Northwich (UK Parliament constituency)

Northwich was a constituency in Cheshire which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 until it was abolished for the 1983 general election.

History

Northwich was first created as one of eight single-member divisions of Cheshire under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885.

It was abolished following the reorganisation of local authorities in 1974 by the Third Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies for the 1983 general election, when it was divided roughly equally between the re-established constituency of Eddisbury and the new constituency of Tatton.

Boundaries

1885–1918: The Sessional Division of Runcorn, and parts of the Sessional Divisions of Eddisbury, Leftwich and Northwich.

Comprised the towns of Runcorn, Northwich, Winsford and Middlewich, and surrounding rural areas.

1918–1950: The Urban Districts of Middlewich, Northwich, Runcorn, Sandbach and Winsford, and parts of the Rural Districts of Congleton, Northwich and Runcorn.

Sandbach transferred from Crewe.

1950–1955: The Urban Districts of Middlewich, Northwich and Winsford, and the Rural Districts of Northwich and Tarvin.

Gained the Rural District of Tarvin from the additional parts of the Rural District of Northwich from the abolished constituency of Eddisbury. Sandbach and the part of the Rural District of Congleton transferred to Knutsford, and Runcorn (including the part of the rural district thereof) transferred to the new constituency of Runcorn.

1955–1983: The Urban District of Northwich, and parts of the Rural Districts of Northwich and Tarvin.

Middlewich, Winsford, the southern part of the Rural District of Tarvin and a small part of the Rural District of Northwich transferred to the new constituency of Nantwich.

From 1 April 1974 until the constituency was abolished at the next boundary review which came into effect for the 1983 general election, the constituency was primarily situated in the newly formed District of Vale Royal, but its boundaries were unchanged.

On abolition, Northwich and eastern areas were included in the new constituency of Tatton. Cuddington, Weaverham and western areas included in the re-established constituency of Eddisbury.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	1885	John Brunner	Liberal
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	1886	Robert Verdin	Liberal Unionist
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	1887 by-election	Sir John Brunner	Liberal
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	Jan 1910	Sir John Brunner II	Liberal
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	1918	Harry Dewhurst	Coalition Conservative
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	1922	Lord Colum Crichton-Stuart	Conservative
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	1945	Sir John Foster	Conservative
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	Feb 1974	Alastair Goodlad	Conservative
1983		constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

File:John Brunner.jpg

John Brunner

General election 1885: Northwich

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		John Brunner	Template:Replace	55.7
		William Henry Verdin	3,995	44.3
Majority			1,028	11.4
Turnout			9,018	85.3
Registered electors			10,577
	win (new seat)

General election 1886: Northwich

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Robert Verdin	Template:Replace	52.7
		John Brunner	3,958	47.3
Majority			458	5.4
Turnout			8,374	79.2
Registered electors			10,577
	gain from Template:Yesno		Swing	+8.4

Verdin's death caused a by-election.

By-election, 13 Aug 1887: Northwich

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		John Brunner	Template:Replace	56.2
		Henry Grosvenor	3,983	43.8
Majority			1,129	12.4
Turnout			9,095	83.7
Registered electors			10,868
	gain from Template:Yesno		Swing	+8.9

Elections in the 1890s

File:George Whiteley MP.jpg

George Whiteley

General election 1892: Northwich

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		John Brunner	Template:Replace	56.3
		George Whiteley	4,325	43.7
Majority			1,255	12.6
Turnout			9,905	84.3
Registered electors			11,750
	gain from Template:Yesno		Swing	+9.0

General election 1895: Northwich

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		John Brunner	Template:Replace	58.4
		Thomas Ward	4,068	41.6
Majority			1,638	16.8
Turnout			9,774	82.9
Registered electors			11,788
	hold		Swing	+2.1

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: Northwich

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		John Brunner	Template:Replace	53.5
		Charles Leopold Samson	4,678	46.5
Majority			699	7.0
Turnout			10,055	83.3
Registered electors			12,067
	hold		Swing	−4.9

General election 1906: Northwich

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		John Brunner	Template:Replace	58.2
		Bordrigge North	4,551	41.8
Majority			1,792	16.4
Turnout			10,894	87.0
Registered electors			12,527
	hold		Swing	+4.7

Elections in the 1910s

File:John Fowler Leece Brunner.jpg

Brunner

General election January 1910: Northwich

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		John Brunner	Template:Replace	54.6
		Charles Williams	5,542	45.4
Majority			1,119	9.2
Turnout			12,203	91.1
Registered electors			13,389
	hold		Swing	−3.6

