Spen Valley (UK Parliament constituency)

Spen Valley
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1885–1950
Number of members	one
Created from	Eastern West Riding of Yorkshire

Spen Valley was a parliamentary constituency in the valley of the River Spen in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

History

The constituency was created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 for the 1885 general election, retained with altered boundaries in 1918, and abolished for the 1950 general election. In the 1901 Census, there were 13,557 inhabited houses in the division; there were 10,960 registered electors, of which 9,396 qualified by virtue of occupying property within the division, 1,490 by virtue of owning property, 67 by virtue of occupying land only within the division, and 7 qualifying as lodgers.^[1]

Political historian Henry Pelling noted that the constituency as it existed from 1885 to 1918 was dominated by the woollen industry and carpetmaking, where the vast bulk of the population were nonconformist: the Church of England parish of Birstall was said to have had only four clergymen in the eighteenth century (two of whom were schoolmasters).^[2] In 1922, membership of nonconformist circuits in the constituency is estimated at 2,759 for the Congregational Church, 1,065 Wesleyanism, 1,027 United Methodist Church, 698 Primitive Methodism, and 328 Baptists, making it the second largest nonconformist attendance in the West Riding.^[3]

The death of the sitting MP in 1919 led to a sensational by-election gain for the Labour Party, which was described by historian Maurice Cowling as the worst result for the Coalition during the 1918-22 Parliament;^[4] John Ramsden admitted that Labour's win had a big psychological impact on the Coalition but thought the result was a "freak win" given that Labour had under 40% of the vote.^[5] At the ensuing general election, the Manchester Guardian described the constituency as "scattered between the three towns of Leeds, Bradford and Huddersfield", centred on Cleckheaton, and populated by "woollen and wire workers, miners, card manufacturers". A significant presence of Irish voters was also noted.^[6] Sir John Simon, a former Home Secretary who had lost his seat in the 1918 election, regained the seat for the Liberals in 1922 and held it until given a Peerage in 1940. During this period Simon moved from declaring his basic sympathy with the Labour Party's objects, to forming the Liberal Nationals who went into alliance with the Conservatives.^[7] Simon found his constituency marginal, and had a majority of under 1,000 in his last election, and Labour gained it in the 1945 election landslide.

Boundary changes abolished the constituency in 1950. The bulk of the abolished constituency, including Cleckheaton, Gildersome and Spenborough, formed the eastern half of Brighouse and Spenborough; another large part including Gildersome, Birstall and Drighlington, formed part of Batley and Morley. Heckmondwike and Mirfield transferred to Dewsbury, while Kirkheaton moved to Colne Valley and other parts moved to Huddersfield East.

Boundaries

While originally devised by the Boundary Commissioners in 1885, the division was originally named as 'Birstal', "from the name of a large ancient parish".^[8] The naming of the new division led to a small struggle between the two Houses of Parliament during the passage of the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, when Alfred Illingworth (Liberal MP for Bradford) moved an amendment to replace 'Birstal' with 'Spen Valley'. Illingworth argued that Birstall contained only one-eighth of the population of the division, but Spen Valley was a name which represented several important towns, and his amendment was accepted without dissent by the House of Commons.^[9] When the Bill reached the House of Lords, the Conservative peer the Earl of Feversham moved an amendment to reinstate 'Birstal' claiming the support of the people in the area. The Earl contended that the Spen Valley was an unknown description and "was only remarkable for being the receptacle of all the sewage from Birstal", whereas Birstal was a very important parish. He had support from the Earl of Cranbrook and his amendment was also accepted without dissent.^[10]

When the Bill returned to the House of Commons, Alfred Illingworth again took up the issue and moved that the Commons disagree with the Lords. He again pointed to the small population of Birstall in comparison with other towns, and noted that the Sanitary district covering the area was known as Spen Valley and that the River Spen ran through the centre of the constituency whereas Birstall was in the extreme north-east corner of it. Conservative MP Edward Stanhope (Mid Lincolnshire) said that he had found feeling in the area to be in favour of 'Birstal', but the President of the Local Government Board Sir Charles Dilke, speaking for the Government, stated that the local boards in Heckmondwike, Liversedge and Cleckheaton (where a majority of the population lived) had sent a memorial in favour of 'Spen Valley'. He agreed that the name had been invented by the Local Government Board, but argued that there were "local jealousies" between the towns and that Birstall was unpopular with the others, and therefore personally supported 'Spen Valley'. After a brief debate, the House voted by 65 to 46 to insist on 'Spen Valley' as the name.^[11] The Lords then gave way, but not without further protest from the Earl of Feversham.^[12]

During this battle no alteration was made to the boundary. The new division was to consist of:

• the Parishes in the Sessional Division of Dewsbury of Gomersal, Heckmondwike and Liversedge, and
• the Parishes of Cleckheaton, Clifton, Hartshead, and Wyke.^[13]

