West Staffordshire (UK Parliament constituency)

West Staffordshire
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
County	Staffordshire
1868–1885
Number of members	Two
Replaced by	Lichfield Division, North-Western Division (both created of part only in 1885) Wolverhampton West, Stafford, Cannock (remainder)
Created from	South Staffordshire
1885–1918
Number of members	One
Type of constituency	County constituency

West Staffordshire was a parliamentary constituency in Staffordshire which returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of the UK Parliament until 1885, and then one member.

History

The constituency was created for the 1868 general election, and abolished for the 1918 general election.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1868–1885

Election	1st Member		1st Party	2nd Member		2nd Party
1868		Sir Smith Child, Bt.	Conservative		Hugo Francis Meynell Ingram	Conservative
1871					Francis Monckton	Conservative
1874		Alexander Staveley Hill	Conservative
1885	representation reduced to one member

MPs 1885–1918

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Hamar Alfred Bass	Liberal
	1886		Liberal Unionist
	1898 by-election	Sir Alexander Henderson	Liberal Unionist
	1906	Henry Duncan McLaren	Liberal
	1910	George Ambrose Lloyd	Liberal Unionist
	1912		Conservative
1918		constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1885: West Staffordshire^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Hamar Alfred Bass	4,820	54.0
	Conservative	Francis Monckton	4,106	46.0
Majority			714	8.0
Turnout				83.9
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election 1886: West Staffordshire^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Unionist	Hamar Alfred Bass	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	n/a

Elections in the 1890s

General Election 1892: West Staffordshire^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Unionist	Hamar Alfred Bass	5,227	64.5	n/a
	Liberal	John Kempster	2,879	35.5	n/a
Majority			2,348	29.0	n/a
Turnout				78.0	n/a
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	n/a

General Election 1895: West Staffordshire^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Unionist	Hamar Alfred Bass	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	n/a

West Staffordshire by-election, 1898^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Unionist	Alexander Henderson	4,769	54.4	n/a
	Liberal	W Adams	3,993	45.6	n/a
Majority			776	8.8	n/a
Turnout				82.8	n/a
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	n/a

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1900: West Staffordshire^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Unionist	Alexander Henderson	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	n/a

General Election 1906: West Staffordshire^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Henry Duncan McLaren	5,586	54.3	n/a
	Liberal Unionist	Sir Alexander Henderson	4,708	45.7	n/a
Majority			878	8.6	n/a
Turnout				88.9	n/a
	Liberal gain from Liberal Unionist		Swing	n/a

Elections in the 1910s

George Lloyd

General Election January 1910: West Staffordshire^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Unionist	George Ambrose Lloyd	5,892	52.5
	Liberal	Henry Duncan McLaren	5,327	47.5
Majority			565	5.0
Turnout				92.0
	Liberal Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing

General Election December 1910: West Staffordshire^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Unionist	George Ambrose Lloyd	5,602	52.2	-0.3
	Liberal	Walter Meakin	5,123	47.8	+0.3
Majority			479	4.4	-0.6
Turnout				87.9	-4.1
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	-0.3

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: Philip Ashworth
• Liberal: William Beddoe Rees

References

1. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
2. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
3. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
4. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
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)

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