Wednesbury (UK Parliament constituency)
Encyclopedia
Wednesbury was a borough constituency in England's Black Country
which returned one Member of Parliament
to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
from 1868 until it was abolished for the February 1974 general election
.
Wednesbury became a Parliamentary Borough under the Reform Act 1867
, taking territory that previously belonged to the constituency of South Staffordshire. Initially the new constituency also included the parishes of West Bromwich
, Tipton
and Darlaston
.
A constituency called "Wednesbury" has been proposed by the Boundary Commission for England as part of the Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies
, which began in 2011 . These proposals are open to public consultation and will be voted on by the Commons in 2013.
was the man selected. He was by that time the senior partner in John Brogden and Sons
, coal and ironminers, smelters and railway contractors. The other candidates were: Thomas Eades Walker, of the Patent Shaft Works, Conservative and Dr Kenealy, Independent.
The nominations were made on Monday, 16 November 1868 from a wooden husting erected on the South side of the Market Place. It was a lively occasion with all space taken, including windows and housetops. There was rioting and special constables had to be sworn in. Each candidate arrived in style and made a speech. By a show of hands organised by the Returning Officer, it was decided that the election would be on the next day.
On Election Day 300 police were marched into the borough but again there was rioting. This was the last election at which voting was open. The state of the voting was collected hourly from the different booths by mounted messengers and announced. 10,995 voted out of 15,000 voters. The result was:
In the 1874 election Mr Walker secured one of two memberships for the constituency of East Worcestershire
so the new Conservative candidate for Wednesbury was Richard Mills, a Darlaston Ironmaster. The result was:
In the general election of 1880, Mr F. W. Isaacson opposed Mr. Brogden but tried to withdraw as he wasn’t getting much support. He was too late however and some votes were cast for him:
The Re-distribution Bill of 1884 took West Bromwich out of the Borough and erected it into a new Borough by itself. Alexander Brogden’s liquidation
was gazetted in January of the same year so at the General Election of November 1885 the Liberals replaced him with the Hon. Philip James Stanhope. The Conservatives put up Wilson Lloyd
. This time the Conservative won:
Early next year Mr Gladstone
challenged the constituencies with his First Home Rule Bill. At Wednesbury the same two candidates went to the poll and the result was:
The same question was fought out in 1892 and the result was:
In 1895 the candidates were Walford David Green, a barrister and grandson of Thomas Davis, ironmaster of Hill Top, who stood as Unionist and Conservative and Charles Roberts, university lecturer, who stood as a Gladstonian Home Ruler. The result was:
The 1900 General Election was an appeal to the country to support the Boer War
. The Liberals chose Enoch Horton, a Darlaston manufacturer. However Home Rule had so damaged the Liberal Party that they lost again:
Black Country
The Black Country is a loosely defined area of the English West Midlands conurbation, to the north and west of Birmingham, and to the south and east of Wolverhampton. During the industrial revolution in the 19th century this area had become one of the most intensely industrialised in the nation...
which returned one Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
from 1868 until it was abolished for the February 1974 general election
United Kingdom general election, February 1974
The United Kingdom's general election of February 1974 was held on the 28th of that month. It was the first of two United Kingdom general elections held that year, and the first election since the Second World War not to produce an overall majority in the House of Commons for the winning party,...
.
Wednesbury became a Parliamentary Borough under the Reform Act 1867
Reform Act 1867
The Representation of the People Act 1867, 30 & 31 Vict. c. 102 was a piece of British legislation that enfranchised the urban male working class in England and Wales....
, taking territory that previously belonged to the constituency of South Staffordshire. Initially the new constituency also included the parishes of West Bromwich
West Bromwich
West Bromwich is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, in the West Midlands, England. It is north west of Birmingham lying on the A41 London-to-Birkenhead road. West Bromwich is part of the Black Country...
, Tipton
Tipton
Tipton is a town in the Sandwell borough of the West Midlands, England, with a population of around 47,000. Tipton is located about halfway between Birmingham and Wolverhampton. It is a part of the West Midlands conurbation and is a part of the Black Country....
and Darlaston
Darlaston
Darlaston is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall in the West Midlands of England.-History:Archaeological evidence of the history of Darlaston has been destroyed by The de Darlaston family owned Darlaston and lived in the manor between the 12th century and 15th century. When the de...
.
A constituency called "Wednesbury" has been proposed by the Boundary Commission for England as part of the Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies
Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies
The Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, also known as the 2013 Review, is an ongoing process by which parliamentary constituencies to the British House of Commons will be reformed, to comply with the revised rules for the number and size of constituencies introduced by the...
