Bristol North (UK Parliament constituency)

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox UK constituency main Bristol North was a borough constituency which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the UK Parliament from 1885 until it was abolished for the 1950 general election.

History

The seat was one of a small minority spanning the period which never elected a Conservative and Unionist Party candidate. In its early history Bristol North three times elected a Liberal Unionist who was affiliated with the Conservative Party; the latter having declined to field a candidate in those elections and in three others of the eight before World War I. In the eight elections from and including 1918 the Labour Party fielded candidates and won three times; a Unionist stood once without success; candidates considered Lloyd-George Coalition Liberal, National Liberal and Liberal National (reflecting complex splinter groups of the Liberal Party during the period) stood once apiece and an Independent Liberal who was the MP as a mainstream Liberal since the previous election in 1924 ran against the official party's new candidate in 1929, unsuccessfully. In two of these four instances the splinter arguably centrist Liberal candidate won. The Liberal incumbent Bernays also defected from the main body of his party in 1936 to join the National Liberal (1931) Party despite being re-elected as a candidate of the more established party in 1935.

Boundaries

1885–1918: The Municipal Borough of Bristol wards of District, St James's, and St Paul's, and part of North ward, and the local government district of Stapleton.

1918–1950: The County Borough of Bristol wards of District, St Philip and Jacob North, and Stapleton, and part of Easton ward.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	1885	Lewis Fry*	Liberal
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	1886		Liberal Unionist
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	1892	Charles Townsend	Liberal
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	1895	Lewis Fry	Liberal Unionist
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	1900	Sir Frederick Wills, Bt.	Liberal Unionist
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	1906	Augustine Birrell*	Liberal
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	1918	Edwin Stanley Gange	Coalition Liberal
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	1922	Christian Henry Charles Guest	National Liberal
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	1923	Walter Henry Ayles	Labour
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	1924	Frederick Edward Guest	Liberal
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	1929	Walter Henry Ayles	Labour
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	1931	Robert Bernays*	Liberal
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	1936		National Liberal
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	1945	William Coldrick	Labour Co-operative
	1950	constituency abolished

Note: * denotes re-elected.

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

File:Charles Colston.jpg

Colston

Template:Election box winning candidate with party link

General election 1885: Bristol North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Charles Edward Hungerford Athol Colston	3,046	42.6
Majority			1,064	14.8
Turnout			7,156	79.5
Registered electors			9,002
	win (new seat)

File:Lewis Fry.jpg

Fry

Template:Election box winning candidate with party link

General election 1886: Bristol North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Alfred Carpenter	2,737	43.3
Majority			850	13.4
Turnout			6,324	70.3
Registered electors			9,002
	gain from Template:Yesno		Swing	+14.1

Elections in the 1890s

Template:Election box winning candidate with party link

General election 1892: Bristol North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Lewis Fry	4,064	48.0
Majority			345	4.0
Turnout			8,473	78.0
Registered electors			10,862
	gain from Template:Yesno		Swing	+8.7

Template:Election box winning candidate with party link

General election 1895: Bristol North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Charles Townsend	4,464	48.7
Majority			238	2.6
Turnout			9,166	79.8
Registered electors			11,490
	gain from Template:Yesno		Swing	+3.3

Elections in the 1900s

Template:Election box winning candidate with party link

General election 1900: Bristol North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Sir Clarence Smith	4,182	45.9
Majority			754	8.2
Turnout			9,118	75.0
Registered electors			12,157
	hold		Swing	+2.8

File:Augustine Birrell.jpg

Birrell

Template:Election box winning candidate with party link

General election 1906: Bristol North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		John Alderson Foote	4,011	36.6
Majority			2,942	26.8
Turnout			10,964	83.9
Registered electors			13,061
	gain from Template:Yesno		Swing	+17.5

Elections in the 1910s

Template:Election box winning candidate with party link

General election January 1910: Bristol North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Maurice Henry Woods	5,459	44.5
Majority			1,346	11.0
Turnout			12,264	87.7
	hold		Swing	-7.9

Template:Election box winning candidate with party link

General election December 1910: Bristol North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Laurie Magnus	5,084	44.2
Majority			1,326	11.6
Turnout			11,494	82.2
	hold		Swing	+0.3

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;

• Liberal: Rt Hon. Augustine Birrell
• Unionist: Laurie Magnus

Template:Election box winning candidate with party link coalition 1918Template:Election box end 1918

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1918: Bristol North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		James Kaylor	5,007	26.5
		Ernest Willoughby Petter	2,520	13.3
Majority			6,393	33.7
Turnout			18,927
	hold

Template:Election box winning candidate with party link

General election 1922: Bristol North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Walter Henry Ayles	9,567	35.4
Majority			7,928	29.2
Turnout			27,062	73.2
Registered electors			36,985
	gain from

Template:Election box winning candidate with party link

General election 1923: Bristol North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Christian Henry Charles Guest	8,770	31.5
		Ernest Willoughby Petter	8,643	31.0
Majority			1,663	6.0
Turnout			27,845	74.4
Registered electors			37,424
	gain from Template:Yesno		Swing	+17.6

Template:Election box winning candidate with party link

General election 1924: Bristol North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Walter Henry Ayles	12,319	40.9
Majority			5,480	18.2
Turnout			30,118	79.6
Registered electors			37,821
	gain from Template:Yesno		Swing	+12.1

Template:Election box winning candidate with party link

General election 1929: Bristol North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Rt Hon. Frederick Edward Guest	12,932	33.8
		John Osborne Marshall Skelton	6,713	17.5
Majority			5,687	14.9
Turnout			38,264	78.1
Registered electors			49,014
	gain from

Elections in the 1930s

Template:Election box winning candidate with party link

General election 1931: Bristol North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Walter Henry Ayles	13,826	33.8
Majority			13,214	32.4
Turnout			40,866	80.9
	gain from Template:Yesno		Swing	+31.8

Template:Election box winning candidate with party link

General election 1935: Bristol North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Walter Henry Ayles	16,149	43.5
Majority			4,828	13.0
Turnout			37,126	73.2
	hold		Swing	-9.7

Elections in the 1940s

Template:Election box winning candidate with party link

General election 1945: Bristol North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		John Henshaw Britton	16,648	42.2
Majority			6,171	15.6
Turnout			39,467	74.0
	gain from