Bradford Central (UK Parliament constituency)

Bradford Central
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
County	West Riding of Yorkshire
Major settlements	Bradford
1885–1955
Number of members	One
Created from	Bradford

Bradford Central was a parliamentary constituency in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Elections were held under the first-past-the-post voting system.

The constituency was created for the 1885 general election, when the Redistribution of Seats Act split the two-member Bradford constituency into three single-seat divisions. It was abolished for the 1955 general election.

Political history

For most of its existence, Bradford Central was a marginal seat, initially between the Liberal Party and the Conservatives or their Liberal Unionist allies. The Liberals held it for all but eleven of the years from 1885 to 1918, after which it became a Labour-Conservative marginal. Control alternated between Labour and the Conservatives through the 1920s and 1930s, and in 1945 it became a safe seat for Labour.

Boundaries

1885-1918: The Municipal Borough of Bradford wards of Exchange, Lister Hills, Little Horton, North, and West.

1918-1950: The County Borough of Bradford wards of East, Exchange, Manningham, North, South, and West.

1950-1955: The County Borough of Bradford wards of Bradford Moor, Exchange, Manningham, North East, and South.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member [1]	Party [2][3]	Notes
	1885	William Edward Forster	Liberal	Bradford industrialist, MP for Bradford 1861–1885
	1886 by-election	George Shaw-Lefevre	Liberal	MP for Reading 1863–1885, held several ministerial offices
	1895	James Leslie Wanklyn	Liberal Unionist
	1906	Sir George Scott Robertson	Liberal	Soldier, and author of a book on Kafiristan which inspired Kipling's The Man Who Would Be King
	1916 by-election	Sir James Hill, Bt.	Liberal	Elected unopposed at a by-election, defeated in 1918
	1918	Henry Butler Ratcliffe	Coalition Conservative
	1922	William Leach	Labour	Under-Secretary of State for Air in the First Labour Government
	1924	Anthony Gadie	Conservative
	1929	William Leach	Labour
	1931	George Eady	Conservative
	1935	William Leach	Labour
	1945	Maurice Webb	Labour	Minister of Food 1950–1951
	1955	constituency abolished

