Sowerby (UK Parliament constituency)

Sowerby
Sowerby
Former county constituency; for the House of Commons
	Sowerby in Yorkshire, 1885–1918
County	West Riding of Yorkshire
1885–1983
Seats	One
Created from	Northern West Riding of Yorkshire
Replaced by	Calder Valley and Halifax

53°42′18″N 1°56′13″W / 53.705°N 1.937°W / 53.705; -1.937

Sowerby (/ˈsoʊərbi, ˈsaʊərbi/)^[2] 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

1885–1918:

1918–1950: The Municipal Borough of Todmorden, the Urban Districts of Barkisland, Hebden Bridge, Luddendenfoot, Midgley, Mytholmroyd, Rishworth, Sowerby, Sowerby Bridge, and Soyland, the Rural District of Todmorden, and the civil parish of Norland in the Rural District of Halifax.

1950–1983: The Municipal Borough of Todmorden, the Urban Districts of Elland, Hebden Royd, Ripponden, and Sowerby Bridge, and the Rural District of Hepton.

Members of Parliament

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

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1885: Sowerby ^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Edward Crossley	6,427	68.5
	Conservative	Frederick Milner	2,960	31.5
Majority			3,467	37.0
Turnout			9,387	82.6
Registered electors			11,364
	Liberal win (new seat)

General election 1886: Sowerby ^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Edward Crossley	Unopposed
	Liberal hold

Elections in the 1890s

Mellor

General election 1892: Sowerby ^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John William Mellor	5,754	63.4	*N/A*
	Liberal Unionist	Henry Tipping Crook^[5]	3,324	36.6	New
Majority			2,430	26.8	N/A
Turnout			9,078	75.9	N/A
Registered electors			11,963
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1895: Sowerby ^[3]^[4]^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John William Mellor	5,328	58.7	−4.7
	Conservative	John Bailey*	3,753	41.3	+4.7
Majority			1,575	17.4	−9.4
Turnout			9,081	77.7	+1.8
Registered electors			11,686
	Liberal hold		Swing	−4.7

*Some sources describe Bailey as a Liberal Unionist.

Elections in the 1900s

Mellor

General election 1900: Sowerby ^[3]^[4]^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John William Mellor	5,528	57.6	−1.1
	Conservative	John Bailey	4,067	42.4	+1.1
Majority			1,461	15.2	−2.2
Turnout			9,595	80.0	+2.3
Registered electors			11,998
	Liberal hold		Swing	-1.1

some sources describe as Liberal Unionist

1904 Sowerby by-election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Sharp Higham	6,049	60.9	+3.3
	Conservative	William Simpson-Hinchliffe	3,877	39.1	−3.3
Majority			2,172	21.8	+6.6
Turnout			9,926	80.6	+0.6
Registered electors			12,311
	Liberal hold		Swing	+3.3

General election 1906: Sowerby ^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Sharp Higham	6,482	61.6	+4.0
	Conservative	William Simpson-Hinchliffe	4,034	38.4	−4.0
Majority			2,448	23.2	+8.0
Turnout			10,516	84.2	+4.2
Registered electors			12,492
	Liberal hold		Swing	+4.0

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: Sowerby^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Sharp Higham	6,811	58.8	−2.8
	Conservative	William Simpson-Hinchliffe	4,781	41.2	+2.8
Majority			2,030	17.6	−5.6
Turnout			11,592	90.5	+6.3
Registered electors			12,805
	Liberal hold		Swing	-2.8

General election December 1910: Sowerby^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Sharp Higham	Unopposed
	Liberal hold

General election 1918: Sowerby
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ind. Unionist	Robert Hewitt Barker*	8,287	37.0	*New*
	Labour	John William Ogden	7,306	32.7	New
	Liberal	John Sharp Higham	6,778	30.2	N/A
Majority			981	4.3	N/A
Turnout			22,371	65.2	N/A
	Ind. Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	N/A

* An official Unionist candidate was selected ahead of the election, but when the writ for the election was issued, the Coalition Whips ordered the local Unionists to withdraw the candidate in favour of Higham – who was given the Coalition Coupon but then repudiated it.

Some local Unionists were angered by this state of affairs, and persuaded the local branch of the NADSS to sponsor Barker, who was known to be a Conservative. Barker then received considerable support from local Unionists during the campaign. There is no information on whether he took a whip in the House of Commons, but he voted fairly consistently with the coalition.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Sowerby
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	William Simpson-Hinchliffe	11,710	39.9	*N/A*
	Liberal	Arnold Williams	8,144	27.7	−2.5
	Labour	John William Ogden	7,496	25.5	−7.2
	National Liberal	Frank Roebuck	2,023	6.9	−23.3
Majority			3,566	12.2	N/A
Turnout			29,373	83.9	+18.7
	Unionist gain from Independent		Swing	N/A

General election 1923: Sowerby
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Arnold Williams	11,350	39.6	+11.9
	Unionist	William Simpson-Hinchliffe	9,932	34.6	−5.3
	Labour	Arthur Dawson	7,389	25.8	+0.3
Majority			1,418	5.0	17.2
Turnout			28,671	81.0	−2.9
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing	+8.6

General election 1924: Sowerby
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Geoffrey 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	N/A
Turnout			29,542	83.2	+2.2
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+5.3

General election 1929: Sowerby
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William John Tout	14,223	37.2	+7.1
	Unionist	Arthur Colegate	12,057	31.6	−6.2
	Liberal	Thomas George Graham	11,890	31.2	−0.9
Majority			2,166	5.6	N/A
Turnout			38,170	83.4	+0.2
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+6.6

