Birkenhead East (UK Parliament constituency)

Birkenhead East
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
1918–1950
Seats	one
Created from	Birkenhead and Wirral
Replaced by	Birkenhead, Bebington

Birkenhead East was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Birkenhead area of Merseyside. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system.

History

The constituency was created by the Representation of the People Act 1918 for the 1918 general election when the Parliamentary Borough of Birkenhead was split between the East and West Divisions.

It was abolished by the Representation of the People Act 1948 for the 1950 general election.

Boundaries

The County Borough of Birkenhead wards of Argyle, Bebington, Clifton, Egerton, and Mersey, and the part of the borough which lay between the eastern boundary of Argyle, Mersey and Bebington wards and the centre of the bed of the River Mersey.[1]

On abolition, southern parts (Bebington, Egerton and Mersea wards) were included in the new constituency of Bebington, and northern parts (Argyle and Clifton wards) were included in the reconstituted constituency of Birkenhead.

Members of Parliament

Year		Member	Party
	1918	Alfred Bigland	Unionist
	1922	Graham White	Liberal
	1924	William Henry Stott	Unionist
	1929	Graham White	Liberal
	1945	Frank Soskice	Labour
1950		constituency abolished

Election results

Election in the 1910s

General election 1918: Birkenhead East[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Unionist	Alfred Bigland	13,012	64.5
	Labour	John Finigan	5,399	26.7
	Liberal	Graham White	1,787	8.8
Majority			7,613	37.8
Turnout			20,198	60.7
	Unionist win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Election in the 1920s

General election 1922: Birkenhead East [3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Graham White	14,690	57.8	+49.0
	Unionist	Alfred Bigland	10,745	42.2	−22.3
Majority			3,945	15.6	N/A
Turnout			25,435	77.5	−16.8
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing	+35.7

General election 1923: Birkenhead East [4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Graham White	15,845	63.5	+5.7
	Unionist	Luke Lees	9,091	36.5	−5.7
Majority			6,754	27.0	+11.4
Turnout			24,936	74.1	−3.4
	Liberal hold		Swing	+5.7

General election 1924: Birkenhead East [5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	William Henry Stott	11,328	40.3	+3.8
	Liberal	Graham White	9,275	33.0	−30.5
	Labour	James Coulthard	7,496	26.7	New
Majority			2,053	7.3	N/A
Turnout			20,603	81.0	+6.9
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing

General election 1929: Birkenhead East [6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Graham White	13,157	35.9	+2.9
	Unionist	Edmund Brocklebank	11,860	32.3	−8.0
	Labour	James Coulthard	11,654	31.8	+5.1
Majority			1,297	3.6	N/A
Turnout			25,017	78.8	−2.2
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing	+5.5

Election in the 1930s

General election 1931: Birkenhead East[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Graham White	26,938	73.2	+37.3
	Labour	Charles McVey	9,868	26.8	−5.0
Majority			17,070	46.4	+42.8
Turnout			36,806	79.1	+0.3
	Liberal hold		Swing	+21.2

• Conservative candidate Walter Fletcher withdrew 17 days before polling day[8]

General election 1935: Birkenhead East[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Graham White	16,548	48.1	−25.1
	Conservative	S J Hill	9,854	28.6	New
	Labour	Mary Mercer	8,028	23.3	−3.5
Majority			6,694	19.5	−26.9
Turnout			34,430	74.2	−4.9
	Liberal hold		Swing

Election in the 1940s

General election 1945: Birkenhead East:[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Frank Soskice	14,790	45.5	+22.2
	Liberal	Graham White	10,140	31.1	−17.0
	Conservative	Frederick Newell Bucher	7,624	23.4	−5.2
Majority			4,650	14.4	N/A
Turnout			32,554	73.6	−0.6
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing	+19.6

See also

• History of parliamentary constituencies and boundaries in Cheshire

References

1. Fraser, Hugh (1918). The Representation of the people act, 1918 : with explanatory notes. University of California Libraries. London : Sweet and Maxwell.
2. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
3. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
4. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
5. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
6. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
7. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
8. "Obituary: Sir Walter Fletcher Former M.P. For Bury". The Times. 7 April 1956. p. 11.
9. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
10. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 3)
• Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.