Wirral (UK Parliament constituency)

Wirral
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1885–1983
Number of members	one
Replaced by	Ellesmere Port and Neston, Wirral South, Wirral West and Birkenhead[1]

Wirral was a county constituency which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system.

The constituency was located on the Wirral Peninsula, historically part of Cheshire in North West England, and was created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 for the 1885 general election. From 1974, its territory was split between the newly created Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, part of the metropolitan county of Merseyside, and the borough of Ellesmere Port and Neston which remained part of Cheshire.

It was abolished for the 1983 general election, and was succeeded by the constituencies of Ellesmere Port and Neston, Wirral South and Wirral West.

Boundaries

1885-1918: The Municipal Borough of Birkenhead, and the Hundred of Wirral.

1918-1950: The Urban Districts of Bromborough, Ellesmere Port and Whitby, Higher Bebington, Hoylake and West Kirby, Lower Bebington, and Neston and Parkgate, and the Rural District of Wirral.

1950-1955: The Urban Districts of Ellesmere Port, Hoylake, Neston, and Wirral.

1955-1974: The Municipal Borough of Ellesmere Port, and the Urban Districts of Hoylake, Neston, and Wirral.

1974-1983: The Urban Districts of Hoylake, Neston, and Wirral, and the County Borough of Birkenhead wards of Prenton and Upton.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Edward Cotton-Jodrell	Conservative
	1900	Joseph Hoult	Conservative
	1906	William Lever	Liberal
	Jan 1910	Gershom Stewart	Conservative
	1923	Stephen Roxby Dodds	Liberal
	1924	John Grace	Conservative
	1931	George Christopher Clayton	Conservative
	1935	Alan Crosland Graham	Conservative
	1945	Selwyn Lloyd	Conservative
	1971		Speaker
	1976 b-e	David Hunt	Conservative
	1983	constituency abolished

Election results

1970s

General Election 1979: Wirral

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	David James Fletcher Hunt	44,519	59.0
	Labour	C. Ryder	21,188	28.1
	Liberal	R. Barnett	9,769	12.9
Majority			23,331	30.9
Turnout				77.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

Wirral by-election, 1976

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	David Hunt	34,675	66.78	+15.97
	Labour	Adrian Bailey	10,562	20.34	-11.26
	Liberal	Michael Gayford	5,914	11.39	-6.21
	English National	Frank Hansford-Miller	466	0.90	N/A
	Independent Conservative	Hilary Miller	307	0.59	N/A
Turnout			51,924
Majority			24,112	46.44
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election October 1974: Wirral

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Speaker	Rt Hon. John Selwyn Brooke Lloyd	35,705	50.8
	Labour	P. R. Thomas	22,217	31.6
	Liberal	Michael Gayford	12,345	17.6
Majority			13,488	19.2
Turnout				75.5
	Speaker hold		Swing

General Election February 1974: Wirral

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Speaker	Rt Hon. John Selwyn Brooke Lloyd	38,452	51.2
	Labour	A. J. Whipp	22,605	30.1
	Liberal	Michael Gayford	14,123	18.8
Majority			15,847	21.1
Turnout				81.5
	Speaker gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election 1970: Wirral

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Rt Hon. John Selwyn Brooke Lloyd	38,655	55.1
	Labour	R Gordon Paterson	22,197	31.7
	Liberal	Miss Geraldine Jones	9,276	13.2
Majority			16,458	23.5
Turnout				74.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

1960s

General Election 1966: Wirral

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Rt Hon. John Selwyn Brooke Lloyd	31,477	48.12
	Labour	Dennis V Hunt	21,624	33.06
	Liberal	Peter Howell Williams	12,313	18.82
Majority			9,853	15.06
Turnout			65,414	79.72
	Conservative hold		Swing	+3.9

General Election 1964: Wirral

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Rt Hon. John Selwyn Brooke Lloyd	32,084	50.05
	Labour	Mrs. Millicent Aspin	17,445	27.21
	Liberal	Peter Howell Williams	14,574	22.74
Majority			14,639	22.84
Turnout			64,103	81.29
	Conservative hold		Swing

1950s

General Election 1959: Wirral

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Rt Hon. John Selwyn Brooke Lloyd	39,807	67.92
	Labour	Frederick W Venables	18,805	32.08
Majority			21,002	35.83
Turnout			58,612	82.52
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Wirral

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Rt Hon. John Selwyn Brooke Lloyd	33,027	67.40
	Labour	Reginald B Chrimes	15,976	32.60
Majority			27,051	34.80
Turnout			49,003	76.46
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1951: Wirral

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Rt Hon. John Selwyn Brooke Lloyd	32,631	65.23
	Labour	Reginald B Chrimes	17,392	34.77
Majority			15,239	30.46
Turnout				81.74
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1950: Wirral

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Rt Hon. John Selwyn Brooke Lloyd	29,232	57.05
	Labour	HA Kelly	15,993	31.21
	Liberal	Thomas Mercer Banks	6,018	11.74
Majority			13,239	25.84
Turnout				85.92
	Conservative hold		Swing

1940s

General Election 1945: Wirral

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	John Selwyn Brooke Lloyd	42,544	51.40
	Labour	Miss Agnes L Bulley	25,919	31.32
	Liberal	Brig. Eric Dorman-Smith	14,302	17.28
Majority			16,625	20.09
Turnout				75.40
	Conservative hold		Swing

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: Alan Crosland Graham
• Liberal: Thomas Mercer Banks
• Labour: Miss Agnes L Bulley

1930s

General Election 1935: Wirral

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Alan Crosland Graham	41,617	72.58
	Labour	Stanley Wormald	15,801	27.52
Majority			25,816	44.96
Turnout				69.67
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1931: Wirral

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	George Christopher Clayton	44,935	81.53
	Labour	Stanley Wormald	10,117	18.47
Majority			34,758	63.07
Turnout				77.02
	Conservative hold		Swing

1920s

General Election 1929: Wirral^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	John Grace	23,522	47.5
	Liberal	Stephen Roxby Dodds	15,158	30.6
	Labour	George Beardsworth	10,876	21.9	n/a
Majority
Turnout				78.7
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1924: Wirral^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	John Grace	17,705	60.2
	Liberal	Stephen Roxby Dodds	11,697	39.8
Majority			6,008	20.4
Turnout				79.0
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing

General Election 1923: Wirral ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Stephen Roxby Dodds	13,631	53.6	+21.9
	Unionist	Gershom Stewart	11,791	46.4	-4.6
Majority			1,840	7.2	26.5
Turnout				71.6	-2.4
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing	+13.3

General Election 1922: Wirral^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Gershom Stewart	12,888	51.0	n/a
	Liberal	Stephen Roxby Dodds	8,014	31.7	n/a
	Labour	James Edward Cameron Grant	4,363	17.3	n/a
Majority			4,874	19.3	n/a
Turnout				74.0	n/a
	Unionist hold		Swing

1910s

General Election 1918

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Gershom Stewart	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Unionist hold		Swing	n/a

• endorsed by the Coalition Government

1900s

William Lever

General Election 1906: Wirral^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	William Hesketh Lever	8,833	55.3	+9.8
	Conservative	Joseph Hoult	7,132	44.7	-9.8
Majority			1,701	10.6	19.6
Turnout			15,965	82.3	+7.4
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+9.8

References

1. "'Wirral', Feb 1974 - May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
2. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 Craig, F.W.S. (1983) ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
3. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)

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