Oldham (UK Parliament constituency)

Oldham was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Oldham, England. It returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The constituency was created by the Great Reform Act of 1832 and was abolished for the 1950 general election when it was split into the Oldham East and Oldham West constituencies.

The Oldham constituency was perhaps most notable for being where Winston Churchill began his political career. Although taking two attempts to succeed, in the 1900 general election Churchill was elected as the member of Parliament for Oldham. He held the constituency for the Conservative Party until he defected from them in defence of free trade in 1904. He then represented the Liberal Party as MP for the seat until the 1906 general election.

Boundaries

Though centred on Oldham (the town), the constituency covered a much broader territory; Shaw and Crompton, Royton, Chadderton and Lees all formed part of this district, though these were each granted individual urban district status at a local government level in 1894.

Members of Parliament

Notes:-

• ^a J M Cobbett's political affiliations are complicated.^[2] He had stood unsuccessfully on an all-Radical 'plague on both your houses' slate with John Fielden in 1847. He was elected in 1852 as the Radical half of an explicit Radical-Tory alliance.^[3] At the 1857 election he was opposed by two Liberals and denied that he had sold out to Palmerston, asserting that the Liberal Chief Whip had no confidence in him.^[4] In 1865 he stood unsuccessfully in conjunction with a Conservative,^[5] opposed by two Liberals. Nonetheless, from 1852 to 1865 outside Oldham he was generally taken to be a Liberal. From 1872 to his death in 1877 he sat as a Conservative (but one calling for annual Parliaments and manhood suffrage)^[6]
• ^b Churchill changed his party allegiance in April 1904.
• ^c Denniss changed his surname to Bartley-Denniss, when he was knighted in 1922.

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1885: Oldham^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	YJohn Tomlinson Hibbert	12,259
	Conservative	YJames Mackenzie Maclean	11,992
	Liberal	Edward Lyulph Stanley	11,847
	Conservative	S. T. Whitehead	11,491
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing

Elliot Lees

General Election 1886: Oldham^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	YJames Mackenzie Maclean	11,606
	Conservative	YElliot Lees	11,484
	Liberal	John Tomlinson Hibbert	10,921
	Liberal	Joshua Milne Cheetham	10,891
Majority
Turnout
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1890s

General Election 1892: Oldham^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	YJoshua Milne Cheetham	12,619
	Liberal	YJohn Tomlinson Hibbert	12,541
	Conservative	Elliot Lees	12,205
	Conservative	James Mackenzie Maclean	11,952
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing

Robert Ascroft

James Oswald

General Election 1895: Oldham^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	YRobert Ascroft	13,085
	Conservative	YJames Francis Oswald	12,465
	Liberal	Adam Lee	12,249
	Liberal	John Tomlinson Hibbert	12,092
Majority
Turnout
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing

Walter Runciman

James Mawdsley

Oldham by-election, 1899

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	YAlfred Emmott	12,976	26.7
	Liberal	YWalter Runciman	12,770	26.2
	Conservative	Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill	11,477	23.6
	Conservative	James Mawdsley	11,449	23.5
Majority			1,410
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing

Elections in the 1900s

Alfred Emmott

General Election 1900: Oldham^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	YAlfred Emmott	12,947
	Conservative	YWinston Leonard Spencer Churchill	12,931
	Liberal	Walter Runciman	12,709
	Conservative	Charles Crisp	12,522
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1906: Oldham^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	YAlfred Emmott	17,397
	Liberal	YJohn Albert Bright	16,672
	Conservative	Charles Crisp	11,989
	Conservative	E. L. Hartley	11,391
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing
	Liberal hold		Swing

Elections in the 1910s

General Election January 1910: Oldham^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	YAlfred Emmott	19,252
	Liberal	YAndrew William Barton	18,840
	Conservative	Joseph Hilton	13,462
	Conservative	Philip Sidney Stott	12,577
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election December 1910: Oldham^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	YAlfred Emmott	17,108
	Liberal	YAndrew William Barton	16,941
	Conservative	Arthur Edward Wrigley	13,440
	Conservative	Edmund Robert Bartley Denniss	13,281
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing
	Liberal hold		Swing

