Rossendale (UK Parliament constituency)

Coordinates: 53°42′29″N 2°14′24″W / 53.708°N 2.240°W

Rossendale
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
County	Lancashire
Major settlements	Rawtenstall
1885–1983
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Rossendale and Darwen Bury North

Rossendale was a parliamentary constituency in the Lancashire, England. Created in 1885, it elected one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first-past-the-post voting system. When created it comprised the districts of Rawtenstall, Bacup, and Haslingden; Ramsbottom district was added to the constituency in 1950.

The constituency ceased to exist with the implementation of the 1983 boundary changes and was replaced by the Rossendale and Darwen constituency. The exact nature of the changes were as follows: 9,882 electors of the Rossendale seat were transferred to Bury North. 25,918 electors were added from the abolished Darwen constituency and 5,267 from Heywood and Royton.

Boundaries

1885-1918: The Sessional Division of Rossendale, and part of the Municipal Borough of Bacup.

1918-1950: The Municipal Boroughs of Bacup, Haslingden, and Rawtenstall.

1950-1983: The Municipal Boroughs of Bacup, Haslingden, and Rawtenstall, and the Urban District of Ramsbottom.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Marquess of Hartington	Liberal
	1886		Liberal Unionist
	1892 by-election	John Henry Maden	Liberal
	1900 by-election	Sir William Mather	Liberal
	1904 by-election	Lewis Harcourt	Liberal
	1917 by-election	Sir John Henry Maden	Liberal
	1918	Robert Waddington	Coalition Conservative
	1922	David Halstead	Conservative
	1923	Robert Waddington	Conservative
	1929	Arthur Law	Labour
	1931	Ronald Cross	Conservative
	1945	George Henry Walker	Labour
	1950	Anthony Greenwood	Labour
	1970	Ronald Bray	Conservative
	Oct 1974	Michael Noble	Labour
	1979	David Trippier	Conservative
	1983	constituency abolished: see Rossendale and Darwen

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

Hartington

General Election 1885: Rossendale [1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Marquess of Hartington	6,060		n/a
	Conservative	William Farrer Eckroyd	4,228		n/a
Majority			1,832		n/a
Turnout					n/a
	Liberal win (new seat)

General Election 1886: Rossendale [2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Rt Hon. Marquess of Hartington	5,399
	Liberal	T Newbigging	3,949
Majority			1,450
Turnout
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing

Elections in the 1890s

Rossendale by-election, 1892 [3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Henry Maden	6,066
	Liberal Unionist	Sir Thomas Brooks	4,841
Majority			1,225
Turnout
	Liberal gain from Liberal Unionist		Swing

General Election 1892: Rossendale [4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Henry Maden	6,058
	Conservative	A G Sparrow	4,334
Majority			1,724
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1895: Rossendale [5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Henry Maden	Unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

Elections in the 1900s

William Mather

Rossendale by-election, 1900 [6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Mather	5,936	56.5
	Conservative	Dr George Kingsbury	4,564	43.5
Majority			1,372	13.0
Turnout				86.4
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1900: Rossendale [7] Electorate 12,148
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Mather	Unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

Lewis Harcourt

Rossendale by-election, 1904
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Lewis Vernon Harcourt	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

General Election 1906: Rossendale [8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Lewis Vernon Harcourt	6,881	59.6
	Conservative	John Robert Kebty-Fletcher	4,662	40.4
Majority			2,219	19.2
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

Elections in the 1910s

General Election January 1910: Rossendale [9] Electorate 12,765
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Lewis Vernon Harcourt	7,185	57.4
	Conservative	John Robert Kebty-Fletcher	4,695	37.5
	Women's Suffrage	Arthur Kilpin Bulley	639	5.1
Majority			2,490	19.9
Turnout				94.7
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election December 1910: Rossendale [10] Electorate 12,765
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Lewis Vernon Harcourt	6,619
	Conservative	Joshua Craven Hoyle	5,206
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

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: Rt Hon. Lewis Vernon Harcourt
• Unionist:

Rossendale by-election, 1917 [11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir John Henry Maden	6,019
	Independent	Albert Taylor	1.804
Majority			4,215
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1918: Rossendale[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Robert Waddington	8,907	39.2
	Labour	Gilbert Wright Jones	7,984	35.1
	Liberal	Sir John Henry Maden	5,837	25.7
Majority			923	4.1
Turnout				63.6
	Unionist hold		Swing

• endorsed by the Coalition Government

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1922: Rossendale[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	David Halstead	12,881	42.6
	Labour	Gilbert Wright Jones	11,029	36.5
	Liberal	Richard Durning Holt	6,327	20.9
Majority			1,852	6.1
Turnout				85.0
	Unionist hold		Swing

