Spen Valley (UK Parliament constituency)

Spen Valley
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1885–1950
Seats	one
Created from	Eastern West Riding of Yorkshire
Replaced by	Batley and Morley, Brighouse and Spenborough and Dewsbury

Spen Valley was a parliamentary constituency in the valley of the River Spen 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.

Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat will be re-established for the next general election, formed primarily from the (to be abolished) constituency of Batley and Spen. ^[1]

History

The constituency was created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 for the 1885 general election, retained with altered boundaries in 1918, and abolished for the 1950 general election. In the 1901 Census, there were 13,557 inhabited houses in the division; there were 10,960 registered electors, of which 9,396 qualified by virtue of occupying property within the division, 1,490 by virtue of owning property, 67 by virtue of occupying land only within the division, and 7 qualifying as lodgers. ^[2]

Political historian Henry Pelling noted that the constituency as it existed from 1885 to 1918 was dominated by the woollen industry and carpetmaking, where the vast bulk of the population were nonconformist: the Church of England parish of Birstall was said to have had only four clergymen in the eighteenth century (two of whom were schoolmasters). ^[3] In 1922, membership of nonconformist circuits in the constituency is estimated at 2,759 for the Congregational Church, 1,065 Wesleyanism, 1,027 United Methodist Church, 698 Primitive Methodism, and 328 Baptists, making it the second largest nonconformist attendance in the West Riding. ^[4]

The death of the sitting MP in 1919 led to a sensational by-election gain for the Labour Party, which was described by historian Maurice Cowling as the worst result for the Coalition during the 1918-22 Parliament; ^[5] John Ramsden admitted that Labour's win had a big psychological impact on the Coalition but thought the result was a "freak win" given that Labour had under 40% of the vote. ^[6] At the ensuing general election, the Manchester Guardian described the constituency as "scattered between the three towns of Leeds, Bradford and Huddersfield", centred on Cleckheaton, and populated by "woollen and wire workers, miners, card manufacturers". A significant presence of Irish voters was also noted. ^[7] Sir John Simon, a former Home Secretary who had lost his seat in the 1918 election, regained the seat for the Liberals in 1922 and held it until given a Peerage in 1940. During this period Simon moved from declaring his basic sympathy with the Labour Party's objects, to forming the Liberal Nationals who went into alliance with the Conservatives. ^[8] Simon found his constituency marginal, and had a majority of under 1,000 in his last election, and Labour gained it in the 1945 election landslide.

Boundary changes abolished the constituency in 1950. The bulk of the abolished constituency, including Cleckheaton, Gildersome and Spenborough, formed the eastern half of Brighouse and Spenborough; another large part including Gildersome, Birstall and Drighlington, formed part of Batley and Morley. Heckmondwike and Mirfield transferred to Dewsbury, while Kirkheaton moved to Colne Valley and other parts moved to Huddersfield East.

Boundaries

While originally devised by the Boundary Commissioners in 1885, the division was originally named as 'Birstal', "from the name of a large ancient parish". ^[9] The naming of the new division led to a small struggle between the two Houses of Parliament during the passage of the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, when Alfred Illingworth (Liberal MP for Bradford) moved an amendment to replace 'Birstal' with 'Spen Valley'. Illingworth argued that Birstall contained only one-eighth of the population of the division, but Spen Valley was a name which represented several important towns, and his amendment was accepted without dissent by the House of Commons. ^[10] When the Bill reached the House of Lords, the Conservative peer the Earl of Feversham moved an amendment to reinstate 'Birstal' claiming the support of the people in the area. The Earl contended that the Spen Valley was an unknown description and "was only remarkable for being the receptacle of all the sewage from Birstal", whereas Birstal was a very important parish. He had support from the Earl of Cranbrook and his amendment was also accepted without dissent. ^[11]

