Oswestry (UK Parliament constituency)

Oswestry
Oswestry
Former county constituency; for the House of Commons
	Oswestry in Shropshire, 1918-50
1885–1983
Seats	one
Created from	North Shropshire
Replaced by	North Shropshire

Oswestry was a United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency. It was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 to 1983, when it was renamed North Shropshire. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post method of election.

Boundaries

1885–1918: The Borough of Oswestry, the Sessional Divisions of Chirbury, Condover, Ford, Oswestry, and Pimhill (except Myddle), and the parish of Fitz.

1918–1949: The Borough of Oswestry, the Urban Districts of Ellesmere, Market Drayton, Wem, and Whitchurch, and the Rural Districts of Drayton, Ellesmere, Oswestry, Wem, and Whitchurch.

1950–1966: The Borough of Oswestry, the Urban Districts of Ellesmere, Market Drayton, Wem, and Whitchurch, and the Rural Districts of Drayton, Ellesmere, Oswestry, and Wem.

1966–1967: The Borough of Oswestry, the Urban Districts of Ellesmere, Wem, and Whitchurch, and the Rural Districts of Ellesmere, Market Drayton, Oswestry, and Wem.

1967–1974: The Rural Districts of Market Drayton, North Shropshire and Oswestry.

1974–1983: The District of North Shropshire and the Borough of Oswestry.

Members of Parliament

	Member	Party
1885	Stanley Leighton	Conservative
1901 by-election	George Ormsby-Gore	Conservative
1904	Allan Heywood Bright	Liberal
1906	William Bridgeman	Conservative
1929	Bertie Leighton	Conservative
1945	Oliver Poole	Conservative
1950	David Ormsby-Gore	Conservative
1961	John Biffen	Conservative
1983	Constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1885: Oswestry ^[1]^[2]^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Stanley Leighton	4,753	55.8
	Liberal	Henry Lorenzo Jephson	3,772	44.2
Majority			981	11.6
Turnout			8,525	84.5
Registered electors			10,083
	Conservative win (new seat)

General election 1886: Oswestry ^[3]^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Stanley Leighton	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1890s

General election 1892: Oswestry ^[1]^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Stanley Leighton	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

General election 1895: Oswestry ^[1]^[4]^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Stanley Leighton	4,605	56.1	*N/A*
	Liberal	Owen Thomas	3,598	43.9	New
Majority			1,007	12.2	N/A
Turnout			8,203	82.4	N/A
Registered electors			9,958
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: Oswestry ^[3]^[1]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Stanley Leighton	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

1901 Oswestry by-election^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Ormsby-Gore	4,518	56.8	*N/A*
	Liberal	Allan Bright	3,430	43.2	New
Majority			1,088	13.6	N/A
Turnout			7,948	79.5	N/A
Registered electors			9,998
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

1904 Oswestry by-election^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Allan Bright	4,542	52.2	*N/A*
	Conservative	William Bridgeman	4,157	47.8	N/A
Majority			385	4.4	N/A
Turnout			8,699	86.3	N/A
Registered electors			10,075
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	N/A

General election 1906: Oswestry ^[3]^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Bridgeman	5,011	52.6	*N/A*
	Liberal	Allan Bright	4,508	47.4	N/A
Majority			503	5.2	N/A
Turnout			9,519	90.7	N/A
Registered electors			10,490
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: Oswestry ^[5]^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Bridgeman	5,003	53.3	+0.7
	Liberal	Edward Powell	4,379	46.7	−0.7
Majority			624	6.6	+1.4
Turnout			9,382	92.4	+1.7
Registered electors			10,151
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.7

General election December 1910: Oswestry ^[5]^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Bridgeman	4,867	54.1	+0.8
	Liberal	Edward Powell	4,121	45.9	−0.8
Majority			746	8.2	+1.6
Turnout			8,988	88.5	−3.9
Registered electors			10,151
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.8

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 July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

Unionist: William Bridgeman
Liberal:

General election 1918: Oswestry ^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Unionist	William Bridgeman	12,276	59.2	+5.1
	Labour	Thomas Morris	8,467	40.8	New
Majority			3,809	18.4	+10.2
Turnout			20,743	64.9	−23.6
	Unionist hold		Swing
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Oswestry^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	William Bridgeman	12,837	50.2	−9.0
	Liberal	Russell Sidebottom	6,660	26.0	New
	Labour	Thomas Morris	6,105	23.8	−17.0
Majority			6,177	24.2	+5.8
Turnout			25,602	80.2	+15.3
	Unionist hold		Swing

