Bolton (UK Parliament constituency)

Bolton was a borough constituency centred on the town of Bolton in the county of Lancashire. It returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons for the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the bloc vote system.

Bolton
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
1832–1950
Seats	two
Created from	Lancashire
Replaced by	Bolton East and Bolton West

Created by the Reform Act of 1832, it was represented by two Members of Parliament. The constituency was abolished in 1950, being split into single-member divisions of Bolton East and Bolton West.

Members of Parliament

Election	1st member		1st party	2nd member		2nd party
1832		Robert Torrens	Whig[1][2]		William Bolling	Tory[1][3]
1834						Conservative[1][3]
1835		Peter Ainsworth	Whig[4][5][1]
1837
1841					John Bowring	Radical[6][7][8][9][10][11][1]
1847		William Bolling	Conservative[12][13][14]
1848		Stephen Blair	Conservative[15][16]
1849					Sir Joshua Walmsley	Radicals[17][18][19]
1852		Thomas Barnes	Radical[20][21]		Joseph Crook	Radical[22][23]
1857		William Gray	Conservative
1859						Liberal
1861					Thomas Barnes	Liberal
1865
1868					John Hick	Conservative
1874		John Kynaston Cross	Liberal
1880					John Pennington Thomasson	Liberal
1885		Herbert Shepherd-Cross	Unionist		Francis Bridgeman	Unionist
1886
1892
1895			Conservative		George Harwood	Liberal
1900
1906		Alfred Henry Gill	Labour
Jan 1910
Dec 1910
1912					Thomas Taylor	Liberal
1914		Robert Tootill	Labour
1916					William Edge	Liberal
1918						Coalition Liberal
1922		William Russell	Conservative			National Liberal
1923		Sir Herbert Cunliffe	Conservative		Albert Law	Labour
1924					Cecil Hilton	Unionist
1929		Michael Brothers	Labour		Albert Law	Labour
1931		Sir John Haslam	Conservative		Sir Cyril Entwistle	Conservative
1935
1940		Sir Edward Cadogan	Conservative
1945		John Henry Jones	Labour		John Lewis	Labour
1950	constituency abolished: see Bolton East & Bolton West

Boundaries

1832–1885: The township of Great Bolton, Little Bolton, and Haulgh, except the detached part of the township of Little Bolton which was situate to the north of the town of Bolton.^[24]

1885–1918: The existing parliamentary borough, and so much of the municipal borough of Bolton as was not already included in the parliamentary borough.^[25]

Elections

1840s – 1850s – 1860s – 1870s – 1880s – 1890s – 1900s – 1910s – 1920s – 1930s – 1940s – References

Winning candidates are highlighted in bold.

Elections in the 1830s

General election 1832: Bolton (2 seats)^[26][1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Robert Torrens	627	36.7
	Tory	William Bolling	492	28.8
	Whig	John Ashton Yates	482	28.2
	Radical	William Eagle	107	6.3
Turnout			935	89.9
Registered electors			1,040
Majority			135	7.9
	Whig win (new seat)
Majority			10	0.6
	Tory win (new seat)

General election 1835: Bolton (2 seats)^[26][1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Bolling	633	40.4	+11.6
	Whig	Peter Ainsworth	590	37.7	+9.5
	Whig	Robert Torrens	343	21.9	−14.8
Majority			43	2.7	+2.1
Turnout			927	92.6	+2.7
Registered electors			1,001
	Conservative hold		Swing	+7.1
	Whig hold		Swing	+6.2

General election 1837: Bolton (2 seats)^[26][1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Peter Ainsworth	615	34.9	−2.8
	Conservative	William Bolling	607	34.5	−5.9
	Whig	Andrew Knowles	538	30.6	+8.7
Turnout			1,079	80.5	−12.1
Registered electors			1,340
Majority			8	0.4
	Whig hold		Swing	+0.1
Majority			69	3.9	+1.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	−5.9

