Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1868–1974
Wednesbury was a borough constituency in England's Black Country which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1868 until it was abolished for the February 1974 general election.
Wednesbury became a parliamentary borough under the Reform Act 1867, taking territory that previously belonged to the constituency of South Staffordshire.
Members of Parliament.
Elections in the 1920s.
At the next general election in 1922, Short was opposed only by a Unionist candidate, Herbert Geraint Williams, an economist who had worked in the Ministry of Munitions during the First World War. Short narrowly retained the seat.
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 130px"|Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em"|Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em"|Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"|%
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"| ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;±%
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | Majority
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" scope=row | Turnout
! colspan="3" style="text-align:right;" scope=row | Registered electors
! style="text-align:right;" | Swing
Although the Unionist Party won an overall majority in 1922, another general election was held at the end of 1923. This followed the resignation of Prime Minister Bonar Law in May 1923 and concerns over unemployment and protectionism. The new Conservative Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin called a general election for December 1923.
The same two candidates contested the constituency, and Short held the seat comfortably as the Labour Party saw an increase in votes.
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 130px"|Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em"|Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em"|Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"|%
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"| ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;±%
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | Majority
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" scope=row | Turnout
! colspan="3" style="text-align:right;" scope=row | Registered electors
! style="text-align:right;" | Swing
The 1923 general election resulted in a hung parliament. Following the collapse of a short-lived minority Labour government, another general election was held in October 1924.
The Unionists chose a new candidate, Benjamin Garnet Lampard-Vachell, an international hockey player. Despite a drop in the Labour vote, Short held the seat by a slim majority.
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 130px"|Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em"|Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em"|Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"|%
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"| ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;±%
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | Majority
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" scope=row | Turnout
! colspan="3" style="text-align:right;" scope=row | Registered electors
! style="text-align:right;" | Swing
The next general election was held in May 1929. Four candidates were nominated: the sitting MP, Alfred Short for Labour; Harold Rubin for the Unionists, J. H. Stockdale for the Liberals and Thomas Gee who stood as "The Workers' Candidate". The campaign was very ill-mannered: Rubin issued writs alleging slander against Short, and Gee and was hospitalised after he was hit on the head with a brick thrown at him whilst delivering a speech on 20 May. Short held the seat with an increased majority.
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 130px"|Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em"|Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em"|Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"|%
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"| ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;±%
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | Majority
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" scope=row | Turnout
! colspan="3" style="text-align:right;" scope=row | Registered electors
! style="text-align:right;" | Swing
Elections in the 1930s.
The 1929 general election led to a short-lived minority Labour Party government. The Labour Party split and a National Government was formed in August 1931. The National Government, comprising four parties (National Labour, Conservatives and two factions of the Liberal Party), went to the country in a general election in October 1931. The sitting MP, Alfred Short, remained with the main section of the Labour Party in opposition to the National Government. The National Government won a large majority: their candidate at Wednesbury, Viscount Ednam, a businessman and former Member of Parliament, unseated Short.
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 130px"|Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em"|Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em"|Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"|%
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"| ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;±%
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | Majority
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" scope=row | Turnout
! style="text-align:right;" | Swing
Ednam only served as the Member of Parliament for Wednesbury for about eight months: on 29 June 1932 his father died and he inherited the title of Earl of Dudley and was elevated to the House of Lords. A by-election was held in July 1932: a new Labour candidate, John William Banfield, a trade union official, regained the seat for the party against the Conservative nominee, Captain Rex Davis, formerly of the Middlesex Regiment.
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 130px"|Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em"|Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em"|Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"|%
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"| ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;±%
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | Majority
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" scope=row | Turnout
! style="text-align:right;" | Swing
The next general election was held in November 1935. The National Government candidate was the Rev. Herbert Dunnico, a former Labour Party MP, who had lost his seat in 1931 after which he switched to supporting the government. Banfield held the seat for Labour with a reduced majority.
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 130px"|Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em"|Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em"|Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"|%
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"| ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;±%
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | Majority
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" scope=row | Turnout
! style="text-align:right;" | Swing
Election in the 1940s.
Following the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, the life of the parliament elected in 1935 was extended, with the next general election not being held until July 1945. The sitting MP, J. W. Banfield, died on 25 May 1945 so the seat was vacant for the final few weeks of the parliament.
The Labour Party selected: Stanley Evans, a Birmingham-born industrialist, to defend the seat. His only opponent was Sebastian Earl, a champion rower and member of the National Labour Organisation. National Labour dissolved itself in June 1945, and Earl stood as a "National" candidate supporting the minority Conservative administration of Winston Churchill. The election resulted in a landslide Labour victory, and Evans was elected with a majority of nearly 16,000 votes.
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 130px"|Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em"|Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em"|Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"|%
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"| ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;±%
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | Majority
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" scope=row | Turnout
! style="text-align:right;" | Swing
Elections in the 1950s.
