Walsall (UK Parliament constituency)

Walsall
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
1832–1955
Number of members	one

Walsall was a borough constituency centred on the town of Walsall in the West Midlands of England. 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.

History

In 1955 it was abolished and replaced by Walsall North and Walsall South constituencies.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1832	Charles Smith Forster	Conservative
	1837	Francis Finch	Liberal
	February 1841	John Neilson Gladstone	Conservative
	June 1841	Robert Scott	Liberal
	1847	Edward Richard Littleton	Liberal
	1852	Sir Charles Forster	Liberal
	1891 by-election	Edward Thomas Holden	Liberal
	1892	Frank James	Conservative
	1893 by-election	Sir Arthur Divett Hayter	Liberal
	1895	Sydney Gedge	Conservative
	1900	Sir Arthur Divett Hayter	Liberal
	1906	Edward Marten Dunne	Liberal
	January 1910	Sir Richard Ashmole Cooper	Conservative
	1922	Patrick Collins	Liberal
	1924	William Preston	Conservative
	1925 by-election
	1929	John James McShane	Labour
	1931	Joseph Leckie	Liberal (Later Liberal National)
	1938 by-election	Sir George Ernest Schuster	Liberal National
	1945	William Thomas Wells	Labour
	1955	constituency abolished: see Walsall North and Walsall South

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1885: Walsall^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Sir Charles Forster	5,112	59.8
	Conservative	Frank James	3,435	40.2
Majority			1,677	19.6
Turnout				79.6
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1886: Walsall^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Sir Charles Forster	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

Elections in the 1890s

Walsall by-election, 1891^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Edward Thomas Holden	4,899	52.9	n/a
	Conservative	Frank James	4,360	47.1	n/a
Majority			539	5.8	n/a
Turnout				79.1	n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

General Election 1892: Walsall^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Frank James	5,226	51.2	+4.1
	Liberal	Edward Thomas Holden	4,989	48.8	-4.1
Majority			237	2.4	8.2
Turnout				85.7
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+4.1

Charles Ritchie

Walsall by-election, 1893^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Sir Arthur Divett Hayter	5,235	50.4
	Conservative	Rt Hon. Charles Thomson Ritchie	5,156	49.6
Majority			79	0.8
Turnout				87.8
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing

Sydney Gedge

General Election 1895: Walsall^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Sydney Gedge	5,145	51.6	+2.0
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Sir Arthur Divett Hayter	4,828	48.4	-2.0
Majority			317	3.2	4.0
Turnout				90.5	2.7
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+2.0

Elections in the 1900s

Arthur Hayter

General Election 1900: Walsall^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Sir Arthur Divett Hayter	5,610	51.5
	Conservative	Sydney Gedge	5,285	48.5
Majority			325	3.0
Turnout				84.8
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1906: Walsall^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Edward Marten Dunne	7,092	54.6	+3.1
	Conservative	Bernall Bagshawe	5,893	45.4	-3.1
Majority			1,199	9.2	+6.2
Turnout				91.9	+7.1
	Liberal hold		Swing	+3.1

Elections in the 1910s

General Election January 1910: Walsall^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Richard Ashmole Cooper	7,290	51.9
	Liberal	Edward Marten Dunne	6,745	48.1
Majority			545	3.8
Turnout				95.4
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing

General Election December 1910: Walsall^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Richard Ashmole Cooper	7,174	52.9	+1.0
	Liberal	John Morgan	6,385	47.1	-1.0
Majority			789	5.8	+2.0
Turnout				92.2	-3.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.0

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: Sir Richard Ashmole Cooper
• Liberal: William Henry Brown^[11]

W.H. Brown

General Election 1918: Walsall^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	National Party	Sir Richard Ashmole Cooper	14,491	52.3
	Labour	Joseph Thickett	8,336	30.0	n/a
	Liberal	William Henry Brown	4,914	17.7
Majority			6,155	22.3
Turnout				64.7
	National Party gain from Unionist		Swing

• Cooper founded the National Party and had the support of the local Unionist Association. However, his candidature was not supported by Unionist party HQ or the Coalition Government.

