Wednesbury (UK Parliament constituency)

Wednesbury became a parliamentary borough under the Reform Act 1867, taking territory that previously belonged to the constituency of South Staffordshire.

The new constituency was defined in Schedule B of the Representation of the People Act 1867 as comprising three Staffordshire parishes, namely: Wednesbury, West Bromwich and Tipton.

[7] These boundaries were used until 1918 when the Representation of the People Act redefined constituencies in terms of the local government areas as they existed at the time.

[9][10] The final adjustment made was as part of a periodic review under the House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1949.

He was by that time, the senior partner in John Brogden and Sons, coal and ironminers, smelters and railway contractors.

The other candidates were: Thomas Eades Walker, of the Patent Shaft Works, Conservative and Dr Edward Vaughan Hyde Kenealy, Independent.

[1][12] The nominations were made on Monday, 16 November 1868 from a wooden husting erected on the South side of the Market Place.

However, his name remained on the ballot paper and he received a handful of votes:[1] At the next general election in 1885, there had been large boundary changes, in particular the removal of West Bromwich to form a separate constituency.

The sitting MP did not defend his seat: Brogden's liquidation had been gazetted in January 1884 due to the failure of the family business.

In this so-called "khaki election", Green, a supporter of the war, held his seat against the Liberal candidate, Enoch Horton, a Darlaston manufacturer.

[16] A general election was next held in January 1910: the sitting Liberal MP was opposed by a new Unionist candidate, John Norton-Griffiths, a civil engineer and former army officer.

While the election had been called to seek a mandate for the so-called "People's Budget", the campaign in Wednesbury centred on the issue of tariff reform, with both candidates placing large wagers on the effects of policies on future food prices.

Norton-Griffiths that he would support the new candidate by flying by London to Wednesbury, to circle the town while dropping election literature and then landing and addressing a mass meeting, before returning to the capital.

[19] The election was to be a three-sided contest, with Alfred Short, a Sheffield trade unionist, nominated by the Labour Party in addition to R L G Simpson of the Liberals.

[20] The Liberal vote collapsed and seat was one of the Labour Party's gains at the election, although the governing wartime coalition led by David Lloyd George won an overwhelming majority.

[21] At the next general election in 1922, Short was opposed only by a Unionist candidate, Herbert Geraint Williams, an economist who had worked in the Ministry of Munitions during the First World War.

The campaign was very ill-mannered: Rubin issued writs alleging slander against Short, and Gee and was hospitalised after he was hit on the head with a brick thrown at him whilst delivering a speech on 20 May.

The sitting MP, Alfred Short, remained with the main section of the Labour Party in opposition to the National Government.

The National Government won a large majority: their candidate at Wednesbury, Viscount Ednam, a businessman and former Member of Parliament, unseated Short.

[30] Ednam only served as the Member of Parliament for Wednesbury for about eight months: on 29 June 1932 his father died and he inherited the title of Earl of Dudley and was elevated to the House of Lords.

A by-election was held in July 1932: a new Labour candidate, John William Banfield, a trade union official, regained the seat for the party against the Conservative nominee, Captain Rex Davis, formerly of the Middlesex Regiment.

In October 1951, the Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, called a general election seeking to increase his party's majority.

In April 1955, Anthony Eden succeeded Churchill as Prime Minister, and he called a general election in the following month.

[41] He formally resigned his seat by taking the office of Crown Steward and Bailiff of the three Chiltern Hundreds of Stoke, Desborough and Burnham on 26 November.

[43] The Labour Party selected John Stonehouse, a lecturer who had previously unsuccessfully contested two general elections at Twickenham and Burton-upon-Trent.

[45] An independent candidate, Wolverhampton solicitor Michael Wade, announced his candidacy hours before the close of nominations on 18 February.

Macmillan had resigned from the premiership in October 1963, and his successor, Alec Douglas-Home, failed to win the election for the Conservatives.