St Helens (UK Parliament constituency)

St Helens was a constituency in the county of Lancashire, England. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the UK Parliament.

St Helens
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
St Helens in Lancashire, showing boundaries used from 1974-1983
County	Lancashire
Major settlements	St Helens
1885–1983
Number of members	One
Replaced by	St Helens North and St Helens South
Created from	South West Lancashire

Created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, the constituency was abolished in 1983, being split into North and South seats.

Boundaries

1885–1918: The municipal borough of St Helens.[1]

1918–1983: The County Borough of St Helens.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party	Notes
	1885	Henry Seton-Karr	Conservative
	1906	Thomas Glover	Labour
	1910	Rigby Swift	Conservative
	1918	James Sexton	Labour
	1931	Richard Austin Spencer	Conservative
	1935	William Albert Robinson	Labour
	1945	Hartley Shawcross	Labour	Resigned May 1958
	1958 by-election	Leslie Spriggs	Labour
1983		constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

Seton-Karr

General election 1885: St Helens [2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Henry Seton-Karr	3,750	50.4	N/A
	Liberal	David Gamble	3,693	49.6	N/A
Majority			57	0.8	N/A
Turnout			7,443	89.8	N/A
Registered electors			8,291
	Conservative win (new seat)

General election 1886: St Helens [3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Henry Seton-Karr	3,621	51.5	+1.1
	Liberal	Arthur Sinclair[4]	3,404	48.5	-1.1
Majority			217	3.0	+2.2
Turnout			7,025	84.7	−5.1
Registered electors			8,291
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.1

Elections in the 1890s

General election 1892: St Helens [5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Henry Seton-Karr	4,258	50.3	-1.2
	Liberal	William Rann Kennedy	4,199	49.7	+1.2
Majority			59	0.6	-2.4
Turnout			8,457	90.3	+5.6
Registered electors			9,370
	Conservative hold		Swing	-1.2

General election 1895: St Helens [6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Henry Seton-Karr	4,700	53.5	+3.2
	Liberal	John Forster	4,091	46.5	-3.2
Majority			609	7.0	+6.4
Turnout			8,791	88.4	−1.9
Registered electors			9,950
	Conservative hold		Swing	+3.2

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: St Helens [7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Henry Seton-Karr	5,300	60.9	+7.4
	Liberal	Charles Conybeare	3,402	39.1	−7.4
Majority			1,898	21.8	+14.8
Turnout			8,702	80.9	−7.5
Registered electors			10,763
	Conservative hold		Swing	+7.4

Glover

General election 1906: St Helens [8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Repr. Cmte.	Thomas Glover	6,058	56.6	N/A
	Conservative	Henry Seton-Karr	4,647	43.4	-17.5
Majority			1,411	13.2	N/A
Turnout			10,705	87.9	+7.0
Registered electors			12,174
	Labour Repr. Cmte. gain from Conservative		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: St Helens [9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Thomas Glover	6,512	53.3	−3.3
	Conservative	Rigby Swift	5,717	46.7	+3.3
Majority			795	6.6	−6.6
Turnout			12,229	93.6	+5.7
Registered electors			13,068
	Labour hold		Swing	−3.3

General election December 1910: St Helens [10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rigby Swift	6,016	51.1	+4.4
	Labour	Thomas Glover	5,752	48.9	−4.4
Majority			264	2.2	N/A
Turnout			11,768	90.1	−3.5
Registered electors			13,068
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+4.4

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: Rigby Swift
• Labour: James Sexton

1915 St Helens by-election[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Rigby Swift	Unopposed
	Unionist hold

General election 1918: St Helens[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Sexton	15,583	57.1	+8.2
C	Unionist	Rigby Swift	11,689	42.9	−8.2
Majority			3,894	14.2	N/A
Turnout			27,272	61.5	−28.6
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+8.2
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: St Helens[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Sexton	20,731	58.7	+1.6
	Unionist	Edward Wooll	14,587	41.3	-1.6
Majority				17.4	+3.2
Turnout				80.0	+18.5
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.6

General election 1923: St Helens[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Sexton	20,086	55.5	-3.2
	Unionist	Margaret Evelyn Pilkington	16,109	44.5	+3.2
Majority			3,977	11.0	-6.4
Turnout				80.5	+0.5
	Labour hold		Swing	-3.2