Elections in the 1920s

Pat Collins

General Election 1922: Walsall ^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Patrick Collins	14,674	38.6	+20.9
	Unionist	Lady Cooper	14,349	37.8	-14.5
	Labour	Robert Dennison	8,946	23.6	-6.4
Majority			325	0.8	35.4
Turnout
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing	+17.7

General Election 6 December 1923: Walsall ^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Patrick Collins	16,304	43.5	-4.9
	Unionist	Sydney Kersland Lewis	14,141	37.8	-0.0
	Labour	Arthur Carr Osburn	7,007	18.7	-4.9
Majority			2,163	5.7	+4.9
Turnout				82.6
	Liberal hold		Swing	-2.4

General Election 1924: Walsall ^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Charles William Preston	15,168	37.9	+0.1
	Liberal	Patrick Collins	12,734	31.8	-11.7
	Labour	Gladstone Lothian Rosebery Small	11,474	28.7	+10.0
	Independent	Dr J J Lynch	622	1.6	n/a
Majority				6.1
Turnout
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing

Walsall by-election, 1925^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Charles William Preston	14,793	38.2	+0.3
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Thomas James Macnamara	12,300	31.8	+0.0
	Labour	Gladstone Lothian Rosebery Small	11,610	30.0	+1.3
Majority			2,493	6.4	+0.3
Turnout				83.4
	Unionist hold		Swing	+0.1

General Election 1929: Walsall ^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	John James McShane	20,524	39.6	+9.6
	Unionist	Charles William Preston	15,818	30.6	-7.6
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Thomas James Macnamara	15,425	29.8	-2.0
Majority			4,706	9.0
Turnout				85.9
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+8.6

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931^[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Joseph Alexander Leckie	30,507	56.0	+26.2
	Labour	John James McShane	23,952	44.0	+4.4
Majority			6,555	12.0
Turnout				86.3
	Liberal hold		Swing	+10.9

• Conservative candidate, William J Talbot, withdrew.

General Election 1935^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal National	Joseph Alexander Leckie	28,563	57.5	+1.5
	Labour	William Graham	19,594	39.5	-4.5
	Christian Socialist	J A Harper	1,480	3.0	n/a
Majority				18.0	+6.0
Turnout				75.3	-11.0
	Liberal National hold		Swing	+3.0

Walsall by-election, 1938^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal National	Sir George Ernest Schuster	28,720	57.1	-0.4
	Labour	George Jeger	21,562	42.9	+0.4
Majority			7,158	14.2	-0.8
Turnout				75.9
	Liberal National hold		Swing	-0.4

Elections in the 1940s

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

• Liberal National: Sir George Ernest Schuster
• Labour: A J Stanley^[21]

General Election 1945^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Maj. William Thomas Wells	28,324	53.9
	Liberal National	Lt-Col. Sir George Ernest Schuster	24,197	46.1
Majority			4,127	7.8
Turnout				76.2
	Labour gain from Liberal National		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Walsall^[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	William Thomas Wells	36,483	56.0
	National Liberal	Sir John Denman Barlow	28,700	44.0
Majority			7,783	12.0
Turnout				86.2
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1951: Walsall^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	William Thomas Wells	33,556	52.3
	Conservative	Frank Roper	23,083	36.0
	Liberal	Barbara Estelle Lewis	7,517	11.7
Majority			10,473	16.3
Turnout				83.1
	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. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
10. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
11. Black Country History
12. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 by FWS Craig
13. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
14. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
15. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
16. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
17. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
18. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 by FWS Craig
19. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 by FWS Craig
20. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 by FWS Craig
21. Report of the Annual Conference, 1939
22. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 by FWS Craig
23. British parliamentary election results 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
24. British parliamentary election results 1950-1973 by FWS Craig

• Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 1)