When redefined by the Boundary Commission in 1917, the county division was defined as consisting of the Urban Districts of Birkenshaw, Birstall, Drighlington, Gildersome, Heckmondwike, Hunsworth, Kirkheaton, Lepton, Mirfield, Spenborough and Whitley Upper.^[14]

The effect of the boundary change in 1918 was as shown in the table:

Parish	1911 Population	1885-1918	1918-1950	Notes
Birkenshaw	2,508	Spen Valley	Spen Valley	Was part of Gomersal Parish in 1885
Birstall	7,116	Spen Valley	Spen Valley	Was part of Gomersal Parish in 1885
Cleckheaton	12,866	Spen Valley	Spen Valley	Part of Spenborough Urban District from 1915
Clifton	2,258	Spen Valley	Elland
Drighlington	4,126	Pudsey	Spen Valley
Gildersome	2,981	Pudsey	Spen Valley
Gomersal	3,796	Spen Valley	Spen Valley	Included Birkenshaw and Birstall in 1885
Hartshead	958	Spen Valley	Elland
Heckmondwike	9,016	Spen Valley	Spen Valley
Hipperholme (part)	322	Spen Valley	Elland	Part of Wyke parish in 1885, removed in 1899
Hunsworth	1,326	Pudsey	Spen Valley
Kirkheaton	2,621	Holmfirth	Spen Valley
Lepton	2,999	Holmfirth	Spen Valley
Liversedge	14,658	Spen Valley	Spen Valley	Part of Spenborough Urban District from 1915
Mirfield	11,712	Morley	Spen Valley
Whitley Upper	830	Holmfirth	Spen Valley
Wyke	6,145	Spen Valley	Bradford South

Of the 59,643 population in Spen Valley before the boundary change, 49,960 (83.8%) remained in the division after it. 6,145 (10.3%) moved to Bradford South while 3,538 (5.9%) moved to Elland. The new constituency was made up primarily of the old Spen Valley (65.3%), with 11,712 (15.3%) from Morley, 8,433 (11.0%) from Pudsey, and 6,450 (8.4%) from Holmfirth.

Members of Parliament

Year		Member	Party
	1885	Joseph Woodhead	Liberal
	1892	Thomas Whittaker	Liberal
	1919	Tom Myers	Labour
	1922	Sir John Simon	Liberal
	1931		Liberal National
	1940	William Woolley	Liberal National
	1945	Granville Sharp	Labour
1950		constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1885: Spen Valley ^[15][16][17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Joseph Woodhead	5,826	67.7	n/a
	Conservative	John Evelyn Gladstone	2,782	32.3	n/a
Majority			3,044	35.4	n/a
Turnout				89.2	n/a
	Liberal win (new seat)

General Election 1886: Spen Valley ^[15][16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Joseph Woodhead	4,542	67.4	-0.3
	Conservative	Stanley Carr Boulter	2,200	32.6	+0.3
Majority			2,342	34.8	-0.6
Turnout				69.9	-19.3
	Liberal hold		Swing	-0.3

Elections in the 1890s

T.P. Whittaker

General Election 1892: Spen Valley ^[15][16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Thomas Palmer Whittaker	4,952	58.8	-8.6
	Conservative	Frederick Ellis	3,474	41.2	+8.6
Majority			1,478	17.6	-17.2
Turnout				76.3	+6.4
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1895: Spen Valley ^[15][16][18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Thomas Palmer Whittaker	4,700	54.8	-4.0
	Conservative	Frederick Ellis	3,879	45.2	+4.0
Majority			821	9.6	-8.0
Turnout				81.8	+5.5
	Liberal hold		Swing	-4.0

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1900: Spen Valley ^[15][16][19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Thomas Palmer Whittaker	5,068	58.1	+3.3
	Conservative	William Glossop	3,653	41.9	-3.3
Majority			1,415	16.2	+6.6
Turnout				80.3	-1.5
	Liberal hold		Swing	+3.3

General Election 1906: Spen Valley ^[15][16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Thomas Palmer Whittaker	5,956	65.8	+7.7
	Conservative	Richard Johnson	3,092	34.2	-7.7
Majority			2,864	31.6	+15.4
Turnout				80.1	-0.2
	Liberal hold		Swing	+7.7

Elections in the 1910s

General Election January 1910: Spen Valley ^[15][20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Sir Thomas Palmer Whittaker	4,817	44.8	-21.0
	Conservative	Frederic Arthur Kelley	3,439	31.9	-2.3
	Labour	Thomas Russell Williams	2,514	23.3	n/a
Majority			1,378	12.9	-18.7
Turnout				92.6	+12.5
	Liberal hold		Swing	-9.3

General Election December 1910: Spen Valley ^[15][21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Sir Thomas Palmer Whittaker	5,041	52.6	+7.8
	Conservative	Frederic Arthur Kelley	4,545	47.4	+15.5
Majority			496	5.2	-7.7
Turnout				84.2	-10.2
	Liberal hold		Swing	-3.8

