Coventry (UK Parliament constituency)

Coventry
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
County	Warwickshire
Major settlements	Coventry
1298–1945
Number of members	1298–1885: Two 1885–1945: One
Replaced by	Coventry East Coventry West

Coventry was a borough constituency which was represented in the House of Commons of England and its successors, the House of Commons of Great Britain and the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.

Centred on the City of Coventry in Warwickshire, it returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) from 1295 until the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, when its representation was reduced to one. The Coventry constituency was abolished for the 1945 general election, when it was split into two new constituencies: Coventry East and Coventry West.

Elections were held using the bloc vote system when electing two MPs (until 1885), and then first-past-the-post to elect one MP thereafter.

Members of Parliament

MPs before 1660

Parliament	First member	Second member
1295	Anketil de Coleshull	Richard de Weston [1]
1298	Robert Russell	Robert Kelle [1]
1301	Thomas Ballard	Lawrence de Schepey [1]
1302	Ralph Tewe	John Russell [1]
1305	Henry Bagot	Peter Baron [1]
1306	Alexander de Moubray	Henry Bagot [1]
1315	Richard de Spicer	John de Langley [1]
1346	John de Percy	Nicholas de Hunt [1]
1353	Nicholas Michel	Richard de Stoke [1]
1354–1449	No representation
1450	Thomas Lyttelton	? [1]
1453	William Elton	? [1]
1460	Henry Butler	Richard Braytoft [1]
1467	Henry Butler	Richard Braytoft [1]
1472	Henry Butler	John Wildegryse [1]
1478	Henry Butler	John Wildegryse [1]
1485	Sir Robert Onley [1]
1491	Richard Cook	John Smith[1]
1495	Henry Marlar [1]
1510-1515	No names known [2]
1523	Ralph Swyllyngton	Richard Marlar [2]
1529	Roger Wigston	John Bond[2]
1536	?Roger Wigston	? [2]
1539	Roger Wigston	Baldwin Porter[2]
1542	Roger Wigston, died and replaced Jan 1544 by Edward Saunders	Henry Over alias Waver [2]
1545	Christopher Warren	Henry Porter [2]
1547	Christopher Warren	Henry Porter [2]
1553 (Mar)	James Rogers	John Talonts [2]
1553 (Oct)	John Nethermill	Thomas Bond [2]
1554 (Apr)	Thomas Keyvet	Edward Davenport [2]
1554 (Nov)	John Throckmorton	John Harford [2]
1555	John Throckmorton	Henry Porter [2]
1558	John Throckmorton	John Talonts [2]
1558/1559	John Throckmorton	John Nethermill [3]
1562/1563	Thomas Dudley	Richard Grafton [3]
1571	Henry Goodere	Edmund Brownell [3]
1572	Edmund Brownell, died and replaced Apr 1573 by Bartholemew Tate	Thomas Wight [3]
1584 (Oct)	Edward Boughton	Thomas Wight [3]
1586	Thomas Saunders	Henry Breres [3]
1588 (Oct)	Thomas Saunders	Henry Breres [3]
1593	Thomas Saunders	John Myles [3]
1597 (Sep)	Henry Kervyn	Thomas Saunders [3]
1601 (Oct)	Henry Breres	Thomas Saunders [3]
1604	Henry Breres	John Rogerson, taken ill and replaced by Sir John Harington, Recorder[1]
1614	Sir Robert Coke	Sampson Hopkins [1]
1621	Sampson Hopkins	Henry Sewall [1]
1624	Sir Edward Coke	Henry Harwell [1]
1626	Henry Harwell	Isaac Walden [1]
1628	William Purefoy of Caldecote	Richard Green of Wyken [1]
1629–1640	No Parliaments summoned
1640 (Apr)	William Jesson	Simon Norton [1]
1640 (Nov)	Simon Norton, died 1641 and replaced by William Jesson	John Barker excluded in 1648 in Pride's Purge [1]
1649	John Barker (readmitted 1649)	(one seat only)[1]
1653	Coventry not represented in the Barebones Parliament[1]
1654	William Purefoy	Robert Beake[1]
1656	William Purefoy	Robert Beake
1659	William Purefoy	Robert Beake