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Sowerby
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Malcolm McCorquodale	25,511	68.27
	Labour	William John Tout	11,857	31.73
Majority			13,654	36.54	N/A
Turnout			37,368	81.05
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General election 1935: Sowerby
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Malcolm McCorquodale	18,707	53.9	−14.4
	Labour	William John Tout	16,035	46.2	+14.5
Majority			2,672	7.7	−28.8
Turnout			34,742	75.9	−5.1
	Conservative hold		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 1940s

General election 1945: Sowerby
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Belcher	17,710	50.8	+4.6
	Conservative	Malcolm McCorquodale	10,777	30.9	−23.0
	Liberal	Douglas Eugene Moore	6,373	18.3	New
Majority			6,933	19.9	N/A
Turnout			34,860	82.0	+6.1
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

1949 Sowerby by-election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Douglas Houghton	18,606	53.0	+2.2
	Conservative	Paul Bryan	16,454	47.0	+16.1
Majority			2,152	6.0	−13.9
Turnout			35,060
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Sowerby
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Douglas Houghton	22,846	45.4	−5.4
	Conservative	Paul Bryan	19,181	38.1	+7.2
	Liberal	Adrian Liddell Hart	8,306	16.5	New
Majority			3,665	7.3	−12.6
Turnout			50,333	88.3	+6.3
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1951: Sowerby
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Douglas Houghton	22,766	46.1	+0.7
	Conservative	Paul Bryan	21,118	42.7	+4.6
	Liberal	John G Walker	5,573	11.3	−5.2
Majority			1,648	3.4	−3.9
Turnout			49,457	86.9	−1.4
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1955: Sowerby
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Douglas Houghton	20,092	45.2	−0.9
	Conservative	Betty Harvie Anderson	17,309	38.9	−3.8
	Liberal	John G Walker	7,046	15.9	+4.6
Majority			2,783	6.3	+2.9
Turnout			44,447	81.4	−5.5
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1959: Sowerby
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Douglas Houghton	18,949	43.5	−1.7
	Conservative	Robert Kenyon McKim	16,993	39.0	+0.1
	Liberal	John G Walker	7,654	17.6	+1.7
Majority			1,956	4.5	−1.8
Turnout			43,596	83.0	+1.6
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Sowerby
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Douglas Houghton	21,582	54.2	+10.7
	Conservative	Robert Kenyon McKim	18,220	45.8	+6.8
Majority			3,362	8.4	+3.9
Turnout			39,802	79.5	−3.5
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1966: Sowerby
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Douglas Houghton	21,591	56.9	+2.7
	Conservative	William G Burman	16,361	43.1	−2.7
Majority			5,230	13.8	+5.4
Turnout			37,952	77.7	−1.8
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Sowerby
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Douglas Houghton	16,583	43.8	−13.1
	Conservative	William G Burman	16,114	42.6	−0.5
	Liberal	David Shutt	5,137	13.6	New
Majority			469	1.2	−12.6
Turnout			37,834	75.6	−2.1
	Labour hold		Swing

General election February 1974: Sowerby
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Max Madden	14,492	36.1	−7.7
	Conservative	Donald Thompson	14,377	35.8	−6.8
	Liberal	David Shutt	11,254	28.1	+14.5
Majority			115	0.3	−0.9
Turnout			40,123	83.0	+7.4
	Labour hold		Swing

General election October 1974: Sowerby
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Max Madden	14,971	38.8	+2.7
	Conservative	Donald Thompson	14,325	37.1	+1.3
	Liberal	David Shutt	9,136	23.7	−4.4
	More Prosperous Britain	Harold Smith	157	0.4	New
Majority			646	1.7	+1.4
Turnout			38,589	80.7	−2.3
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1979: Sowerby
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Donald Thompson	16,797	42.2	+5.1
	Labour	Max Madden	15,617	39.3	+0.5
	Liberal	David Shutt	7,369	18.5	−5.2
Majority			1,180	2.9	N/A
Turnout			39,783	80.7	0.0
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

References

^ "'Sowerby', Feb 1974 – May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
^ Jones, Daniel (2011). Roach, Peter; Setter, Jane; Esling, John (eds.). Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary (18th ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-15255-6.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Craig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885-1918. London: Macmillan Press. p. 448. ISBN 9781349022984.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f The Liberal Year Book, 1907
^ "Unionism in the Sowerby Division". Yorkshire Post and Lords Intelligencer. 27 May 1891. p. 5. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
^ ^a ^b Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1901

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.

[ElectionWeb74-1] "'Sowerby', Feb 1974 – May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 24 March 2016.

[2] Jones, Daniel (2011). Roach, Peter; Setter, Jane; Esling, John (eds.). Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary (18th ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-15255-6.

[craig1885-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Craig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885-1918. London: Macmillan Press. p. 448. ISBN 9781349022984.

[The_Liberal_Year_Book,_1907-4] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f The Liberal Year Book, 1907

[5] "Unionism in the Sowerby Division". Yorkshire Post and Lords Intelligencer. 27 May 1891. p. 5. Retrieved 22 November 2017.

[ReferenceA-6] Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1901

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Sowerby
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
Sowerby in Yorkshire, 1885–1918
County	West Riding of Yorkshire
1885–1983
Seats	One
Created from	Northern West Riding of Yorkshire
Replaced by	Calder Valley and Halifax^[1]