Prestwich (UK Parliament constituency)

Prestwich
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1885–1918
Number of members	one

Prestwich was a constituency in the county of Lancashire of the House of Commons for the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, it was represented by one Member of Parliament. The constituency was abolished in 1918.

Boundaries

The constituency of South-East Lancashire, Prestwich Division was created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, with the official title. It consisted of an area of the parliamentary county of Lancashire between the boroughs of Salford and Oldham. It consisted of the following civil parishes and townships:^[1]

• Blackley
• Chadderton
• Crompton
• Crumpsall
• Droylsden
• Failsworth
• Great Heaton
• Little Heaton
• Moston
• Prestwich
• Royton
• And the part of the parish of Ashton-under-Lyne not included in the municipal borough.

The electorate also consisted of the freeholders of the municipal boroughs of Ashton-under-Lyne and Oldham who were entitled to vote in the county.

Abolition

The constituency was abolished by the Representation of the People Act 1918, with its area divided between four new constuencies:^[2]

• Blackley, Crumpsall, and Moston (which had been added to the City of Manchester in 1890) became the Parliamentary Borough of Manchester Blackley.
• Chadderton, Great Heaton, Little Heaton and Prestwich became part of Middleton and Prestwich Division
• Droylsden and Failsworth were included in Mossley Division
• Crompton and Royton, along with five other urban districts, formed Royton Division.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Abel Buckley	Liberal
	1886	Robert Mowbray	Conservative
	1895	Frederick Cawley	Liberal
	1918 (January)	Oswald Cawley	Liberal
	1918 (October)	Austin Hopkinson	Liberal
1918 (December)		constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1885: Prestwich[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Abel Buckley	5,414	53.6	n/a
	Conservative	Robert Gray Cornish Mowbray	4,686	46.4	n/a
Majority			728	7.2	n/a
Turnout				90.5	n/a
	Liberal win (new seat)

General Election 1886: Prestwich[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Gray Cornish Mowbray	4,843	50.7	+4.3
	Liberal	Abel Buckley	4,704	49.3	-4.3
Majority			139	1.4	8.6
Turnout				85.6	-
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+4.3

Elections in the 1890s

General Election 1892: Prestwich[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Gray Cornish Mowbray	5,718	50.7	-0.0
	Liberal	W. Agnew	5,563	49.3	+0.0
Majority			155	1.4	0.0
Turnout				87.9	+2.1
	Conservative hold		Swing	-0.0

Frederick Cawley

General Election 1895: Prestwich[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Frederick Cawley	6,039	50.4	+1.1
	Conservative	Robert Gray Cornish Mowbray	5,938	49.6	-1.1
Majority			101	0.8	2.2
Turnout				86.7
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+1.1

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1900: Prestwich[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Frederick Cawley	7,127	52.7	+2.3
	Conservative	Henry Hamilton Houldsworth	6,406	47.3	-2.3
Majority			721	5.4	+4.6
Turnout				86.0
	Liberal hold		Swing	+2.3

General Election 1906: Prestwich[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Frederick Cawley	10,187	62.8	+10.1
	Conservative	W T Hedges	6,024	37.2	-10.1
Majority			4,163	25.6	+20.2
Turnout				84.1
	Liberal hold		Swing	+10.1

Elections in the 1910s

General Election January 1910: Prestwich[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Frederick Cawley	11,564	58.6
	Conservative	Cyril C.H. Potter	8,180	41.4
Majority			3,384	17.2
Turnout				89.2
	Liberal hold		Swing

Sir F. Cawley

General Election December 1910: Prestwich[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Frederick Cawley	10,355	59.0	+0.4
	Conservative	Frederick Brocklehurst	7,189	41.0	-0.4
Majority			3,166	18.0	+0.8
Turnout				79.3	-9.9
	Liberal hold		Swing	+0.4

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 and by the July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

• Liberal: Sir Frederick Cawley
• Unionist: Frederick Brocklehurst

Prestwich by-election, January 1918
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Hon. Oswald Cawley	8,520	75.1
	Co-operative Party	Henry John May	2,832	24.9	n/a
Majority			5,688	50.2
Turnout				42.8
	Liberal hold		Swing

Prestwich by-election, October 1918
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Austin Hopkinson	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

See also

• Prestwich-cum-Oldham

References

1. Seventh Schedule: Counties at Large: Number of Members and Names and Contents of Divisions, Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, (1885 c.23)
2. Ninth Schedule - Part II, Parliamentary Counties: England, excluding Monmouthshire, Representation of the People Act 1918 (1918 c.64)
3. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
4. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
5. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
6. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
7. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
8. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
9. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
10. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)

External links

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "P" (part 2)