Mossley (UK Parliament constituency)

Mossley
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
County	Lancashire (now Greater Manchester)
1918–1950
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Droylsden Ashton-under-Lyne
Created from	Gorton Prestwich

Mossley was a parliamentary constituency which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom Parliament.

It was created at the 1918 general election as a county division of Lancashire, taking areas formerly in the Gorton and Prestwich constituencies. The area consisted of small towns which were increasingly suburban to Manchester, such as Droylsden and Failsworth (now part of Oldham borough), together with some towns then further out such as Denton, and stretching out to the edge of Saddleworth Moor to take in Mossley.

This created a mixed area which declined in social status during its existence as Manchester expanded to the east and its industrial area expanded. The electorate also increased over time, and in a boundary change in 1950 the seat was divided with the areas adjacent to Manchester forming the new Droylsden constituency while the remainder including Mossley itself formed part of Ashton-under-Lyne.

Boundaries

The constituency was defined as including the Rural District of Limehurst, the Municipal Borough of Mossley, and the Urban Districts of Audenshaw, Denton, Droylsden, Failsworth and Lees.

Members of Parliament

• Constituency created (1918)

Election		Member	Party
	1918	Austin Hopkinson	Coalition Liberal
	1922		Independent
	1929	Herbert Gibson	Labour
	1931	Austin Hopkinson	National Independent
	1945	George Woods	Labour Co-op
1950		constituency abolished

Election results

1910s election results

General Election 1918: Mossley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Coalition Liberal	Austin Hopkinson	16,158	75.6
	Co-operative Party	William Henry Brown	5,227	24.4
Majority			10,931	51.2
Turnout			21,385	52.8

1920s election results

General Election 1922: Mossley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Austin Hopkinson	15,953	58.4	-17.2
	Liberal	Miles Ewart Mitchell	11,376	41.6
Majority			4,577	16.8
Turnout			27,329	67.5

General Election 1923: Mossley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Austin Hopkinson	11,426	50.8	-7.6
	Liberal	George Jennison	11,051	49.2	+7.6
Majority			375	1.6
Turnout			22,477	54.5
	Independent hold		Swing

General Election 1924: Mossley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Austin Hopkinson	15,435	49.2	-1.6
	Labour	T.W. Mercer	10,769	34.3
	Liberal	George Jennison	5,162	16.5	-32.7
Majority			4,666	14.9
Turnout			31,366	75.3
	Independent hold		Swing

General Election 1929: Mossley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Herbert Mellor Gibson	19,296	46.0	+11.7
	Independent	Austin Hopkinson	14,267	33.9	-15.3
	Liberal	Harold Housley	8,467	20.1	+3.6
Majority			5,029	12.1	27.0
Turnout			42,030	76.8
	Labour gain from Independent		Swing	+13.5

1930s election results

General Election 1931: Mossley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent National	Austin Hopkinson	17,017	36.7	+2.8
	Labour	Herbert Gibson	15,587	33.5	-12.5
	Conservative	Ernest Barlow	13,873	29.8
Majority			1,430	3.2
Turnout			46,477	84.2
	Independent National gain from Labour		Swing

General Election 1935: Mossley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Independent	Austin Hopkinson	24,569	52.3	+15.6
	Labour	Herbert Gibson	22,399	47.7	+14.2
Majority			2,170	4.6
Turnout			46,968	75.3
	Independent hold		Swing

1940s election results

General Election 1945: Mossley Electorate 75,697

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Rev. George S Woods	27,435	47.5	-0.2
	Conservative	Capt. G.E. Rush	18,452	32.0
	Liberal	Marjorie Wainwright Jalland	7,128	12.4	n/a
	Independent	Austin Hopkinson	4,671	8.1	-44.2
Majority			8,983	15.5
Turnout			54,669	76.2
	Labour gain from Independent		Swing

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "M" (part 3)