General election December 1910: Northwich

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		John Brunner	Template:Replace	51.4
		Julius John Jersey de Knoop	5,740	48.6
Majority			331	2.8
Turnout			11,811	88.2
Registered electors			13,389
	hold		Swing	−3.2

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 from 1914 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected;

• Liberal: John Brunner
• Unionist: Julius John Jersey de Knoop

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

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1918: Northwich

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		John Brunner	9,723	38.6
Majority			5,721	22.8
Turnout			25,167	64.1
	gain from Template:Yesno		Swing	+12.8

General election 1922: Northwich

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Colum Crichton-Stuart	Template:Replace	54.2
		John Williams	13,066	45.8
Majority			2,388	8.4
Turnout			28,520	71.6
	hold		Swing

General election 1923: Northwich

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Colum Crichton-Stuart	Template:Replace	38.5
		Arthur Mort	9,765	31.7
		John Williams	9,183	29.8
Majority			2,070	6.8
Turnout			30,783	76.1
	hold		Swing

General election 1924: Northwich

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Colum Crichton-Stuart	Template:Replace	43.2
		Barbara Ayrton-Gould	11,630	34.6
		Arthur Mort	7,465	22.2
Majority			2,915	8.6
Turnout			33,640	80.7
	hold		Swing	0.0

General election 1929: Northwich

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Colum Crichton-Stuart	Template:Replace	34.3
		Barbara Ayrton-Gould	15,473	34.3
		John Barlow	14,163	31.4
Majority			4	0.0
Turnout			45,113	83.6
	hold		Swing	-4.3

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Northwich

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Colum Crichton-Stuart	Template:Replace	65.6
		Barbara Ayrton-Gould	15,746	34.4
Majority			14,315	31.2
Turnout			45,807	82.8
	hold		Swing

General election 1935: Northwich

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Colum Crichton-Stuart	Template:Replace	54.5
		Thomas Reid	20,289	46.5
Majority			4,027	9.0
Turnout			44,605	77.9
	hold		Swing

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: John Foster
• Labour: Robert Chorley
• Liberal: Felix Brunner

General election 1945: Northwich

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		John Foster	Template:Replace	41.4
		Robert Chorley	20,183	41.3
		Felix Brunner	8,460	17.3
Majority			15	0.1
Turnout			48,841	78.1
	hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Northwich

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		John Foster	Template:Replace	48.4
		Charles Mapp	19,886	38.2
		Walter Norman Leak	6,989	13.4
Majority			5,258	10.2
Turnout			52,019	87.7
	hold		Swing

General election 1951: Northwich

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		John Foster	Template:Replace	56.8
		Robert Patrick Walsh	22,300	43.2
Majority			7,075	13.6
Turnout			51,675	83.7
	hold		Swing

General election 1955: Northwich

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		John Foster	Template:Replace	59.4
		Derek Page	14,142	40.6
Majority			6,555	18.8
Turnout			34,889	79.7
	hold		Swing

General election 1959: Northwich

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		John Foster	Template:Replace	54.5
		John Crawford	12,426	33.2
		Richard Eric Lewis	4,602	12.3
Majority			7,970	21.3
Turnout			37,424	84.5
	hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Northwich

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		John Foster	Template:Replace	47.4
		John Crawford	12,892	35.3
		Geoff Tordoff	6,331	17.3
Majority			4,385	12.1
Turnout			36,500	83.0
	hold		Swing

General election 1966: Northwich

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		John Foster	Template:Replace	45.1
		Barry Jones	15,780	43.1
		Douglas Bedford Taylor	4,310	11.8
Majority			703	2.0
Turnout			36,573	82.3
	hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Northwich

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		John Foster	Template:Replace	51.3
		Alfred Bates	15,746	39.6
		Thomas Noel Armstrong	3,604	9.1
Majority			4,620	11.7
Turnout			39,716	78.5
	hold		Swing

General election February 1974: Northwich

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Alastair Goodlad	Template:Replace	45.36
		S. G. Benyon	13,485	30.92
		R. Reaper	10,344	23.72
Majority			6,293	14.44
Turnout			43,607	83.68
	hold		Swing

General election October 1974: Northwich

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Alastair Goodlad	Template:Replace	45.12
		Peter Kent	14,053	33.98
		D Reaper	8,645	20.90
Majority			4,610	11.14
Turnout			41,361	78.59
	hold		Swing

General election 1979: Northwich

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Alastair Goodlad	Template:Replace	52.77
		PA Kent	14,455	32.88
		G Little	6,311	14.35
Majority			8,746	19.89
Turnout			43,967	80.88
	hold		Swing

See also

• History of parliamentary constituencies and boundaries in Cheshire