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Wallsend (UK Parliament constituency)

Coordinates: 54°59′28″N 1°31′59″W / 54.991°N 1.533°W / 54.991; -1.533
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Wallsend
Former borough constituency
for the House of Commons
County1918–1974: Northumberland
1974–1997: Tyne and Wear
19181997
SeatsOne
Created fromTyneside
Replaced byNewcastle upon Tyne East & Wallsend and North Tyneside

Wallsend was a parliamentary constituency centred on Wallsend, a town on the north bank of the River Tyne in North Tyneside.

It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 to 1997.

History

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Wallsend was created as a parliamentary borough constituency under the Representation of the People Act 1918 and was formed from the majority of the abolished Northumberland county division of Tyneside.

It was abolished for the 1997 general election when the majority of the constituency formed the new seat of North Tyneside, but the town of Wallsend itself (the Wallsend and Northumberland wards) was added to Newcastle upon Tyne East to form Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend. Although this was reversed at the next periodic review of constituencies for the 2010 general election, the former constituency name was not re-established, so Wallsend is now included in the North Tyneside constituency.

After middle-class Gosforth was moved out of the seat in the 1983 boundary changes, the constituency had the country's highest percentage of working-class voters at 84% of the electorate.[1]

Boundaries

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1918–1950

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1950–1983

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  • the Municipal Borough of Wallsend; and
  • the Urban Districts of Gosforth and Longbenton.[3]

Weetslade UD had been absorbed by Longbenton UD in 1935, but the constituency boundaries remained largely unchanged.

1983–1997

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  • the Metropolitan Borough of North Tyneside wards of Battle Hill, Benton, Camperdown, Holystone, Howdon, Longbenton, Northumberland, Valley, Wallsend, and Weetslade.[4]

As a result of the reorganisation of local authorities resulting from the Local Government Act 1972, the area comprising the former Urban District of Gosforth was now part of the City of Newcastle upon Tyne and consequently included in the constituencies of Newcastle upon Tyne Central and Newcastle upon Tyne North. The constituency gained the communities of Backworth and Earsdon which had previously been part of the seat of Blyth. Other minor boundary changes in line with changes to local authority and ward boundaries.

Members of Parliament

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Election Member[5] Party
1918 Matt Simm National Democratic
1922 Sir Patrick Hastings Labour
1926 by-election Margaret Bondfield Labour
1931 Irene Ward Conservative
1945 John McKay Labour
1964 Ted Garrett Labour
1992 Stephen Byers Labour
1997 constituency abolished

Elections

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Elections in the 1910s

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Robertson
General election 1918: Wallsend[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
C National Democratic Matt Simm 10,246 50.9
Labour John Chapman 6,835 34.0
Liberal J. M. Robertson 3,047 15.1
Majority 3,411 16.9
Turnout 20,128 54.8
Registered electors 36,739
National Democratic win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

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General election 1922: Wallsend[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Patrick Hastings 14,248 46.8 +12.8
Unionist Christopher Lowther 11,425 37.6 New
Liberal Thomas George Graham 2,908 9.6 −5.5
National Liberal Matt Simm 1,840 6.0 New
Majority 2,823 9.2 N/A
Turnout 30,421 82.2 +27.4
Registered electors 37,001
Labour gain from National Democratic Swing +28.9
General election 1923: Wallsend[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Patrick Hastings 16,126 55.5 +8.7
Unionist Christopher Lowther 12,950 44.5 +6.9
Majority 3,176 11.0 +1.8
Turnout 29,076 82.2 0.0
Registered electors 38,435
Labour hold Swing +0.9
General election 1924: Wallsend
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Patrick Hastings 17,274 52.4 −3.1
Unionist Sam Howard 15,672 47.6 +3.1
Majority 1,602 4.8 −6.2
Turnout 32,946 85.4 +9.8
Registered electors 38,598
Labour hold Swing −3.1
Margaret Bondfield
1926 Wallsend by-election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Margaret Bondfield 18,866 57.7 +5.3
Unionist Sam Howard 9,839 30.1 −17.5
Liberal Aaron Curry 4,000 12.2 New
Majority 9,027 27.6 +22.8
Turnout 32,705 82.9 −2.5
Registered electors 39,460
Labour hold Swing +11.4
General election 1929: Wallsend
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Margaret Bondfield 20,057 49.5 −2.9
Unionist Walter Waring 12,952 31.9 −15.7
Liberal Samuel Phillips 6,790 16.7 N/A
Communist Wal Hannington 744 1.8 New
Majority 7,105 17.6 +12.8
Turnout 40,543 80.2 −5.2
Registered electors 50,578
Labour hold Swing +6.5

Elections in the 1930s

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General election 1931: Wallsend
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Irene Ward 25,999 58.57
Labour Margaret Bondfield 18,393 41.43
Majority 7,606 17.14 N/A
Turnout 44,392 84.92
Conservative gain from Labour Swing
General election 1935: Wallsend
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Irene Ward 23,842 52.62
Labour Margaret Bondfield 21,463 47.37
Majority 2,379 5.25
Turnout 45,304 81.26
Conservative hold Swing

