Birmingham Small Heath (UK Parliament constituency)

Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1950–1997

Birmingham Small Heath
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
1950–1997
Seats	One
Created from	Birmingham Duddeston and Birmingham Yardley
Replaced by	Birmingham Sparkbrook & Small Heath and Birmingham Ladywood

Birmingham Small Heath was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Small Heath area of Birmingham. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

The constituency was created for the 1950 general election, and abolished for the 1997 general election, when it was partly replaced by the new Birmingham Sparkbrook and Small Heath constituency.

Boundaries

Throughout its existence the constituency (as can be inferred from its name) included Small Heath ward, but that district was linked with various adjoining parts of the inner-city area of Birmingham. In its first three incarnations the constituency was to the south east of the city centre. Its boundaries moved more to the east of the city centre in the 1983 redistribution.

1950–1955: The County Borough of Birmingham wards of Duddeston, Saltley, and Small Heath. Before 1950 Duddeston ward had been part of Birmingham Duddeston and the other two wards had been part of Birmingham Yardley.

1955–1974: The County Borough of Birmingham wards of Deritend, Saltley, and Small Heath. Deritend ward was formerly part of Birmingham Sparkbrook. Duddeston ward was transferred to Birmingham Ladywood.

1974–1983: The County Borough of Birmingham wards of Duddeston, Newtown, Saltley, and Small Heath. Duddeston ward had formerly been in Birmingham Ladywood. Deritend ward was transferred to Birmingham Edgbaston.

1983–1997: The City of Birmingham wards of Aston, Nechells, and Small Heath. 72.7% of the new constituency came from the old one, 11.9% from Birmingham Handsworth (Aston ward) and smaller amounts from Birmingham Sparkbrook (6.1%), Birmingham Erdington (4.9%), Birmingham Yardley (2.6%) and Birmingham Ladywood (1.7%).

In the 1997 redistribution, this constituency disappeared. Small Heath ward joined a new seat of Birmingham Sparkbrook and Small Heath, while Aston and Nechells wards became part of the redrawn Birmingham Ladywood.

Members of Parliament

	Member	Party	Notes
1950	Fred Longden	Labour	Died October 1952
1952 by-election	William Wheeldon	Labour	Died October 1960
1961 by-election	Denis Howell	Labour	Previously MP for Birmingham All Saints 1955–59; Minister for Sport 1964-70 & 1974-79
1992	Roger Godsiff	Labour	Subsequently, MP for Birmingham Sparkbrook and Small Heath
1997	constituency abolished: see Birmingham Sparkbrook and Small Heath

Election results

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Birmingham Small Heath
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour Co-op	Fred Longden	31,985	62.8
	Conservative	J. Pagett	15,556	30.6
	Liberal	F.G. Smith	3,365	6.6
Majority			16,429	32.2
Turnout			50,906	79.3
	Labour win (new seat)

General election 1951: Birmingham Small Heath
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Fred Longden	31,079	63.4	+0.6
	Conservative	Francis Charles Irwin	15,156	30.9	+0.3
	Liberal	F.G. Smith	2,779	5.7	−0.9
Majority			15,923	32.5	+0.3
Turnout			49,014	77.2	−2.1
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	+0.5

1952 Birmingham Small Heath by-election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	William Wheeldon	19,491	67.0	+3.6
	Conservative	Edith Pitt	9,614	33.0	+2.1
Majority			9,877	34.0	+1.5
Turnout			29,105	46.6	−30.6
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	−2.9

General election 1955: Birmingham Small Heath
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	William Wheeldon	22,444	60.8	−2.6
	Conservative	John William Bissell	14,484	39.2	+8.3
Majority			7,960	21.6	−10.9
Turnout			36,928	65.8	−11.4
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	−6.2

General election 1959: Birmingham Small Heath
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	William Wheeldon	19,213	57.4	−3.4
	Conservative	Bernard Charles Owens	14,282	42.6	+3.4
Majority			4,931	14.8	−6.8
Turnout			33,495	65.7	−0.1
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	−3.4

Elections in the 1960s

1961 Birmingham Small Heath by-election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Denis Howell	12,182	59.2	+1.8
	Conservative	Bernard Charles Owens	5,923	28.8	−13.8
	Liberal	W. Kirk	2,476	12.0	New
Majority			6,259	30.4	+15.6
Turnout			20,581	42.6	−23.1
	Labour hold		Swing	−7.8

General election 1964: Birmingham Small Heath
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Denis Howell	17,010	60.4	+3.0
	Conservative	Anthony J Prescott	10,233	36.3	−6.3
	Communist	George Jelf	926	3.3	New
Majority			6,777	24.1	+9.3
Turnout			28,169	60.9	+18.2
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.4

General election 1966: Birmingham Small Heath
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Denis Howell	18,075	69.5	+9.1
	Conservative	Francis Henry Gerard Heron Goodhart	7,471	28.7	−7.6
	Communist	George Jelf	477	1.8	−1.5
Majority			10,604	40.8	+16.7
Turnout			26,023	59.6	−1.3
	Labour hold		Swing	+8.4