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;

• Liberal: Rt Hon. Sir Thomas Palmer Whittaker
• Unionist:

General Election 1918: Spen Valley^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Sir Thomas Palmer Whittaker	10,664	55.6
	Labour	Thomas Myers	8,508	44.4	n/a
Majority			2,156	11.2
Turnout				49.4
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

• endorsed by Coalition Government

Sir John Simon

Spen Valley by-election, 1919 ^[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Thomas Myers	11,962	39.4	–5.0
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Sir John Allsebrook Simon	10,244	33.8	21.8
	Coalition Liberal	Bryan Charles Fairfax	8,134	26.8	n/a
Majority			1,718	5.6	26.8
Turnout				76.5	+27.1
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing	+13.4

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1922: Spen Valley^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Sir John Allsebrook Simon	13,306	39.2
	Labour	Thomas Myers	12,519	36.9	-7.5
	Unionist	William Orlando Rhodes Holton	8,104	23.9	n/a
Majority			787	2.3
Turnout				84.6
	Liberal gain from Labour		Swing

General Election 1923: Spen Valley^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Sir John Allsebrook Simon	13,672	40.6	+1.4
	Labour	Thomas Myers	12,597	37.4	+0.5
	Unionist	Eugene Joseph Squire Hargreaves Ramsden	7,390	22.0	-1.9
Majority			1,075	3.2
Turnout				82.7	-1.9
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1924: Spen Valley^[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Sir John Allsebrook Simon	18,474	56.9	+16.3
	Labour	Thomas Myers	13,999	43.1	+5.7
Majority			4,475	13.8
Turnout				79.2	-3.5
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1929: Spen Valley^[27]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Sir John Allsebrook Simon	22,039	51.7	-5.2
	Labour	Herbert Henry Elvin	20,300	47.7	+4.6
	Communist	Shaukat Usmani	242	0.6
Majority			1,739	4.0
Turnout				79.6	+0.4
	Liberal hold		Swing

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931: Spen Valley^[28]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal National	Rt Hon. Sir John Allsebrook Simon	28,647	64.6	+12.9
	Labour	Herbert Henry Elvin	15,691	35.4	-12.3
Majority			12,956	29.2	+25.2
Turnout				82.0	+2.4
	Liberal National hold		Swing	+12.6

General Election 1935: Spen Valley^[29]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal National	Rt Hon. Sir John Allsebrook Simon	21,671	50.8	-13.8
	Labour	Ivor Bulmer-Thomas	21,029	49.2	+13.8
Majority			642	1.6	-27.6
Turnout				77.1	-4.9
	Liberal National hold		Swing	-13.8

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;

• Liberal National: William Edward Woolley
• Labour: Ivor Bulmer-Thomas^[30]

Elections in the 1940s

Spen Valley by-election, 1940 ^[31]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal National	William Edward Woolley	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal National hold		Swing	n/a

General Election 1945: Spen Valley^[32]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Granville Maynard Sharp	25,698	56.7	n/a
	Liberal National	William Edward Woolley	19,621	43.3	n/a
Majority			6,077	13.4	n/a
Turnout				82.1	n/a
	Labour gain from Liberal National		Swing	n/a

See also

• Spenborough

References

1. "Parliamentary Constituencies (Electors, &c.) (United Kingdom)", House of Commons Paper no. 85 of session 1901, p. 7.
2. Henry Pelling, "Social Geography of British Elections 1885-1910", Macmillan, 1967, p. 302.
3. Michael Kinnear, "The British Voter" 2nd edition, Batsford Academic, 1981, p. 128.
4. Maurice Cowling, "The Impact of Labour, 1920–1924", Cambridge University Press, 1971, p. 112.
5. John Ramsden, "Newport and the fall of the Coalition" in "By-Elections in British Politics", Macmillan Press, 1973, p. 18.
6. "The Second Round in Spen Valley: Sir John Simon and Mr. Tom Myers", Manchester Guardian, 9 November 1922, p. 12.
7. David Dutton, "Liberals in Schism: A history of the National Liberal Party", Tauris Academic Studies, 2008, p. 42.
8. "County of York (Eastern Division of the West Riding)" in "Report of the Boundary Commissioners for England Wales, 1885" (C.-4287), vol I p. 185-7.
9. Hansard 3ser vol 296 col 1937.
10. Hansard 3ser vol 298 col 1394.
11. Hansard, 3ser vol 298 cols 1581-2.
12. Hansard 3ser vol 298 cols 1610-11.
13. Redistribution of Seats Act 1885
14. "46. County of York, West Riding" in "Report of the Boundary Commission (England and Wales)", Cd. 8757, vol II.
15. British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, FWS Craig
16. The Liberal Year Book, 1907
17. Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1886
18. Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1901
19. Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1901
20. Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1916
21. Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1916
22. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
23. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
24. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
25. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
26. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
27. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
28. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
29. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
30. Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939
31. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
32. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 4)