Election results

Election	Political result		Candidate		Party	Votes	%	±%
1951 general election [4] Electorate: 49,625 Turnout: 41,558 (83.7%) −0.9		Labour hold Majority: 8,872 (21.4%) −5.7 Swing: 2.8% from Lab to Con		Maurice Webb	Labour	25,215	60.7	+2.0
				Arthur Tiley	Conservative	16,343	39.3	+7.6
1950 general election [5] Electorate: 49,935 Turnout: 42,260 (84.6%) +8.4		Labour hold Majority: 11,447 (27.1%) −3.8 Swing: 2.0% from Lab to Con		Maurice Webb	Labour	24,822	58.7	+1.2
				T. Boyce	Conservative	13,375	31.7	+5.1
				Charles Frederick Sarsby	Liberal	4,063	9.6	−6.3
1945 general election [3] Electorate: 38,331 Turnout: 29,205 (76.2%) +10.2		Labour hold Majority: 8,988 (30.9%) +27.3 Swing: 14.2% from Con to Lab		Maurice Webb	Labour	16,764	57.5	+6.7
				T. L. Dallas	Conservative	7,776	26.6	−21.6
				Peter Edward Trench	Liberal	4,665	15.9	N/A
1935 general election [3] Electorate: 47,906 Turnout: 31,638 (66.0%) −12.2		Labour gain from Conservative Majority: 1,156 (3.6%) Swing: 13.2% from Con to Lab		William Leach	Labour	16,397	51.8	+13.2
				George Eady	Conservative	15,241	48.2	−13.2
1931 general election [3] Electorate: 51,996 Turnout: 40,673 (78.2%) −1.8		Conservative gain from Labour Majority: 9,289 (22.8%) Swing: 20.4% from Lab to Con		George Eady	Conservative	24,986	61.4	+20.4
				William Leach	Labour	15,687	38.6	−20.4
1929 general election [3] Electorate: 52,674 Turnout: 42,141 (80.0%) +3.5		Labour gain from Unionist Majority: 7,611 (18.9%) Swing: 10.7% from Unionist to Lab		William Leach	Labour	24,876	59.0	+10.7
				Anthony Gadie	Unionist	17,265	41.0	−10.7
1924 general election [3] Electorate: 45,127 Turnout: 34,506 (76.5%) +5.5		Unionist gain from Labour Majority: 1,202 (3.4%) Swing: 8.8% from Lab to Unionist		Anthony Gadie	Unionist	17,854	51.7	+21.3
				William Leach	Labour	16,652	48.3	+3.7
1923 general election [3] Electorate: 44,991 Turnout: 31,939 (71.0%) −4.4		Labour hold Majority: 4,516 (14.2%) +7.9 Swing: 3.7% from Unionist to Lab		William Leach	Labour	14,241	44.6	+1.8
				Jonas Pearson	Unionist	9,725	30.4	−5.7
				Rev. William Paxton	Liberal	7,973	25.0	+3.5
1922 general election [3] Electorate: 44,689 Turnout: 75.4% (+0.7)		Labour gain from Unionist Majority: 2,125 (6.3%) Swing: 13.0% from Unionist to Lab		William Leach	Labour	14,296	42.4	+11.1
				Fred Denby Moore	Unionist	12,171	36.1	−14.9
				Rev. William Paxton	Liberal	7,250	21.5	+3.8
1918 general election [3] Electorate: 44,549 Turnout: 24,374 (54.7%) −27.1		Coalition Conservative gain from Liberal Majority: 4,798 (19.7%) Swing: 27.7% from Lib to Con		Henry Butler Ratcliffe	Coalition Conservative	12,434	51.0	+9.0
				William Leach	Labour	7,636	31.3	N/A
				Sir James Hill, Bt	Liberal	4,304	17.7	−40.3
1916 by-election [2] Death of Sir George Scott Robertson		Liberal hold		Sir James Hill, Bt	Liberal	unopposed
Dec 1910 general election [2] Electorate: 9,848 Turnout: 8,058 (81.8%) −8.1		Liberal hold Majority: 1,296 (16.0%) −2.6 Swing: 1.3% from Lib to Con		Sir George Scott Robertson	Liberal	4,677	58.0	−1.3
				G. H. R. Pauling	Conservative	3,381	42.0	+1.3
Jan 1910 general election [2] Electorate: 9,848 Turnout: 8,857 (89.9%) +4.0		Liberal hold Majority: 1,641 (18.6%) +3.0 Swing: 1.5% from LibU to Lib		Sir George Scott Robertson	Liberal	5,249	59.3	+1.5
				Viscount Howick	Liberal Unionist	3,608	40.7	−1.5
1906 general election [2] Electorate: 9,978 Turnout: 8,568 (85.9%) +3.1		Liberal gain from Liberal Unionist Majority: 1,340 (15.6%) +8.4 Swing: 4.2% from LibU to Lib		Sir George Scott Robertson	Liberal	4,954	57.8	+4.2
				Vicary Gibbs [6]	Conservative	3,614	42.2	−4.2
1900 general election [2] Electorate: 10,442 Turnout: 8,641 (82.8%) +5.2		Liberal Unionist hold Majority: 627 (7.2%) +6.6 Swing: 3.3% from Lib to LibU		James Wanklyn	Liberal Unionist	4,634	53.6	+3.3
				A. Anderton	Liberal	4,007	46.4	−3.3
1895 general election [2] Electorate: 10,316 Turnout: 7,917 (77.6%) −0.7		Liberal Unionist gain from Liberal Majority: 41 (0.6%) Swing: 2.9% from Lib to LibU		James Wanklyn	Liberal Unionist	4,024	50.3	+2.9
				George Shaw-Lefevre	Liberal	3,893	49.7	−2.9
By-election, 23 August 1892 [2][7] Sitting MP seeks re-election		Liberal hold		George Shaw-Lefevre	Liberal	unopposed
1892 general election [2] Electorate: 11,434 Turnout: 8,955 (78.3%) +4.3		Liberal hold Majority: 465 (5.2%) −0.2 Swing: 0.1% from Lib to LibU		George Shaw-Lefevre	Liberal	4,710	52.6	−0.1
				Marquess of Lorne	Liberal Unionist	4,245	47.4	+0.1
1886 general election [2] Electorate: 11,297 Turnout: 8,361 (74.0%) +2.9		Liberal hold Majority: 459 (5.4%) −4.4 Swing: 2.2% from Lib to LibU		George Shaw-Lefevre	Liberal	4,410	52.7	−2.2
				Charles Norwood	Liberal Unionist	3,951	47.3	+2.2
By-election 21 April 1886 [2] Death of William Edward Forster Electorate: 11,297 Turnout: 8,032 (71.1%) −8.6		Liberal hold Majority: 780 (9.8%) −4.4 Swing: 3.7% from Lib to Con		George Shaw-Lefevre	Liberal	4,407	54.9	−3.7
				Edward Hoare	Conservative	3,627	45.1	+3.7
1885 general election [2] New constituency Electorate: 11,297 Turnout: 9,007 (79.7%)		Liberal win Majority: 1,543 (17.2%)		William Edward Forster	Liberal	5,275	58.6
				G. M. Waud	Conservative	3,732	41.4

References

1. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 4)
2. Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1974]. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 79. ISBN 0-900178-27-2.
3. Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 99. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
4. "UK General Election results October 1951, part 4". Richard Kimber's political science resources. Retrieved 9 July 2010.
5. "UK General Election results February 1950, part 4". Richard Kimber's political science resources. Retrieved 9 July 2010.
6. Vicary Gibbs had been the MP for St Albans from 1892 to 1904
7. The by-election in 1892 was caused by the appointment of George Shaw-Lefevre to the ministerial post of First Commissioner of Works. Until the 1920s, appointment as a minister required an MP to seek re-election.

• British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (The Macmillan Press 1974)