MPs 1660–1885

Year	1st Member		1st Party	2nd Member		2nd Party
1660, March		Richard Hopkins			Robert Beake
1660, August					William Jesson
1661		Sir Clement Fisher, Bt			Thomas Flynt
1670					Richard Hopkins
1679, Feb		Robert Beake
1679, August		John Stratford
1685		Sir Roger Cave, Bt			Sir Thomas Norton
1689					John Stratford
1690		Richard Hopkins
1695		George Bohun			Thomas Gery
1698		Sir Christopher Hales, Bt			Richard Hopkins
1701, Jan					Thomas Hopkins
1701, Dec					Edward Hopkins
1702					Thomas Gery
1707		Sir Orlando Bridgeman, Bt			Edward Hopkins
1710, Oct		Robert Craven			Thomas Gery
1710, Dec		Clobery Bromley
1711		Sir Christopher Hales, Bt
1713					Sir Fulwar Skipwith, Bt
1715		(Sir) Adolphus Oughton[4]			Sir Thomas Samwell, Bt
1722[5]					John Neale
1734					John Bird
1737, Feb		John Neale
1737, Apr					Earl of Euston
1741		William Grove
1747, Jun					Viscount Petersham
1747, Dec					Samuel Greatheed
1761		James Hewitt			Hon. Andrew Archer
1766		Hon. Henry Seymour-Conway
1768					Sir Richard Glyn, Bt
1773					Walter Waring
1774		Edward Roe Yeo
1780, Feb					John Baker Holroyd
1780, Oct	Election abandoned due to rioting; both seats vacant
1780, Dec[6]		Sir Thomas Hallifax			Thomas Rogers
1781		Edward Roe Yeo			The Lord Sheffield
1783		Hon. William Seymour-Conway
1784		Sir Sampson Gideon, Bt[7]			John Eardley Wilmot
1796		William Wilberforce Bird			Nathaniel Jefferys
1802		Francis William Barlow
1803					Peter Moore
1805		William Mills
1812		Joseph Butterworth
1818		Edward Ellice	Whig
1826		Richard Edensor Heathcote			Thomas Bilcliffe Fyler
1830		Edward Ellice	Whig
1831					Henry Bulwer	Whig
1835					William Williams	Radical
1847					George James Turner	Conservative
1851					Charles Geach	Whig
1854					Sir Joseph Paxton	Liberal
1863		Morgan Treherne	Conservative
1865					Henry Eaton	Conservative
1867		Henry Jackson	Liberal
1868, March		Samuel Carter	Liberal
1868, November		Alexander Staveley Hill	Conservative
1874		Sir Henry Jackson, Bt	Liberal
1880					William Wills	Liberal
1881		Henry Eaton	Conservative
1885	representation reduced to one member

MPs 1885–1945

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Henry Eaton	Conservative
	1887 by-election	William Henry Walter Ballantine	Liberal
	1895	Charles James Murray	Conservative
	1906	Alfred Edward Woodley Mason	Liberal
	Jan 1910	John Kenneth Foster	Conservative
	Dec 1910	David Marshall Mason	Liberal
	1918	Edward Manville	Coalition Conservative
	1923	Albert Arthur Purcell	Labour
	1924	Archibald Boyd-Carpenter	Conservative
	1929	Philip Noel-Baker	Labour
	1931	William Strickland	Conservative
1945		constituency abolished: see Coventry East & Coventry West

Election results

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1906: Coventry ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Alfred Edward Woodley Mason	6,554	54.5
	Conservative	John Kenneth Foster	5,462	45.5
Majority			1,092	9.0
Turnout				86.0
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing

Elections in the 1910s

Silas Hocking

General Election January 1910 Coventry^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	John Kenneth Foster	7,369	50.7	+5.2
	Liberal	Silas Kitto Hocking	7,153	49.3	-5.2
Majority			216	1.4	10.4
Turnout				88.2	+2.2
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+5.2