Elections in the 1840s

General election 1841: Bolton (2 seats)^[26][1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Peter Ainsworth	669	29.6	−35.9
	Radical	John Bowring	614	27.2	N/A
	Conservative	Peter Rothwell[27]	536	23.7	+6.5
	Conservative	William Bolling	441	19.5	+2.3
Turnout			1,164	79.1	−1.4
Registered electors			1,471
Majority			55	2.4	+2.0
	Whig hold		Swing	−19.7
Majority			173	7.7	N/A
	Radical gain from Conservative		Swing

General election 1847: Bolton (2 seats)^[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Bolling	714	35.5	−7.7
	Radical	John Bowring	652	32.4	+5.2
	Radical	John Brooks[28]	645	32.1	N/A
Majority			69	3.4	N/A
Turnout			1,363 (est)	92.1 (est)	+13.0
Registered electors			1,479
	Conservative gain from Whig		Swing	−6.5
	Radical hold		Swing	+4.5

Bolling's death caused a by-election.

By-election, 12 September 1848: Bolton^[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Stephen Blair	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

Bowring resigned after being appointed Consul-General at Canton, China, causing a by-election.

By-election, 9 February 1849: Bolton^[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Radical	Joshua Walmsley	621	52.2	−12.3
	Conservative	Thomas Ridgway Bridson[29]	568	47.8	+12.3
Majority			53	4.4	N/A
Turnout			1,189	82.7	−9.4
Registered electors			1,437
	Radical hold		Swing	−12.3

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Elections in the 1850s

General election 1852: Bolton (2 seats)^[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Radical	Thomas Barnes	745	29.4	−3.0
	Radical	Joseph Crook	727	28.7	−3.4
	Conservative	Stephen Blair	717	28.3	−7.2
	Whig	Peter Ainsworth[30]	346	13.6	N/A
Majority			10	0.4	N/A
Turnout			1,268 (est)	75.9 (est)	−16.2
Registered electors			1,671
	Radical hold		Swing	+0.3
	Radical gain from Conservative		Swing	+0.1

General election 1857: Bolton (2 seats)^[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Gray	930	35.0	+6.7
	Radical	Joseph Crook	895	33.7	+5.0
	Radical	Thomas Barnes	832	31.3	+1.9
Majority			98	3.7	N/A
Turnout			1,794 (est)	92.8 (est)	+16.9
Registered electors			1,933
	Conservative gain from Radical		Swing	+1.6
	Radical hold		Swing	+0.8

General election 1859: Bolton (2 seats)^[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Gray	Unopposed
	Liberal	Joseph Crook	Unopposed
Registered electors			2,050
	Conservative hold
	Liberal hold

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Elections in the 1860s

Crook's resignation caused a by-election.

By-election, 11 Feb 1861: Bolton (1 seat)^[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Barnes	Unopposed
	Liberal hold

General election 1865: Bolton (2 seats)^[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Gray	1,022	28.5	N/A
	Liberal	Thomas Barnes	979	27.3	N/A
	Liberal	Samuel Pope[31]	864	24.1	N/A
	Liberal-Conservative	William Gibb[32]	727	20.2	New
Turnout			1,796 (est)	82.2 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			2,186
Majority			43	1.2	N/A
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A
Majority			252	7.1	N/A
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1868: Bolton (2 seats)^[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Hick	6,062	26.6	+12.3
	Conservative	William Gray	5,848	25.7	+11.4
	Liberal	Thomas Barnes	5,451	23.9	−3.4
	Liberal	Samuel Pope[31]	5,436	23.8	−0.3
Majority			611	2.7	N/A
Turnout			11,399 (est)	90.1 (est)	+7.9
Registered electors			12,650
	Conservative hold		Swing	+6.3
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+7.4

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Elections in the 1870s

General election 1874: Bolton (2 seats)^[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Hick	5,987	26.2	−0.4
	Liberal	John Kynaston Cross	5,782	25.3	+1.4
	Conservative	William Gray	5,650	24.7	−1.0
	Liberal	James Knowles[33]	5,440	23.8	0.0
Turnout			11,430 (est)	90.7 (est)	+0.6
Registered electors			12,595
Majority			205	0.9	−1.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	−0.2
Majority			132	0.6	N/A
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+1.2