Election in the 1940s

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General election 1945: Wallsend
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour John McKay 32,065 60.06
Conservative Irene Ward 21,319 39.94
Majority 10,746 20.12 N/A
Turnout 53,384 78.86
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

Elections in the 1950s

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General election 1950: Wallsend
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour John McKay 33,790 56.35
Conservative Dudley Fitz Mowbray Appleby 21,643 36.09
Liberal John William Craggs 4,532 7.56 New
Majority 12,147 20.26
Turnout 59,965 87.55
Labour hold Swing
General election 1951: Wallsend
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour John McKay 35,678 58.70
Conservative Gerald C. Crangle 25,099 41.30
Majority 10,579 17.40
Turnout 60,777 87.18
Labour hold Swing
General election 1955: Wallsend
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour John McKay 34,625 57.80
Conservative Brian Baird 25,275 42.20
Majority 9,350 15.60
Turnout 59,900 81.02
Labour hold Swing
General election 1959: Wallsend
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour John McKay 37,862 56.55
Conservative Brian Baird 29,096 43.45
Majority 8,766 13.10
Turnout 66,958 83.45
Labour hold Swing

Elections in the 1960s

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General election 1964: Wallsend
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Ted Garrett 39,841 60.42
Conservative Brian Baird 26,096 39.58
Majority 13,745 20.84
Turnout 65,937 81.54
Labour hold Swing
General election 1966: Wallsend
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Ted Garrett 39,744 65.21
Conservative Peter Coles Price 21,205 34.79
Majority 18,539 30.42
Turnout 60,949 77.48
Labour hold Swing

Elections in the 1970s

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General election 1970: Wallsend
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Ted Garrett 39,065 61.31
Conservative Earl M. White 24,650 38.69
Majority 14,415 22.62
Turnout 63,715 74.18
Labour hold Swing
General election February 1974: Wallsend
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Ted Garrett 41,811 61.96
Conservative J. Chambers 24,564 36.40
Workers Revolutionary D. Temple 1,108 1.64 New
Majority 17,247 25.56
Turnout 67,483 75.49
Labour hold Swing
General election October 1974: Wallsend
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Ted Garrett 37,180 58.11
Conservative J. Chambers 15,911 24.87
Liberal P. Hampton 10,453 16.34 New
Workers Revolutionary K. Flynn 435 0.68
Majority 21,269 33.24
Turnout 63,979 70.85
Labour hold Swing
General election 1979: Wallsend
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Ted Garrett 38,214 55.14
Conservative Liddell Johnston 21,695 31.30
Liberal P. Ryan 8,514 12.28
National Front Ian Hunter 472 0.68 New
Workers Revolutionary K. Flynn 412 0.59
Majority 16,519 23.84
Turnout 69,307 75.90
Labour hold Swing

Elections in the 1980s

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Joan Phylactou, twice SDP candidate, was a senior lecturer at Newcastle Polytechnic. 1983 Conservative candidate Mary Leigh was a solicitor and councillor for St Leonard's ward in Lambeth. 1987 Conservative candidate David Milburn was a salesman and trade unionist who had previously been a Labour member before joining the Conservatives in 1974; at the party's 1980 conference he had called for Keith Joseph to be sacked and Edward Heath brought into the cabinet, accusing the Thatcher government of murder over unemployment-linked suicides.

General election 1983: Wallsend[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Ted Garrett 26,615 50.07
Conservative Mary Leigh 14,101 26.00
SDP Joan Phylactou 13,522 24.93
Majority 12,514 23.07
Turnout 54,238 71.12
Labour hold Swing
General election 1987: Wallsend[8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Ted Garrett 32,709 56.84
Conservative David Milburn 13,325 23.16
SDP Joan Phylactou 11,508 20.00
Majority 19,384 33.68
Turnout 57,542 75.0
Labour hold Swing

Elections in the 1990s

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General election 1992: Wallsend[9][10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Stephen Byers 33,439 57.9 +1.1
Conservative M Gibbon 13,969 24.2 +1.0
Liberal Democrats Michael J. Huscroft 10,369 17.9 −2.1
Majority 19,470 33.7 0.0
Turnout 57,777 74.1 −0.9
Labour hold Swing 0.0

See also

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Notes and references

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  1. ^ Butler, David; Kavanagh, Dennis (1987). The British General Election of 1987. Macmillan. p. 302.
  2. ^ Craig, Fred W. S. (1972). Boundaries of parliamentary constituencies 1885-1972;. Chichester: Political Reference Publications. p. 25. ISBN 0-900178-09-4. OCLC 539011.
  3. ^ Craig, Fred W. S. (1972). Boundaries of parliamentary constituencies 1885-1972;. Chichester: Political Reference Publications. pp. 82, 140. ISBN 0-900178-09-4. OCLC 539011.
  4. ^ "The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 1983" (PDF). p. 75.
  5. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 1)
  6. ^ a b c Craig, F.W.S., ed. (1969). British parliamentary election results 1918–1949. Glasgow: Political Reference Publications. p. 263. ISBN 0-900178-01-9.
  7. ^ "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  8. ^ "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  9. ^ "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  10. ^ "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 6 December 2010.

54°59′28″N 1°31′59″W / 54.991°N 1.533°W / 54.991; -1.533