Birmingham Deritend (UK Parliament constituency)

Birmingham Deritend was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 to 1950. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first-past-the-post system of election.

Birmingham Deritend
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
1918–1950
Seats	One
Created from	Birmingham South and Birmingham Bordesley
Replaced by	Birmingham Sparkbrook, and Birmingham Small Heath

Boundaries

Prior to 1918 the parliamentary borough of Birmingham (within its boundaries in 1885) was split into seven single-member divisions. Under the Representation of the People Act 1918 the city contained twelve divisions, one of which was Birmingham Deritend.

This division of Birmingham was composed of the City Council Wards of St. Bartholomew's, St. Martin's and Deritend as they existed in 1918.^[1] The St. Martin's and Deritend wards had previously been part of the Birmingham South constituency, and the St. Bartholomew's ward had previously been part of the Birmingham Bordesley constituency.^[2]

In the redistribution under the Representation of the People Act 1948 which took effect in 1950, the then Deritend and St. Martin's wards became part of Birmingham Sparkbrook, and the St. Bartholomew's ward became part of Birmingham Small Heath.^[3]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member [4]	Party
	1918	John William Dennis	Coalition Conservative
	1922	Smedley Crooke	Conservative
	1929	Fred Longden	Labour Co-operative
	1931	Sir Smedley Crooke	Conservative
	1945	Fred Longden	Labour Co-operative
	1950	constituency abolished

Election results

General election 1945: Birmingham Deritend^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Fred Longden	9,749	65.3	+24.8
	Conservative	Gordon Richards Matthews	5,172	34.7	−24.8
Majority			4,577	30.6	N/A
Turnout			14,941	63.0	+3.4
Registered electors			23,693
	Labour Co-op gain from Conservative		Swing	+18.6

Election in the 1930s

General election 14 November 1935:
constituency of Birmingham Deritend
Composed of the Birmingham wards of St Bartholomew and St Martins & Deritend
Electorate 42,078, Turnout 59.6%,^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Smedley Crooke	14,925	59.5	−6.5
	Labour Co-op	Fred Longden	10,144	40.5	+6.5
Majority			4,781	19.0	−13.0
Turnout			25,069	59.6	−12.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 27 October 1931:
constituency of Birmingham Deritend
Composed of the Birmingham wards of St Bartholomew and St Martins & Deritend
Electorate 45,671, Turnout 71.9%,^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Smedley Crooke	21,684	66.0	+23.5
	Labour Co-op	Fred Longden	11,163	34.0	−16.7
Majority			10,521	32.0	N/A
Turnout			32,847	71.9	+1.3
	Conservative gain from Labour Co-op		Swing

Election in the 1920s

General election 1929: Birmingham Deritend^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Fred Longden	16,932	50.7	+2.2
	Unionist	Smedley Crooke	14,165	42.5	−9.0
	Liberal	Beta Hornabrook	2,268	6.8	New
Majority			2,767	8.2	N/A
Turnout			33,365	70.6	+1.3
Registered electors			47,262
	Labour Co-op gain from Unionist		Swing	+5.6

General election 1924: Birmingham Deritend ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Smedley Crooke	13,552	51.5	−4.6
	Labour Co-op	Fred Longden	12,760	48.5	+4.6
Majority			792	3.0	−9.2
Turnout			26,312	69.3	+12.5
Registered electors			37,980
	Conservative hold		Swing	−4.6

General election 1923: Birmingham Deritend^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Smedley Crooke	12,015	56.1	+7.2
	Labour	Fred Longden	9,396	43.9	+15.1
Majority			2,619	12.2	−7.9
Turnout			21,411	56.8	−7.9
Registered electors			37,671
	Unionist hold		Swing	−4.0

General election 1922: Birmingham Deritend^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Smedley Crooke	11,700	48.9	−33.8
	Labour	Fred Longden	6,892	28.8	New
	Liberal	Herbert Willison	5,331	22.3	+5.0
Majority			4,808	20.1	−45.3
Turnout			23,923	64.7
Registered electors			36,985
	Unionist hold		Swing

Election in the 1910s

General election 14 December 1918:
constituency of Birmingham Deritend
Composed of the Birmingham wards of St Bartholomew and St Martins & Deritend
Electorate 38,552, Turnout 43.9%,^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Unionist	John William Dennis	9,495	82.7
	Liberal	Arthur Brampton	1,990	17.3
Majority			7,505	65.4
Turnout			11,485
	Unionist win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Sources

• Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)

References

1. Representation of the People Act 1918, Schedule 9
2. Representation of the People Act 1885, Schedule 6
3. Representation of the People Act 1948, Schedule 1
4. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "D" (part 1)
5. Craig, F.W.S., ed. (1969). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949. Glasgow: Political Reference Publications. p. 81. ISBN 0-900178-01-9.