Nelson and Colne (UK Parliament constituency)

Nelson and Colne
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
1918–1983
Number of members	one
Replaced by	Pendle[1]

Nelson and Colne was a constituency in Lancashire which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 until it was abolished for the 1983 general election.

It was largely succeeded by the Pendle constituency.

Members of Parliament

• Constituency created (1918)

Year		Member	Party
	1918	Albert Smith	Labour
	1920 by-election	Robinson Graham	Labour
	1922	Arthur Greenwood	Labour
	1931	Linton Theodore Thorp	Conservative
	1935	Samuel Sydney Silverman	Labour
	1968 by-election	David Waddington	Conservative
	October 1974	Doug Hoyle	Labour
	1979	John Lee	Conservative

• Constituency abolished (1983)

Elections

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1923: Nelson and Colne
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Arthur Greenwood	17,083	46.1
	Liberal	James Henry Sutherland Aitken	10,103	27.3
	Unionist	Sir Amos Nelson	9,861	26.6
Majority			6,980	18.8	+1.9
Turnout				83.4
	Labour hold		Swing	+0.9

General Election 1924: Nelson and Colne
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Arthur Greenwood	19,922	51.9
	Liberal	James Henry Sutherland Aitken	18,479	48.1
Majority			1,443	3.8
Turnout			33,348
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1929: Nelson and Colne
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Arthur Greenwood	28,533	61.0	+9.1
	Unionist	Linton Theodore Thorp	18,236	39.0	-9.1
Majority			10,297	22.0	+18.2
Turnout			46,769
	Labour hold		Swing	+9.1

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931: Nelson and Colne
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Linton Theodore Thorp	28,747	57.71
	Labour	Arthur Greenwood	21,063	42.29
Majority			7,684	15.43
Turnout			49,810	75.93
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General Election 1935: Nelson and Colne
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Samuel Sydney Silverman	26,011	54.52
	Independent Conservative	Linton Theodore Thorp	21,696	45.48
Majority			4,315	9.04
Turnout			47,707	84.73
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Nelson and Colne
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Samuel Sydney Silverman	25,610	59.4	+11.8
	Conservative	Harmar Nicholls	17,484	40.5	−8.5
Majority			8,126	6.4
Turnout			43,094	76.2	−2.2
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: Nelson and Colne[2] Electorate 52,646
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Samuel Sydney Silverman	25,358	54.6
	Conservative	Alan Green	21,116	45.4
Majority			4,242
Turnout
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1951: Nelson and Colne[3] Electorate 52,614
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Samuel Sydney Silverman	25,611	54.7
	Conservative	Alan Green	21,211	45.3
Majority			4,400
Turnout
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Nelson and Colne[4] Electorate 50,355
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Samuel Sydney Silverman	22,135	52.7
	Conservative	Mary Elaine Kellett	19,844	47.3
Majority			2,291	5.5
Turnout			41,979
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1959: Nelson and Colne[5] Electorate 48,472
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Samuel Sydney Silverman	20,407	49.3	−3.4
	Conservative	John Crabtree	19,143	46.2	−1.1
	Lancastrian Party	Thomas Clifford Emmott	1,889	4.6	N/A
Majority			1,287	3.1
Turnout			41,439	85.5
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1964: Nelson and Colne
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Samuel Sydney Silverman	20,205	53.5	+4.2
	Conservative	David Charles Waddington	17,561	46.5	+0.3
Majority			2,644	7.0
Turnout			37,766	80.8	−4.7
	Labour hold		Swing	+2.0

General Election 1966: Nelson and Colne
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Samuel Sydney Silverman	18,406	49.3	−4.2
	Conservative	Peter Davies	13,829	37.0	−9.5
	Independent	Patrick Downey	5,117	13.7	N/A
Majority			4,577	12.3
Turnout			37,352	81.0	+0.2
	Labour hold		Swing	+2.3

Nelson and Colne by-election, 1968
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Charles Waddington	16,466	48.9	+11.9
	Labour	Betty Boothroyd	12,944	38.4	−10.9
	Liberal	David Chadwick	3,016	13.7	N/A
	English Nationalist	Brian Tattersall	1,255	3.7	N/A
Majority			3,522	10.5
Turnout			33,681		−
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+11.4

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: Nelson and Colne
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Charles Waddington	19,881	51.5	+14.5
	Labour	Eric Douglas Harvey Hoyle	18,741	48.5	−0.8
Majority			1,410	3.0
Turnout			38,622	78.3	−2.7
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+7.7

General Election February 1974: Nelson and Colne
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Charles Waddington	15,692	38.9	−12.6
	Labour	Eric Douglas Harvey Hoyle	15,515	38.4	−6.1
	Liberal	Anthony Robert Greaves	9,166	22.7	N/A
Majority			177	0.4
Turnout			40,373	84.2	+
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election October 1974: Nelson and Colne
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Eric Douglas Harvey Hoyle	17,506	44.7	+6.3
	Conservative	David Charles Waddington	16,836	43.0	+4.6
	Liberal	Anthony Robert Greaves	4,850	12.4	−10.3
Majority			669	1.7
Turnout			39,192	81.1
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election 1979: Nelson and Colne
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Robert Louis Lee	17,522	45.0	+2.0
	Labour	Eric Douglas Harvey Hoyle	17,086	43.9	−0.8
	Liberal	David Hewitt	4,322	11.1	−1.3
Majority			436	1.1
Turnout			38,930	81.6	+0.5
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+1.4

References

1. "'Nelson and Colne', Feb 1974 - May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
2. British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
3. British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
4. British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
5. F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1973

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "N" (part 1)