Smethwick (UK Parliament constituency)
Smethwick | |
---|---|
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons | |
1918–February 1974 | |
Number of members | one |
Replaced by | Warley East |
Created from | Handsworth |
Smethwick was a parliamentary constituency, centred on the town of Smethwick in Staffordshire. 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.
The constituency was created for the 1918 general election, and abolished for the February 1974 general election.
The constituency gained national media coverage during the 1964 general election when Peter Griffiths, the Conservative Party candidate, gained the seat against the national trend, unseating the Labour Party sitting member, Patrick Gordon Walker, a front bench opposition spokesman in the previous Parliament and it was alleged that there had been racial overtones in the campaign.
Boundaries
The County Borough of Smethwick.
Members of Parliament
Election | Member | Party | |
---|---|---|---|
1918 | John Davison | Labour | |
1926 | Sir Oswald Mosley | Labour | |
1931 | New Party | ||
1931 | Roy Wise | Conservative | |
1945 | Alfred Dobbs | Labour | |
1945 | Patrick Gordon Walker | Labour | |
1964 | Peter Griffiths | Conservative | |
1966 | Andrew Faulds | Labour | |
Feb 1974 | constituency abolished: see Warley East |
Elections
Elections in the 1910s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | John Davison | 9,389 | 52.2 | n/a | |
Women's Party | Christabel Pankhurst | 8,614 | 47.8 | n/a | |
Majority | 775 | 4.4 | n/a | ||
Turnout | 18,003 | 54.7 | n/a | ||
Labour win |
Elections in the 1920s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | John Davison | 13,141 | 50.7 | −1.5 | |
Unionist | Arthur Henry Addenbrooke Simcox | 12,759 | 49.3 | +1.5 | |
Majority | 382 | 1.4 | −3.0 | ||
Turnout | 25,900 | 75.9 | +21.2 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | 1.5 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | John Davison | 13,550 | 54.7 | +4.0 | |
Unionist | Edmund Brocklebank | 11,217 | 45.3 | −4.0 | |
Majority | 2,333 | 9.4 | +8.0 | ||
Turnout | 24,767 | 71.7 | −4.2 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | −4.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | John Davison | 14,491 | 52.3 | −2.4 | |
Unionist | Marshall James Pike | 13,238 | 47.7 | +2.4 | |
Majority | 1,253 | 4.6 | −4.8 | ||
Turnout | 27,729 | 78.2 | +6.5 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | 2.4 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Oswald Mosley | 16,077 | 57.1 | +4.8 | |
Unionist | Marshall James Pike | 9,495 | 33.7 | −14.0 | |
Liberal | Edwin Bayliss | 2,600 | 9.2 | n/a | |
Majority | 6,582 | 23.4 | +18.8 | ||
Turnout | 35,862 | 78.6 | +0.4 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | −9.4 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Oswald Mosley | 19,550 | 54.8 | −2.3 | |
Unionist | Roy Wise | 12,210 | 34.2 | +0.5 | |
Liberal | M.E. Marshall | 3,909 | 11.0 | +1.8 | |
Majority | 7,340 | 20.6 | −2.8 | ||
Turnout | 35,669 | 78.9 | +0.3 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | 1.4 |
Elections in the 1930s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Roy Wise | 20,945 | 60.1 | +25.7 | |
Labour | W. Ernest Lawrence | 13,927 | 39.9 | −14.9 | |
Majority | 7,018 | 20.2 | n/a | ||
Turnout | 34,872 | 74.7 | −4.2 | ||
Conservative gain from Labour | Swing | 20.3 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Roy Wise | 16,575 | 52.5 | −7.7 | |
Labour | Charles W. Brook | 15,023 | 47.5 | +7.6 | |
Majority | 1,552 | 5.0 | −17.2 | ||
Turnout | 31,598 | 70.7 | −4.0 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | −7.7 |
Elections in the 1940s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Alfred Dobbs | 20,522 | 65.9 | +18.4 | |
Conservative | Gilbert Harold Samuel Edgar | 10,637 | 34.1 | −18.4 | |
Majority | 9,885 | 31.8 | n/a | ||
Turnout | 31,159 | 72.4 | +1.7 | ||
Labour gain from Conservative | Swing | −18.4 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Patrick Gordon Walker | 19,364 | 68.8 | +2.9 | |
Conservative | Gilbert Harold Samuel Edgar | 8,762 | 31.2 | −2.9 | |
Majority | 10,602 | 37.6 | +5.8 | ||
Turnout | 43,020 | 65.4 | −7.0 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | −2.9 |
Elections in the 1950s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Patrick Gordon Walker | 28,750 | 62.1 | −6.7 | |
Conservative | J. Fallon | 17,553 | 37.9 | +6.7 | |
Majority | 11,197 | 24.2 | −13.4 | ||
Turnout | 46,303 | 86.9 | +21.5 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | -6.7 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Patrick Gordon Walker | 27,739 | 60.6 | −1.5 | |
Conservative | A. Norman Giles | 18,012 | 39.4 | +1.5 | |
Majority | 9,727 | 21.2 | −3.0 | ||
Turnout | 45,751 | 83.5 | +1.8 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | -1.5 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Patrick Gordon Walker | 23,151 | 58.2 | −2.5 | |
Conservative | John Wells | 16,656 | 41.8 | +2.5 | |
Majority | 6,495 | 16.3 | −4.9 | ||
Turnout | 39,807 | 75.5 | −8.5 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | -2.5 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Patrick Gordon Walker | 20,670 | 54.7 | −3.5 | |
Conservative | Peter Griffiths | 17,126 | 45.3 | +3.5 | |
Majority | 3,544 | 9.4 | −4.9 | ||
Turnout | 37,796 | 75.9 | +0.4 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | -3.5 |
Elections in the 1960s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Peter Griffiths | 16,690 | 47.6 | +2.3 | |
Labour | Patrick Gordon Walker | 14,916 | 42.6 | −12.1 | |
Liberal | David Hugill | 3,172 | 9.0 | n/a | |
Independent | Dudley Trevor Davies | 262 | 0.8 | n/a | |
Majority | 1,774 | 5.0 | 14.4 | ||
Turnout | 35,040 | 74.1 | −1.8 | ||
Conservative gain from Labour | Swing | −7.2 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Andrew Faulds | 18,440 | 54.4 | +11.8 | |
Conservative | Peter Griffiths | 14,950 | 44.1 | −3.5 | |
British National | R. Stanley | 508 | 1.5 | N/A | |
Majority | 3,490 | 10.3 | 15.3 | ||
Turnout | 33,898 | 75.4 | +1.3 | ||
Labour gain from Conservative | Swing | −7.6 | |||
Elections in the 1970s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Andrew Faulds | 16,077 | 52.2 | −2.2 | |
Conservative | B. Brian Rathbone | 13,968 | 45.4 | +1.3 | |
Liberal | Mihir Gupta | 747 | 2.4 | n/a | |
Majority | 2,109 | 6.9 | −3.4 | ||
Turnout | 30,792 | 68.1 | −7.3 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | -1.7 |