West Bromwich (UK Parliament constituency)

West Bromwich
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
1885–February 1974
Number of members	One
Replaced by	West Bromwich East, West Bromwich West

West Bromwich was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 until 1974. It centred on West Bromwich, in the West Midlands. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post voting system.

History

The constituency was created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 for the 1885 general election. It was abolished for the February 1974 general election, when it was divided into West Bromwich East and West Bromwich West.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party	Notes
	1885	John Horton Blades	Liberal
	1886	Sir James Ernest Spencer	Conservative
	1906	Alfred Ernest William Hazel	Liberal
	Jan 1910	Viscount Lewisham	Conservative
	1918	Frederick Roberts	Labour
	1931	Alexander Ramsay	Conservative
	1935	Frederick Roberts	Labour	Resigned 1941
	1941 by-election	John Dugdale	Labour	Died in office March 1963
	1963 by-election	Maurice Foley	Labour	Resigned 1973
	1973 by-election	Betty Boothroyd	Labour	Subsequently MP for West Bromwich West; later Speaker of the House of Commons
	Feb 1974	constituency abolished: see West Bromwich East and West Bromwich West

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1885: West Bromwich[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Horton Blades	3,988	55.7	n/a
	Conservative	James Ernest Spencer	3,171	44.3	n/a
Majority			817	11.4	n/a
Turnout				81.8	n/a
	Liberal win (new seat)

Ernest Spencer

General Election 1886: West Bromwich[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Ernest Spencer	3,660	54.2
	Liberal	TJ Moore	3,091	45.8
Majority			569	8.4
Turnout				77.2
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing

Elections in the 1890s

General Election 1892: West Bromwich[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Ernest Spencer	4,474	56.6
	Liberal	TL Roberts	3,429	43.4
Majority			1,045	13.2
Turnout				86.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1895: West Bromwich[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Ernest Spencer	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Conservative hold		Swing	n/a

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1900: West Bromwich[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Ernest Spencer	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Conservative hold		Swing	n/a

Alfred Hazel

General Election 1906: West Bromwich[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Alfred Ernest William Hazel	5,475	56.2	n/a
	Conservative	Viscount Lewisham	4,259	43.8	n/a
Majority			1,216	12.4	n/a
Turnout				90.8	n/a
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	n/a

Elections in the 1910s

General Election January 1910: West Bromwich[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Viscount Lewisham	5,672	53.5
	Liberal	Alfred Ernest William Hazel	4,937	46.5
Majority			735	7.6
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election December 1910: West Bromwich[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Viscount Lewisham	5,010	50.0
	Liberal	Alfred Ernest William Hazel	5,008	50.0
Majority			2	0.0
Turnout				88.7
	Conservative 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;

• Unionist: Viscount Lewisham
• Liberal: Alfred Ernest William Hazel^[9]

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1923: West Bromwich [10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Frederick Owen Roberts	12,910	44.8	-5.8
	Unionist	Herbert Edgar Parkes	11,146	38.7	-1.4
	Liberal	Aneurin John Glyn Edwards	4,749	16.5	+7.2
Majority			1,764	6.1	-4.4
Turnout				85.0
	Labour hold		Swing	-2.2

General Election 1929: West Bromwich
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Rt Hon. Frederick Owen Roberts	19,621	52.0
	Unionist	J I Chesshire	10,943	29.0
	Liberal	William Ramage	7,119	18.9
Majority			8,678	23.1
Turnout
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931: West Bromwich
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alexander Ramsay	17,729	45.71
	Labour	Rt Hon. Frederick Owen Roberts	17,204	44.36
	Liberal	William Ramage	3,851	9.93
Majority			525	1.35
Turnout				81.66
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	n/a

General Election 1935: West Bromwich
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Frederick Owen Roberts	19,113	51.26
	Conservative	R Ashton	18,175	48.74
Majority			938	2.52
Turnout				74.80
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	n/a

Elections in the 1940s

West Bromwich by-election, 1941
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Dugdale	Unopposed
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1945: West Bromwich
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Dugdale	27,979	69.9	+18.6
	Conservative	Gerald Nabarro	12,028	30.1	−18.6
Majority			15,951	39.8	+37.2
Turnout			40,007	72.5	−2.3
	Labour hold		Swing	+18.6

• Changes are calculated against the results of the 1935 general election, rather than the uncontested 1941 by-election

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: West Bromwich
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Dugdale	31,564	65.40
	Conservative	Viscount Ednam	16,697	34.60
Majority			14,867	30.81
Turnout				82.84
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1951: West Bromwich
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Dugdale	30,845	64.22
	Conservative	GD Johnstone	17,186	35.78
Majority			13,659	28.44
Turnout				80.51
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1955: West Bromwich
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Dugdale	26,242	61.80
	Conservative	FJVH Dashwood	16,222	38.20
Majority			10,020	23.60
Turnout				70.21
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1959: West Bromwich
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Dugdale	26,702	57.4	−4.2
	Conservative	Anthony H. Windrum	19,809	42.6	+4.4
Majority			6,893	14.8	−8.8
Turnout			46,511	72.6	+2.4
	Labour hold		Swing	−4.2

Elections in the 1960s

West Bromwich by-election, 1963
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Maurice Foley	20,510	58.7	+1.3
	Conservative	G. Hawkins	8,246	26.5	−16.1
	Liberal	N. R. W. Mawle	6,161	17.6	N/A
Majority			12,264	35.1	+20.3
Turnout			34,917
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1964: West Bromwich
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Maurice Foley	22,942	55.1
	Conservative	G. Hawkins	18,664	44.9
Majority			4,278	10.3
Turnout				64.7
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1966: West Bromwich
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Maurice Foley	25,287	57.9	+2.8
	Conservative	G. Hawkins	18,413	42.1	−2.8
Majority			6,874	15.7
Turnout				68.8
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: West Bromwich
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Maurice Anthony Foley	23,412	55.2	−2.7
	Conservative	G. Hawkins	18,976	44.8	+2.7
Majority			4,436	10.5
Turnout				62.07
	Labour hold		Swing

By-election 1973: West Bromwich
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Betty Boothroyd	15,907	53.21	−2.0
	Conservative	David Bell	7,582	25.36	−19.4
	National Front	Martin Guy Alan Webster	4,789	16.02	N/A
	Independent	Joshua Churchman	1,616	5.41	N/A
Majority			8,325	27.85
Turnout			29,894
	Labour hold		Swing

References

1. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
2. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
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. Evening Despatch 16 Feb 1914
10. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig

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