When the Bill returned to the House of Commons, Alfred Illingworth again took up the issue and moved that the Commons disagree with the Lords. He again pointed to the small population of Birstall in comparison with other towns, and noted that the Sanitary district covering the area was known as Spen Valley and that the River Spen ran through the centre of the constituency whereas Birstall was in the extreme north-east corner of it. Conservative MP Edward Stanhope (Mid Lincolnshire) said that he had found feeling in the area to be in favour of 'Birstal', but the President of the Local Government Board Sir Charles Dilke, speaking for the Government, stated that the local boards in Heckmondwike, Liversedge and Cleckheaton (where a majority of the population lived) had sent a memorial in favour of 'Spen Valley'. He agreed that the name had been invented by the Local Government Board, but argued that there were "local jealousies" between the towns and that Birstall was unpopular with the others, and therefore personally supported 'Spen Valley'. After a brief debate, the House voted by 65 to 46 to insist on 'Spen Valley' as the name. ^[12] The Lords then gave way, but not without further protest from the Earl of Feversham. ^[13]

During this battle no alteration was made to the boundary. The new division was to consist of:

• the Parishes in the Sessional Division of Dewsbury of Gomersal, Heckmondwike and Liversedge, and
• the Parishes of Cleckheaton, Clifton, Hartshead, and Wyke. ^[14]

When redefined by the Boundary Commission in 1917, the county division was defined as consisting of the Urban Districts of Birkenshaw, Birstall, Drighlington, Gildersome, Heckmondwike, Hunsworth, Kirkheaton, Lepton, Mirfield, Spenborough and Whitley Upper. ^[15]

The effect of the boundary change in 1918 was as shown in the table:

Parish	1911 Population	1885–1918	1918–1950	Notes
Birkenshaw	2,508	Spen Valley	Spen Valley	Was part of Gomersal Parish in 1885
Birstall	7,116	Spen Valley	Spen Valley	Was part of Gomersal Parish in 1885
Cleckheaton	12,866	Spen Valley	Spen Valley	Part of Spenborough Urban District from 1915
Clifton	2,258	Spen Valley	Elland
Drighlington	4,126	Pudsey	Spen Valley
Gildersome	2,981	Pudsey	Spen Valley
Gomersal	3,796	Spen Valley	Spen Valley	Included Birkenshaw and Birstall in 1885
Hartshead	958	Spen Valley	Elland
Heckmondwike	9,016	Spen Valley	Spen Valley
Hipperholme (part)	322	Spen Valley	Elland	Part of Wyke parish in 1885, removed in 1899
Hunsworth	1,326	Pudsey	Spen Valley
Kirkheaton	2,621	Holmfirth	Spen Valley
Lepton	2,999	Holmfirth	Spen Valley
Liversedge	14,658	Spen Valley	Spen Valley	Part of Spenborough Urban District from 1915
Mirfield	11,712	Morley	Spen Valley
Whitley Upper	830	Holmfirth	Spen Valley
Wyke	6,145	Spen Valley	Bradford South

Of the 59,643 population in Spen Valley before the boundary change, 49,960 (83.8%) remained in the division after it. 6,145 (10.3%) moved to Bradford South while 3,538 (5.9%) moved to Elland. The new constituency was made up primarily of the old Spen Valley (65.3%), with 11,712 (15.3%) from Morley, 8,433 (11.0%) from Pudsey, and 6,450 (8.4%) from Holmfirth.

Proposed

The re-established constituency will be composed of the following (as they existed on 1 December 2020):

• The Borough of Kirklees wards of: Birstall and Birkenshaw; Cleckheaton; Dalton (polling district DA06); Heckmondwike; Liversedge and Gomersal; Mirfield. ^[16]

The majority of the electorate will come from the current seat of Batley and Spen - excluding the town of Batley itself. To compensate for this loss, Mirfield will be transferred in from the Dewsbury constituency and the small part of Dalton ward, which includes the village of Kirkheaton will come from Huddersfield.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
1885		constituency established
	1885	Joseph Woodhead	Liberal
	1892	Thomas Whittaker	(Coalition) Liberal
	1919 by-election	Tom Myers	Labour
	1922	Sir John Simon	Liberal
	1931		Liberal National
	1940 by-election	William Woolley	Liberal National
	1945	Granville Maynard Sharp	Labour
1950		constituency abolished
2024/2025		constituency to be re-established

