Spen Valley (UK Parliament constituency)

Spen Valley
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1885–1950
Number of members	one
Created from	Eastern West Riding of Yorkshire

Spen Valley was a parliamentary constituency in the valley of the River Spen in West Yorkshire. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

History

The constituency was created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 for the 1885 general election, retained with altered boundaries in 1918, and abolished for the 1950 general election. In the 1901 Census, there were 13,557 inhabited houses in the division; there were 10,960 registered electors, of which 9,396 qualified by virtue of occupying property within the division, 1,490 by virtue of owning property, 67 by virtue of occupying land only within the division, and 7 qualifying as lodgers.^[1]

Political historian Henry Pelling noted that the constituency as it existed from 1885 to 1918 was dominated by the woollen industry and carpetmaking, where the vast bulk of the population were nonconformist: the Church of England parish of Birstall was said to have had only four clergymen in the eighteenth century (two of whom were schoolmasters).^[2] In 1922, membership of nonconformist circuits in the constituency is estimated at 2,759 for the Congregational Church, 1,065 Wesleyanism, 1,027 United Methodist Church, 698 Primitive Methodism, and 328 Baptists, making it the second largest nonconformist attendance in the West Riding.^[3]

The death of the sitting MP in 1919 led to a sensational by-election gain for the Labour Party, which was described by historian Maurice Cowling as the worst result for the Coalition during the 1918-22 Parliament;^[4] John Ramsden admitted that Labour's win had a big psychological impact on the Coalition but thought the result was a "freak win" given that Labour had under 40% of the vote.^[5] At the ensuing general election, the Manchester Guardian described the constituency as "scattered between the three towns of Leeds, Bradford and Huddersfield", centred on Cleckheaton, and populated by "woollen and wire workers, miners, card manufacturers". A significant presence of Irish voters was also noted.^[6] Sir John Simon, a former Home Secretary who had lost his seat in the 1918 election, regained the seat for the Liberals in 1922 and held it until given a Peerage in 1940. During this period Simon moved from declaring his basic sympathy with the Labour Party's objects, to forming the Liberal Nationals who went into alliance with the Conservatives.^[7] Simon found his constituency marginal, and had a majority of under 1,000 in his last election, and Labour gained it in the 1945 election landslide.

Boundary changes abolished the constituency in 1950. The bulk of the abolished constituency, including Cleckheaton, Gildersome and Spenborough, formed the eastern half of Brighouse and Spenborough; another large part including Gildersome, Birstall and Drighlington, formed part of Batley and Morley. Heckmondwike and Mirfield transferred to Dewsbury, while Kirkheaton moved to Colne Valley and other parts moved to Huddersfield East.

Boundaries

While originally devised by the Boundary Commissioners in 1885, the division was originally named as 'Birstal', "from the name of a large ancient parish".^[8] The naming of the new division led to a small struggle between the two Houses of Parliament during the passage of the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, when Alfred Illingworth (Liberal MP for Bradford) moved an amendment to replace 'Birstal' with 'Spen Valley'. Illingworth argued that Birstall contained only one-eighth of the population of the division, but Spen Valley was a name which represented several important towns, and his amendment was accepted without dissent by the House of Commons.^[9] When the Bill reached the House of Lords, the Conservative peer the Earl of Feversham moved an amendment to reinstate 'Birstal' claiming the support of the people in the area. The Earl contended that the Spen Valley was an unknown description and "was only remarkable for being the receptacle of all the sewage from Birstal", whereas Birstal was a very important parish. He had support from the Earl of Cranbrook and his amendment was also accepted without dissent.^[10]

When the Bill returned to the House of Commons, Alfred Illingworth again took up the issue and moved that the Commons disagree with the Lords. He again pointed to the small population of Birstall in comparison with other towns, and noted that the Sanitary district covering the area was known as Spen Valley and that the River Spen ran through the centre of the constituency whereas Birstall was in the extreme north-east corner of it. Conservative MP Edward Stanhope (Mid Lincolnshire) said that he had found feeling in the area to be in favour of 'Birstal', but the President of the Local Government Board Sir Charles Dilke, speaking for the Government, stated that the local boards in Heckmondwike, Liversedge and Cleckheaton (where a majority of the population lived) had sent a memorial in favour of 'Spen Valley'. He agreed that the name had been invented by the Local Government Board, but argued that there were "local jealousies" between the towns and that Birstall was unpopular with the others, and therefore personally supported 'Spen Valley'. After a brief debate, the House voted by 65 to 46 to insist on 'Spen Valley' as the name.^[11] The Lords then gave way, but not without further protest from the Earl of Feversham.^[12]

During this battle no alteration was made to the boundary. The new division was to consist of:

• the Parishes in the Sessional Division of Dewsbury of Gomersal, Heckmondwike and Liversedge, and
• the Parishes of Cleckheaton, Clifton, Hartshead, and Wyke.^[13]

