Widnes (UK Parliament constituency)

Widnes
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1885–1983
Number of members	one
Replaced by	Halton, Knowsley South and St Helens South

Widnes was a county constituency in England, based on the town of Widnes, in Lancashire. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system.

History

The constituency was formed as a division of the Parliamentary county of Lancashire in 1885, including Allerton, Cronton, Ditton, Garston, Hale, Halewood, Huyton with Roby, Little Woolton, Much Woolton, Speke, Tarbock, Whiston and Widnes.

In 1918 it was redefined to cover the municipal borough of Widnes, along with the urban district of Huyton with Roby and the Whiston Rural District. The two urban districts and part of the rural district became part of a new Huyton constituency in 1950, with Widnes retaining the borough and the remainder of the rural district. In 1971 Widnes featured the last by-election to date to have only a Labour and a Conservative candidate. Its boundaries remained unchanged in 1974. In 1983 Widnes constituency was abolished and replaced by Halton constituency.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Tom Cottingham Edwards-Moss	Conservative
	1892	John Saunders Gilliat	Conservative
	1900	William Hall Walker	Coalition Conservative
	1919 by-election	Arthur Henderson	Labour
	1922	George Christopher Clayton	Conservative
	1929	Alexander Gordon Cameron	Labour
	1931	Roland Robinson	Conservative
	1935	Richard Antony Pilkington	Conservative
	1945	Christopher Nyholm Shawcross	Labour
	1950	James MacColl	Labour
	1971 by-election	Gordon Oakes	Labour
	1983	constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: Widnes

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Gordon Oakes	32,033	55.2	−4.0
	Conservative	B.G. Holder	21,752	37.5	+10.0
	Liberal	L.A. Self	4,290	7.4	N/A
Majority			10,281	17.7
Turnout			58,075	74.2	+3.3
	Labour hold		Swing	−7.0

General Election October 1974: Widnes

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Gordon Oakes	31,532	59.2	−5.9
	Conservative	A.H.K. Maynard	14,661	27.5	−7.5
	Liberal	A. Turner	7,067	13.3	N/A
Majority			16,871	31.7
Turnout			53,260	70.9	−2.8
	Labour hold		Swing	+0.8

General Election February 1974: Widnes

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Gordon Oakes	35,654	65.1	+7.4
	Conservative	A.H.K. Maynard	19,155	35.0	−7.3
Majority			16,499	30.1
Turnout			54,809	73.7	+5.0
	Labour hold		Swing	+7.4

By-election 1971: Widnes

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Gordon Oakes	22,880	69.1	+11.4
	Conservative	David Stanley	10,219	30.9	−11.4
Majority			12,661	38.3
Turnout			33,099
	Labour hold		Swing	+11.4

General Election 1970: Widnes

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James MacColl	28,384	57.7	−3.0
	Conservative	Griffith H. Pierce	20,841	42.3	+3.0
Majority			7,543	15.3
Turnout			49,225	68.7
	Labour hold		Swing	−3.0

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1966: Widnes

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James MacColl	26,613	60.7	+3.9
	Conservative	Alan Pickering	17,235	39.3	−3.9
Majority			9,378	21.4
Turnout			43,848	72.8	−5.1
	Labour hold		Swing	+3.9

General Election 1964: Widnes

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James MacColl	24,446	56.8	+4.8
	Conservative	Alan Pickering	18,572	43.2	−4.8
Majority			5,874	13.7
Turnout			43,018	77.9	−5.5
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.8

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1959: Widnes

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James MacColl	21,218	52.0	+0.1
	Conservative	Bruce L. Butcher	19,620	48.0	−0.1
Majority			1,598	3.9
Turnout			40,838	83.4	+7.0
	Labour hold		Swing	+0.1

General Election 1955: Widnes

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James MacColl	19,823	51.9	−2.3
	Conservative	Beata Brookes	18,374	48.1	+2.3
Majority			1,449	3.8
Turnout			38,197	76.4
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1951: Widnes

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James MacColl	21,688	54.2	+0.1
	Conservative	Francis H. Wilson	18,315	45.8	−0.1
Majority			3,373	8.4
Turnout			40,003	87.4	−0.8
	Labour hold		Swing	+0.1

General Election 1950: Widnes

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James MacColl	21,253	54.1	−4.7
	Conservative	Richard Antony Pilkington	18,033	45.9	+4.7
Majority			3,220	8.2
Turnout			39,286	88.2	+12.2
	Labour hold		Swing	−4.7

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Widnes

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Christopher Nyholm Shawcross	41,980	58.8	+14.8
	Conservative	Richard Antony Pilkington	29,382	41.2	−14.8
Majority			12,598	17.7
Turnout			71,362	76.0	−3.7
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+14.8

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1935: Widnes

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Antony Pilkington	24,457	56.0	−6.1
	Labour	Alexander Gordon Cameron	19,187	44.0	+6.1
Majority			5,270	12.1
Turnout			43,644	79.7	−7.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	−6.1

General Election 1931: Widnes

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Roland Robinson	25,123	62.1
	Labour	Alexander Gordon Cameron	15,309	37.9
Majority			9,814	24.3
Turnout			40,432	87.5
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1929: Widnes

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alexander Gordon Cameron	19,125	51.0	+4.7
	Unionist	George Christopher Clayton	18,376	49.0	-4.7
Majority			749	2.0	9.4
Turnout				84.8	-1.0
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	{{{swing}}}

General Election 1924: Widnes

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	George Christopher Clayton	15,476	53.7
	Labour	Joseph Patrick Cotter	13,326	46.3
Majority			2,150	7.4
Turnout				85.8

General Election 1923: Widnes

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	George Christopher Clayton	12,808	47.1	-6.1
	Labour	Joseph Patrick Cotter	12,020	44.2	-2.6
	Liberal	H.T. Ellis	2,355	8.7	n/a
Majority			788	2.9	-3.5
Turnout				83.0	-3.8
	Unionist hold		Swing	-1.7

General Election 1922: Widnes

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	George Christopher Clayton	14,679	53.2
	Labour	Arthur Henderson	12,897	46.8
Majority			1,782	6.4
Turnout				86.8
	Unionist gain from Labour		Swing

Elections in the 1910s

Widnes by-election, August 30 1919

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Arthur Henderson	11,404	52.3
	Coalition Conservative	Francis Fisher	10,417	47.7
Majority			987	4.6
Turnout				71.1
	Labour gain from Coalition Conservative		Swing

General Election 1918: Widnes

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Coalition Conservative	William Hall Walker	11,515	59.6
	Labour	Tom Williamson	7,821	40.4
Majority			3,694	19.2
Turnout				63.0

Sources

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