Elland (UK Parliament constituency)

53°41′31″N 1°48′11″W / 53.692°N 1.803°W / 53.692; -1.803

Elland
Former county constituency
for the House of Commons
CountyWest Riding of Yorkshire
Major settlementsElland, Brighouse
18851950
Created fromNorthern West Riding of Yorkshire
Replaced byBrighouse & Spenborough, Bradford South, Halifax and Sowerby

Elland was a parliamentary constituency in the West Riding of Yorkshire that existed between 1885 and 1950. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, by the first-past-the-post voting system.

Situated between Bradford in the North, Halifax in the West, and Huddersfield to the south, it included the mining town of Brighouse and the wool centre of Elland. With a sizeable Nonconformist population (estimated at 15 per cent in 1922), it was natural Liberal territory, and was a fairly safe Liberal and later Labour seat, falling to the Conservatives only in the 'khaki election' of 1918 and the Labour collapse of 1931. In the 1918 redistribution it lost some territory and it was abolished in 1950. A sizeable part of the area was transferred to the new Brighouse and Spenborough seat.

Boundaries

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1885–1918:

1918–1950: The Municipal Borough of Brighouse, the Urban Districts of Clayton, Elland, Greetland, Hipperholme, Queensberry, Shelf, Southowram, and Stainland, and the Rural District of Halifax except the parish of Norland.

Members of Parliament

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Election Member Party
1885 Thomas Wayman Liberal
1899 by-election Charles Trevelyan Liberal
1918 George Taylor Ramsden Unionist
1922 William C. Robinson Labour
1923 Sir Robert Kay Liberal
1924 William C. Robinson Labour
1929 Charles Buxton Labour
1931 Thomas Levy Conservative
1945 Frederick Cobb Labour
1950 constituency abolished

Elections

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Elections in the 1880s

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Wayman
General election 1885: Elland[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Thomas Wayman 6,516 65.3
Conservative Carne Rasch 3,457 34.7
Majority 3,059 30.6
Turnout 9,973 84.2
Registered electors 11,851
Liberal win (new seat)
General election 1886: Elland[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Thomas Wayman Unopposed
Liberal hold

Elections in the 1890s

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General election 1892: Elland[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Thomas Wayman 5,497 59.9 N/A
Conservative James Hope 3,676 40.1 New
Majority 1,821 19.8 N/A
Turnout 9,173 68.3 N/A
Registered electors 13,437
Liberal hold Swing N/A
 
Wayman
General election 1895: Elland[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Thomas Wayman 5,387 51.5 −8.4
Conservative Arthur Travis Clay 5,081 48.5 +8.4
Majority 306 3.0 −16.8
Turnout 10,468 83.6 +15.3
Registered electors 12,526
Liberal hold Swing -8.4
 
Trevelyan
1899 Elland by-election[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Charles Trevelyan 6,041 54.4 +2.9
Conservative Philip Foster 5,057 45.6 −2.9
Majority 984 8.8 +5.8
Turnout 11,098 85.9 +2.3
Registered electors 12,926
Liberal hold Swing +2.9

Elections in the 1900s

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General election 1900: Elland[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Charles Trevelyan 6,154 57.7 +6.2
Conservative Edward Coates 4,512 42.3 −6.2
Majority 1,642 15.4 +12.4
Turnout 10,666 81.1 −2.5
Registered electors 13,146
Liberal hold Swing +6.2
General election 1906: Elland[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Charles Trevelyan 7,609 65.8 +8.1
Conservative Thomas Brooke-Hitching 3,962 34.2 −8.1
Majority 3,647 31.6 +16.2
Turnout 11,571 83.7 +2.6
Registered electors 13,828
Liberal hold Swing +8.1

Elections in the 1910s

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General election January 1910: Elland[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Charles Trevelyan 7,469 61.4 −4.4
Conservative George Taylor Ramsden 4,686 38.6 +4.4
Majority 2,783 22.8 −8.8
Turnout 12,155 87.1 +3.4
Liberal hold Swing -4.4
General election December 1910: Elland[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Charles Trevelyan 6,613 59.2 −2.2
Conservative George Taylor Ramsden 4,549 40.8 +2.2
Majority 2,064 18.4 −4.4
Turnout 11,162 80.0 −7.1
Liberal hold Swing -2.2

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;

 
Trevelyan
General election 1918: Elland[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
C Unionist George Taylor Ramsden 8,917 38.4 −2.4
Liberal Harry Dawson 7,028 30.4 −28.8
Labour Dennis Hardaker 5,923 25.6 New
Independent Labour Charles Trevelyan 1,286 5.6 New
Majority 1,889 8.0 N/A
Turnout 23,154 67.0 −13.0
Registered electors 34,584
Unionist gain from Liberal Swing +13.2
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

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General election 1922: Elland[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour William C. Robinson 10,590 36.8 +11.2
National Liberal Robert Kay 10,160 35.3 +4.9
Unionist George Taylor Ramsden 8,039 27.9 −10.5
Majority 430 1.5 N/A
Turnout 28,789 81.9 +14.9
Registered electors 35,145
Labour gain from Unionist Swing +3.2
General election 1923: Elland[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Robert Kay 12,476 50.9 +15.6
Labour William C. Robinson 12,031 49.1 +12.3
Majority 445 1.8 N/A
Turnout 24,507 70.0 −11.9
Registered electors 35,008
Liberal gain from Labour Swing +1.7
General election 1924: Elland[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour William C. Robinson 11,690 39.5 −9.6
Unionist Albert Braithwaite 11,202 37.8 New
Liberal Robert Kay 6,713 22.7 −28.2
Majority 488 1.7 N/A
Turnout 29,605 84.1 +14.1
Registered electors 35,214
Labour gain from Liberal Swing +9.3
 
Buxton
General election 1929: Elland[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Charles Buxton 17,012 43.7 +4.2
Unionist Sam Howard 11,150 28.7 −9.1
Liberal William Haughton Sessions 10,734 27.6 +4.9
Majority 5,862 15.0 +13.3
Turnout 38,896 83.6 −0.5
Registered electors 46,499
Labour hold Swing +6.7

Elections in the 1930s

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General election 1931: Elland[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Thomas Levy 25,378 65.2 +36.5
Labour Charles Buxton 13,563 34.8 −8.9
Majority 11,815 30.4 N/A
Turnout 38,941 82.5 −1.1
Conservative gain from Labour Swing +22.7
General election 1935: Elland[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Thomas Levy 19,498 52.2 −13.0
Labour Charles Buxton 17,856 47.8 +13.0
Majority 1,642 4.4 −26.0
Turnout 37,454 77.2 −5.3
Conservative hold Swing -13.0

Elections in the 1940s

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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 from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected:

General election 1945: Elland[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Frederick Cobb 19,632 50.3 +2.5
Conservative Thomas Levy 11,570 29.7 −22.5
Liberal John Wilson 7,805 20.0 New
Majority 8,062 20.6 N/A
Turnout 39,007 79.9 +2.7
Labour gain from Conservative Swing +12.5

See also

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  • Elland, a market town in England
  • Ellands, a surname

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, FWS Craig
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig