Smethwick (UK Parliament constituency)

Last updated

Smethwick
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
1918–February 1974
Seatsone
Created from Handsworth
Replaced by Warley East

Smethwick was a parliamentary constituency, centred on the town of Smethwick in Staffordshire. 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. The constituency was created for the 1918 general election, and abolished for the February 1974 general election.

Contents

Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat will be re-established for the next general election. It will be formed from the (to be abolished) Warley constituency, with the addition of most of the Blackheath ward. [1]

History

The constituency gained national interest during the 1918 general election when the Suffragette leader Christabel Pankhurst decided to stand as a Woman's Party candidate supporting the Coalition. She was one of 17 women candidates standing for Parliament at the first opportunity. This was her one and only parliamentary campaign which she lost to the Labour candidate. [2]

In 1945 the constituency held the first post-war by-election when the winning Labour candidate, Alfred Dobbs, was killed in a road traffic accident less than twenty four hours after the count. [3] The constituency was the subject of national media coverage during the 1964 general election when Peter Griffiths, the Conservative Party candidate, gained the seat against the national trend, unseating the Labour Party sitting member, Patrick Gordon Walker, a front bench opposition spokesman in the previous Parliament, in a campaign with racial overtones. [4]

Boundaries

The County Borough of Smethwick.

Proposed

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

It will comprise the whole of the current Warley constituency, with the addition of the bulk of the Blackheath ward from Halesowen and Rowley Regis (to be abolished), thus bringing its electorate within the permitted range.

Members of Parliament

ElectionMemberParty
1918 John Davison Labour
1926 Sir Oswald Mosley Labour
1931 New Party
1931 Roy Wise Conservative
1945 Alfred Dobbs Labour
1945 Patrick Gordon Walker Labour
1964 Peter Griffiths Conservative
1966 Andrew Faulds Labour
Feb 1974 constituency abolished: see Warley East

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

Next general election: Smethwick
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour John Spellar [6]

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Smethwick
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Andrew Faulds 16,077 52.2 −2.2
Conservative B. Brian Rathbone13,96845.4+1.3
Liberal Mihir Gupta7472.4New
Majority2,1096.8−3.5
Turnout 30,79268.1−7.3
Labour hold Swing -1.7

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1966: Smethwick
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Andrew Faulds 18,440 54.4 +11.8
Conservative Peter Griffiths 14,95044.1−3.5
British National R. Stanley5081.5New
Majority3,49010.3N/A
Turnout 33,89875.4+1.3
Labour gain from Conservative Swing −7.6
General election 1964: Smethwick
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Peter Griffiths 16,690 47.6 +2.3
Labour Patrick Gordon Walker 14,91642.6−12.1
Liberal David Hugill3,1729.0New
Independent Dudley Trevor Davies2620.8New
Majority1,7745.0N/A
Turnout 35,04074.1−1.8
Conservative gain from Labour Swing −7.2

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1959: Smethwick
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Patrick Gordon Walker 20,670 54.7 −3.5
Conservative Peter Griffiths 17,12645.3+3.5
Majority3,5449.4−7.0
Turnout 37,79675.9+0.4
Labour hold Swing -3.5
General election 1955: Smethwick
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Patrick Gordon Walker 23,151 58.2 −2.4
Conservative John Wells 16,65641.8+2.4
Majority6,49516.4−4.8
Turnout 39,80775.5−8.5
Labour hold Swing -2.5
General election 1951: Smethwick
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Patrick Gordon Walker 27,739 60.6 −1.5
Conservative A. Norman Giles18,01239.4+1.5
Majority9,72721.2−3.0
Turnout 45,75183.5-3.4
Labour hold Swing -1.5
General election 1950: Smethwick
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Patrick Gordon Walker 28,750 62.1 −6.7
Conservative J. Fallon17,55337.9+6.7
Majority11,19724.2−13.4
Turnout 46,30386.9+21.5
Labour hold Swing -6.7

Elections in the 1940s

1945 Smethwick by-election [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Patrick Gordon Walker 19,364 68.8 +2.9
Conservative Gilbert Harold Samuel Edgar8,76231.2−2.9
Majority10,60237.6+5.8
Turnout 43,02065.4−7.0
Labour hold Swing −2.9
General election 1945: Smethwick [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Alfred Dobbs 20,522 65.9 +18.4
Conservative Gilbert Harold Samuel Edgar10,63734.1−18.4
Majority9,88531.8N/A
Turnout 31,15972.4+1.7
Labour gain from Conservative Swing −18.4

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1935: Smethwick [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Roy Wise 16,575 52.5 −7.6
Labour Charles Wortham Brook 15,02347.5+7.6
Majority1,5525.0−17.2
Turnout 31,59870.7−4.0
Conservative hold Swing −7.7
General election 1931: Smethwick [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Roy Wise 20,945 60.1 +25.9
Labour W. Ernest Lawrence13,92739.9−14.9
Majority7,01820.2N/A
Turnout 34,87274.7−4.2
Conservative gain from Labour Swing +20.3

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1929: Smethwick [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Oswald Mosley 19,550 54.8 −2.3
Unionist Roy Wise 12,21034.2+0.5
Liberal Maude Egerton Marshall3,90911.0+1.8
Majority7,34020.6−2.8
Turnout 35,66978.9+0.3
Labour hold Swing -1.4
1926 Smethwick by-election [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Oswald Mosley 16,077 57.1 +4.8
Unionist Marshall James Pike9,49533.7−14.0
Liberal Edwin Bayliss 2,6009.2New
Majority6,58223.4+18.8
Turnout 35,86278.6+0.4
Labour hold Swing −9.4
General election 1924: Smethwick [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour John Davison 14,491 52.3 −2.4
Unionist Marshall James Pike13,23847.7+2.4
Majority1,2534.6−4.8
Turnout 27,72978.2+6.5
Labour hold Swing -2.4
General election 1923: Smethwick [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour John Davison 13,550 54.7 +4.0
Unionist Edmund Brocklebank 11,21745.3−4.0
Majority2,3339.4+8.0
Turnout 24,76771.7−4.2
Labour hold Swing −4.0
General election 1922: Smethwick [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour John Davison 13,141 50.7 −1.5
Unionist Arthur Henry Addenbrooke Simcox12,75949.3+1.5
Majority3821.4−3.0
Turnout 25,90075.9+21.2
Labour hold Swing -1.5

Elections in the 1910s

Pankhurst Christabel Pankhurst.jpg
Pankhurst
General election 1918: Smethwick [7] [8]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour John Davison 9,389 52.2
Women's Party Christabel Pankhurst 8,61447.8
Majority7754.4
Turnout 18,00354.7
Labour win (new seat)


See also

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References

  1. ↑ "West Midlands | Boundary Commission for England". boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  2. ↑ Hallam, David J.A. Taking on the Men: the first women parliamentary candidates 1918, Studley 2018, chapter two "Pankhurst in Smethwick".
  3. ↑ Ibid page 24, footnote.
  4. ↑ Jeffries, Stuart (15 October 2014). "Britain's most racist election: the story of Smethwick, 50 years on". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  5. ↑ "The Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023". Schedule 1 Part 8 West Midlands region.
  6. ↑ John Spellar [@spellar] (11 June 2023). "having been reselected last year overwhelmingly and endorsed by the NEC for the new seat of Smethwick I can assure you that rumours of my demise are much exaggerated, you need more reliable sources" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig (1983). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN   0-900178-06-X.
  8. ↑ Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench

52°29′N2°0′W / 52.483°N 2.000°W / 52.483; -2.000

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