The next general election was held in 1950. Evans was opposed by both Conservative and Liberal candidates. Henry Wilkins, a managing director of Wilkins &amp; Mitchell Limited, washing machine manufacturers of Darlaston, was the Conservative candidate. The Liberals nominated J Bowker, a land agent and former chairman of the Worcestershire Liberal Federation. The constituency's boundaries had been considerably altered, and Evans held the redrawn seat with a similar majority to the one that he had achieved in 1945.
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 130px"|Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em"|Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em"|Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"|%
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"| ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;±%
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | Majority
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" scope=row | Turnout
! style="text-align:right;" | Swing
The 1950 general election resulted in a Labour government with a very slim majority in the House of Commons. In October 1951, the Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, called a general election seeking to increase his party's majority.
At Wednesbury, there was straight fight between Labour and the Conservatives, who nominated the same candidates as in the previous year. Evans was re-elected with a reduced majority.
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 130px"|Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em"|Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em"|Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"|%
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"| ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;±%
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | Majority
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" scope=row | Turnout
! style="text-align:right;" | Swing
The 1951 general election, resulted in a Conservative government under the leadership of Winston Churchill. In April 1955, Anthony Eden succeeded Churchill as Prime Minister, and he called a general election in the following month.
There were once again two candidates at Wednesbury. The sitting Labour Party MP, Stanley Evans was opposed by Ronald Hall, a divisional inspector for the West Midlands Gas Board, running for the Conservative Party. Evans retained the seat, which had substantially changed boundaries.
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 130px"|Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em"|Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em"|Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"|%
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"| ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;±%
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | Majority
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" scope=row | Turnout
! style="text-align:right;" | Swing
In November 1956, there was a vote of confidence in the Conservative government caused by the Suez Crisis. Evans abstained on the vote, being the only Labour MP not to follow the party whip. Although he was not disciplined by the Parliamentary Labour Party, the Wednesbury Divisional Labour Party were highly critical of him. On 17 November the Divisional Party unanimously passed a resolution calling on him to resign, and on 20 November Evans announced his resignation from both the House of Commons and the Labour Party. He formally resigned his seat by taking the office of Crown Steward and Bailiff of the three Chiltern Hundreds of Stoke, Desborough and Burnham on 26 November.
The resulting by-election was held on 28 February 1957. The Labour Party selected John Stonehouse, a lecturer who had previously unsuccessfully contested two general elections at Twickenham and Burton-upon-Trent. The Conservatives chose Peter Tapsell, a former member of the Conservative Research Department. An independent candidate, Wolverhampton solicitor Michael Wade, announced his candidacy hours before the close of nominations on 18 February.
Stonehouse held the seat for Labour with an increased majority.
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 130px"|Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em"|Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em"|Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"|%
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"| ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;±%
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | Majority
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" scope=row | Turnout
! style="text-align:right;" | Swing
The next general election was held in October 1959. The Conservative government, now under the leadership of Harold Macmillan, was re-elected with an increased majority. At Wednesbury, there was a three-way contest with Stonehouse holding the seat for Labour against the Conservative candidate Ernest Knight, Chairman of the West Midlands Conservative Teachers' Association, and Francis Wilmott, an industrialist standing for the Liberal Party.
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 130px"|Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em"|Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em"|Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"|%
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"| ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;±%
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | Majority
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" scope=row | Turnout
! style="text-align:right;" | Swing
Elections in the 1960s.
The next general election was held in October 1964. Macmillan had resigned from the premiership in October 1963, and his successor, Alec Douglas-Home, failed to win the election for the Conservatives. The Labour Party under Harold Wilson won a narrow majority, returning Labour to government after thirteen years in opposition.
John Stonehouse faced a straight fight with the Conservative candidate David Harman, an electrical engineer and member of County Borough of West Bromwich Borough Council. He held the seat with a reduced majority.
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 130px"|Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em"|Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em"|Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"|%
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"| ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;±%
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | Majority
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" scope=row | Turnout
! style="text-align:right;" | Swing
Wilson called a general election in March 1966 in an attempt to secure a larger majority. He succeeded, and the Labour Party were comfortably re-elected. At Wednesbury, the same two candidates fought the election, and Stonehouse saw his majority more than double.
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 130px"|Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em"|Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em"|Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"|%
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"| ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;±%
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | Majority
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" scope=row | Turnout
! style="text-align:right;" | Swing
Election in the 1970s.
The next general election was held in June 1970: the Conservatives under Edward Heath defeated the Labour government. At Wednesbury, the same two candidates fought for a third time. Stonehouse held the seat with a reduced majority.
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 130px"|Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em"|Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em"|Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"|%
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"| ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;±%
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | Majority
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" scope=row | Turnout
! style="text-align:right;" | Swing
The constituency was abolished prior to the next election in February 1974. Stonehouse was subsequently elected MP for Walsall North which included part of the abolished seat.
References.
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