Elections

Spen Valley election results

Elections in the 2020s

Next general election: Spen Valley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Kim Leadbeater [17]
	Conservative	Adam Gregg [18]
	Liberal Democrats	Alison Brelsford [19]
	Reform UK	Sarah Wood [20]
Majority
Turnout
Registered electors
	win (new seat)

Elections in the 1940s

1945 general election: Spen Valley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Granville Sharp	25,698	56.7	+7.5
	National Liberal	William Woolley	19,621	43.3	−7.5
Majority			6,077	13.4	N/A
Turnout			45,319	82.1	+5.0
Registered electors			55,218
	Labour gain from National Liberal		Swing	+7.5

1 June 1940 by-election: Spen Valley ^[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	William Woolley	Unopposed
	National Liberal hold

Note: 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 and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected:

• Liberal National: William Woolley
• Labour: Ivor Thomas ^[22]

Elections in the 1930s

1935 general election: Spen Valley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	John Simon	21,671	50.8	−13.8
	Labour	Ivor Thomas	21,029	49.2	+13.8
Majority			642	1.6	-27.6
Turnout			42,700	77.1	−4.9
Registered electors			55,358
	National Liberal hold

1931 general election: Spen Valley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	John Simon	28,647	64.6	+12.9
	Labour	Herbert Elvin	15,691	35.4	−12.3
Majority			12,956	29.2	+25.2
Turnout			44,338	82.0	+2.4
Registered electors			54,097
	National Liberal hold

Elections in the 1920s

1929 general election: Spen Valley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Simon	22,039	51.7	−5.2
	Labour	Herbert Elvin	20,300	47.7	+4.6
	Communist	Shaukat Usmani	242	0.6	New
Majority			1,739	4.0	-9.8
Turnout			42,581	79.6	+0.4
Registered electors			53,480
	Liberal hold

1924 general election: Spen Valley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Simon	18,474	56.9	+16.3
	Labour	Tom Myers	13,999	43.1	+5.7
Majority			4,475	13.8	+10.6
Turnout			32,473	79.2	−3.5
Registered electors			40,978
	Liberal hold

1923 general election: Spen Valley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Simon	13,672	40.6	+1.4
	Labour	Tom Myers	12,597	37.4	+0.5
	Conservative	Eugene Ramsden	7,390	22.0	−1.9
Majority			1,075	3.2	+0.9
Turnout			33,659	82.7	−1.9
Registered electors			40,678
	Liberal hold

John Simon

1922 general election: Spen Valley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Simon	13,306	39.2	N/A
	Labour	Tom Myers	12,519	36.9	−7.5
	Conservative	William Orlando Rhodes Holton	8,104	23.9	N/A
Majority			787	2.3	N/A
Turnout			33,929	84.6	+34.4
Registered electors			40,107
	Liberal gain from National Liberal		Swing

Elections in the 1910s

By-election, 20 December 1919: Spen Valley ^[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tom Myers	11,962	39.4	−5.0
	Liberal	John Simon	10,244	33.8	N/A
	National Liberal	Bryan Charles Fairfax [24]	8,134	26.8	-28.8
Majority			1,718	5.6	N/A
Turnout			30,340	76.5	+26.3
Registered electors			39,667
	Labour gain from National Liberal		Swing	+13.4

1918 general election: Spen Valley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	Thomas Whittaker	10,664	55.6	+3.0
	Labour	Tom Myers	8,508	44.4	New
Majority			2,156	11.2	+6.0
Turnout			19,172	50.2	−32.2
Registered electors			38,327
	National Liberal hold

Note: 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: Thomas Whittaker

December 1910 general election: Spen Valley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Whittaker	5,041	52.6	+7.8
	Conservative	Frederic Kelley	4,545	47.4	+15.5
Majority			496	5.2	-7.7
Turnout			9,586	82.4	−10.2
Registered electors			11,631
	Liberal hold

January 1910 general election: Spen Valley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Whittaker	4,817	44.8	−21.0
	Conservative	Frederic Kelley	3,439	31.9	−2.3
	Labour	T. Russell Williams	2,514	23.3	N/A
Majority			1,378	12.9	-18.7
Turnout			10,770	92.6	+12.5
Registered electors			11,631
	Liberal hold