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Elections in the 1880s

General election 1880: Bolton (2 seats)^[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Kynaston Cross	6,964	26.2	+0.9
	Liberal	John Pennington Thomasson	6,673	25.1	+1.3
	Conservative	Thomas Lever Rushton[34]	6,540	24.6	−1.6
	Conservative	Francis Bridgeman	6,415	24.1	−0.6
Majority			133	0.5	N/A
Turnout			13,296 (est)	95.3 (est)	+4.6
Registered electors			13,956
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+1.3
	Liberal hold		Swing	+1.0

Cross

Thomasson

General election 1885: Bolton (2 seats)^[35][36][37]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Herbert Shepherd-Cross	7,933	26.6	+2.0
	Conservative	Francis Bridgeman	7,655	25.8	+1.7
	Liberal	John Kynaston Cross	6,725	22.6	−3.6
	Liberal	John Pennington Thomasson	6,228	21.0	−4.1
	Ind. Conservative	Henry Marriott Richardson	1,191	4.0	New
Majority			1,705	5.6	N/A
Majority			930	3.2	N/A
Turnout			15,069	93.8	−1.5 (est)
Registered electors			16,063
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+2.8
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+2.9

General election 1886: Bolton (2 seats)^[35][36]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Herbert Shepherd-Cross	7,780	27.5	+0.9
	Conservative	Francis Bridgeman	7,668	27.2	+1.4
	Liberal	Joseph Crook Haslam	6,452	22.9	+0.3
	Liberal	Roger Charnock Richards	6,314	22.4	+1.4
Majority			1,216	4.3	+1.1
Turnout			14,167	88.2	−5.6
Registered electors			16,063
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.0

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Elections in the 1890s

Shepherd-Cross

General election 1892: Bolton (2 seats)^[35][38][39]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Herbert Shepherd-Cross	8,429	26.6	−0.9
	Conservative	Francis Bridgeman	8,140	25.7	−1.5
	Liberal	Frank Taylor	7,575	23.9	+1.0
	Liberal	John Harwood	7,536	23.8	+1.4
Majority			565	1.8	−2.5
Turnout			31,680	89.6	+1.4
Registered electors			17,772
	Conservative hold		Swing	-1.0
	Conservative hold		Swing	-1.3

Harwood

General election 1895: Bolton (2 seats)^[35][36][40]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Herbert Shepherd-Cross	8,594	31.0	+4.4
	Liberal	George Harwood	8,453	30.6	+6.7
	Conservative	Francis Bridgeman	7,901	28.6	+2.9
	Ind. Labour Party	Frederick Brocklehurst	2,694	9.8	N/A
Turnout			27,642	92.1	+2.5
Registered electors			18,183
Majority			5,900	21.2	+19.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	−1.2
Majority			552	2.0	N/A
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+1.9

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Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: Bolton (2 seats) ^[41]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Herbert Shepherd-Cross	Unopposed
	Liberal	George Harwood	Unopposed
	Conservative hold
	Liberal hold

Goschen

General election 1906: Bolton (2 seats) ^[41]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	George Harwood	10,953	39.0	N/A
	Labour Repr. Cmte.	Alfred Henry Gill	10,416	37.1	New
	Conservative	George Goschen	6,693	23.9	N/A
Majority			3,723	13.2	N/A
Turnout			28,062	91.5	N/A
Registered electors			20,388
	Liberal hold
	Labour Repr. Cmte. gain from Conservative

Gill

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Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: Bolton (2 seats) ^[41]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	George Harwood	12,275	31.5	−7.5
	Labour	Alfred Henry Gill	11,864	30.5	−6.6
	Conservative	Miles Walker Mattinson	7,479	19.2	−4.7
	Conservative	Percy Ashworth	7,326	18.8	N/A
Turnout			38,944	93.8	+2.3
Registered electors			21,341
Majority			4,796	12.3	−2.8
	Liberal hold		Swing	−0.5
Majority			4,385	11.3	−1.9
	Labour hold		Swing	−1.0

