Clay Cross (UK Parliament constituency)

Clay Cross
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1918–1950
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Bolsover and South East Derbyshire

Clay Cross was a county constituency centred on the village of Clay Cross in north-east Derbyshire. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system.

The constituency was created for the 1918 general election, and abolished for the 1950 general election.

Boundaries

The Urban District of Clay Cross, the Rural District of Blackwell (the civil parishes of Ault Hucknall, Blackwell, Glapwell, Pinxton, Pleasley, Scarcliffe, Shirebrook, South Normanton, and Tibshelf), and part of the Rural District of Chesterfield.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party	Notes
	1918	Thomas Broad	Liberal
	1922	Charles Duncan	Labour	Died 1933
	1933 by-election	Arthur Henderson	Labour
	1935	Alfred Holland	Labour	Died 1936
	1936 by-election	George Ridley	Labour	Died 1944
	1944 by-election	Harold Neal	Labour
1950		constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1923: Clay Cross [1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Charles Duncan	11,939	56.0
	Unionist	John Sherwood-Kelly	4,881	22.9
	Liberal	Frank Crane Thornborough	4,488	21.1
Majority
Turnout				61.4
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1929: Clay Cross [2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Charles Duncan	24,480	80.2
	Unionist	Abraham Montagu Lyons	6,055	19.8
Majority			18,425	60.4
Turnout			30,535
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931: Clay Cross
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Charles Duncan	21,163	64.57
	Liberal National	J Weinberg	11,611	35.43
Majority			9,552	29.15
Turnout				74.60
	Labour hold		Swing

Clay Cross by-election, 1933 Electorate 44,466
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Rt Hon. Arthur Henderson	21,931	69.3
	Conservative	J Moores	6,293	19.9
	Communist	Harry Pollitt	3,434	10.8
Majority			15,638
Turnout				71.2
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1935: Clay Cross
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alfred Holland	24,590	74.56
	Conservative	Miss B Jackson	8,391	25.44
Majority			16,199	49.12
Turnout				73.66
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1940s

Clay Cross by-election, 1944[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Harold Neal	13,693	76.3
	Independent Anti-Fascist	Phil Hicken	2,336	13.0
	Independent Atlantic Charter	William Douglas-Home	1,911	10.7
Majority			11,357	63.3
Turnout			17,940
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1945: Clay Cross
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Harold Neal	27,538	82.06
	Conservative	WP Bull	6,021	17.94
Majority			21,517	64.12
Turnout				70.82
	Labour hold		Swing

References

1. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
2. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
3. Whitaker's Almanac (1945), p.311

• Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 4)