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Birmingham Small Heath
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Denis Howell	13,794	61.1	−8.4
	Conservative	Nicholas Budgen	6,923	30.6	+1.9
	Liberal	Gordon H. Herringshaw	1,754	7.8	New
	British Commonwealth Party	Saeeduz Zafar	117	0.5	New
Majority			6,871	30.5	−10.3
Turnout			22,588	57.9	−1.7
	Labour hold		Swing	−5.2

General election February 1974: Birmingham Small Heath
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Denis Howell	19,319	57.3	−3.8
	Liberal	D.G. Minnis	7,441	22.1	+14.3
	Conservative	R. O'Connor	6,941	20.6	−14.0
Majority			11,878	35.2	+4.7
Turnout			51,056	66.0	+8.1
	Labour hold		Swing

General election October 1974: Birmingham Small Heath
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Denis Howell	19,703	66.5	+9.2
	Conservative	R. O'Connor	5,648	19.1	−1.5
	Liberal	D. Caney	4,260	14.4	−7.7
Majority			14,055	47.4	+12.2
Turnout			29,611	57.6	−8.4
	Labour hold		Swing	+5.4

General election 1979: Birmingham Small Heath
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Denis Howell	17,735	60.5	−6.0
	Conservative	D.J. Savage	6,268	21.4	+2.3
	Liberal	D.G. Minnis	4,470	15.2	+0.8
	National Front	M. Caffery	490	1.7	New
	Socialist Unity	C.C. Adamson	349	1.2	New
Majority			11,467	39.1	−8.3
Turnout			29,312	62.9	+5.3
	Labour hold		Swing	−4.2

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1983: Birmingham Small Heath
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Denis Howell	22,874	63.8	+3.3
	Conservative	Paul Nischal	7,262	20.2	−1.2
	SDP	Andrew Bostock	5,722	16.0	+0.8
Majority			15,612	43.6	+4.5
Turnout			35,858	60.4	−2.5
	Labour hold		Swing	+2.3

General election 1987: Birmingham Small Heath
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Denis Howell	22,787	66.3	+2.5
	Conservative	Paul Nischal	7,266	21.1	+0.9
	Liberal	John Hemming	3,600	10.5	−5.5
	Green	Alan Clawley	559	1.6	New
	Communist	Peter Sheppard	154	0.5	New
Majority			15,521	45.2	+1.6
Turnout			34,366	60.6	+0.2
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.7

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1992: Birmingham Small Heath
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Roger Godsiff	22,675	65.3	−1.0
	Conservative	Abdul Chaudhary	8,686	24.8	+3.7
	Liberal Democrats	Haydn A. Thomas	2,515	7.2	−3.3
	Green	Hazel M. Clawley	824	2.4	+0.8
Majority			13,989	40.5	−4.7
Turnout			34,700	62.8	+2.2
	Labour hold		Swing	−2.4

v t e Birmingham constituencies
Current	Birmingham Edgbaston Birmingham Erdington Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North Birmingham Ladywood Birmingham Northfield Birmingham Perry Barr Birmingham Selly Oak Birmingham Yardley Sutton Coldfield
Historic	Birmingham (1832–1885) Aston Manor (1885–1918) Birmingham Bordesley (1885–1918) Birmingham Central (1885–1918) Birmingham East (1885–1918) Birmingham North (1885–1918) Birmingham South (1885–1918) Birmingham West (1885–1950) Handsworth (1885–1918) Birmingham Aston (1918–1974) Birmingham Deritend (1918–1950) Birmingham Duddeston (1918–1950) Birmingham Handsworth (1918–1983) Birmingham King's Norton (1918–1955) Birmingham Moseley (1918–1950) Birmingham Sparkbrook (1918–1997) Birmingham Acock's Green (1945–1950) Birmingham Stechford (1950–1983) Birmingham Small Heath (1950–1997) Birmingham Hall Green (1950-2024) Birmingham All Saints (1955–1974) Birmingham Hodge Hill (1983-2024) Birmingham Sparkbrook and Small Heath (1997–2010)

References

"The Parliamentary Constituencies (Birmingham and North Warwickshire) Order 1955. SI 1955/177". Statutory Instruments 1955. Part II. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. 1956. pp. 2099–2102.
"Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
"Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
"Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.

Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)
British Parliamentary Constituencies: A Statistical Compendium, by Ivor Crewe and Anthony Fox (Faber and Faber 1984)
British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Research Services 1983)
British Parliamentary Election Results 1974-1983, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Research Services 1984)
Britain Votes 4, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Research Services 1988)
Britain Votes 5, compiled and edited by Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher (Parliamentary Research Services - Dartmouth Publishing 1993)
Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume IV 1945-1979, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (Harvester Press 1981)
Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 3)

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