Birkenhead_East_(UK_Parliament_constituency)
Birkenhead East (UK Parliament constituency)
Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1918–1950
Birkenhead East was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Birkenhead area of Merseyside. It returned 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.
| Birkenhead East | |
|---|---|
| Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons | |
| 1918–1950 | |
| Seats | one |
| Created from | Birkenhead and Wirral |
| Replaced by | Birkenhead, Bebington |
The constituency was created by the Representation of the People Act 1918 for the 1918 general election when the Parliamentary Borough of Birkenhead was split between the East and West Divisions.
It was abolished by the Representation of the People Act 1948 for the 1950 general election.
The County Borough of Birkenhead wards of Argyle, Bebington, Clifton, Egerton, and Mersey, and the part of the borough which lay between the eastern boundary of Argyle, Mersey and Bebington wards and the centre of the bed of the River Mersey.[1]
On abolition, southern parts (Bebington, Egerton and Mersea wards) were included in the new constituency of Bebington, and northern parts (Argyle and Clifton wards) were included in the reconstituted constituency of Birkenhead.
| Year | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1918 | Alfred Bigland | Unionist | |
| 1922 | Graham White | Liberal | |
| 1924 | William Henry Stott | Unionist | |
| 1929 | Graham White | Liberal | |
| 1945 | Frank Soskice | Labour | |
| 1950 | constituency abolished | ||
Election in the 1910s
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | Unionist | Alfred Bigland | 13,012 | 64.5 | |
| Labour | John Finigan | 5,399 | 26.7 | ||
| Liberal | Graham White | 1,787 | 8.8 | ||
| Majority | 7,613 | 37.8 | |||
| Turnout | 20,198 | 60.7 | |||
| Unionist win (new seat) | |||||
| C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government. | |||||
Election in the 1920s
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | Graham White | 14,690 | 57.8 | +49.0 | |
| Unionist | Alfred Bigland | 10,745 | 42.2 | -22.3 | |
| Majority | 3,945 | 15.6 | N/A | ||
| Turnout | 25,435 | 77.5 | -16.8 | ||
| Liberal gain from Unionist | Swing | +35.7 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | Graham White | 15,845 | 63.5 | +5.7 | |
| Unionist | Luke Lees | 9,091 | 36.5 | -5.7 | |
| Majority | 6,754 | 27.0 | +11.4 | ||
| Turnout | 24,936 | 74.1 | -3.4 | ||
| Liberal hold | Swing | +5.7 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unionist | William Henry Stott | 11,328 | 40.3 | +3.8 | |
| Liberal | Graham White | 9,275 | 33.0 | -30.5 | |
| Labour | James Coulthard | 7,496 | 26.7 | New | |
| Majority | 2,053 | 7.3 | N/A | ||
| Turnout | 20,603 | 81.0 | +6.9 | ||
| Unionist gain from Liberal | Swing | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | Graham White | 13,157 | 35.9 | +2.9 | |
| Unionist | Edmund Brocklebank | 11,860 | 32.3 | -8.0 | |
| Labour | James Coulthard | 11,654 | 31.8 | +5.1 | |
| Majority | 1,297 | 3.6 | N/A | ||
| Turnout | 25,017 | 78.8 | -2.2 | ||
| Liberal gain from Unionist | Swing | +5.5 | |||
Election in the 1930s
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | Graham White | 26,938 | 73.2 | +37.3 | |
| Labour | Charles McVey | 9,868 | 26.8 | -5.0 | |
| Majority | 17,070 | 46.4 | +42.8 | ||
| Turnout | 36,806 | 79.1 | +0.3 | ||
| Liberal hold | Swing | +21.2 | |||
- Conservative candidate Walter Fletcher withdrew 17 days before polling day[8]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | Graham White | 16,548 | 48.1 | -25.1 | |
| Conservative | S J Hill | 9,854 | 28.6 | New | |
| Labour | Mary Mercer | 8,028 | 23.3 | -3.5 | |
| Majority | 6,694 | 19.5 | -26.9 | ||
| Turnout | 34,430 | 74.2 | -4.9 | ||
| Liberal hold | Swing | ||||
Election in the 1940s
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Frank Soskice | 14,790 | 45.5 | +22.2 | |
| Liberal | Graham White | 10,140 | 31.1 | -17.0 | |
| Conservative | Frederick Newell Bucher | 7,624 | 23.4 | -5.2 | |
| Majority | 4,650 | 14.4 | N/A | ||
| Turnout | 32,554 | 73.6 | -0.6 | ||
| Labour gain from Liberal | Swing | +19.6 | |||
- Fraser, Hugh (1918). The Representation of the people act, 1918 : with explanatory notes. University of California Libraries. London : Sweet and Maxwell.
- British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
- British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
- British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
- British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
- British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
- British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
- "Obituary: Sir Walter Fletcher Former M.P. For Bury". The Times. 7 April 1956. p. 11.
- British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
- British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
- Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 3)
- Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.