Coventry East (UK Parliament constituency)

Coventry East
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
1945–February 1974
Number of members one
Replaced by Coventry North East,
Coventry South East

Coventry East was a parliamentary constituency in the city of Coventry in the West Midlands. 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.

History

Until 1945, the city of Coventry was represented by a single Member. Population growth meant that it had grown to 89,001 electors at the time of the 1935 general election, and in the 1939 electoral register it had 87,487 electors.[1] The County Borough of Coventry had also expanded its boundaries in the late 1930s, taking in an additional 66,425 electors. Two nearby divisions of Warwickshire had exceptionally large electorates: Nuneaton at 112,503 and Tamworth at 118,131. Accordingly, the area was included in the Schedule to the House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1944 as abnormally large constituencies to be divided by the Boundary Commission before the first post-war general election.

The Boundary Commission proposed to create two divisions within the new boundaries of the County Borough, with Coventry East comprising ten wards and having a 1939 electorate of 76,860.[2] On the new electoral register compiled for the 1945 general election, the constituency had 74,676 electors on the civilian residence register, 67 on the Business Premises register, and 5,166 on the service register.[3]

A new Boundary Commission review began in 1965 by which time Coventry's electorate had increased and the city was allocated four seats; they were named after the ordinal points of the compass. The recommendations of the Commission came into effect at the February 1974 general election, at which point Coventry East ceased to exist as a Parliamentary constituency.

Boundaries

1945-1950: The County Borough of Coventry wards of All Saints, Foleshill, Hernall, Hill Fields, Longford, Lower Stoke, St Mary's, St Paul's, Upper Stoke, and Walsgrave.

1950-1974: The County Borough of Coventry wards of Charterhouse and Binley, Longford, Lower Stoke, Upper Stoke, and Walsgrave.

Members of Parliament

ElectionMemberParty
1945 Richard Crossman Labour
Feb 1974 constituency abolished

Election results

Election Political result Candidate Party Votes % ±%
1945 General Election
Electorate: 79,853
Turnout: 71.1%
Labour win
Majority: 18,749 (33.0%)
Richard Howard Stafford CrossmanLabour34,37960.5
Harry Weston Conservative15,63027.5
Capt. William Alexander Communist3,9867.0
Charles Payne Liberal2,8205.0
1950 General Election
Electorate: 58,254
Turnout: 88.2%
Labour hold
Majority: 13,453 (26.2%)
Richard Howard Stafford CrossmanLabour30,45659.3
Timothy Berthier Meek Conservative17,00333.1
Samuel Henry Davis Liberal3,4206.7
William Alexander Communist4870.9
1951 General Election
Electorate: 60,115
Turnout: 85.7%
Labour hold
Majority: 12,671 (24.6%)
Richard Howard Stafford CrossmanLabour32,10862.3+3.0
Gavin Bramhall Welby Conservative19,43737.7+4.6
1955 General Election
Electorate: 60,769
Turnout: 81.2%
Labour hold
Majority: 6,104 (12.4%)
Richard Howard Stafford CrossmanLabour27,71256.2–6.1
Dr. Michael Ayerst Hooker Conservative21,60843.8+6.1
1959 General Election
Electorate: 70,689
Turnout: 81.7%
Labour hold
Majority: 7,762 (13.4%)
Richard Howard Stafford CrossmanLabour32,74456.7+0.5
William John Biffen Conservative24,98243.3–0.5
1964 General Election
Electorate: 77,821
Turnout: 77.9%
Labour hold
Majority: 13,038 (21.5%)
Richard Howard Stafford CrossmanLabour36,24659.8+3.1
Ian Reginald Edward Gow Conservative23,20838.3–5.0
Harry Bourne Communist1,1381.9
1966 General Election
Electorate: 78,131
Turnout: 77.3%
Labour hold
Majority: 18,696 (30.9%)
Richard Howard Stafford CrossmanLabour36,75760.8+1.0
John Wakeham Conservative18,06129.9–8.4
Jan Maria Mokrzycki Liberal4,2357.0
Harry Bourne Communist1,3682.3+0.4
1970 General Election
Electorate: 86,603
Turnout: 70.6%
Labour hold
Majority: 12,265 (20.0%)
Richard Howard Stafford CrossmanLabour36,27559.3–1.5
Maurice Edward Jones Conservative24,01039.3+9.4
John Hosey Communist8411.4–0.9

References

  1. "Return showing, with regard to each Parliamentary Constituency in England and Wales, the total number of Electors on the register now in force", HCP 10 of session 1943-44, p. 3.
  2. "Report of the Boundary Commission for England", Cmd. 6634, p. 36.
  3. "Return showing, with regard to each Parliamentary Constituency in England and Wales, the total number of Electors on the register now in force", HCP 107 of session 1944-45, p. 5.
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