Luton (UK Parliament constituency)
Luton | |
---|---|
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons | |
County | Bedfordshire |
Major settlements | Luton |
1950–1974 | |
Number of members | One |
Replaced by | Luton East and Luton West |
1885–1950 | |
Number of members | One |
Type of constituency | County constituency |
Created from | Bedfordshire |
Luton was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Luton in Bedfordshire. 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.
The Bedfordshire Southern or Luton constituency[1] was created for the 1885 general election as a county division of Bedfordshire, when the former Bedfordshire county constituency was abolished.
Luton became a borough constituency in 1950 ().
At the February 1974 general election the Borough constituency was abolished, and replaced by two new borough constituencies: Luton East and Luton West.
Boundaries
1885-1918: The Municipal Boroughs of Dunstable and Luton, the Sessional Divisions of Leighton Buzzard, Luton, and Woburn, and part of the Sessional Division of Ampthill.
1918-1950: The Municipal Boroughs of Dunstable and Luton, and the Rural District of Luton.
1950-1974: The Municipal Borough of Luton wards of Central, Crawley, Dallow, High Town, Icknield, Lewsey, South, Stopsley, Sundon Park, and Wardown.
The 1885 county constituency was created under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, when the former two-seat constituency of Bedfordshire was divided into two single-member seats of Biggleswade and Luton.
Members of Parliament
Election | Member | Party | |
---|---|---|---|
1885 | Cyril Flower | Liberal | |
1892 by-election | Samuel Howard Whitbread | Liberal | |
1895 | Thomas Gair Ashton | Liberal | |
1911 by-election | Cecil Bisshopp Harmsworth | Liberal | |
1922 | Sir John Prescott Hewett | Unionist | |
1923 | Geoffrey William Algernon Howard | Liberal | |
1924 | Terence James O'Connor | Unionist | |
1929 | Edward Leslie Burgin | Liberal | |
1931 | National Liberal | ||
1945 | Will Warbey | Labour | |
1950 | Charles Hill | National Liberal and Conservative | |
1963 by-election | Will Howie | Labour | |
1970 | Charles Simeons | Conservative | |
Feb 1974 | constituency abolished: see Luton East and Luton West |
Election results
Elections in the 1910s

General Election December 1910 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Liberal | Thomas Gair Ashton | 7,601 | 53.4 | +0.5 | |
Conservative | John Owen Hickman | 6,623 | 46.6 | -0.5 | |
Majority | 6.8 | ||||
Turnout | 85.9 | ||||
Liberal hold | Swing | +0.5 | |||

Luton by-election, 1911 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Liberal | Cecil Bisshopp Harmsworth | 7,619 | 52.1 | -1.3 | |
Conservative | John Owen Hickman | 7,006 | 47.9 | +1.3 | |
Majority | 613 | 4.2 | |||
Turnout | 85.1 | ||||
Liberal hold | Swing | -1.3 | |||
General Election 1914/15: Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place from 1914 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected;
- Liberal: Cecil Harmsworth
General Election 1918: Luton | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Liberal | Cecil Bisshopp Harmsworth | 13,501 | 69.4 | ||
Labour | Willet Ball | 5,964 | 30.6 | ||
Majority | 7,537 | 38.8 | |||
Turnout | 62.5 | ||||
Liberal hold | Swing | ||||
Harmsworth was endorsed by the Coalition Government.
Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1922: Luton | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Unionist | Sir John Prescott Hewett | 13,301 | 43.5 | n/a | |
Liberal | Harry Arnold | 10,137 | 33.2 | -36.2 | |
Labour | Percy Alden | 7,107 | 23.3 | -7.3 | |
Majority | 3,164 | 10.3 | 49.1 | ||
Turnout | 81.0 | +18.5 | |||
Unionist gain from Liberal | Swing | n/a | |||

