Smethwick
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
1918–February 1974
Seatsone
Created fromHandsworth
Replaced byWarley East

Smethwick was a parliamentary constituency, centred on the town of Smethwick in Staffordshire. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system. The constituency was created for the 1918 general election, and abolished for the February 1974 general election.

Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat will be re-established for the next general election. It will be formed from the (to be abolished) Warley constituency, with the addition of most of the Blackheath ward.[1]

History

The constituency gained national interest during the 1918 general election when the Suffragette leader Christabel Pankhurst decided to stand as a Woman's Party candidate supporting the Coalition. She was one of 17 women candidates standing for Parliament at the first opportunity. This was her one and only parliamentary campaign which she lost to the Labour candidate.[2]

In 1945 the constituency held the first post-war by-election when the winning Labour candidate, Alfred Dobbs, was killed in a road traffic accident less than twenty four hours after the count.[3] The constituency was the subject of national media coverage during the 1964 general election when Peter Griffiths, the Conservative Party candidate, gained the seat against the national trend, unseating the Labour Party sitting member, Patrick Gordon Walker, a front bench opposition spokesman in the previous Parliament, in a campaign with racial overtones.[4]

Boundaries

The County Borough of Smethwick.

Proposed

The re-established constituency will be composed of the following (as they existed on 1 December 2020):

It will comprise the whole of the current Warley constituency, with the addition of the bulk of the Blackheath ward from Halesowen and Rowley Regis (to be abolished), thus bringing its electorate within the permitted range.

Members of Parliament

Election Member Party
1918 John Davison Labour
1926 Sir Oswald Mosley Labour
1931 New Party
1931 Roy Wise Conservative
1945 Alfred Dobbs Labour
1945 Patrick Gordon Walker Labour
1964 Peter Griffiths Conservative
1966 Andrew Faulds Labour
Feb 1974 constituency abolished: see Warley East

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

Next general election: Smethwick
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Majority
Turnout
Registered electors
win (new seat)

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Smethwick
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Andrew Faulds 16,077 52.2 −2.2
Conservative B. Brian Rathbone 13,968 45.4 +1.3
Liberal Mihir Gupta 747 2.4 New
Majority 2,109 6.8 −3.5
Turnout 30,792 68.1 −7.3
Labour hold Swing -1.7

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1966: Smethwick
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Andrew Faulds 18,440 54.4 +11.8
Conservative Peter Griffiths 14,950 44.1 −3.5
British National R. Stanley 508 1.5 New
Majority 3,490 10.3 N/A
Turnout 33,898 75.4 +1.3
Labour gain from Conservative Swing −7.6

Main article: Smethwick in the 1964 general election
General election 1964: Smethwick
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Peter Griffiths 16,690 47.6 +2.3
Labour Patrick Gordon Walker 14,916 42.6 −12.1
Liberal David Hugill 3,172 9.0 New
Independent Dudley Trevor Davies 262 0.8 New
Majority 1,774 5.0 N/A
Turnout 35,040 74.1 −1.8
Conservative gain from Labour Swing −7.2

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1959: Smethwick
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Patrick Gordon Walker 20,670 54.7 −3.5
Conservative Peter Griffiths 17,126 45.3 +3.5
Majority 3,544 9.4 −7.0
Turnout 37,796 75.9 +0.4
Labour hold Swing -3.5
General election 1955: Smethwick
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Patrick Gordon Walker 23,151 58.2 −2.4
Conservative John Wells 16,656 41.8 +2.4
Majority 6,495 16.4 −4.8
Turnout 39,807 75.5 −8.5
Labour hold Swing -2.5
General election 1951: Smethwick
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Patrick Gordon Walker 27,739 60.6 −1.5
Conservative A. Norman Giles 18,012 39.4 +1.5
Majority 9,727 21.2 −3.0
Turnout 45,751 83.5 -3.4
Labour hold Swing -1.5
General election 1950: Smethwick
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Patrick Gordon Walker 28,750 62.1 −6.7
Conservative J. Fallon 17,553 37.9 +6.7
Majority 11,197 24.2 −13.4
Turnout 46,303 86.9 +21.5
Labour hold Swing -6.7

Elections in the 1940s

1945 Smethwick by-election[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Patrick Gordon Walker 19,364 68.8 +2.9
Conservative Gilbert Harold Samuel Edgar 8,762 31.2 −2.9
Majority 10,602 37.6 +5.8
Turnout 43,020 65.4 −7.0
Labour hold Swing −2.9
General election 1945: Smethwick[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Alfred Dobbs 20,522 65.9 +18.4
Conservative Gilbert Harold Samuel Edgar 10,637 34.1 −18.4
Majority 9,885 31.8 N/A
Turnout 31,159 72.4 +1.7
Labour gain from Conservative Swing −18.4

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1935: Smethwick[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Roy Wise 16,575 52.5 −7.6
Labour Charles Wortham Brook 15,023 47.5 +7.6
Majority 1,552 5.0 −17.2
Turnout 31,598 70.7 −4.0
Conservative hold Swing −7.7
General election 1931: Smethwick[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Roy Wise 20,945 60.1 +25.9
Labour W. Ernest Lawrence 13,927 39.9 −14.9
Majority 7,018 20.2 N/A
Turnout 34,872 74.7 −4.2
Conservative gain from Labour Swing +20.3

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1929: Smethwick[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Oswald Mosley 19,550 54.8 −2.3
Unionist Roy Wise 12,210 34.2 +0.5
Liberal Maude Egerton Marshall 3,909 11.0 +1.8
Majority 7,340 20.6 −2.8
Turnout 35,669 78.9 +0.3
Labour hold Swing -1.4
1926 Smethwick by-election[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Oswald Mosley 16,077 57.1 +4.8
Unionist Marshall James Pike 9,495 33.7 −14.0
Liberal Edwin Bayliss 2,600 9.2 New
Majority 6,582 23.4 +18.8
Turnout 35,862 78.6 +0.4
Labour hold Swing −9.4
General election 1924: Smethwick[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour John Davison 14,491 52.3 −2.4
Unionist Marshall James Pike 13,238 47.7 +2.4
Majority 1,253 4.6 −4.8
Turnout 27,729 78.2 +6.5
Labour hold Swing -2.4
General election 1923: Smethwick[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour John Davison 13,550 54.7 +4.0
Unionist Edmund Brocklebank 11,217 45.3 −4.0
Majority 2,333 9.4 +8.0
Turnout 24,767 71.7 −4.2
Labour hold Swing −4.0
General election 1922: Smethwick[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour John Davison 13,141 50.7 −1.5
Unionist Arthur Henry Addenbrooke Simcox 12,759 49.3 +1.5
Majority 382 1.4 −3.0
Turnout 25,900 75.9 +21.2
Labour hold Swing -1.5

Elections in the 1910s

Pankhurst
General election 1918: Smethwick[6][7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour John Davison 9,389 52.2
Women's Party Christabel Pankhurst 8,614 47.8
Majority 775 4.4
Turnout 18,003 54.7
Labour win (new seat)


See also

References

  1. ^ "West Midlands | Boundary Commission for England". boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  2. ^ Hallam, David J.A. Taking on the Men: the first women parliamentary candidates 1918, Studley 2018, chapter two "Pankhurst in Smethwick".
  3. ^ Ibid page 24, footnote.
  4. ^ Jeffries, Stuart (15 October 2014). "Britain's most racist election: the story of Smethwick, 50 years on". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  5. ^ "The Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023". Schedule 1 Part 8 West Midlands region.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig (1983). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
  7. ^ Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench

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