Combined English Universities (UK Parliament constituency)

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Combined English Universities
Former university constituency
for the House of Commons
1918–1950
Seats2

Combined English Universities was a university constituency represented in the United Kingdom Parliament (from 1918 until 1950). It was formed by enfranchising and combining all the English universities, except for Cambridge, Oxford and London which were already separately represented. The constituency effectively represented the red brick universities and Durham University with two members of parliament.

Contents

Boundaries

This university constituency was created by the Representation of the People Act 1918 and abolished in 1950 by the Representation of the People Act 1948.

The original proposal of the Speaker's Conference, which considered electoral reform before the 1918 legislation was prepared, was to combine all the English and Welsh universities except for Oxford and Cambridge into a three-member constituency. However, during consideration of the legislation, it was agreed that London University alone should continue to return one member. The University of Wales was also given its own seat. The other universities, which were still to be combined, had their proposed representation reduced to two members. [1]

Combined English Universities was not a physical area. Its electorate consisted of the graduates of the universities included in the seat.

The universities represented by this constituency were Birmingham, Bristol, Durham, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Reading (from August 1928) and Sheffield.

The constituency returned two members of Parliament, elected at general elections by the single transferable vote method of proportional representation. However, the first past the post system was used in by-elections.

Members of Parliament

This is a list of people who were elected to represent these English universities in the Parliament of the United Kingdom between 1918 and 1950. The elections were not held on the polling dates for general elections in the territorial constituencies. The university constituency elections were held over five days, not on the ordinary polling date, so that plural voting graduates could vote in their place of residence and then visit their university to participate in its election.

ElectionFirst memberFirst partySecond memberSecond party
1918 H. A. L. Fisher Coalition Liberal Sir Martin Conway Coalition Conservative
1922 National Liberal Conservative
1923 Liberal
1926 by-election Sir Alfred Hopkinson Conservative
1929 Eleanor Rathbone Independent
1931 Sir Reginald Craddock Conservative
1937 by-election Edmund Harvey Independent Progressive
1945 Kenneth Lindsay Independent
1946 by-election Henry Strauss Conservative
1950 University constituencies abolished

Elections

There were six contested STV elections. The MPs in 1935 were returned unopposed. By-elections, to fill a single seat, used the first past the post or relative majority electoral system.

1910s – 1920s – 1930s – 1940s –

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1918: Combined English Universities (2 seats)
PartyCandidateFPv%Count
123
C Liberal H. A. L. Fisher 48.09959  
C Unionist Martin Conway 15.20303465 777
Labour John A. Hobson 18.36366454 481
Unionist Herbert Williams 18.36366410 eliminated
Electorate: 2,357  Valid: 1,994  Quota: 665  Turnout: 84.60%
Cindicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1922: Combined English Universities (2 seats)
PartyCandidateFPv%Count
12345
Unionist Martin Conway 32.8968982 1,093  
National Liberal H. A. L. Fisher 27.7819821 849 883 1,009
Independent John Strong 19.4571575 595 611 813
Labour Leonard Woolf 12.2361361 365 366 eliminated
Ind. Unionist Wilfred Barnard Faraday4.8141206 eliminated   
Ind. Unionist Sidney C. Lawrence3.190eliminated    
Electorate: 3,967  Valid: 2,946  Quota: 983  Turnout: 74.3%  
    General election 1923: Combined English Universities (2 seats)
    PartyCandidateVotes%±%
    Unionist Martin Conway 1,711 44.1 +11.3
    Liberal H. A. L. Fisher 1,316 34.0 +5.3
    Labour Joseph John Findlay85021.9+9.7
    Total votes3,877
    Quota 1,293
    Turnout 5,00877.4+3.1
    General Election 1924: Combined English Universities (2 seats)
    PartyCandidateFPv%Count
    12
    Unionist Martin Conway 50.42,231 
    Liberal H. A. L. Fisher 30.11,3332,064
    Labour Joseph John Findlay19.5861885
    Electorate: 5,655  Valid: 4,425  Quota: 1,476  Turnout: 78.2%  
      1926 Combined English Universities by-election
      PartyCandidateVotes%±%
      Unionist Alfred Hopkinson 2,343 53.9 +3.5
      Liberal Ramsay Muir 2,00046.1+16.0
      Majority3437.8N/A
      Turnout 4,34366.7−11.5
      Registered electors 6,513
      Unionist gain from Liberal Swing
      Rathbone 1922 Eleanor Rathbone.jpg
      Rathbone
      Conway Robert Seymour Conway.jpg
      Conway
      General Election 1929: Combined English Universities (2 seats)
      PartyCandidateFPv%Count
      12
      Unionist Martin Conway 26.82,6794,321
      Independent Eleanor Rathbone 33.33,3313,394
      Liberal Robert Seymour Conway 22.32,2312,281
      Unionist Amherst Selby-Bigge 17.61,762eliminated
      Electorate: 13,775  Valid: 10,003  Quota: 3,335  Turnout: 72.6%  

        Elections in the 1930s

        General Election 1931: Combined English Universities (2 seats)
        PartyCandidateFPv%Count
        1234
        Independent Eleanor Rathbone 37.25,096   
        Conservative Reginald Craddock 26.53,6333,685 3,754 4,858
        National Labour William Jowitt 20.12,7593,003 3,207 3,632
        Conservative Herbert Williams 12.81,7481,819 1,922 eliminated
        New Party Harold Nicolson 3.4461623 eliminated  
        Electorate: 19,109  Valid: 13,697  Quota: 4,567  Turnout: 71.7%  
          General election 1935: Combined English Universities (2 seats)
          PartyCandidateVotes%±%
          Conservative Reginald Craddock Unopposed N/AN/A
          Independent Eleanor Rathbone Unopposed N/AN/A
          1937 Combined English Universities by-election
          PartyCandidateVotes%±%
          Independent Progressive Edmund Harvey 6,596 47.4 New
          Conservative Francis Oswald Lindley 4,95235.6N/A
          Independent Liberal Henry Britten Brackenbury2,37317.0New
          Majority1,64411.8N/A
          Turnout 13,92148.3N/A
          Registered electors 28,808
          Independent Progressive gain from Conservative Swing N/A

          Elections in the 1940s

          General Election 1945: Combined English Universities (2 seats)
          PartyCandidateFPv%Count
          12345
          Independent Progressive Eleanor Rathbone 53.311,176    
          Independent Kenneth Lindsay 9.21,9233,503 3,856 4,528 5,826
          Independent Labour Stanley Wormald15.33,2123,973 4,081 4,473 4,675
          National Eric Cuthbert Arden11.62,4333,073 3,389 3,829 eliminated
          Independent John Henry Richardson 5.31,1241,995 2,341 eliminated  
          Independent A.R. Foxall5.31,1051,437 eliminated   
          Electorate: 41,976  Valid: 20,973  Quota: 6,992  Turnout: 50.0%  
            By-Election 13–18 March 1946: Combined English Universities
            PartyCandidateVotes%±%
            Conservative Henry Strauss 5,483 30.0 N/A
            Independent Progressive Mary Stocks 5,12428.0−25.3
            Independent Liberal Ernest Simon 4,02822.0New
            Independent Labour Stanley Wormald3,41418.7+3.4
            British People's Gerard Stephen Oddie2391.3New
            Majority3592.0N/A
            Turnout 18,28842.1−7.9
            Registered electors 43,438
            Conservative gain from Independent Swing

            Notes

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            References

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