General election December 1910: Bolton (2 seats) ^[41]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	George Harwood	10,358	35.5	+4.0
	Labour	Alfred Henry Gill	10,108	34.7	+4.2
	Conservative	George Hesketh (soldier)	8,697	29.8	−8.2
Turnout			29,163	89.3	−4.5
Registered electors			21,341
Majority			1,661	5.7	−6.6
	Liberal hold		Swing	+6.1
Majority			1,411	4.9	−6.4
	Labour hold		Swing	+6.2

Harwood's death causes a by-election.

1912 Bolton by-election (1 seat) ^[41]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Taylor	10,011	53.1	+17.6
	Unionist	Arthur Brooks	8,835	46.9	+17.1
Majority			1,176	6.2	N/A
Turnout			18,846	88.9	−0.4
Registered electors			21,195
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

Gill's death caused a by-election.

1914 Bolton by-election (1 seat) ^[41]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Tootill	Unopposed
	Labour hold

Taylor's resignation causes a by-election.

1916 Bolton by-election (1 seat) ^[41]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Edge	Unopposed
	Liberal hold

General Election 1914–15:

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

• Liberal: Thomas Taylor
• Labour: Robert Tootill
• Unionist: Thomas Clarke Pilling Gibbons

General election 1918: Bolton (2 seats) ^[41][42]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Liberal	William Edge	Unopposed
	Labour	Robert Tootill	Unopposed
	Liberal hold
	Labour hold
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

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Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Bolton (2 seats) ^[42]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	William Russell	37,491	29.3	New
	National Liberal	William Edge	31,015	24.3	N/A
	Labour	Samuel Lomax	20,559	16.1	N/A
	Labour	William James Abraham	20,156	15.8	N/A
	Liberal	Isaac Edwards	18,534	14.5	N/A
Turnout			127,755	75.7	N/A
Registered electors			84,342
Majority			16,932	13.2	N/A
	Unionist gain from Labour		Swing	N/A
Majority			10,859	8.5	N/A
	National Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1923: Bolton (2 seats) ^[42]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Albert Law	25,133	18.6	+2.5
	Unionist	Herbert Cunliffe	22,833	16.9	−12.4
	Unionist	Cecil Hilton	22,640	16.8	N/A
	Liberal	William Edge	22,173	16.5	−7.8
	Labour	Fleming Eccles	21,045	15.6	−0.2
	Liberal	John Fletcher Steele	21,040	15.6	+1.1
Turnout			134,864	78.8	+3.1
Registered electors			85,613
Majority			2,960	2.1	N/A
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing	+5.2
Majority			660	0.4	−12.8
	Unionist hold		Swing

General election 1924: Bolton (2 seats) ^[42]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Herbert Cunliffe	34,690	23.7	+6.8
	Unionist	Cecil Hilton	33,405	22.8	+6.0
	Labour	Albert Law	30,632	20.9	+2.3
	Labour	William Harold Hutchinson	28,918	19.8	+4.2
	Liberal	J. Percy Taylor	10,036	6.9	−9.6
	Liberal	Alfred Ernest Holt	8,558	5.9	−9.7
Turnout			146,239	84.7	+5.9
Registered electors			86,366
Majority			2,773	1.9	N/A
	Unionist gain from Labour		Swing	+2.3
	Unionist hold		Swing	+1.9

Entwistle

General election 1929: Bolton (2 seats) ^[42]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Albert Law	43,520	24.0	+3.1
	Labour	Michael Brothers	37,888	20.9	+1.1
	Unionist	Cyril Entwistle	36,667	20.3	−3.4
	Unionist	Cecil Hilton	35,850	19.8	−3.0
	Liberal	Patrick Redmond Barry	27,074	15.0	+2.2
Turnout			180,999	75.1	−9.6
Registered electors			120,463
Majority			7,670	4.2	N/A
Majority			1,221	0.6	N/A
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+3.3
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+2.1