When redefined by the Boundary Commission in 1917, the county division was defined as consisting of the Urban Districts of Birkenshaw, Birstall, Drighlington, Gildersome, Heckmondwike, Hunsworth, Kirkheaton, Lepton, Mirfield, Spenborough and Whitley Upper.^[14]

The effect of the boundary change in 1918 was as shown in the table:

Parish	1911 Population	1885-1918	1918-1950	Notes
Birkenshaw	2,508	Spen Valley	Spen Valley	Was part of Gomersal Parish in 1885
Birstall	7,116	Spen Valley	Spen Valley	Was part of Gomersal Parish in 1885
Cleckheaton	12,866	Spen Valley	Spen Valley	Part of Spenborough Urban District from 1915
Clifton	2,258	Spen Valley	Elland
Drighlington	4,126	Pudsey	Spen Valley
Gildersome	2,981	Pudsey	Spen Valley
Gomersal	3,796	Spen Valley	Spen Valley	Included Birkenshaw and Birstall in 1885
Hartshead	958	Spen Valley	Elland
Heckmondwike	9,016	Spen Valley	Spen Valley
Hipperholme (part)	322	Spen Valley	Elland	Part of Wyke parish in 1885, removed in 1899
Hunsworth	1,326	Pudsey	Spen Valley
Kirkheaton	2,621	Holmfirth	Spen Valley
Lepton	2,999	Holmfirth	Spen Valley
Liversedge	14,658	Spen Valley	Spen Valley	Part of Spenborough Urban District from 1915
Mirfield	11,712	Morley	Spen Valley
Whitley Upper	830	Holmfirth	Spen Valley
Wyke	6,145	Spen Valley	Bradford South

Of the 59,643 population in Spen Valley before the boundary change, 49,960 (83.8%) remained in the division after it. 6,145 (10.3%) moved to Bradford South while 3,538 (5.9%) moved to Elland. The new constituency was made up primarily of the old Spen Valley (65.3%), with 11,712 (15.3%) from Morley, 8,433 (11.0%) from Pudsey, and 6,450 (8.4%) from Holmfirth.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
1885		constituency established
	1885	Joseph Woodhead	Liberal
	1892	Sir Thomas Palmer Whittaker	Coalition Liberal
	1919 by-election	Tom Myers	Labour
	1922	Sir John Simon	Liberal
	1931		Liberal National
	1940 by-election	William Woolley	Liberal National
	1945	Granville Maynard Sharp	Labour
1950		constituency abolished

Elections

Election	Political result		Candidate		Party	Votes	%	±%
1885 General Election Electorate: 9,645 Turnout: 89.2%		Liberal win Majority: 3,044 (35.4%)		Joseph Woodhead	Liberal	5,826	67.7
				John Evelyn Gladstone	Conservative	2,782	32.3
1886 General Election Electorate: 9,645 Turnout: 69.9% (-19.3)		Liberal hold Majority: 2,342 (34.8%)		Joseph Woodhead	Liberal	4,542	67.4	–0.3
				Stanley Carr Boulter	Conservative	2,200	32.6	+0.3
1892 General Election Electorate: 11,038 Turnout: 76.3% (+6.4)		Liberal hold Majority: 1,478 (17.6%)		Thomas Palmer Whittaker	Liberal	4,952	58.8	–8.6
				Frederick Ellis	Conservative	3,474	41.2	+8.6
1895 General Election Electorate: 10,492 Turnout: 81.8% (+5.5)		Liberal hold Majority: 821 (9.6%)		Thomas Palmer Whittaker	Liberal	4,700	54.8	–4.0
				Frederick Ellis	Conservative	3,879	45.2	+4.0
1900 General Election Electorate: 10,858 Turnout: 80.3% (–1.5)		Liberal hold Majority: 1,415 (16.2%)		Thomas Palmer Whittaker	Liberal	5,068	58.1	+3.3
				William Glossop	Conservative	3,653	41.9	–3.3
1906 General Election Electorate: 11,300 Turnout: 80.1% (–0.2)		Liberal hold Majority: 2,864 (31.6%)		Thomas Palmer Whittaker	Liberal	5,956	65.8	+7.7
				Richard Johnson	Conservative	3,092	34.2	–7.7
January 1910 General Election Electorate: 11,631 Turnout: 92.6% (+12.5)		Liberal hold Majority: 1,378 (12.9%)		Rt. Hon. Sir Thomas Palmer Whittaker	Liberal	4,817	44.8	–21.0
				Frederic Arthur Kelley	Conservative	3,439	31.9	–2.3
				Thomas Russell Williams	Labour	2,514	23.3
December 1910 General Election Electorate: 11,631 Turnout: 82.4% (–10.2)		Liberal hold Majority: 496 (5.2%)		Rt. Hon. Sir Thomas Palmer Whittaker	Liberal	5,041	52.6	+7.8
				Frederic Arthur Kelley	Conservative	4,545	47.4	+15.5

