Blackpool (UK Parliament constituency)

Blackpool was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Blackpool in Lancashire. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Blackpool
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
1885–1945
Number of members	one
Replaced by	Blackpool North and Blackpool South
Created from	North Lancashire

The constituency was created for the 1885 general election, and abolished for the 1945 general election, when it was replaced by the new Blackpool North and Blackpool South constituencies.

Boundaries

1885–1918: The Municipal Borough of Preston, the Sessional Divisions of Amounderness and Kirkham, and part of the Sessional Division of Leyland.

1918–1945: The County Borough of Blackpool, the Urban Districts of Bispham with Norbreck, Lytham, and St Anne's-on-Sea, and part of the parish of Carleton.

Members of Parliament

Year		Member	Party
	1885	Frederick Stanley	Conservative
	1886	Sir Matthew Ridley	Conservative
	1900	Henry Worsley-Taylor	Conservative
	1906	Wilfrid Ashley	Conservative
	1918	Albert Lindsay Parkinson	Unionist
	1922	Leonard Molloy	Unionist
	1923	Hugh Meyler	Liberal
	1924	Sir Walter de Frece	Unionist
	1931	Clifford Erskine-Bolst	Conservative
	1935	Roland Robinson	Conservative
1945		constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1880s

Stanley

General election 1885: Blackpool [1][2][3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Frederick Stanley	Unopposed
	Conservative win (new seat)

General election 1886: Blackpool [1][2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Frederick Stanley	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

Stanley was appointed President of the Board of Trade and elevated to the peerage, becoming Lord Stanley of Preston, requiring a by-election.

Ridley

By-election, 20 Aug 1886: Blackpool[1][4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Matthew White Ridley	6,263	71.4	N/A
	Liberal	John Ormerod Pilkington	2,513	28.6	New
Majority			3,750	42.8	N/A
Turnout			8,776	73.7	N/A
Registered electors			11,903
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1890s

General election 1892: Blackpool [1][2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Matthew White Ridley	6,536	65.2	N/A
	Liberal	Thomas Walker	3,487	34.8	N/A
Majority			3,049	30.4	N/A
Turnout			10,023	76.4	N/A
Registered electors			13,124
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

By-election, 1895: Blackpool [1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Matthew White Ridley	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

General election 1895: Blackpool [1][2][5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Matthew White Ridley	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: Blackpool [1][2][5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Matthew White Ridley	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

1900 Blackpool by-election[1][4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Henry Worsley-Taylor	7,059	55.8	N/A
	Liberal	Joseph Heap	5,589	44.2	New
Majority			1,470	11.6	N/A
Turnout			12,648	5.3	N/A
Registered electors			16,807
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

Phillipps

General election 1906: Blackpool [1][2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Wilfrid Ashley	10,139	58.9	N/A
	Liberal	Vivian Phillipps	7,078	41.1	N/A
Majority			3,061	17.8	N/A
Turnout			17,217	84.7	N/A
Registered electors			20,339
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1910s

Ashley

General election January 1910: Blackpool [1][6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Wilfrid Ashley	11,567	59.3	+0.4
	Liberal	Samuel Hodgkinson	7,943	40.7	-0.4
Majority			3,624	18.6	+0.8
Turnout			19,510	87.3	+2.6
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.4

General election December 1910: Blackpool [1][6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Wilfrid Ashley	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

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;

• Unionist: Wilfrid Ashley
• Liberal:

General election 1918: Blackpool[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Unionist	Albert Lindsay Parkinson	15,818	55.9	N/A
	Independent Progressive	Clive F Critchley*	9,862	34.9	New
	Labour	Allan Gee	2,608	9.2	New
Majority			5,956	21.0	N/A
Turnout			28,288	68.0	N/A
Registered electors			41,627
	Unionist hold		Swing	N/A
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

* supported Coalition Government and received local Liberal Party support.

Elections in the 1920s

Meyler

General election 1922: Blackpool

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Leonard Molloy	18,206	50.2	−5.7
	Liberal	Hugh Meyler	18,040	49.8	New
Majority			166	0.4	−20.6
Turnout			36,246	78.3	+10.3
Registered electors			46,292
	Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1923: Blackpool [7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Hugh Meyler	22,264	53.7	+3.9
	Unionist	Victor Stanley	19,192	46.3	-3.9
Majority			3,072	7.4	N/A
Turnout			41,456	84.8	+6.5
Registered electors			48,865
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing	+3.9

General election 1924: Blackpool

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Walter de Frece	25,839	58.0	+11.7
	Liberal	Hugh Meyler	18,712	42.0	−11.7
Majority			7,127	16.0	N/A
Turnout			44,551	85.8	+1.0
Registered electors			51,914
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+11.7

General election 1929: Blackpool

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Walter de Frece	32,912	46.8	-11.2
	Liberal	Miles Mitchell	25,374	36.1	-5.9
	Labour	Ernest Alfred Machin	12,049	17.1	New
Majority			7,538	10.7	-5.3
Turnout			70,335	81.1	-4.7
Registered electors			86,744
	Unionist hold		Swing	-2.7

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Blackpool

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Clifford Erskine-Bolst	53,010	73.1	+26.3
	Liberal	Edgar Wallace	19,524	26.9	-10.2
Majority			33,486	46.2	+35.5
Turnout			72,534
	Conservative hold		Swing

• Wallace was opposed to the National Government

Purchase

General election 1935: Blackpool

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Roland Robinson	48,514	65.2	-7.9
	Labour	Harvey Thorneycroft	13,598	18.3	New
	Liberal	Henry Purchase	12,245	16.47	-10.4
Majority			34,916	46.96	+0.8
Turnout			74,357	73.97
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1940s

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: Roland Robinson
• Liberal: Adrian Liddell Hart
• Labour: Harvey Thorneycroft

References

1. British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, FWS Craig
2. The Liberal Year Book, 1907
3. Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1886
4. The Constitutional Year Book, 1904, published by Conservative Central Office, page 146 (170 in web page), Lancashire North
5. Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1901
6. Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1916
7. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-49, FWS Craig

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

Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.