I love these strength of seat electoral maps. Brilliant Cheesy

The striking thing about this 1935 map is how similar the pattern is to most post 1945 maps. This looks very similar to the 1979 map when Maggie Thatcher luckily defeated Jim Callaghan mainly due to the Winter Of Discontent and winning the subsequent vote of no confidence by 311 votes to 310.

That's despite Labour winning only 154 seats in 1935 compared to 269 in 1979.
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stepney
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« Reply #169 on: March 09, 2014, 07:19:48 AM »
« Edited: March 19, 2014, 11:50:44 AM by stepney »

So I finally got round to taking Al's map and added in the boundary review for 1945:



Bigger map here.

I also spotted a few tiny errors with Al's 1918-35 map in Herts, Surrey and Warwicks, so I'm taking the liberty of posting a revised version so that the boundaries that didn't change match up with the 1945 map.



Bigger map here.

E&OE, of course. And all kudos to Al whose map it is.

(EDIT: Worcestershire exclaves)
(EDIT: Amending Warks/Leics border)
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EPG
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« Reply #170 on: March 09, 2014, 07:26:04 AM »

It's not so easy to see the 1935-79 changes because 1935 was a very good election for the Conservatives and allies in the urban constituencies.

The main changes between 1935 and 1979 were in the Scottish Central Belt and south Lancashire. They picked up about 50 seats in those two regions by gaining strength in, or taking over completely, cities like Liverpool, Glasgow and Salford, and the nearby towns. Birmingham, Newcastle, Nottingham and Leicester, outside those two regions, behaved similarly, as did those parts of London outside the inner-city areas that stayed strongly Conservative or Labour.
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EPG
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« Reply #171 on: March 09, 2014, 07:33:15 AM »

So I finally got round to taking Al's map and added in the boundary review for 1945:

That's great.

Comparing them to my own map, the only major difference is that the Evesham/Cirencester boundary mess isn't quite perfect in the amended 1918-35 map, though it's right in the 1945 map.
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stepney
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« Reply #172 on: March 09, 2014, 08:03:27 AM »

So I finally got round to taking Al's map and added in the boundary review for 1945:

That's great.

Comparing them to my own map, the only major difference is that the Evesham/Cirencester boundary mess isn't quite perfect in the amended 1918-35 map, though it's right in the 1945 map.

Damn it, I thought I'd put them in. And now, thanks to the power of ninja editing, I have!
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Filuwaúrdjan
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« Reply #173 on: March 09, 2014, 09:30:46 AM »

Most excellent.
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stepney
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« Reply #174 on: March 09, 2014, 02:24:54 PM »

If only to tread on Al's toes: another mining seat.



I would go one stage further and add the Coventry wards, but my computer's not playing ball with Davies and Morley.
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