Altrincham
Former County constituency
for the House of Commons
1885–1945
Seatsone
Created fromMid Cheshire, East Cheshire
Replaced byAltrincham and Sale, Bucklow and Knutsford

Altrincham was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 to 1945. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

History and boundaries

Altrincham was created under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 from the much larger two-member constituencies of Mid Cheshire and East Cheshire, as one of eight new single-member divisions of the county of Cheshire.[1]

Under the Representation of the People Act 1918, it was redefined to cover the urban districts of Altrincham, Ashton upon Mersey, Bowdon, Cheadle and Gatley, Hale, Handforth, Lymm and Sale, and part of the rural district of Bucklow, all in Cheshire.[2] The boundaries were broadly similar, with Bramhall (then part of Hazel Grove and Bramhall UD) being transferred to Knutsford.

Subsequent reorganisations of local authority areas resulted in Ashton upon Mersey being absorbed into Sale, which later became a municipal borough; Altrincham being expanded to include the parish of Timperley, also becoming a municipal borough; and Handforth being absorbed into the urban district of Wilmslow.

The House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1944 set up Boundary Commissions to carry out periodic reviews of the distribution of parliamentary constituencies. It also authorised an initial review to subdivide abnormally large constituencies (those exceeding an electorate of 100,000) in time for the 1945 election.[3] This was implemented by the Redistribution of Seats Order 1945 under which Cheshire was allocated one additional seat, by splitting the Altrincham Division into two seats:

The part comprising the former urban district of Handforth was transferred to Knutsford.

Members of Parliament

  • Constituency created (1885)
ElectionMemberParty
1885 John Brooks Conservative
1886 by-election Sir William Cunliffe Brooks Conservative
1892 Coningsby Disraeli Conservative
1906 William Crossley Liberal
1910, December John Kebty-Fletcher Conservative
1913 by-election George Hamilton Conservative
1922 Sir George Hamilton
1923 Robert Alstead Liberal
1924 Cyril Atkinson Conservative
1933 by-election Sir Edward Grigg Conservative
1945 constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1885: Altrincham [4][5][6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Brooks 4,798 54.3
Liberal Isaac Saunders Leadam [7] 4,046 45.7
Majority 752 8.6
Turnout 8,844 84.3
Registered electors 10,497
Conservative win (new seat)

Brooks' death caused a by-election.

By-election, 26 Mar 1886: Altrincham [4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative William Cunliffe Brooks 4,508 53.5 −0.8
Liberal Isaac Saunders Leadam [7] 3,925 46.5 +0.8
Majority 583 7.0 −1.6
Turnout 8,433 80.3 −4.0
Registered electors 10,497
Conservative hold Swing −0.8
General election 1886: Altrincham [4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative William Cunliffe Brooks Unopposed
Conservative hold

Elections in the 1890s

General election 1892: Altrincham [4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Coningsby Disraeli 5,056 54.3 N/A
Liberal Isaac Saunders Leadam [7] 4,258 45.7 New
Majority 798 8.6 N/A
Turnout 9,314 84.3 N/A
Registered electors 11,048
Conservative hold Swing N/A
General election 1895: Altrincham [4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Coningsby Disraeli 5,264 57.5 +3.2
Liberal Alexander Mere Latham 3,889 42.5 −3.2
Majority 1,375 15.0 +6.4
Turnout 9,153 79.3 −5.0
Registered electors 11,547
Conservative hold Swing +3.2

Elections in the 1900s

C.R. Disraeli
General election 1900: Altrincham [4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Coningsby Disraeli 5,685 57.6 +0.1
Liberal E F Alford 4,177 42.4 −0.1
Majority 1,508 15.2 +0.2
Turnout 9,862 75.5 −3.8
Registered electors 13,061
Conservative hold Swing +0.1
William Crossley
General election 1906: Altrincham [4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal William Crossley 8,321 59.5 +17.1
Conservative Coningsby Disraeli 5,672 40.5 −17.1
Majority 2,649 19.0 N/A
Turnout 14,025 84.8 +9.3
Registered electors 16,492
Liberal gain from Conservative Swing +17.1