Election	Political result		Candidate		Party	Votes	%	±%
1918 General Election Electorate: 38,327 Turnout: 49.4%		Coalition Liberal win Majority: 2,156 (11.2%)		Rt. Hon. Sir Thomas Palmer Whittaker	Coalition Liberal	10,664	55.6
				Thomas Myers	Labour	8,508	44.4
By-election, 20 December 1919[15] Electorate: 39,667 Turnout: 76.5% (+27.1)		Labour gain from Coalition Liberal Majority: 1,718 (5.6%)		Thomas Myers	Labour	11,962	39.4	–5.0
				Rt. Hon. Sir John Allsebrook Simon	Liberal	10,244	33.8
				Colonel Bryan Charles Fairfax	Coalition Liberal	8,134	26.8	–28.8
1922 General Election Electorate: 40,107 Turnout: 84.6% (+35.2)		Liberal gain from Coalition Liberal Majority: 787 (2.3%)		Rt. Hon. Sir John Allsebrook Simon	Liberal	13,306	39.2
				Thomas Myers	Labour	12,519	36.9	–7.5
				William Orlando Rhodes Holton	Conservative	8,104	23.9
1923 General Election Electorate: 40,678 Turnout: 82.7% (–1.9)		Liberal hold Majority: 1,075 (3.2%)		Rt. Hon. Sir John Allsebrook Simon	Liberal	13,672	40.6	+1.4
				Thomas Myers	Labour	12,597	37.4	+0.5
				Eugene Joseph Squire Hargreaves Ramsden	Conservative	7,390	22.0	–1.9
1924 General Election Electorate: 40,978 Turnout: 79.2% (–3.5)		Liberal hold Majority: 4,475 (13.8%)		Rt. Hon. Sir John Allsebrook Simon	Liberal	18,474	56.9	+16.3
				Thomas Myers	Labour	13,999	43.1	+5.7
1929 General Election Electorate: 53,480 Turnout: 79.6% (+0.4)		Liberal hold Majority: 1,739 (4.0%)		Rt. Hon. Sir John Allsebrook Simon	Liberal	22,039	51.7	–5.2
				Herbert Henry Elvin	Labour	20,300	47.7	+4.6
				Shaukat Usmani	Communist	242	0.6
1931 General Election Electorate: 54,097 Turnout: 82.0% (+2.4)		Liberal National hold Majority: 12,956 (29.2%)		Rt. Hon. Sir John Allsebrook Simon	Liberal National	28,647	64.6	+12.9
				Herbert Henry Elvin	Labour	15,691	35.4	–12.3
1935 General Election Electorate: 55,358 Turnout: 77.1% (–4.9)		Liberal National hold Majority: 642 (1.6%)		Rt. Hon. Sir John Allsebrook Simon	Liberal National	21,671	50.8	–13.8
				Ivor Thomas	Labour	21,029	49.2	+13.8
1 June 1940 by-election[16]		Liberal National hold		William Edward Woolley	Liberal National	unopposed
1945 General Election Electorate: 55,218 Turnout: 82.1% (+5.0)		Labour gain from Liberal National Majority: 6,077 (13.4%)		Granville Maynard Sharp	Labour	25,698	56.7	+7.5
				William Edward Woolley	Liberal National	19,621	43.3	–7.5

See also

• Spenborough

References

1. "Parliamentary Constituencies (Electors, &c.) (United Kingdom)", House of Commons Paper no. 85 of session 1901, p. 7.
2. Henry Pelling, "Social Geography of British Elections 1885-1910", Macmillan, 1967, p. 302.
3. Michael Kinnear, "The British Voter" 2nd edition, Batsford Academic, 1981, p. 128.
4. Maurice Cowling, "The Impact of Labour, 1920–1924", Cambridge University Press, 1971, p. 112.
5. John Ramsden, "Newport and the fall of the Coalition" in "By-Elections in British Politics", Macmillan Press, 1973, p. 18.
6. "The Second Round in Spen Valley: Sir John Simon and Mr. Tom Myers", Manchester Guardian, 9 November 1922, p. 12.
7. David Dutton, "Liberals in Schism: A history of the National Liberal Party", Tauris Academic Studies, 2008, p. 42.
8. "County of York (Eastern Division of the West Riding)" in "Report of the Boundary Commissioners for England Wales, 1885" (C.-4287), vol I p. 185-7.
9. Hansard 3ser vol 296 col 1937.
10. Hansard 3ser vol 298 col 1394.
11. Hansard, 3ser vol 298 cols 1581-2.
12. Hansard 3ser vol 298 cols 1610-11.
13. Redistribution of Seats Act 1885
14. "46. County of York, West Riding" in "Report of the Boundary Commission (England and Wales)", Cd. 8757, vol II.
15. Thomas Whittaker died on 9 November 1919.
16. Sir John Simon was appointed Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain on 20 May 1940.

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 4)