Middlesbrough West (UK Parliament constituency)

Middlesbrough West
Middlesbrough West
Former borough constituency ; for the House of Commons
County	North Riding of Yorkshire
1918–1974
Seats	One
Created from	Middlesbrough
Replaced by	Thornaby,; Middlesbrough

Last updated April 12, 2025

Middlesbrough West was a parliamentary constituency in the town of Middlesbrough in North East England. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first-past-the-post voting system.

Boundaries

1918–1950: The County Borough of Middlesbrough wards of Acklam, Ayresome, Cannon, Cleveland, Linthorpe, and Newport.

1950–1964: The County Borough of Middlesbrough wards of Acklam, Ayresome, and Linthorpe, and the Borough of Thornaby-on-Tees.^[1]

1964–1974: The County Borough of Middlesbrough wards of Acklam, Ayresome, Crescent, Gresham, Linthorpe, Park, and Whinney Banks, and the Borough of Thornaby-on-Tees.^[2]

Members of Parliament

Year		Member	Party
	1918	Trevelyan Thomson	Liberal
	1928	F. Kingsley Griffith	Liberal
	1940	Harcourt Johnstone	Liberal
	1945	Don Bennett	Liberal
	1945	Geoffrey Cooper	Labour
	1951	Sir Jocelyn Simon	Conservative
	1962	Jeremy Bray	Labour
	1970	John Sutcliffe	Conservative
Feb 1974		constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1910s

General election 1918: Middlesbrough West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Trevelyan Thomson *	10,958	67.2
	Labour	Charlie Cramp	5,350	32.8
Majority			5,608	34.4
Turnout			16,308	50.5
Registered electors			32,286
	Liberal win (new seat)

* Thomson was issued with the Coalition Coupon but rejected it.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Middlesbrough West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Trevelyan Thomson	16,811	69.4	+2.2
	National Liberal	Harry Driffield Levick	7,422	30.6	N/A
Majority			9,389	38.8	+4.4
Turnout			24,233	68.4	+17.9
Registered electors			35,448
	Liberal hold		Swing	+2.2

General election 1923: Middlesbrough West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Trevelyan Thomson	16,837	69.4	0.0
	Labour	J. D. White	7,443	30.6	New
Majority			9,424	38.8	0.0
Turnout			24,280	68.6	+0.2
	Liberal hold		Swing

General election 1924: Middlesbrough West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Trevelyan Thomson	Unopposed	*N/A*	*N/A*
	Liberal hold

1928 Middlesbrough West by-election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Frank Griffith	10,717	36.2	*N/A*
	Labour	Alonza Ellis	10,628	36.0	New
	Unionist	Stanley Sadler	8,213	27.8	New
Majority			89	0.2	N/A
Turnout			29,558	83.2	N/A
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1929: Middlesbrough West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Frank Griffith	14,674	40.6	*N/A*
	Labour	Alonza Ellis	13,328	36.9	N/A
	Unionist	Albert E. Baucher	8,137	22.5	N/A
Majority			1,346	3.7	N/A
Turnout			36,139
	Liberal hold		Swing

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Middlesbrough West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Frank Griffith	26,011	66.61
	Labour	Henry Kegie	13,040	33.39
Majority			12,971	33.32
Turnout			39,051	85.02
	Liberal hold		Swing

General election 1935: Middlesbrough West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Frank Griffith	13,689	36.18
	Labour	Henry Kegie	12,764	33.73
	National Labour	William Arthur Spofforth	11,387	30.09	N/A
Majority			925	2.45
Turnout			37,840	79.39
	Liberal hold		Swing

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1939–40:

A General election was due to take place before the end of 1940, but was postponed due to the Second World War. By 1939, the following candidates had been selected to contest this constituency;

Liberal: Frank Griffith
National Labour: Thomas K. Briggs^[3]

1940 Middlesbrough West by-election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Harcourt Johnstone	Unopposed	*N/A*	*N/A*
	Liberal hold

1945 Middlesbrough West by-election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Don Bennett	Unopposed	*N/A*	*N/A*
	Liberal hold

General election 1945: Middlesbrough West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Geoffrey Cooper	20,071	53.48	*New*
	Liberal	Don Bennett	17,458	46.52	N/A
Majority			2,613	6.96	N/A
Turnout			37,529	77.23	N/A
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Middlesbrough West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Geoffrey Cooper	21,593	46.31
	Conservative	L Wright	17,760	38.09	New
	Liberal	Philip Fothergill	7,273	15.60
Majority			3,833	8.22
Turnout			46,626	86.42
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1951: Middlesbrough West^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Jocelyn Simon	24,622	52.22
	Labour Co-op	David Dunwoodie	22,525	47.78
Majority			2,097	4.44
Turnout			47,147	86.29
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General election 1955: Middlesbrough West^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Jocelyn Simon	25,495	58.44
	Labour Co-op	Rita Alison Smythe	18,134	41.56
Majority			7,361	16.88
Turnout			43,629	82.45
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1959: Middlesbrough West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jocelyn Simon	24,602	54.88
	Labour	Edward Fletcher	15,892	35.45
	Liberal	George Wharton Ian Hodgson	4,336	9.67	New
Majority			8,710	19.43
Turnout			44,830	84.49
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

1962 Middlesbrough West by-election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jeremy Bray	15,095	39.67	+4.22
	Conservative	Bernard Connelly	12,825	33.70	−21.18
	Liberal	George Scott	9,829	25.83	+16.16
	Independent	Russell Ernest Eckley	189	0.50	New
	Independent	Malcolm Thompson	117	0.31	New
Majority			2,270	5.97	N/A
Turnout			38,055
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

General election 1964: Middlesbrough West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Jeremy Bray	19,904	44.75
	Conservative	Anthony Sumption	18,759	42.17
	Liberal	John Rettie	5,816	13.08
Majority			1,145	2.58
Turnout			44,479	84.07
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1966: Middlesbrough West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Jeremy Bray	23,649	54.48
	Conservative	John Sutcliffe	19,756	45.52
Majority			3,893	8.96
Turnout			43,405	81.47
	Labour hold		Swing

Election in the 1970s

General election 1970: Middlesbrough West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Sutcliffe	22,374	50.44
	Labour	Jeremy Bray	21,986	49.56
Majority			388	0.88	N/A
Turnout			44,360	75.05
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

References

Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885–1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)
Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "M" (part 2)

↑ "Representation of the People Act 1948: Schedule 1", legislation.gov.uk , The National Archives, 1948 c. 65 (sch.1), retrieved 27 October 2023
↑ "The Parliamentary Constituencies (Gateshead) Order 1955. SI 1960/451". Statutory Instruments 1960. Part III. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. 1961. pp. 2856–2857.
↑ Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer 27 February 1939
↑ The Times' Guide to the House of Commons. 1951.
↑ The Times' Guide to the House of Commons. 1955.

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[1] "Representation of the People Act 1948: Schedule 1", legislation.gov.uk , The National Archives, 1948 c. 65 (sch.1), retrieved 27 October 2023

[2] "The Parliamentary Constituencies (Gateshead) Order 1955. SI 1960/451". Statutory Instruments 1960. Part III. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. 1961. pp. 2856–2857.

[3] Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer 27 February 1939

[4] The Times' Guide to the House of Commons. 1951.

[5] The Times' Guide to the House of Commons. 1955.

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