General Election 1923: Luton | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Liberal | Hon. Geoffrey William Algernon Howard | 15,569 | 51.4 | +18.2 | |
Unionist | Sir John Prescott Hewett | 11,738 | 38.7 | -4.8 | |
Labour | Willet Ball | 2,998 | 9.9 | -13.4 | |
Majority | 3,831 | 12.7 | 23.0 | ||
Turnout | 78.1 | ||||
Liberal gain from Unionist | Swing | +11.5 | |||
General Election 1924: Luton | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Unionist | Terence James O'Connor | 15,443 | 47.1 | ||
Liberal | Hon. Geoffrey William Algernon Howard | 11,495 | 35.1 | ||
Labour | Philip L Millwood | 5,850 | 17.8 | ||
Majority | 3,948 | 12.0 | |||
Turnout | 82.6 | ||||
Unionist gain from Liberal | Swing | ||||
General Election 1929: Luton | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Liberal | Edward Leslie Burgin | 20,248 | 45.5 | +10.4 | |
Unionist | Terence James O'Connor | 16,930 | 38.0 | -9.1 | |
Labour | Florence Nightingale Harrison Bell | 7,351 | 16.5 | -1.3 | |
Majority | 3,318 | 7.5 | 19.5 | ||
Turnout | 81.5 | -1.1 | |||
Liberal gain from Unionist | Swing | +9.8 | |||
Elections in the 1930s
General Election 1931: Luton | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Liberal National | Edward Leslie Burgin | 32,015 | 80.2 | ||
Labour | James H MacDonnell | 7,897 | 19.8 | ||
Majority | 24,118 | 60.4 | |||
Turnout | 39,912 | 67.8 | |||
Liberal National hold | Swing | ||||
General Election 1935: Luton | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Liberal National | Edward Leslie Burgin | 28,809 | 65.5 | ||
Labour | Ferdinand Louis Kerran | 15,181 | 34.5 | ||
Majority | 13,628 | 31.0 | |||
Turnout | 43,990 | 63.2 | |||
Liberal National hold | Swing | ||||
Elections in the 1940s
General Election 1939/40: Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected;
- Liberal National: Rt Hon. Leslie Burgin
- Labour: Ferdinand Louis Kerran
General Election 1945: Luton | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Labour | William Noble Warbey | 39,335 | 55.2 | ||
Liberal National | Leonard Graham Brown | 31,914 | 44.8 | ||
Majority | 7,421 | 10.4 | |||
Turnout | 74.9 | ||||
Labour gain from Liberal National | Swing | ||||
Elections in the 1950s
General Election 1950: Luton | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
National Liberal and Conservative | Dr. Charles Hill | 22,946 | 46.59 | ||
Labour | William Noble Warbey | 21,860 | 44.38 | ||
Liberal | Wilfred G Matthews | 4,447 | 9.03 | ||
Majority | 1,086 | 2.20 | |||
Turnout | 87.07 | ||||
National Liberal and Conservative gain from Labour | Swing | ||||
General Election 1951: Luton | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
National Liberal and Conservative | Dr. Charles Hill | 26,554 | 52.69 | ||
Labour | William Noble Warbey | 23,842 | 47.31 | ||
Majority | 2,712 | 5.38 | |||
Turnout | 87.59 | ||||
National Liberal and Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
General Election 1955: Luton | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
National Liberal and Conservative | Dr. Charles Hill | 24,722 | 51.33 | ||
Labour | Morris Janis | 20,304 | 42.15 | ||
Liberal | Jean Mary Henderson | 3,140 | 6.52 | ||
Majority | 4,418 | 9.17 | |||
Turnout | 83.14 | ||||
National Liberal and Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
General Election 1959: Luton | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
National Liberal and Conservative | Dr. Charles Hill | 27,153 | 55.09 | ||
Labour | Cyril Rawlett Fenton | 22,134 | 44.91 | ||
Majority | 5,019 | 10.18 | |||
Turnout | 82.46 | ||||
National Liberal and Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
Elections in the 1960s
Luton by-election, 1963 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Labour | William Howie | 21,108 | |||
Conservative | Sir John Fletcher-Cooke | 17,359 | |||
Liberal | M A Benjamin | 5,001 | |||
Communist | Anthony P J Chater | 490 | |||
Majority | 3,749 | ||||
Turnout | |||||
Labour gain from National Liberal and Conservative | Swing | ||||
General Election 1964: Luton | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Labour | William Howie | 23,751 | 50.16 | ||
Conservative | Charles Fitzmaurice Creighton Simeons | 23,028 | 48.64 | ||
Communist | Anthony P J Chater | 567 | 1.20 | ||
Majority | 723 | 1.53 | |||
Turnout | 79.84 | ||||
Labour hold | Swing | ||||
General Election 1966: Luton | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Labour | William Howie | 23,069 | 48.76 | ||
Conservative | Charles Fitzmaurice Creighton Simeons | 20,605 | 43.55 | ||
Liberal | Thomas H Daniels | 3,049 | 6.44 | ||
Communist | Anthony P J Chater | 586 | 1.24 | ||
Majority | 2,464 | 5.21 | |||
Turnout | 79.21 | ||||
Labour hold | Swing | ||||
Elections in the 1970s
General Election 1970: Luton | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Conservative | Charles Fitzmaurice Creighton Simeons | 23,308 | 50.99 | ||
Labour | William Howie | 21,959 | 48.04 | ||
Communist | Anthony P J Chater | 447 | 0.98 | ||
Majority | 1,349 | 2.95 | |||
Turnout | 73.17 | ||||
Conservative gain from Labour | Swing | ||||
See also
References
- 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 "L" (part 4)