David Mason

General Election December 1910 Coventry^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	David Marshall Mason	7,351	51.8	+2.5
	Conservative	John Kenneth Foster	6,828	48.2	-2.5
Majority			523	3.6	5.0
Turnout				86.1	-2.1
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+2.5

General Election 1918: Coventry ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Edward Manville	17,380	44.8	-3.4
	Labour	Richard Collingham Wallhead	10,298	26.6	n/a
	Liberal	Sir Courtenay Cecil Mansel	4,128	10.7	n/a
	Independent	Arthur Charles Bannington	3,806	9.8	n/a
	Independent Liberal	David Marshall Mason	3,145	8.1	n/a
Majority			7,082	18.2	21.8
Turnout				62.4
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	n/a

• Mason had opposed the war and was replaced as Liberal candidate by Mansel who supported the Coalition Government. The Coalition Government endorsed Manville. Bannington was the candidate of the National Federation of Discharged and Demobilized Sailors and Soldiers.^[10]

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1922: Coventry^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Edward Manville	20,986	42.6	-2.2
	Labour	Robert Williams	16,289	33.1	+6.5
	Liberal	J. Edward Darnton	11,985	24.3	+13.6
Majority			4,697	9.5	-8.7
Turnout				80.8	+18.4
	Unionist hold		Swing	-4.3

General Election 1923: Coventry ^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Albert Arthur Purcell	16,346	34.2	+1.1
	Unionist	Sir Edward Manville	15,726	32.9	-9.7
	Liberal	Henry Paterson Gisborne	15,716	32.9	+8.6
Majority			620	1.3	10.8
Turnout				77.1	-3.7
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+5.4

General Election 1924: Coventry^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Archibald Boyd Boyd-Carpenter	22,712	42.4	+9.5
	Labour	Albert Arthur Purcell	17,888	33.4	-0.8
	Liberal	Henry Paterson Gisborne	12,953	24.2	-8.7
Majority			620	1.3	10.8
Turnout				84.9	+7.8
	Unionist gain from Labour		Swing	+5.4

General Election 1929: Coventry ^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Philip John Noel-Baker	34,255	49.4	+16.0
	Unionist	Sir Archibald Boyd Boyd-Carpenter	22,536	32.5	-9.9
	Liberal	James W. McKay	12,516	18.1	-6.1
Majority			11,719	16.9	25.9
Turnout				82.2	-2.7
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+13.0

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931 Coventry

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	William Frederick Strickland	44,305	61.0
	Labour	Philip Noel-Baker	28,311	39.0
Majority			15,994	22.0
Turnout				82.7
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General Election 1935: Coventry

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	William Frederick Strickland	37,313	51.7	-9.3
	Labour	Philip Noel-Baker	34,841	48.3	+9.3
Majority			2,472	3.4	-18.6
Turnout				81.0	-1.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	-9.3

Notes

1. "British History Online". Retrieved 2011-09-17.
2. "History of Parliament". Retrieved 2011-09-18.
3. "History of Parliament". Retrieved 2011-09-18.
4. Created a baronet, August 1718
5. The election of 1722 was declared void because of the "notorious and outrageous Riots, Tumults and Seditions ... in Defiance of the Civil Authority, and in Violation of the Freedom of Elections", and a new writ was issued, but the original victors (Oughton and Neale) were returned once more at the by-election.
6. On petition, the election of Hallifax and Rogers was declared void, and their opponents, Yeo and Seymour-Conway, were declared to have been duly elected and seated in their place
7. Changed his surname to Eardley, July 1789; created The Lord Eardley (in the Peerage of Ireland, September 1789
8. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
9. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
10. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
11. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS 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

References

• Robert Beatson, A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807)
• Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
• F W S Craig, "British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885" (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989)
• Lewis Namier & John Brooke, The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1754-1790 (London: HMSO, 1964)
• "The Constitutional Yearbook, 1913" (London: National Unionist Association, 1913)
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 6)