Newcastle upon Tyne West (UK Parliament constituency)

For the suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales, see Newcastle West, New South Wales. For the Irish town, see Newcastle West.

Newcastle upon Tyne West was a parliamentary constituency in the city of Newcastle upon Tyne from 1918 to 1983 which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Newcastle upon Tyne West
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
1918–1983
Seats	One
Created from	Newcastle upon Tyne
Replaced by	Newcastle-upon-Tyne North, Newcastle-upon-Tyne Central and Tyne Bridge[1]

History

Parliament created this constituency in the Representation of the People Act 1918 as one of four divisions of the parliamentary borough of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, which had previously been represented by one two-member seat.^[2] It was abolished for the 1983 general election, when the closest successor constituency was Newcastle-upon-Tyne North.

Boundaries

1918–1950

• The County Borough of Newcastle upon Tyne wards of Armstrong, Arthur's Hill, Benwell, Elswick, and Fenham.^[2]

Included the former Urban District of Benwell and Fenham which had been absorbed into the County Borough in 1904 and had previously been part of the abolished Tyneside constituency.

1950–1955

• the County Borough of Newcastle upon Tyne wards of Benwell, Fenham, Kenton, and Scotswood; and
• the Urban District of Newburn.^[3]

Boundaries redrawn to take account of expansion of the County Borough and redistribution of wards. Armstrong transferred to Newcastle upon Tyne Central and Arthur's Hill and Elswick to Newcastle upon Tyne North. Gained Newburn from the abolished constituency of Wansbeck.

1955–1983

• the County Borough of Newcastle upon Tyne wards of Fenham, Kenton, and Scotswood; and
• the Urban District of Newburn.^[4]

Benham ward transferred to Newcastle upon Tyne Central.

Abolition

Following the reorganisation of local authorities as a result of the Local Government Act 1972, the constituencies within the City of Newcastle upon Tyne were completely redrawn and the constituency was abolished. About half the electorate, comprising the former Urban District of Newburn was included in a newly constituted Newcastle upon Tyne North. Fenham and Kenton were transferred to Newcastle upon Tyne Central and Scotswood to the new constituency of Tyne Bridge.^[5]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1918	Edward Shortt	Coalition Liberal
	1922	David Adams	Labour
	1923	Cecil Beresford Ramage	Liberal
	1924	John Palin	Labour
	1931	Sir Joseph Leech	Conservative
	1940 by-election	William Nunn	Conservative
	1945	Ernest Popplewell	Labour
	1966	Robert Brown	Labour
1983		constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1910s

Edward Shortt

General election 1918: Newcastle upon Tyne West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Liberal	Edward Shortt	12,812	66.6
	Labour	David Adams	6,411	33.4
Majority			6,401	33.2
Turnout			19,223	57.3
Registered electors			33,527
	Liberal win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

Denman

General election 1922: Newcastle upon Tyne West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Adams	11,654	43.9	+10.5
	National Liberal	Cecil Beresford Ramage	11,499	43.4	−23.2
	Liberal	Richard Denman	3,367	12.7	−53.9
Majority			156	0.5	N/A
Turnout			26,520	80.5	+23.2
Registered electors			32,964
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing	+32.2

General election 1923: Newcastle upon Tyne West ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Cecil Beresford Ramage	15,141	56.8	+13.4
	Labour	David Adams	11,527	43.2	−0.7
Majority			3,614	13.6	N/A
Turnout			26,668	79.3	−1.2
Registered electors			33,621
	Liberal gain from Labour		Swing	+7.1

General election 1924: Newcastle upon Tyne West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Palin	13,089	45.5	+2.3
	Unionist	Clifford Vernon	8,459	29.4	New
	Liberal	Cecil Beresford Ramage	7,208	25.1	−31.7
Majority			4,630	16.1	N/A
Turnout			28,756	83.8	+4.5
Registered electors			34,304
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing	+17.0

General election 1929: Newcastle upon Tyne West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Palin	16,856	46.6	+1.1
	Unionist	Joseph Leech	14,088	38.9	+9.5
	Liberal	John Dodd	5,267	14.5	−10.6
Majority			2,768	7.7	−8.4
Turnout			36,211	76.8	−7.0
Registered electors			47,121
	Labour hold		Swing	−4.2

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Newcastle upon Tyne West^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Joseph Leech	28,560	67.88	+19.0
	Labour	John Palin	13,514	32.12	−14.5
Majority			15,046	35.76	N/A
Turnout			42,074	83.28	+6.5
Registered electors			50,521
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+16.75

General election 1935: Newcastle upon Tyne West^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Joseph Leech	25,526	59.95	−7.93
	Labour	William Taylor	17,052	40.05	+7.93
Majority			8,474	19.90	−15.86
Turnout			42,578	75.05	−8.23
Registered electors			56,732
	Conservative hold		Swing	-7.93

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: Joseph Leech
• Labour: Henry Hird

At the outbreak of the Second World War the planned election was postponed and the major parties agreed to an electoral truce, where they would not contest by-elections against each other for the duration of the war.^[9] This meant that following Joseph Leech's death in May 1940 neither Labour nor the Liberal Party stood candidates, and the Conservative candidate was unopposed.