, which began in 2011 . These proposals are open to public consultation and will be voted on by the Commons in 2013.
Members of Parliament
| Election | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1868 United Kingdom general election, 1868 The 1868 United Kingdom general election was the first after passage of the Reform Act 1867, which enfranchised many male householders, thus greatly increasing the number of men who could vote in elections in the United Kingdom... |
Alexander Brogden Alexander Brogden Alexander Brogden was born in Manchester on 3 November 1825, the second son of John Brogden and educated at Blackburn, New College Manchester and King's College London, where he read mathematics. He married Anne Garstang on 6 September 1848 at Manchester Cathedral. He joined his father’s... |
Liberal Liberal Party (UK) The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day... |
|
| 1885 United Kingdom general election, 1885 -Seats summary:-See also:*List of MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1885*Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885–1918*Representation of the People Act 1884*Redistribution of Seats Act 1885-References:... |
Wilson Lloyd Wilson Lloyd Wilson Lloyd was an English iron founder and a Conservative Party politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1885 and 1895.... |
Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House... |
|
| 1886 United Kingdom general election, 1886 -Seats summary:-See also:*MPs elected in the UK general election, 1886*The Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885-1918-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987**... |
Philip Stanhope | Liberal Liberal Party (UK) The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day... |
|
| 1892 United Kingdom general election, 1892 The 1892 United Kingdom general election was held from 4 July to 26 July 1892. It saw the Conservatives, led by Lord Salisbury, win the greatest number of seats, but not enough for an overall majority as William Ewart Gladstone's Liberals won many more seats than in the 1886 general election... |
Wilson Lloyd Wilson Lloyd Wilson Lloyd was an English iron founder and a Conservative Party politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1885 and 1895.... |
Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House... |
|
| 1895 United Kingdom general election, 1895 The United Kingdom general election of 1895 was held from 13 July - 7 August 1895. It was won by the Conservatives led by Lord Salisbury who formed an alliance with the Liberal Unionist Party and had a large majority over the Liberals, led by Lord Rosebery... |
Walford Davis Green Walford Davis Green Walford Davis Green was a British barrister and Conservative Party politician. He sat in the House of Commons from 1895 to 1906.... |
Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House... |
|
| 1906 United Kingdom general election, 1906 -Seats summary:-See also:*MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1906*The Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885-1918-External links:***-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987**... |
Clarendon Golding Hyde | Liberal Liberal Party (UK) The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day... |
|
| 1910 | John Norton-Griffiths | Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House... |
|
| 1918 United Kingdom general election, 1918 The United Kingdom general election of 1918 was the first to be held after the Representation of the People Act 1918, which meant it was the first United Kingdom general election in which nearly all adult men and some women could vote. Polling was held on 14 December 1918, although the count did... |
Alfred Short Alfred Short Alfred Short was a British trades unionist and Labour politician, Member of Parliament for Wednesbury from 1918 to 1931, and for Doncaster from 1935 until 1938.... |
Labour Labour Party (UK) The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after... |
|
| 1931 United Kingdom general election, 1931 The United Kingdom general election on Tuesday 27 October 1931 was the last in the United Kingdom not held on a Thursday. It was also the last election, and the only one under universal suffrage, where one party received an absolute majority of the votes cast.The 1931 general election was the... |
William Ward, Viscount Ednam William Ward, 3rd Earl of Dudley William Humble Eric Ward, 3rd Earl of Dudley, MC , known as Viscount Ednam until 1932, was a British Conservative politician.-Biography:... |
Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House... |
|
| 1932 by-election Wednesbury by-election, 1932 The Wednesbury by-election, 1932 was a by-election held on 26 July 1932 for the British House of Commons constituency of Wednesbury in Staffordshire... |
John William Banfield | Labour Labour Party (UK) The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after... |
|
| 1945 United Kingdom general election, 1945 The United Kingdom general election of 1945 was a general election held on 5 July 1945, with polls in some constituencies delayed until 12 July and in Nelson and Colne until 19 July, due to local wakes weeks. The results were counted and declared on 26 July, due in part to the time it took to... |
Stanley Evans Stanley Evans Stanley Norman Evans was a British industrialist and Labour Party politician. He served very briefly as an Agriculture Minister in the post-war Attlee government but was forced to resign when he claimed that farmers were being "featherbedded"... |
Labour Labour Party (UK) The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after... |
|
| 1957 by-election | John Stonehouse John Stonehouse John Thomson Stonehouse was a British politician and minister under Harold Wilson. Stonehouse is perhaps best remembered for his unsuccessful attempt at faking his own death in 1974... |
Labour Co-operative Labour Co-operative Labour and Co-operative describes those candidates in British elections standing on behalf of both the Labour Party and the Co-operative Party, based on a national agreement between the two parties.... |
|
| Feb 1974 United Kingdom general election, February 1974 The United Kingdom's general election of February 1974 was held on the 28th of that month. It was the first of two United Kingdom general elections held that year, and the first election since the Second World War not to produce an overall majority in the House of Commons for the winning party,... |
constituency abolished | ||
Elections
The local people were inclined to vote Liberal so there were several contenders for Liberal candidate of whom Alexander BrogdenAlexander Brogden
Alexander Brogden was born in Manchester on 3 November 1825, the second son of John Brogden and educated at Blackburn, New College Manchester and King's College London, where he read mathematics. He married Anne Garstang on 6 September 1848 at Manchester Cathedral. He joined his father’s...
