Morley (UK Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with Electoral district of Morley.

Morley
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
1885–1918
Seats	one
Created from	Southern West Riding of Yorkshire
Replaced by	Batley and Morley, Dewsbury, Rothwell and Spen Valley

Morley was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Morley in the West Riding of Yorkshire. 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 system.

The 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies proposed to re-establish the seat in its revised proposal. ^[1]

History

The constituency was created when the two-member Southern West Riding of Yorkshire constituency was divided by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 for the 1885 general election. It was abolished for the 1918 general election, when it was partly replaced by the new Batley and Morley constituency.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Charles Milnes Gaskell	Liberal
	1892	Alfred Hutton	Liberal
	1910 (January)	Gerald France	Liberal
1918		constituency abolished: see Batley & Morley

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1885: Morley ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Milnes Gaskell	6,684	67.8
	Conservative	Joseph John Dunnington-Jefferson	3,177	32.2
Majority			3,507	35.6
Turnout			9,861	86.0
Registered electors			11,467
	Liberal win (new seat)

General election 1886: Morley ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Milnes Gaskell	Unopposed
	Liberal hold

Elections in the 1890s

Alfred Hutton

General election 1892: Morley ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Alfred Hutton	5,818	61.4	N/A
	Conservative	William Carr	3,656	38.6	New
Majority			2,162	22.8	N/A
Turnout			9,474	71.0	N/A
Registered electors			13,343
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1895: Morley ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Alfred Hutton	5,834	58.3	−3.1
	Conservative	William Carr	4,166	41.7	+3.1
Majority			1,668	16.6	−6.2
Turnout			10,000	75.2	+4.2
Registered electors			13,300
	Liberal hold		Swing	−3.1

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: Morley ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Alfred Hutton	6,428	62.3	+4.0
	Conservative	William Boyd Carpenter	3,888	37.7	−4.0
Majority			2,540	24.6	+8.0
Turnout			10,316	73.4	−1.8
Registered electors			14,049
	Liberal hold		Swing	+4.0

General election 1906: Morley ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Alfred Hutton	Unopposed
	Liberal hold

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: Morley ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Gerald France	8,026	59.0	N/A
	Conservative	John Stobart Charlesworth	3,395	24.9	New
	Labour	Herbert Smith	2,191	16.1	New
Majority			4,631	34.1	N/A
Turnout			13,612	86.0	N/A
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

General election December 1910: Morley ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Gerald France	Unopposed
	Liberal hold

General Election 1914–15:

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

• Liberal: Gerald France
• Labour:

References

1. "Yorkshire and the Humber | Boundary Commission for England". boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
2. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)

• British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press 1974)
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "M" (part 3)