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Oldham was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Oldham, England. It returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The constituency was created by the Great Reform Act of 1832 and was abolished for the 1950 general election when it was split into the Oldham East and Oldham West constituencies.

The Oldham constituency was perhaps most notable for being where Winston Churchill began his political career. Although taking two attempts to succeed, in the 1900 general election Churchill was elected as the member of Parliament for Oldham. He held the constituency for the Conservative Party until he defected from them in defence of free trade in 1904. He then represented the Liberal Party as MP for the seat until the 1906 general election.

Boundaries

Though centred on Oldham (the town), the constituency covered a much broader territory; Shaw and Crompton, Royton, Chadderton and Lees all formed part of this district, though these were each granted individual urban district status at a local government level in 1894.

Members of Parliament

Notes:-

• J M Cobbett's political affiliations are complicated. He had stood unsuccessfully on an all-Radical 'plague on both your houses' slate with John Fielden in 1847. He was elected in 1852 as the Radical half of an explicit Radical-Tory alliance. At the 1857 election he was opposed by two Liberals and denied that he had sold out to Palmerston, asserting that the Liberal Chief Whip had no confidence in him. In 1865 he stood unsuccessfully in conjunction with a Conservative, opposed by two Liberals. Nonetheless, from 1852 to 1865 outside Oldham he was generally taken to be a Liberal. From 1872 to his death in 1877 he sat as a Conservative (but one calling for annual Parliaments and manhood suffrage)
• Churchill changed his party allegiance in April 1904.
• Denniss changed his surname to Bartley-Denniss, when he was knighted in 1922.

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1885: Oldham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	YJ. T. Hibbert	12,259	25.8
	Conservative	YJames Mackenzie Maclean	11,992	25.2
	Liberal	Edward Stanley	11,847
	Conservative	S. T. Whitehead	11,491	24.1
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing

General Election 1886: Oldham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	YJames Mackenzie Maclean	11,606	25.8
	Conservative	YElliot Lees	11,484	25.6
	Liberal	J. T. Hibbert	10,921	24.3
	Liberal	Joshua Cheetham	10,891	24.3
Majority
Turnout
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1890s

General Election 1892: Oldham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	YJoshua Cheetham	12,619	25.6	+1.3
	Liberal	YJ. T. Hibbert	12,541	25.4	+1.1
	Conservative	Elliot Lees	12,205	24.7	−0.8
	Conservative	James Mackenzie Maclean	11,952	24.2	−1.6
Majority			336	0.6	N/A
Turnout			24,857 (est)	89.0	+0.7
Registered electors			27,929
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+1.1
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+1.4

General Election 1895: Oldham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	YRobert Ascroft	13,085	26.2	+1.4
	Conservative	YJames Oswald	12,465	25.0	+0.8
	Liberal	Adam Lee	12,249	24.6	−1.0
	Liberal	J. T. Hibbert	12,092	24.2	−1.2
Majority			216	0.4	N/A
Turnout			25,185 (est)	87.5	−1.5
Registered electors			28,783
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+1.2
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+1.0

Ashcroft's death and Oswald's resignation caused a by-election.

Oldham by-election, 1899

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	YAlfred Emmott	12,976	26.7	+2.1
	Liberal	YWalter Runciman	12,770	26.2	+2.0
	Conservative	Winston Churchill	11,477	23.6	−2.6
	Conservative	James Mawdsley	11,449	23.5	−1.5
Majority			1,293	2.6	N/A
Turnout			24,546 (est)	86.2	−1.3
Registered electors			28,476
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+2.4
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+1.8

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1900: Oldham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	YAlfred Emmott	12,947	25.3	+0.7
	Conservative	YWinston Churchill	12,931	25.3	−0.9
	Liberal	Walter Runciman	12,709	24.9	+0.7
	Conservative	Charles Crisp	12,522	24.5	−0.5
Turnout				87.9	+0.4
Registered electors			29,253
Majority			425	0.8	N/A
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+0.6
Majority			222	0.4	+0.0
	Conservative hold		Swing	−0.8

General Election 1906: Oldham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	YAlfred Emmott	17,397	30.3	+5.0
	Liberal	YJohn Bright	16,672	29.0	+4.1
	Conservative	Charles Crisp	11,989	20.9	−3.6
	Conservative	E. L. Hartley	11,391	19.8	−5.5
Turnout				89.3	+1.4
Registered electors			32,387
Majority			4,683	8.1	+7.3
	Liberal hold		Swing	+4.3
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+3.9

Elections in the 1910s

General Election January 1910: Oldham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	YAlfred Emmott	19,252	30.0	−0.3
	Liberal	YWilliam Barton	18,840	29.4	+0.4
	Conservative	Joseph Hilton	13,462	21.0	+0.1
	Conservative	Sidney Stott	12,577	19.6	−0.2
Majority			5,378	8.4	+0.3
Turnout				91.8	+2.5
Registered electors			35,315
	Liberal hold		Swing	−0.2
	Liberal hold		Swing	+0.2

General Election December 1910: Oldham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	YAlfred Emmott	17,108	28.1	−1.9
	Liberal	YWilliam Barton	16,941	27.9	−1.5
	Conservative	Arthur Edward Wrigley	13,440	22.1	+1.1
	Conservative	Edmund Bartley-Denniss	13,281	21.9	+2.3
Majority			3,501	5.8	−2.6
Turnout				86.8	−5.0
Registered electors			35,315
	Liberal hold		Swing	−1.5
	Liberal hold		Swing	−1.3