was the man selected. He was by that time the senior partner in John Brogden and Sons
John Brogden and Sons
John Brogden and Sons was a firm of Railway Contractors, Iron and Coal Miners and Iron Smelters operating from roughly 1837 to the bankruptcy in 1883. However the business essentially started when John Brogden moved from his father's farm near Clitheroe to set up in business in the rapidly...
, coal and ironminers, smelters and railway contractors. The other candidates were: Thomas Eades Walker, of the Patent Shaft Works, Conservative and Dr Kenealy, Independent.
The nominations were made on Monday, 16 November 1868 from a wooden husting erected on the South side of the Market Place. It was a lively occasion with all space taken, including windows and housetops. There was rioting and special constables had to be sworn in. Each candidate arrived in style and made a speech. By a show of hands organised by the Returning Officer, it was decided that the election would be on the next day.
On Election Day 300 police were marched into the borough but again there was rioting. This was the last election at which voting was open. The state of the voting was collected hourly from the different booths by mounted messengers and announced. 10,995 voted out of 15,000 voters. The result was:
- Brogden (L.) 6,201
- Walker (C.) 3,809
- Kenealy 985
In the 1874 election Mr Walker secured one of two memberships for the constituency of East Worcestershire
East Worcestershire (UK Parliament constituency)
East Worcestershire was a county constituency in the county of Worcestershire, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....
so the new Conservative candidate for Wednesbury was Richard Mills, a Darlaston Ironmaster. The result was:
- Brogden (L.) 7,530
- Mills (C.) 5,813
In the general election of 1880, Mr F. W. Isaacson opposed Mr. Brogden but tried to withdraw as he wasn’t getting much support. He was too late however and some votes were cast for him:
- Brogden (L.) 6,912
- Isaacson (C.) 207
The Re-distribution Bill of 1884 took West Bromwich out of the Borough and erected it into a new Borough by itself. Alexander Brogden’s liquidation
Liquidation
In law, liquidation is the process by which a company is brought to an end, and the assets and property of the company redistributed. Liquidation is also sometimes referred to as winding-up or dissolution, although dissolution technically refers to the last stage of liquidation...
was gazetted in January of the same year so at the General Election of November 1885 the Liberals replaced him with the Hon. Philip James Stanhope. The Conservatives put up Wilson Lloyd
Wilson Lloyd
Wilson Lloyd was an English iron founder and a Conservative Party politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1885 and 1895....
. This time the Conservative won:
- Lloyd (C.) 4,628
- Stanhope (L.) 4,433
Early next year Mr Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...
challenged the constituencies with his First Home Rule Bill. At Wednesbury the same two candidates went to the poll and the result was:
- Stanhope (Home Ruler) 4,883
- Lloyd (C.) 4,221
The same question was fought out in 1892 and the result was:
- Lloyd (C.) 4,986
- Stanhope (H.R.) 4,926
In 1895 the candidates were Walford David Green, a barrister and grandson of Thomas Davis, ironmaster of Hill Top, who stood as Unionist and Conservative and Charles Roberts, university lecturer, who stood as a Gladstonian Home Ruler. The result was:
- Green 4,924
- Roberts 4,733
The 1900 General Election was an appeal to the country to support the Boer War
Boer War
The Boer Wars were two wars fought between the British Empire and the two independent Boer republics, the Oranje Vrijstaat and the Republiek van Transvaal ....
. The Liberals chose Enoch Horton, a Darlaston manufacturer. However Home Rule had so damaged the Liberal Party that they lost again:
- Green (C. & U.) 4,733
- Horton (L.) 4,558