Middleton and Prestwich (UK Parliament constituency)

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Middleton and Prestwich
Former county constituency
for the House of Commons
1918–1983
Seatsone
Created from Middleton, Prestwich and Radcliffe-cum-Farnworth
Replaced by Bury South and Heywood & Middleton [1]

Middleton and Prestwich was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Middleton and Prestwich districts of Greater Manchester. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Contents

The constituency was created for the 1918 general election, and abolished for the 1983 general election, when it was partially replaced by the new constituencies of Heywood and Middleton and Bury South. Its member from 1974 to the seat's abolition was Jim Callaghan, who happened to share his name with the Labour Prime Minister.

It was an unusual constituency, because Middleton and Prestwich were physically separated by Heaton Park, a large green area bequeathed to Manchester City Council, and had nothing whatsoever in common. Prestwich was a well established middle class suburb with a large Jewish minority, and during the inter-war years boasted several millionaires. Middleton, on the other hand, was greatly expanded by a large Manchester overspill council estate, and at one point during the 1950s, Prestwich had no Labour councillors, while Middleton had no Conservatives. The new constituency of Heywood and Middleton in 1983 resolved this mismatch by linking together the two adjacent towns in the Rochdale borough, and was held by Labour right up to 2019. Prestwich joined neighbouring towns Radcliffe and Whitefield in the Bury Council area to become Bury South which was gained by the Conservatives until 1997 when it was lost to Labour, who held it up to 2019 when it was regained by the Conservatives. The 2018 Boundary Commission Review, which aimed to reduce the number of MPs from 650 to 600, and was subsequently shelved, had proposed to restore the Prestwich and Middleton seat.

Boundaries

Middleton and Prestwich in Lancashire, boundaries used 1974-83 MiddletonPrestwich1974Constituency.svg
Middleton and Prestwich in Lancashire, boundaries used 1974–83

1918–1950: The Borough of Middleton, and the Urban Districts of Chadderton and Prestwich.

1950–1983: The Boroughs of Middleton and Prestwich, and the Urban District of Whitefield.

Members of Parliament

ElectionMemberParty
1918 Sir Ryland Adkins Coalition Liberal
1920 by-election Coalition Liberal
1922 National Liberal
1923 Sir Nairne Stewart-Sandeman, Bt Conservative
1940 by-election Ernest Gates Conservative
1951 Sir John Barlow, Bt Conservative
1966 Denis Coe Labour
1970 Alan Haselhurst Conservative
Feb 1974 Jim Callaghan Labour
1983 constituency abolished: see Heywood and Middleton and Bury South

Elections

Elections in the 1910s

Ryland Adkins Ryland Adkins.jpg
Ryland Adkins
General election 1918: Middleton and Prestwich [2]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
C Liberal Ryland Adkins 14,83169.5
Labour John B Battle6,50130.5
Majority8,33039.0
Turnout 21,332
Liberal win (new seat)
Cindicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

1920 Middleton and Prestwich by-election [3]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
C Liberal Ryland Adkins Unopposed
Liberal hold
Cindicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.
General election 1922: Middleton and Prestwich [4]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
National Liberal Ryland Adkins 14,832 58.5 −11.0
Labour Matthew Burrow Farr 10,50541.5+11.0
Majority4,32717.0−22.0
Turnout 25,337
National Liberal hold Swing
General election 1923: Middleton and Prestwich [5]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Unionist Nairne Sandeman 10,029 36.6 New
Liberal Ryland Adkins 9,50034.7−23.8
Labour Matthew Burrow Farr 7,84928.7−12.8
Majority5291.9N/A
Turnout 27,378
Unionist gain from Liberal Swing n/a
General election 1924: Middleton and Prestwich [6]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Unionist Nairne Sandeman 16,005 51.3 +14.7
Labour Matthew Burrow Farr 8,44227.0−1.7
Liberal Ryland Adkins 6,76321.7−13.0
Majority7,56324.3+22.4
Turnout 31,210
Unionist hold Swing +8.2
General election 1929: Middleton and Prestwich [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Unionist Nairne Sandeman 16,629 40.1 −11.2
Labour Matthew Burrow Farr 14,36834.6+7.6
Liberal David Halliwell10,52625.3+3.6
Majority2,2615.5−18.8
Turnout 41,523
Unionist hold Swing -9.4