Oldham by-election, 1911

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	YEdmund Bartley-Denniss	12,255	40.4	−3.6
	Liberal	Arthur Stanley	10,623	35.0	−21.0
	Labour	William Robinson	7,448	24.6	N/A
Majority			1,632	5.4	N/A
Turnout			30,326	85.1	−1.7
Registered electors			35,626
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+8.7

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: W. H. Sumnervell
• Unionist: John Radcliffe Platt, Edmund Bartley-Denniss
• Labour: William Robinson

General Election 1918: Oldham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Unionist	YEdmund Bartley-Denniss	26,568	34.3	+12.4
C	Liberal	YWilliam Barton	26,254	34.0	+6.1
	Labour	William Robinson	15,178	19.6	N/A
	Liberal	Walter Rea	9,323	12.1	−16.0
Turnout				54.2	−32.6
Registered electors			71,378
Majority			11,390	14.7	N/A
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+14.2
Majority			11,076	14.4	+8.6
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1922: Oldham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	YEdward Grigg	24,762	28.0	N/A
	Labour	YWilliam Tout	24,434	27.7	+8.1
	Unionist	Samuel Smethurst	23,200	26.2	−8.1
	Liberal	William Tudor Davies	9,812	11.1	−22.9
	Liberal	Mary Emmott	6,186	7.0	−5.1
Turnout				62.6	+8.4
	National Liberal gain from Liberal		Swing	N/A
Majority			1,562	1.8	N/A
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+8.1
Majority			1,234	1.5	N/A

General Election 1923: Oldham (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	YWilliam Tout	20,939	23.4	−4.3
	Liberal	YEdward Grigg	20,681	23.2	−4.8
	Liberal	William Wiggins	17,990	20.1	+9.0
	Unionist	W.E. Freeman	15,819	17.7	n/a
	Unionist	Samuel Smethurst	13,894	15.6	−10.6
Majority			2,949	3.3
Majority			4,862	5.5
Turnout				76.3	−2.5
	Labour hold		Swing
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1924: Oldham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	YDuff Cooper	37,419	31.2
	Liberal	YEdward Grigg	36,761	30.7
	Labour	William Tout	23,623	19.7
	Labour	James Wilson	22,081	18.4
Majority				11.0
Turnout			119,884
	Liberal hold		Swing
	Unionist gain from Labour		Swing

Oldham by-election, 1925

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	YWilliam Wiggins	26,325	54.8
	Labour	William Tout	21,702	45.2
Majority			4,623	9.6
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1929: Oldham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	YGordon Lang	34,223	26.2	+6.5
	Labour	YJames Wilson	32,727	25.0	+6.6
	Unionist	Duff Cooper	29,424	22.5	−8.7
	Liberal	John Dodd	20,810	15.9	−14.8
	Liberal	George James Jenkins	13,528	10.4	n/a
Majority			3,303	2.5	13.5
Turnout				81.2
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931: Oldham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	YAnthony Crossley	50,693
	Conservative	YHamilton Kerr	50,395
	Labour	Gordon Lang	28,629
	Labour	James Wilson	26,631
Majority
Turnout
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General Election 1935: Oldham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	YHamilton Kerr	36,738
	National Liberal	YJohn Dodd	34,755
	Labour	Gordon Lang	34,316
	Labour	Matthew Burrow Farr	29,647
	Liberal	William Gretton Ward	8,534
Majority
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing
	National Liberal gain from Conservative		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 and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected;

• Conservative: Hamilton Kerr
• Liberal National: John Dodd
• Labour: Leslie Hale, D A Mainds
• Liberal: James Taylor Middleton

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Oldham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	YFrank Fairhurst	31,704	23.9
	Labour	Y Leslie Hale	31,327	23.6
	Conservative	Hamilton Kerr	26,911	20.3
	National Liberal	John Dodd	24,199	18.2
	Liberal	James Taylor Middleton	10,365	7.8
	Liberal	Thomas Donald Farrell Powell	8,264	6.2
Majority			4,416	5.4
Turnout				74.6
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing
	Labour gain from National Liberal		Swing

References

1. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "O"
2. "Death of Mr J M Cobbett MP for Oldham". Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser. 15 February 1877.
3. "The Elections". Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser. 10 July 1852.
4. "The General Election". Morning Post. 30 March 1857.
5. "Oldham Election". Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser. 24 June 1865.
6. "Death of Mr Cobbett MP". Pall Mall Gazette. 14 February 1877.
7. ^ Liberal Year Book (1889), p.217
8. ^ The Liberal Yearbook (1917), p.316
9. ^ Craig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885-1918. London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 9781349022984.
10. ^ P. F. Clarke, Lancashire and the New Liberalism, pp. 435–436
11. Manchester Guardian, 14 November 1911, p.9
12. ^ The Liberal Year Book (1923), p.261
13. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
14. ^ The Constitutional Year Book (1938), p.220
15. F. W. S. Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results, 1918–1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow, 1949 p211
16. Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939
17. The Liberal Magazine, 1939
18. "Politics Resources". Election 1945. Politics Resources. Retrieved 6 January 2011.

Sources

• Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885–1972, compiled and edited by F. W. S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (The Macmillan Press 1977)
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1885–1918, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press 1974)
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press, revised edition 1977)
• Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume I 1832–1885, edited by M. Stenton (The Harvester Press 1976)
• Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume II 1886–1918, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (Harvester Press 1978)
• Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume III 1919–1945, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (Harvester Press 1979)
• Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume IV 1945–1979, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (Harvester Press 1981)

• Parliamentary constituencies in North West England (historic)
• United Kingdom Parliamentary constituencies established in 1832
• United Kingdom Parliamentary constituencies disestablished in 1950
• History of Oldham Borough
• Politics of Oldham Borough