Norman Angell

General Election 1923: Rossendale [14]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Robert Waddington	11,362	37.6	-5.0
	Liberal	Ernest James Young	9,592	31.8	+10.9
	Labour	Ralph Norman Angell	9,230	30.6	-5.9
Majority			1,770	5.8	-0.3
Turnout				83.8	-1.2
	Unionist hold		Swing	-8.0

General Election 1924: Rossendale[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Robert Waddington	12,836	41.7
	Labour	James Bell	9,951	32.4
	Liberal	Ernest James Young	7,958	25.9
Majority			2,885	9.3
Turnout
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1929: Rossendale[16]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Arthur Law	14,624	36.0	+3.6
	Liberal	Edwin Bayliss	13,747	33.9	+8.0
	Unionist	Sir Wilfrid Hart Sugden	12,225	30.1	-11.6
Majority			877	2.1	11.4
Turnout				87.7
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	-2.2

• Furness Dean was Liberal candidate but withdrew at the last minute for health reasons.^[17]

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931: Rossendale [18]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ronald Hibbert Cross	16,206	40.1
	Liberal	William Furness Dean	13,089	32.4
	Labour	Arthur Law	11,135	27.5
Majority			3,117	7.7
Turnout			40,430	87.6
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General Election 1935: Rossendale [19]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ronald Hibbert Cross	15,650	39.4
	Labour	Evelyn Walkden	14,769	37.1
	Liberal	Arthur Holgate	9,343	23.5
Majority			881	2.2
Turnout			39,762	86.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

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 and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected;

• Conservative: Ronald Hibbert Cross
• Labour: George Henry Walker^[20]

Election in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Rossendale[21]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Henry Walker	15,741	43.6
	Conservative	Rt Hon. Sir Ronald Hibbert Cross	10,153	28.1
	Liberal	Arthur Ward Jones	8,542	23.7
	Communist	William Whittaker	1,663	4.6
Majority			5,588	15.5
Turnout				83.2
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: Rossendale
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Arthur William James Anthony Greenwood	21,596	45.15
	Conservative	Thomas Mercer Backhouse	19,483	40.73
	Liberal	Mrs LM Tomlinson	6,757	14.13
Majority			2,113	4.42
Turnout				88.94
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1951: Rossendale
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Arthur William James Anthony Greenwood	24,814	51.74
	Conservative	Thomas Mercer Backhouse	23,144	48.26
Majority			1,670	3.48
Turnout				88.59
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Rossendale
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Arthur William James Anthony Greenwood	23,472	53.31
	Conservative	John E Parkinson	20,561	46.69
Majority			2,911	6.61
Turnout				84.21
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1959: Rossendale
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Arthur William James Anthony Greenwood	20,743	47.52
	Conservative	James Richard Trist Holt	18,152	41.59
	Liberal	Alan Cooper	4,752	10.89
Majority			2,591	5.94
Turnout				86.30
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1964: Rossendale
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Arthur William James Anthony Greenwood	21,371	53.97
	Conservative	Colin Clive Baillieu	18,230	46.03
Majority			3,141	7.93
Turnout				81.83
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1966: Rossendale
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Rt Hon. Arthur William James Anthony Greenwood	21,093	55.40
	Conservative	Colin Clive Baillieu	16,984	44.60
Majority			4,109	10.79
Turnout				80.40
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: Rossendale
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ronald William Thomas Bray	20,448	52.41
	Labour	Betty Boothroyd	18,568	47.59
Majority			1,880	4.82
Turnout				78.18
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General Election February 1974: Rossendale
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ronald William Thomas Bray	16,040	38.4
	Labour	Michael Alfred Noble	15,243	36.5
	Liberal	JA Hamilton	10,478	25.09
Majority			797	1.91
Turnout				83.50
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election October 1974: Rossendale
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Michael Alfred Noble	16,156	39.6
	Conservative	Ronald William Thomas Bray	15,953	39.1
	Liberal	J.A. Hamilton	8,693	21.3
Majority			203	0.5
Turnout			40,802	80.9
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election 1979: Rossendale
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Austin Trippier	20,370	48.0	+8.9
	Labour	Michael Alfred Noble	18,497	43.6	+4.0
	Liberal	P. Arnold	3,534	8.3	−13.0
Majority			1,873	4.4
Turnout			42,401	83.8
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

See also

• Rossendale and Darwen Parliamentary constituency

References

1. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
2. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
3. The Times, 25 January 1892 p7
4. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
5. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
6. The Times, 14 February 1900 p8
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)
11. The Times, 14 February 1917 p8
12. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
13. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, F W S Craig
14. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
15. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, F W S Craig
16. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, F W S Craig
17. The Times House of Commons, 1931
18. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
19. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
20. Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939
21. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, F W S Craig

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "R" (part 2)
• Election results, 1950 - 1979