General election 1924: St Helens[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Sexton	21,313	55.8
	Unionist	Margaret Evelyn Pilkington	16,908	44.2
Majority			4,405	11.6
Turnout				83.1
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1929: St Helens[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Sexton	27,665	58.6	+2.8
	Unionist	Richard Austin Spencer	19,560	41.4	-2.8
Majority				17.2	+5.6
Turnout				78.3	-4.8
	Labour hold		Swing	+2.8

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: St Helens

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Austin Spencer	26,131	52.4
	Labour	James Sexton	23,701	47.6
Majority			2,430	4.9
Turnout				78.9

General election 1935: St Helens

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William Robinson	29,044	53.7
	Conservative	Richard Austin Spencer	25,063	46.3
Majority			3,981	7.4
Turnout				82.6

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 and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected;

• Labour: William Robinson[17]
• Conservative: S J Hill

Election in the 1940s

Shawcross

General election 1945: St Helens[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Hartley Shawcross	34,675	66.2	+12.5
	Conservative	Frank Whitworth	17,686	33.8	-12.5
Majority			16,989	32.4	+25.0
Turnout			52,361	76.7	-5.9
	Labour hold		Swing	+12.5

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: St Helens

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Hartley Shawcross	39,514	63.2
	Conservative	Alfred Hall-Davis	20,741	33.18
	Liberal	Joseph H Winskill	2,263	3.6
Majority			18,773	30.0
Turnout				84.9

General election 1951: St Helens

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Hartley Shawcross	37,688	63.3
	Conservative	Michael Hughes-Young	21,830	36.7
Majority			15,858	26.6
Turnout				79.7

General election 1955: St Helens

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Hartley Shawcross	35,737	64.3
	Conservative	Abram Maxwell Caplin	19,854	35.7
Majority			15,883	28.6
Turnout				73.5
	Labour hold		Swing

1958 St Helens by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Leslie Spriggs	26,405	64.7	+0.4
	Conservative	Mark Carlisle	14,411	35.3	-0.4
Majority			11,994	29.4	+0.8
Turnout			40,816
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1959: St Helens

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Leslie Spriggs	35,961	62.1
	Conservative	Mark Carlisle	21,956	37.9
Majority			14,005	24.2
Turnout				76.9
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: St Helens

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Leslie Spriggs	34,137	67.0
	Conservative	Keith Speed	16,826	33.0
Majority			17,311	34.0
Turnout				72.3
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1966: St Helens

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Leslie Spriggs	33,325	70.8	+3.8
	Conservative	Christopher C. Fielden	13,776	29.2	−3.8
Majority			19,549	41.5
Turnout				68.6
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: St Helens

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Leslie Spriggs	31,587	65.7
	Conservative	Ian D. McGaw	16,509	34.3
Majority			15,078	31.4
Turnout				64.5
	Labour hold		Swing

General election February 1974: St Helens

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Leslie Spriggs	32,621	59.0
	Liberal	AE Lycett	10,905	19.7
	Conservative	KJ Bridgeman	10,752	19.5
	Ind. Labour Party	M Pike	991	1.8
Majority			21,716	39.3
Turnout				73.2
	Labour hold		Swing

General election October 1974: St Helens

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Leslie Spriggs	32,620	64.1	+5.1
	Conservative	K.J. Bridgeman	10,554	20.8	+1.3
	Liberal	A.E. Lycett	7,689	15.1	−4.6
Majority			22,066	43.4
Turnout				66.9
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1979: St Helens

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Leslie Spriggs	32,489	59.6	−4.5
	Conservative	J. Brown	16,934	31.1	+10.3
	Liberal	I. Smith	4,587	8.4	−6.7
	Workers Revolutionary	J. Boylan	471	0.9
Majority			15,555	28.6
Turnout				72.8	+5.9
	Labour hold		Swing

Sources

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 1)

References

1. "Chap. 23. Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885". The Public General Acts of the United Kingdom passed in the forty-eighth and forty-ninth years of the reign of Queen Victoria. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode. 1885. pp. 111–198.
2. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
3. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
4. "The Candidates for St. Helens". Liverpool Mercury. 19 June 1886. p. 6. Retrieved 10 December 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
5. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
6. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
7. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
8. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
9. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
10. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
11. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
12. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
13. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
14. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
15. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
16. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
17. Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939
18. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig