Houghton-le-Spring (UK Parliament constituency)

Houghton-le-Spring
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
County	County Durham until 1974, then Tyne and Wear
Major settlements	Houghton-le-Spring
1885–1983
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Houghton & Washington and Easington[1]
Created from	South Durham

Houghton-le-Spring was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 to 1983.

Centred on the town of Houghton-le-Spring in the City of Sunderland, it elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first-past-the-post system of election. It was abolished in 1983, and replaced by the new constituency of Houghton and Washington.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1885	John Wilson	Liberal-Labour
	1886	Nicholas Wood	Conservative
	1892	Henry Thomas Fenwick	Liberal
	1895	Robert Cameron	Liberal
	1913 by-election	Thomas Edward Wing	Liberal
	1918	Robert Richardson	Labour
	1931	Robert Chapman	Conservative
	1935	William Stewart	Labour
	1945	Bill Blyton	Labour
	1964	Tom Urwin	Labour
1983		constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1910s

Robert Cameron

General Election January 1910
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Robert Cameron	10,393	70.3
	Conservative	Hugh Sidney Streatfield	4,382	29.7
Majority			6,011	40.6
Turnout				84.4
	Liberal hold		Swing

Tom Wing

Houghton-le-Spring by-election, 1913
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Edward Wing	6,930	43.6	-26.7
	Unionist	Thomas Richardson	4,807	30.2	+0.5
	Labour	Ald. William House	4,165	26.2	+26.2
Majority			2,123	13.4	-27.2
Turnout				83.6	-0.8
	Liberal hold		Swing	-13.6

A General Election was due to take place by the end of 1915. By the autumn of 1914, the following candidates had been adopted to contest that election. Due to the outbreak of war, the election never took place. House's parliamentary interests moved on to the Mid Durham constituency, while Richardson never stood again.

General Election 1914/15
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Edward Wing
	Labour	William Pallister Richardson

At the eleventh hour, the Labour party replaced W.P.Richardson as candidate with another local miner Robert Richardson

General Election 14 December 1918: Houghton-le-Spring[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Richardson	7,315	36.4
	Liberal	Thomas Edward Wing	6,626	32.9
	National Democratic	John Lindsley	6,185	30.7	n/a
Majority			689	3.5
Turnout				61.8
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing

• Lindsley was the endorsed candidate of the Coalition Government.

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1922: Houghton-le-Spring[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Richardson	14,611	51.9
	Unionist	Walter William Shaw	7,555	26.9
	Liberal	J E Johnston	5,958	21.2
Majority			7,056	25.0
Turnout				78.4	+16.8
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1923: Houghton-le-Spring [4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Richardson	15,225	59.3	+7.4
	Liberal	Aaron Charlton Curry	10,445	40.7	+19.5
Majority			4,780	18.6	-6.4
Turnout				69.0	-9.4
	Labour hold		Swing	-6.1

General Election 1924: Houghton-le-Spring [5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Richardson	17,857	57.8
	Liberal	Aaron Charlton Curry	13,023	42.2
Majority			4,834	15.6
Turnout				79.6
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1929: Houghton-le-Spring [6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Richardson	25,056	57.1	-0.7
	Liberal	Thomas Edward Wing	10,267	23.4	-18.8
	Unionist	William George Pearson	8,545	19.5	n/a
Majority			14,789	33.7	-18.1
Turnout				80.3	0.7
	Labour hold		Swing	-9.0

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931: Houghton-le-Spring
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Chapman	25,549	52.95
	Labour	Robert Richardson	22,700	47.05
Majority			2,849	5.90
Turnout				82.78
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General Election 1935: Houghton-le-Spring
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William Stewart	30,665	57.15
	Conservative	Col. Robert Chapman	22,290	42.85
Majority			7,675	14.30
Turnout				82.04
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Election in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Houghton-le-Spring
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bill Blyton	43,730	66.67
	Conservative	TB Martin	21,864	33.33
Majority			21,866	33.34
Turnout				76.87
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: Houghton-le-Spring
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bill Blyton	36,044	77.14
	Conservative	B Bolam	10,682	22.86
Majority			25,362	54.28
Turnout				87.22
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1951: Houghton-le-Spring
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bill Blyton	37,718	75.80
	Conservative	B Bolam	12,042	24.20
Majority			25,676	51.60
Turnout				86.61
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Houghton-le-Spring
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bill Blyton	33,375	76.11
	Conservative	TES Egerton	10,476	23.89
Majority			22,899	52.22
Turnout				79.49
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1959: Houghton-le-Spring
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bill Blyton	35,960	75.93
	Conservative	ARC Arbuthnot	11,398	24.07
Majority			24,562	51.86
Turnout				83.41
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1964: Houghton-le-Spring
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tom Urwin	32,914	74.82
	Conservative	Peter Coles Price	11,076	25.18
Majority			21,838	49.64
Turnout				78.70
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1966: Houghton-le-Spring
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tom Urwin	32,067	77.51
	Conservative	FHM Craig-Cooper	9,304	22.49
Majority			22,763	55.02
Turnout				73.88
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: Houghton-le-Spring
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tom Urwin	32,888	73.41
	Conservative	FHM Craig-Cooper	11,914	26.59
Majority			20,974	46.81
Turnout				71.60
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election February 1974: Houghton-le-Spring
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tom Urwin	23,263	76.89
	Conservative	RC Ritchie	10,300	23.11
Majority			23,963	53.77
Turnout				75.13
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election October 1974: Houghton-le-Spring
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tom Urwin	29,699	68.44
	Liberal	W Robson	9,298	21.43
	Conservative	RC Ritchie	4,399	10.14
Majority			20,401	47.01
Turnout				72.44
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1979: Houghton-le-Spring
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tom Urwin	30,181	68.45
	Conservative	P Straw	9,105	20.65
	Liberal	J Ellis	4,479	10.16
	Workers Revolutionary	D Temple	326	0.74
Majority			21,076	47.08
Turnout				72.89
	Labour hold		Swing

References

1. "'Houghton-le-Spring', Feb 1974 - May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
2. British parliamentary election results, 1918-1949 by FWS Craig
3. British parliamentary election results, 1918-1949 by FWS Craig
4. British parliamentary election results, 1918-1949 by FWS Craig
5. British parliamentary election results, 1918-1949 by FWS Craig
6. British parliamentary election results, 1918-1949 by FWS Craig

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "H" (part 4)
• Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1974]. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 270. ISBN 0-900178-27-2.
• Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 344. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.