Elections in the 1900s

1906 general election: Spen Valley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Whittaker	5,956	65.8	+7.7
	Conservative	Richard Johnson	3,092	34.2	−7.7
Majority			2,864	31.6	+15.4
Turnout			9,048	80.1	−0.2
Registered electors			11,300
	Liberal hold

1900 general election: Spen Valley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Whittaker	5,068	58.1	+3.3
	Conservative	William Glossop	3,653	41.9	−3.3
Majority			1,415	16.2	+6.6
Turnout			8,721	80.3	−1.5
Registered electors			10,858
	Liberal hold

Elections in the 1890s

1895 general election: Spen Valley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Whittaker	4,700	54.8	−4.0
	Conservative	Frederick Ellis	3,879	45.2	+4.0
Majority			821	9.6	-8.0
Turnout			8,579	81.8	+5.5
Registered electors			10,492
	Liberal hold

Thomas Whittaker

1892 general election: Spen Valley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Whittaker	4,952	58.8	−8.6
	Conservative	Frederick Ellis	3,474	41.2	+8.6
Majority			1,478	17.6	-17.2
Turnout			8,426	76.3	+6.4
Registered electors			11,038
	Liberal hold

Elections in the 1880s

1886 general election: Spen Valley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Joseph Woodhead	4,542	67.4	−0.3
	Liberal Unionist	Stanley Boulter	2,200	32.6	+0.3
Majority			2,342	34.8	-0.6
Turnout			6,742	69.9	−19.3
Registered electors			9,645
	Liberal hold

1885 general election: Spen Valley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Joseph Woodhead	5,826	67.7
	Conservative	John Gladstone	2,782	32.3
Majority			3,044	35.4
Turnout			8,608	89.2
Registered electors			9,645
	Liberal win (new seat)

See also

• Spenborough

References

1. "Yorkshire and the Humber | Boundary Commission for England". boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
2. "Parliamentary Constituencies (Electors, &c.) (United Kingdom)", House of Commons Paper no. 85 of session 1901, p. 7.
3. Henry Pelling, "Social Geography of British Elections 1885-1910", Macmillan, 1967, p. 302.
4. Michael Kinnear, "The British Voter" 2nd edition, Batsford Academic, 1981, p. 128.
5. Maurice Cowling, "The Impact of Labour, 1920–1924", Cambridge University Press, 1971, p. 112.
6. John Ramsden, "Newport and the fall of the Coalition" in "By-Elections in British Politics", Macmillan Press, 1973, p. 18.
7. "The Second Round in Spen Valley: Sir John Simon and Mr. Tom Myers", Manchester Guardian, 9 November 1922, p. 12.
8. David Dutton, "Liberals in Schism: A history of the National Liberal Party", Tauris Academic Studies, 2008, p. 42.
9. "County of York (Eastern Division of the West Riding)" in "Report of the Boundary Commissioners for England Wales, 1885" (C.-4287), vol I p. 185-7.
10. Hansard 3ser vol 296 col 1937.
11. Hansard 3ser vol 298 col 1394.
12. Hansard , 3ser vol 298 cols 1581-2.
13. Hansard 3ser vol 298 cols 1610-11.
14. Redistribution of Seats Act 1885
15. "46. County of York, West Riding" in "Report of the Boundary Commission (England and Wales)", Cd. 8757, vol II.
16. "The Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023". Schedule 1 Part 9 Yorkshire and the Humber region.
17. https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/kirklees-mp-kim-leadbeater-makes-26935556
18. https://www.dewsburyreporter.co.uk/news/politics/conservative-party-selects-kirklees-councillor-as-its-spen-valley-candidate-at-the-next-general-election-4268302
19. https://www.markpack.org.uk/167842/liberal-democrat-prospective-parliamentary-candidates/
20. https://www.spenvalleyreformuk.com/about-me/
21. Sir John Simon was appointed Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain on 20 May 1940.
22. Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939
23. Thomas Whittaker died on 9 November 1919.
24. ‘FAIRFAX, Col Bryan Charles’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2016; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014 ; online edn, April 2014 accessed 20 Sept 2017

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 4)

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Birmingham Edgbaston	Constituency represented by the chancellor of the Exchequer 1937–1940	Succeeded by Woolwich West