Burslem (UK Parliament constituency)

Burslem was a borough constituency in Stoke-on-Trent which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Elections were held using the first past the post voting system.

For other uses, see Burslem (disambiguation).
Burslem
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
1918–1950
Number of membersone
Replaced byStoke-on-Trent North
Created fromLeek

Boundaries

The County Borough of Stoke-on-Trent wards numbers one, two, three, four, five, six, seven and eight.

The constituency was created for the 1918 general election, and abolished for the 1950 general election. From 1885-1918 the Stoke-on-Trent area had been divided into two constituencies: Stoke and Hanley. In 1918, the area was divided into three constituencies: Stoke, Hanley and a new seat called Burslem. Burslem was thus made up from part of the former Stoke seat and part of Hanley.

History

Until 1918, both Stoke and Hanley had been represented by Liberal MPs. The Liberal Party in the area was heavily influenced by support for radical land reform policies such as Site Value Rating and the Single Tax policy. These policies were advocated by R.L. Outhwaite, the MP for Hanley and Josiah Wedgwood, the MP for neighbouring Newcastle-under-Lyme. After 1918, they both left the Liberal Party and joined the Labour Party. There they influenced Andrew MacLaren. who was for many years the standard-bearer for the Labour Party and an advocate of Site Value Rating. At the 1931 general election, the supporters of land reform were split when MacLaren was opposed by a candidate who advocated a Single Tax policy. This split contributed to MacLaren's defeat. He returned to Parliament in 1935, but left the Labour Party in 1943 and sought re-election as an Independent.

When Outhwaite and Wedgwood left the Liberal Party in 1919, those who remained made the Liberal Party less radical. For the next 20 years the Liberal Party and the Unionist Party experimented with different approaches to electoral politics, often coming together to support the same candidate, as in 1922, 1924, 1931 and 1935.

Members of Parliament
ElectionMemberParty
1918 Samuel Finney Labour
1922 Andrew MacLaren Labour
1923 William Edward Robinson Liberal
1924 Andrew MacLaren Labour
1931 William Allen Liberal National
1935 Andrew MacLaren Labour
1945 Albert Davies Labour
1950 constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1910s
General election 1918: Burslem[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Samuel Finney 7,474 44.3
C Unionist Sampson Walker 6,301 37.3
Liberal Walter Essex 3,108 18.4
Majority 1,173 7.0
Turnout 16,883 56.5
Registered electors 29,866
Labour win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s
General election 1922: Burslem[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Andrew MacLaren 11,872 50.4 +6.1
National Liberal Sydney Malkin 11,667 49.6 +31.2
Majority 205 0.8 −6.2
Turnout 23,539 78.2 +21.7
Registered electors 30,119
Labour hold Swing N/A
General election 1923: Burslem[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal William Edward Robinson 12,543 50.1 +0.5
Labour Andrew MacLaren 12,480 49.9 −0.5
Majority 63 0.2 N/A
Turnout 25,023 82.4 +4.2
Registered electors 30,372
Liberal gain from Labour Swing +0.5
General election 1924: Burslem[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Andrew MacLaren 14,361 51.1 +1.2
Constitutionalist William Allen 13,755 48.9 New
Majority 606 2.2 N/A
Turnout 28,116 88.1 +5.7
Registered electors 31,903
Labour gain from Liberal Swing N/A
General election 1929: Burslem [5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Andrew MacLaren 20,288 58.6 +7.5
Unionist Alfred P. Harrison 7,440 21.6 New
Liberal James Joy 6,815 19.8 New
Majority 12,788 37.0 +34.8
Turnout 34,483 82.5 −5.6
Registered electors 41,782
Labour hold Swing N/A

Elections in the 1930s
General election 1931: Burslem[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
National William Allen 18,647 52.8 New
Labour Andrew MacLaren 16,248 46.0 -12.6
Commonwealth Land Arthur Rowland-Entwhistle 401 1.1 New
Majority 2,399 6.8 N/A
Turnout 35,296 82.5 0.0
National gain from Labour Swing
General election 1935: Burslem[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Andrew MacLaren 18,030 54.2 +8.4
Liberal National William Allen 15,227 45.8 -7.0
Majority 2,803 8.4 +1.6
Turnout 33,257 77.9 -4.6
Labour gain from National Swing +7.7

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1939/40

Another General Election was scheduled to take place before the end of 1940. In 1939 the parties were preparing for an election, and by the end of that year, the following candidates had been selected:

General election 1945: Burslem[8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Albert Davies 20,044 60.5 +6.3
Liberal National Frederic Bennett 9,877 29.8 -16.0
Independent Labour Andrew MacLaren 3,223 9.7 -44.5
Majority 10,167 30.7 +22.3
Turnout 33,144 78.7 +0.8
Registered electors 42,121
Labour hold Swing +11.1

References
  1. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, F W S Craig
  2. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, F W S Craig
  3. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, F W S Craig
  4. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, F W S Craig
  5. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, F W S Craig
  6. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, F W S Craig
  7. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, F W S Craig
  8. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, F W S Craig
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