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Middleton and Prestwich [8]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Nairne Sandeman 31,702 74.6 +34.5
Labour T McCall10,79625.4−9.2
Majority20,90649.2+43.7
Turnout 42,49877.9
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1935: Middleton and Prestwich [9]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Nairne Sandeman 27,369 61.1 −15.5
Labour Joseph Nuttall17,39838.9+13.5
Majority9,97122.2−27.0
Turnout 44,76774.5−3.4
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1939–40: Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected;

However, the sitting MP, Nairne Sandeman, died on 23 April 1940, resulting in a by-election. Due to an electoral pact during World War II not to contest by-elections, the Labour candidate did not stand.

1940 Middleton and Prestwich by-election [11]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Ernest Gates 32,036 98.7 +37.6
British Union of Fascists Frederick Haslam4181.3New
Majority31,61897.4+75.2
Turnout 32,45449.0–25.5
Conservative hold Swing N/A
General election 1945: Middleton and Prestwich [12]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Ernest Gates 26,669 50.7 −10.4
Labour Mabel Tylecote 25,90849.3+10.4
Majority7611.4−20.8
Turnout 52,57775.3+0.8
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Middleton and Prestwich
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Ernest Gates 24,52150.25
Labour Charles Stanley Hilditch16,71634.25
Liberal Ernest Harrison7,56415.50New
Majority7,80516.00
Turnout 48,80186.87
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1951: Middleton and Prestwich
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative John Barlow 26,07354.15
Labour Albert Knight16,32333.90
Liberal Ernest Harrison5,75711.96
Majority9,75020.25
Turnout 48,15384.99
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1955: Middleton and Prestwich
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative John Barlow 27,09661.46
Labour Edmund Dell 16,98938.54
Majority10,10722.92
Turnout 44,08575.47
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1959: Middleton and Prestwich
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative John Barlow 31,41659.65
Labour Fred Barton 21,24840.35
Majority10,16819.30
Turnout 52,66479.97
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Middleton and Prestwich
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative John Barlow 22,19240.11
Labour Ron Leighton 20,06636.27
Liberal Samuel Crilly13,06423.61New
Majority2,1263.84
Turnout 55,32279.42
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1966: Middleton and Prestwich
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Denis Coe 23,93844.73
Conservative John Barlow 20,12137.60
Liberal Samuel Crilly9,45717.67
Majority3,8177.13
Turnout 53,51678.01
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Middleton and Prestwich
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Alan Haselhurst 25,03043.76
Labour Denis Coe 23,98841.94
Liberal Samuel Crilly8,17514.29
Majority1,0421.82
Turnout 57,19374.72
Conservative gain from Labour Swing
General election February 1974: Middleton and Prestwich
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Jim Callaghan 24,35739.84
Conservative Alan Haselhurst 23,84038.99
Liberal Philip Harrison12,94621.17
Majority5170.85N/A
Turnout 61,14380.49
Labour gain from Conservative Swing
General election October 1974: Middleton and Prestwich
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Jim Callaghan 26,63945.82
Conservative Alan Fearn22,92539.43
Liberal J Clarney8,34014.35
More Prosperous Britain Harold Smith2340.40New
Majority3,7146.39
Turnout 58,13875.76
Labour hold Swing
General election 1979: Middleton and Prestwich
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Jim Callaghan 27,91845.79
Conservative J Park26,82043.98
Liberal D Whatmough5,8889.66
National Front S Andrews3500.57New
Majority1,0981.81
Turnout 60,97678.89
Labour hold Swing

References

  1. ↑ "'Middleton and Prestwich', Feb 1974 – May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Archived from the original on 3 April 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  2. ↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, F W S Craig
  3. ↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, F W S Craig
  4. ↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, F W S Craig
  5. ↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, F W S Craig
  6. ↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, F W S Craig
  7. ↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, F W S Craig
  8. ↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, F W S Craig
  9. ↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, F W S Craig
  10. ↑ Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939
  11. ↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, F W S Craig
  12. ↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, F W S Craig
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