Sowerby (UK Parliament constituency)

Sowerby
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
County	West Riding of Yorkshire
1885–1983
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Calder Valley
Created from	Northern West Riding of Yorkshire

Sowerby /ˌsɔːrbi/ was a county constituency centred on the village of Sowerby in Calderdale, West Yorkshire. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

History

The constituency was created for the 1885 general election, and abolished for the 1983 general election, when it was largely replaced by the new Calder Valley constituency.

Boundaries

Up until its abolition, Sowerby covered the West Yorkshire parishes of Heptonstall, Blackshaw, Wadsworth, Todmorden, Erringden, Hebden Royd, Sowerby Bridge, Ripponden and Elland.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Edward Crossley	Liberal
	1892	John William Mellor	Liberal
	1904 by-election	John Sharp Higham	Liberal
	1918	Robert Hewitt Barker	Independent NADSS
	1922	William Algernon Simpson-Hinchliffe	Conservative
	1923	Arnold Williams	Liberal
	1924	Geoffrey Reginald Devereux Shaw	Unionist
	1929	William John Tout	Labour
	1931	Malcolm McCorquodale	Unionist
	1945	John Belcher	Labour
	1949 by-election	Douglas Houghton	Labour
	Feb 1974	Max Madden	Labour
	1979	Donald Thompson	Conservative
	1983	constituency abolished: see Calder Valley

Elections

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Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: Sowerby

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Donald Thompson	16,797	42.2
	Labour	Max Madden	15,617	39.3
	Liberal	David Trevor Shutt	7,369	18.5
Majority			1,180	3.0
Turnout				80.7

General Election October 1974: Sowerby

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Max Madden	14,971	38.8
	Conservative	Donald Thompson	14,325	37.1
	Liberal	David Trevor Shutt	9,136	23.7
	More Prosperous Britain	Harold Smith	157	0.4
Majority			646	1.7
Turnout				80.7

General Election February 1974: Sowerby

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Max Madden	14,492	36.1
	Conservative	Donald Thompson	14,377	35.8
	Liberal	David Trevor Shutt	11,254	28.1
Majority			115	0.3
Turnout				83.0
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1970: Sowerby

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Douglas Houghton	16,583	43.8
	Conservative	W Burman	16,114	42.6
	Liberal	David Trevor Shutt	5,137	13.6
Majority			469	1.2
Turnout				75.6
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1966: Sowerby

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Douglas Houghton	21,591	56.9
	Conservative	W Burman	16,361	43.1
Majority			5,230	13.8
Turnout				77.7
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1964: Sowerby

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Douglas Houghton	21,582	54.2
	Conservative	R McKim	18,220	45.8
Majority			3,362	8.5
Turnout				79.5
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1959: Sowerby

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Douglas Houghton	18,949	43.5
	Conservative	R McKim	16,993	39.0
	Liberal	John G Walker	7,654	17.6
Majority			1,956	4.5
Turnout				83.0
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Sowerby

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Douglas Houghton	20,092	45.2
	Conservative	Betty Harvie Anderson	17,309	38.9
	Liberal	John G Walker	7,046	15.9
Majority			2,783	6.3
Turnout				81.4
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1951: Sowerby

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Douglas Houghton	22,766	46.1
	Conservative	Paul Elmore Oliver Bryan	21,118	42.7
	Liberal	John G Walker	5,573	11.3
Majority			1,648	3.3
Turnout				86.9
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1950: Sowerby

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Douglas Houghton	22,846	45.4
	Conservative	Paul Elmore Oliver Bryan	19,181	38.1
	Liberal	Adrian Liddell Hart	8,306	16.5
Majority			3,665	7.3
Turnout				88.3
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1940s

Sowerby by-election, 1949

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Douglas Houghton	18,606
	Conservative	Paul Elmore Oliver Bryan	16,454
Majority			2,152
Turnout
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1945: Sowerby

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Belcher	17,710	50.8
	Conservative	Malcolm McCorquodale	10,777	30.9
	Liberal	Douglas Eugene Moore	6,373	18.3
Majority			6,933	19.9
Turnout				82.0
	Labour 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 from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected; Conservative: Malcolm McCorquodale, Labour: Cyril Hackett Wilkinson.

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1935 Electorate 45,803

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Malcolm McCorquodale	18,707	53.9
	Labour	William John Tout	16,035	46.2
Majority			2,672	7.7
Turnout				75.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1931 Electorate 46,104

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Malcolm Stewart McCorquodale	25,511
	Labour	William John Tout	11,857
Majority
Turnout
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1929: Sowerby

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William John Tout	14,223	37.2	+7.1
	Unionist	William Arthur Colegate	12,057	31.6	-6.2
	Liberal	Thomas George Graham	11,890	31.2	-0.9
Majority			2,166	5.6	11.3
Turnout				83.4	+0.2
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+6.6

General Election 1924 Electorate 35,500

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Geoffrey Reginald Devereux Shaw	11,181	37.8	+3.2
	Liberal	Arnold Williams	9,480	32.1	-7.5
	Labour	Arthur Dawson	8,881	30.1	+4.3
Majority			1,701	5.7
Turnout				83.2	+2.2
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+5.3

General Election 1923 Electorate 35,378

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Arnold Williams	11,350	39.6	+11.9
	Unionist	William Algernon Simpson-Hinchliffe	9,932	34.6	-5.3
	Labour	Arthur Dawson	7,389	25.8	+0.3
Majority				1,418	5.0
Turnout				81.0	-2.9
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing	+8.6

General Election 1922 Electorate 35,022

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	William Algernon Simpson-Hinchliffe	11,710	39.9	+2.9
	Liberal	Arnold Williams	8,144	27.7	-2.6
	Labour	John William Ogden	7,496	25.5	-7.2
	National Liberal	Frank Roebuck	2,023	6.9	n/a
Majority			3,566	12.2
Turnout				83.9	+18.7
	Unionist gain from Independent		Swing	+2.7

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1918 Electorate 34,286

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	NADSS	Robert Hewitt Barker	8,287	37.0	+37.0
	Labour	John William Ogden	7,306	32.7	+32.7
	Liberal	John Sharp Higham	6,778	30.2	-28.6
Majority			981	4.3
Turnout				65.2	-25.3
	Independent gain from Liberal		Swing

General Election December 1910 Electorate

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Sharp Higham	unopposed		n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election January 1910 Electorate 12,805

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Sharp Higham	6,811	58.8	-2.8
	Conservative	William Algernon Simpson-Hinchliffe	4,781	41.2	+2.8
Majority			2,030	17.6	-5.6
Turnout				90.5	+6.3
	Liberal hold		Swing	-2.8

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1906 Electorate 12,492

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Sharp Higham	6,482	61.6	+0.7
	Conservative	William Algernon Simpson-Hinchliffe	4,034	38.4	-0.7
Majority			2,448	23.2
Turnout				84.2
	Liberal hold		Swing	+0.7

Sowerby by-election, 1904 Electorate 12,311

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Sharp Higham	6,049	60.9
	Conservative	William Algernon Simpson-Hinchliffe	3,877	39.1
Majority			2,172	21.8
Turnout				80.6
	Liberal hold		Swing

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 4)
• Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.