Bartley-Denniss

Oldham by-election, 1911^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	YEdmund Robert Bartley Denniss	12,255
	Liberal	Arthur Lyulph Stanley	10,623
	Labour	William Cornforth Robinson	7,448
Majority			1,632
Turnout
	Conservative gain from Liberal		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;

• Liberal: W. H. Sumnervell
• Unionist: John Radcliffe Platt, Edmund Bartley-Denniss
• Labour: William Cornforth Robinson

William Barton

• endorsed by the Coalition Government

Elections in the 1920s

Edward Grigg

General Election 1922: Oldham^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	National Liberal	YSir Edward William Macleay Grigg	24,762
	Labour	YWilliam John Tout	24,434
	Unionist	Samuel Smethurst	23,200
	Liberal	William Tudor Davies	9,812
	Liberal	Lady Mary Emmott	6,186
Majority
Turnout
	National Liberal hold		Swing
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing

General Election 1923: Oldham (2 seats) ^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	YWilliam John Tout	20,939	23.4	-4.3
	Liberal	YSir Edward William Macleay Grigg	20,681	23.2	-4.8
	Liberal	William Martin Wiggins	17,990	20.1	+9.0
	Unionist	W.E. Freeman	15,819	17.7	n/a
	Unionist	Samuel Smethurst	13,894	15.6	-10.6
Majority			2,949	3.3
Majority			4,862	5.5
Turnout				76.3	-2.5
	Labour hold		Swing
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1924: Oldham^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	YAlfred Duff Cooper	37,419	31.2
	Liberal	YSir Edward William Macleay Grigg	36,761	30.7
	Labour	William John Tout	23,623	19.7
	Labour	James Wilson	22,081	18.4
Majority				11.0
Turnout			119,884
	Liberal hold		Swing
	Unionist gain from Labour		Swing

Oldham by-election, 1925^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	YWilliam Martin Wiggins	26,325	54.8
	Labour	William John Tout	21,702	45.2
Majority			4,623	9.6
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1929: Oldham^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	YGordon Lang	34,223	26.2	+6.5
	Labour	YJames Wilson	32,727	25.0	+6.6
	Unionist	Alfred Duff Cooper	29,424	22.5	-8.7
	Liberal	John Samuel Dodd	20,810	15.9	-14.8
	Liberal	George James Jenkins	13,528	10.4	n/a
Majority			3,303	2.5	13.5
Turnout				81.2
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931: Oldham^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	YAnthony Crommelin Crossley	50,693
	Conservative	YHamilton William Kerr	50,395
	Labour	Gordon Lang	28,629
	Labour	James Wilson	26,631
Majority
Turnout
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General Election 1935: Oldham^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	YHamilton William Kerr	36,738
	Liberal National	YJohn Samuel Dodd	34,755
	Labour	Gordon Lang	34,316
	Labour	Matthew Burrow Farr	29,647
	Liberal	William Gretton Ward	8,534
Majority
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Liberal National gain from Conservative		Swing

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 to take place and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected;

• Conservative: Hamilton William Kerr
• Liberal National: John Samuel Dodd
• Labour: Charles Leslie Hale, D A Mainds^[15]
• Liberal: James Taylor Middleton^[16]

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Oldham^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	YFrank Fairhurst	31,704	23.9
	Labour	YCharles Leslie Hale	31,327	23.6
	Conservative	Hamilton William Kerr	26,911	20.3
	Liberal National	John Samuel Dodd	24,199	18.2
	Liberal	James Taylor Middleton	10,365	7.8
	Liberal	Thomas Donald Farrell Powell	8,264	6.2
Majority			4,416	5.4
Turnout				74.6
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing
	Labour gain from Liberal National		Swing

References

Sources

• Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885–1972, compiled and edited by F. W. S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (The Macmillan Press 1977)
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1885–1918, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press 1974)
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press, revised edition 1977)
• Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume I 1832–1885, edited by M. Stenton (The Harvester Press 1976)
• Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume II 1886–1918, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (Harvester Press 1978)
• Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume III 1919–1945, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (Harvester Press 1979)
• Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume IV 1945–1979, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (Harvester Press 1981)