1940 Newcastle upon Tyne West by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Nunn	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

General election 1945: Newcastle upon Tyne West^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ernest Popplewell	28,149	58.50	+18.45
	Conservative	William Nunn	19,966	41.50	−18.45
Majority			8,183	17.00	N/A
Turnout			48,115	72.94	−2.11
Registered electors			65,964
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+18.45

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Newcastle upon Tyne West^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ernest Popplewell	31,230	58.19	−0.31
	Conservative	AE Pain	21,949	40.90	−0.60
	Communist	R McNair	492	0.92	New
Majority			9,281	17.29	+0.28
Turnout			53,671	87.19	+14.25
Registered electors			61,556
	Labour hold		Swing	+0.15

General election 1951: Newcastle upon Tyne West^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ernest Popplewell	31,765	57.92	−0.27
	Conservative	James Michael Bazin	23,081	42.08	+1.18
Majority			8,684	15.84	−1.45
Turnout			54,846	87.17	−0.02
Registered electors			62,916
	Labour hold		Swing	-0.73

General election 1955: Newcastle upon Tyne West^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ernest Popplewell	25,401	55.68	−2.24
	Conservative	Arthur Grey	20,217	44.32	+2.24
Majority			5,184	11.36	−4.47
Turnout			45,618	79.83	−7.34
Registered electors			57,142
	Labour hold		Swing	-2.24

General election 1959: Newcastle upon Tyne West^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ernest Popplewell	28,956	54.75	−0.93
	Conservative	C Dennis Larrow	23,933	45.25	+0.93
Majority			5,023	9.50	−1.86
Turnout			52,889	81.99	+2.16
Registered electors			64,509
	Labour hold		Swing	-0.93

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Newcastle upon Tyne West^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ernest Popplewell	29,603	58.33	+3.58
	Conservative	H Ian Bransom	21,149	41.67	−3.58
Majority			8,454	16.66	+7.16
Turnout			50,752	79.37	−2.62
Registered electors			63,943
	Labour hold		Swing	+3.58

General election 1966: Newcastle upon Tyne West^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Brown	30,219	62.67	+4.34
	Conservative	Denis Alan Orde	18,002	37.33	−4.34
Majority			12,217	25.34	+8.68
Turnout			48,221	75.79	−3.58
Registered electors			63,628
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.34

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Newcastle upon Tyne West^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Brown	30,805	58.73
	Conservative	C Lipman	21,644	41.27
Majority			9,161	17.46
Turnout			52,449	70.62
	Labour hold		Swing

General election February 1974: Newcastle upon Tyne West^[1][18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Brown	33,829	60.13	+1.4
	Conservative	Robin Milton Stewart	22,433	39.87	−1.4
Majority			11,396	20.2	+2.7
Turnout			56,262	73.8	+3.2
	Labour hold		Swing

General election October 1974: Newcastle upon Tyne West^[1][19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Brown	30,057	56.73	−3.4
	Conservative	Robin Milton Stewart	14,983	28.28	−11.6
	Liberal	Robert Humphrey Bourchier Devereux	7,945	15.0	New
Majority			15,074	28.5	+8.2
Turnout			52,985	68.9	−4.9
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.1

General election 1979: Newcastle upon Tyne West^[1][20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Brown	32,827	54.51	−2.2
	Conservative	Donald David Gilbert	21,591	35.85	+7.5
	Liberal	Jane Dryden Dickinson	5,801	9.63	−5.4
Majority			11,236	18.66	−9.8
Turnout			60,219	72.4	+3.5
	Labour hold		Swing	−4.9

See also

• History of parliamentary constituencies and boundaries in Northumberland

References

1. "'Newcastle upon Tyne West', Feb 1974 - May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Archived from the original on 3 April 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
2. Fraser, Hugh (1918). The Representation of the people act, 1918 : with explanatory notes. University of California Libraries. London : Sweet and Maxwell. p. 447.
3. "Representation of the People Act 1948" (PDF). p. 115.
4. Craig, Fred W. S. (1972). Boundaries of parliamentary constituencies 1885-1972;. Chichester: Political Reference Publications. pp. 82, 140. ISBN 0-900178-09-4. OCLC 539011.
5. "Newcastle upon Tyne West". 3 April 2016. Archived from the original on 3 April 2016. Retrieved 16 September 2022.
6. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
7. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1931". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
8. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1935". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
9. Pelling, Henry (1980). "The 1945 general election Reconsidered". The Historical Journal. 23 (2): 399. doi:10.1017/S0018246X0002433X. S2CID 154658298.
10. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1945". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
11. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1950". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
12. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1951". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
13. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1955". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
14. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1959". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
15. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1964". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
16. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1966". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
17. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1970". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
18. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results February 1974". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
19. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results October 1974". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
20. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1979". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2016.

Sources

• Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "N" (part 1)