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
| Election | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 Crossman | Labour | 34,379 | 60.5 | |||
| Harry Weston | Conservative | 15,630 | 27.5 | |||||
| Capt. William Alexander | Communist | 3,986 | 7.0 | |||||
| Charles Payne | Liberal | 2,820 | 5.0 | |||||
| 1950 General Election Electorate: 58,254 Turnout: 88.2% | Labour hold Majority: 13,453 (26.2%) | Richard Howard Stafford Crossman | Labour | 30,456 | 59.3 | |||
| Timothy Berthier Meek | Conservative | 17,003 | 33.1 | |||||
| Samuel Henry Davis | Liberal | 3,420 | 6.7 | |||||
| William Alexander | Communist | 487 | 0.9 | |||||
| 1951 General Election Electorate: 60,115 Turnout: 85.7% | Labour hold Majority: 12,671 (24.6%) | Richard Howard Stafford Crossman | Labour | 32,108 | 62.3 | +3.0 | ||
| Gavin Bramhall Welby | Conservative | 19,437 | 37.7 | +4.6 | ||||
| 1955 General Election Electorate: 60,769 Turnout: 81.2% | Labour hold Majority: 6,104 (12.4%) | Richard Howard Stafford Crossman | Labour | 27,712 | 56.2 | –6.1 | ||
| Dr. Michael Ayerst Hooker | Conservative | 21,608 | 43.8 | +6.1 | ||||
| 1959 General Election Electorate: 70,689 Turnout: 81.7% | Labour hold Majority: 7,762 (13.4%) | Richard Howard Stafford Crossman | Labour | 32,744 | 56.7 | +0.5 | ||
| William John Biffen | Conservative | 24,982 | 43.3 | –0.5 | ||||
| 1964 General Election Electorate: 77,821 Turnout: 77.9% | Labour hold Majority: 13,038 (21.5%) | Richard Howard Stafford Crossman | Labour | 36,246 | 59.8 | +3.1 | ||
| Ian Reginald Edward Gow | Conservative | 23,208 | 38.3 | –5.0 | ||||
| Harry Bourne | Communist | 1,138 | 1.9 | |||||
| 1966 General Election Electorate: 78,131 Turnout: 77.3% | Labour hold Majority: 18,696 (30.9%) | Richard Howard Stafford Crossman | Labour | 36,757 | 60.8 | +1.0 | ||
| John Wakeham | Conservative | 18,061 | 29.9 | –8.4 | ||||
| Jan Maria Mokrzycki | Liberal | 4,235 | 7.0 | |||||
| Harry Bourne | Communist | 1,368 | 2.3 | +0.4 | ||||
| 1970 General Election Electorate: 86,603 Turnout: 70.6% | Labour hold Majority: 12,265 (20.0%) | Richard Howard Stafford Crossman | Labour | 36,275 | 59.3 | –1.5 | ||
| Maurice Edward Jones | Conservative | 24,010 | 39.3 | +9.4 | ||||
| John Hosey | Communist | 841 | 1.4 | –0.9 | ||||
References
- ↑ "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.
- ↑ "Report of the Boundary Commission for England", Cmd. 6634, p. 36.
- ↑ "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.