Pudsey and Otley (UK Parliament constituency)

Pudsey and Otley was a parliamentary constituency centred on the towns of Pudsey and Otley in West Yorkshire. 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 system.

Pudsey and Otley
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
1918–1950
Seats	one
Created from	Barkston Ash, Otley, Pudsey and Ripon
Replaced by	Pudsey and Ripon

History

The constituency was created for the 1918 general election, partially replacing the previous Pudsey and Otley constituencies. It was abolished for the 1950 general election, when it was largely replaced by a new Pudsey constituency while Otley became part of Ripon.

Boundaries

The Municipal Borough of Pudsey, the Urban Districts of Burley-in-Wharfedale, Calverley, Farsley, Horsforth, Ilkley, Otley, and Rawdon, and part of the Rural District of Wharfedale.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1918	Arthur Barrand	Coalition Liberal
	1922	Frederick Fawkes	Conservative
	1923	Francis Watson	Conservative
	1929	Granville Gibson	Conservative
	1945	Malcolm Stoddart-Scott	Conservative
	1950	constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1910s

1918 general election: Pudsey and Otley^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Liberal	Arthur Barrand	13,860	75.2
	Labour	George Ripley Carter	4,583	24.8
Majority			9,277	50.4
Turnout			18,443	58.6
Registered electors			31,487
	Liberal win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Pudsey and Otley^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Frederick Fawkes	12,396	46.5	N/A
	Liberal	Arthur Barrand	8,439	31.7	−43.5
	Labour	Percy Myers	5,818	21.8	−3.0
Majority			3,957	14.8	N/A
Turnout			26,653	82.0	+23.4
Registered electors			32,506
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing

General election 1923: Pudsey and Otley^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Francis Watson	11,537	43.7	−2.8
	Liberal	Tudor Walters	9,330	35.4	+3.7
	Labour	Percy Myers	5,499	20.9	−0.9
Majority			2,207	8.3	−6.5
Turnout			26,366	79.1	−2.9
Registered electors			33,316
	Unionist hold		Swing	−3.3

General election 1924: Pudsey and Otley^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Francis Watson	14,090	51.0	+7.3
	Labour	Percy Myers	7,001	25.3	+4.4
	Liberal	Ernest Woodhead	6,545	23.7	−11.7
Majority			7,089	25.7	+17.4
Turnout			27,636	80.5	+1.4
Registered electors			34,334
	Unionist hold		Swing	+1.5

General election 1929: Pudsey and Otley^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Granville Gibson	16,729	41.0	−10.0
	Labour	A W Brown	12,336	30.3	+5.0
	Liberal	Hubert Houldsworth	11,685	28.7	+5.0
Majority			4,393	10.7	−15.0
Turnout			40,750	81.8	+1.3
Registered electors			49,796
	Unionist hold		Swing	−7.5

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Pudsey and Otley^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Granville Gibson	31,701	76.0	+35.0
	Labour	William Pickles	10,013	24.0	−6.3
Majority			21,688	52.0	+41.3
Turnout			41,714	79.9	−1.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 14 November 1935: Pudsey and Otley^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Granville Gibson	22,107	51.7	−24.3
	Liberal	John Smuts	10,682	25.0	New
	Labour	Lucy Cox	9,977	23.3	−0.7
Majority			11,425	26.7	−25.3
Turnout			42,766	76.0	−3.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

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 and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected;

• Conservative: Granville Gibson
• Liberal: John Smuts^[3]
• Labour: M. H. Wigglesworth, replaced by H. N. Penlington^[4][5]

Elections in the 1940s

General election 5 July 1945: Pudsey and Otley^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Malcolm Stoddart-Scott	22,755	43.4	−8.3
	Labour	Denis Healey	21,104	40.2	+16.9
	Liberal	Terence Clarke	8,592	16.4	−8.6
Majority			1,651	3.2	−23.5
Turnout			52,451	78.8	+2.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "P" (part 2)

1. Wharfedale & Airedale Observer, 3 January 1919
2. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
3. The Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, 2 May 1938
4. "Parliamentary candidates' protest", The Times, 6 April 1939
5. Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939
6. "Politics Science Resources". 12 October 2022.