General election 1923: Oswestry ^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	William Bridgeman	11,528	46.6	−3.6
	Liberal	Russell Sidebottom	9,713	39.3	+13.3
	Labour	Sidney Ronald Campion	3,477	14.1	−9.7
Majority			1,815	7.3	−16.9
Turnout			24,718	75.8	−4.4
	Unionist hold		Swing	-8.5

General election 1924: Oswestry ^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	William Bridgeman	14,316	55.1	+8.5
	Liberal	Russell Sidebottom	6,143	23.7	−15.6
	Labour	Thomas Morris	5,503	21.2	+7.1
Majority			8,173	31.4	+24.1
Turnout			25,962	78.9	+3.1
	Unionist hold		Swing	+12.0

General election 1929: Oswestry ^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Bertie Leighton	15,554	47.0	−8.1
	Liberal	John Share Jones	10,565	32.0	+8.3
	Labour	H S Evans	6,944	21.0	−0.2
Majority			4,989	15.0	−16.4
Turnout			33,053	78.8	−0.1
	Unionist hold		Swing	-8.2

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Oswestry ^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Bertie Leighton	23,740	74.0	+27.0
	Labour	William Elim Warder	8,343	26.0	+5.0
Majority			15,397	48.0	+33.0
Turnout			32,083	74.7	−4.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1935: Oswestry ^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Bertie Leighton	Unopposed	*N/A*	*N/A*
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1940s

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: Bertie Leighton
Liberal:

General election 1945: Oswestry ^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Oliver Poole	19,082	54.7	*N/A*
	Labour	Gilbert Boyd-Carpenter	10,777	30.9	New
	Liberal	Leslie Corbet Burcher	5,049	14.5	New
Majority			8,305	23.8	N/A
Turnout			34,908	71.7	N/A
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Oswestry ^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	David Ormsby-Gore	23,562	61.81
	Labour	Arthur George Wait	14,556	38.19
Majority			9,006	23.62
Turnout			38,118	78.27
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1951: Oswestry^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	David Ormsby-Gore	23,843	62.23
	Labour	Arthur George Wait	14,471	37.77
Majority			9,372	24.46
Turnout			38,314	76.89
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1955: Oswestry ^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	David Ormsby-Gore	22,859	64.77
	Labour	Mark E Boggin	12,434	35.23
Majority			10,425	29.54
Turnout			35,293	70.17
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1959: Oswestry ^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Ormsby-Gore	21,055	55.9	−8.9
	Labour	Glyn Thomas	10,531	28.0	−7.2
	Liberal	David G. Rees	6,068	16.1	New
Majority			10,524	27.9	−1.6
Turnout			37,654	74.2	+4.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

1961 Oswestry by-election^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Biffen	12,428	40.8	−15.1
	Liberal	John Buchanan	8,647	28.4	+12.3
	Labour	Brian Walden	8,519	28.0	0.0
	Patriotic Front	John E. Dayton	839	2.8	New
Majority			3,781	12.4	−15.5
Turnout			30,433	60.8	−13.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	-13.7

General election 1964: Oswestry ^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Biffen	18,154	47.4	−8.5
	Labour	George J. Costley	11,407	29.8	+1.8
	Liberal	Thomas Rowland Crowther	8,745	22.8	+6.7
Majority			6,747	17.6	−10.3
Turnout			38,709
	Conservative hold		Swing	+2.4

General election 1966: Oswestry ^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	John Biffen	17,727	48.24
	Labour	George J. Costley	13,011	35.41
	Liberal	Thomas R. Crowther	6,010	16.35
Majority			4,716	12.83
Turnout			36,748	73.35
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Oswestry ^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Biffen	20,361	50.7	+2.5
	Labour	Neil Turner	10,801	26.9	−8.5
	Liberal	Edward Paul Cadbury	8,963	22.3	+6.0
Majority			9,560	23.8	+11.0
Turnout			40,125	72.0	−1.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	+5.5

General election February 1974: Oswestry
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	John Biffen	20,438	46.93
	Liberal	David J Evans	13,428	30.83
	Labour	J Bishton	9,685	22.24
Majority			7,010	16.10
Turnout			43,551	77.91
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election October 1974: Oswestry
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	John Biffen	19,165	47.28
	Labour	J Bishton	10,751	26.52
	Liberal	David J Evans	10,623	26.20
Majority			8,414	20.76
Turnout			40,539	71.84
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1979: Oswestry
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	John Biffen	23,551	54.64
	Labour	Peter Ernest Sandland-Nielsen	10,150	23.55
	Liberal	David J Evans	9,405	21.82
Majority			13,401	31.09
Turnout			43,106	73.90
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f The Liberal Year Book, 1907
^ Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1886
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Craig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885-1918. London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 9781349022984.
^ ^a ^b Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1901
^ ^a ^b Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1916
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, F W S Craig
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1973
^ British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig

Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "O"