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: Altrincham [8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal William Crossley 8,709 52.7 −6.8
Conservative Walter Keppel 7,808 47.3 +6.8
Majority 901 5.4 −13.4
Turnout 16,517
Liberal hold Swing −6.9
General election December 1910: Altrincham [8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Kebty-Fletcher 8,002 50.4 +3.1
Liberal William Crossley 7,883 49.6 −3.1
Majority 119 0.8 N/A
Turnout 15,885 84.0
Conservative gain from Liberal Swing
1913 Altrincham by-election[8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist George Hamilton 9,409 53.6 +3.2
Liberal Lawrence Ughtred Kay-Shuttleworth 8,147 46.4 −3.2
Majority 1,262 6.9 +6.1
Turnout 17,556
Unionist hold Swing +3.2

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;

General election, 1918: Altrincham [9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
C Unionist George Hamilton 20,421 72.7 +19.1
Labour George Middleton 7,685 27.3 New
Majority 12,736 45.4 +38.5
Turnout 28,106 68.5 -15.5
Unionist hold Swing N/A
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Altrincham[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist George Hamilton 19,361 53.8 −18.9
Liberal Robert Alstead 11,692 32.5 New
Labour George Benson 4,930 13.7 −13.6
Majority 7,669 21.3 -24.1
Turnout 35,983 79.8 +11.3
Unionist hold Swing N/A
General election 1923: Altrincham[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Robert Alstead 19,046 54.2 +21.7
Unionist George Hamilton 16,081 45.8 −8.0
Majority 2,965 8.4 N/A
Turnout 35,127 76.6 −3.2
Liberal gain from Unionist Swing +14.9
General election 1924: Altrincham[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Cyril Atkinson 24,439 61.0 +15.2
Liberal Robert Alstead 15,654 39.0 −15.2
Majority 8,785 22.0 N/A
Turnout 40,093 84.8 +8.2
Unionist gain from Liberal Swing +15.2
General election 1929: Altrincham[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Cyril Atkinson 28,512 50.7 −10.3
Liberal Robert Alstead 18,475 32.9 −6.1
Labour Alfred Dobbs 9,242 16.4 New
Majority 10,037 17.8 −4.2
Turnout 56,229 80.8 −4.0
Unionist hold Swing −2.1

Elections in the 1930s

General election, 1931: Altrincham[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Cyril Atkinson Unopposed N/A N/A
Conservative hold Swing N/A
Philip Oliver
Altrincham by-election, 14 June 1933[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Edward Grigg 25,392 51.2 +0.5
Liberal Philip Oliver 15,892 32.0 −0.9
Labour James Hudson 8,333 16.8 +0.4
Majority 9,500 19.2 +1.4
Turnout 49,617 63.4
Conservative hold Swing +0.7
  • Percentage change and swing are calculated from 1929.
Sir Edward Grigg
General election, 1935: Altrincham[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Edward Grigg 50,719 70.2 +19.0
Labour Abraham Moss 21,493 29.8 +13.0
Majority 29,226 40.4 +21.2
Turnout 72,212 72.0 +8.6
Conservative hold Swing +3.0

Elections in the 1940s

A General Election was due to take place before the end of 1940, but was postponed due to the Second World War. By 1939, the following candidates had been selected to contest this constituency;

References

  1. ↑ Great Britain, Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales. The public general acts. unknown library. Proprietors of the Law Journal Reports, 1884.
  2. ↑ Fraser, Hugh (1918). The Representation of the people act, 1918 : with explanatory notes. University of California Libraries. London : Sweet and Maxwell.
  3. ↑ Gay, Oonagh (30 December 2020). "The Rules for the Redistribution of Seats- history and reform". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Craig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885-1918. London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 9781349022984.
  5. ↑ The Liberal Year Book, 1907
  6. ↑ Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1886
  7. 1 2 3 ‘LEADAM, Isaac Saunders’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2016; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014 ; online edn, April 2014 accessed 1 Oct 2017
  8. 1 2 3 British parliamentary election results, 1885–1918 (Craig)
  9. ↑ British parliamentary election results, 1918–1949 (Craig)
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 British parliamentary election results 1918–1949, Craig, F. W. S.

See also

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