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Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Bolton (2 seats) ^[43]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Cyril Entwistle	66,385	33.94
	Conservative	John Haslam	63,402	32.42
	Labour	Albert Law	33,737	17.25
	Labour	Michael Brothers	32,049	16.39
Turnout			195,572	79.56
Majority			29,666	15.17	N/A
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing
Majority			34,336	17.55	N/A
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General election 1935: Bolton (2 seats) ^[44]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Cyril Entwistle	54,129	29.05
	Conservative	John Haslam	52,465	28.15
	Labour	Albert Law	39,890	21.41
	Labour	John Lynch	39,871	21.40
Turnout			186,355	75.07
Majority			12,575	6.64
	Conservative hold		Swing
Majority			14,258	7.65
	Conservative hold		Swing

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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: Cyril Entwistle, John Haslam
• Labour: E Mellor

However, in the by-election held in 1940 no other parties contested the seat due to the War-time electoral pact meaning that the Conservative candidate Edward Cadogan was elected unopposed.

General election 1945: Bolton (2 seats) ^[45]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jack Jones	44,595	23.99
	Labour	John Lewis	43,266	23.28
	Conservative	Sir John Reynolds, 2nd Baronet	31,217	16.79
	Conservative	Cyril Entwistle	30,911	16.63
	Liberal	Robert Kewley Spedding	18,180	9.78	New
	Liberal	Brian Reginald Connell	17,710	9.53	New
Turnout			185,879	77.2
Majority			13,378	7.20	N/A
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing
Majority			12,355	6.65	N/A
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

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References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 4)

1. Stooks Smith, Henry. (1973) [1844-1850]. Craig, F. W. S. (ed.). The Parliaments of England (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. pp. 176. ISBN 0-900178-13-2.
2. Jenkins, Terry (2009). "TORRENS, Robert (1780–1864), of Stonehouse, Devon and 12 Fludyer Street, Mdx". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
3. Churton, Edward (1838). The Assembled Commons or Parliamentary Biographer: 1838. p. 35.
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5. Ollivier, John (2007). "Alphabetical List of the House of Commons". Ollivier's parliamentary and political director. p. 37. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
6. Dod, Charles Roger; Dod, Robert Phipps (1847). Dod's Parliamentary Companion, Volume 15. Dod's Parliamentary Companion. pp. 133–134.
7. Stone, Gerald (21 May 2009). "Bowring, Sir John". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/3087. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
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9. "Irish Elections". The Londonderry Journal. 15 June 1841. p. 4. Retrieved 15 April 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
10. Ruston, Alan (13 September 2002). "Sir John Bowring". Dictionary and Unitarian & Universalist Biography. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
11. Bowring, Philip (2014). "Bolton: Pit of Poverty and Progress". Free Trade's First Missionary: Sir John Bowring in Europe and Asia. Hong Kong University Press. ISBN 9789888208722. JSTOR j.ctt13x0m6c.
12. Mosse, Richard B. (1838). The Parliamentary Guide: a concise history of the Members of both Houses, etc. p. 144.
13. Hardman, Malcolm (2003). Classic Soil: Community, Aspiration, and Debate in the Bolton Region of Lancashire, 1819-1845. London: Rosemont Publishing and Printing Corp. p. 170. ISBN 0838639666. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
14. "Bolton". Bell's Weekly Messenger. 24 July 1847. p. 5. Retrieved 15 April 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
15. "Stephen Blair". Links in a Chain: Bolton Town Hall. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
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17. Zuch, Ronald K.; Ziegler, Paul R. (1985). "The Little Charter". Joseph Hume: The People's M.P. Ephrata: The American Philosophical Society. p. 147. ISBN 0871691639. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
18. Collins, Neil (1994). Politics and Elections in Nineteenth-Century Liverpool. Abingdon: Scolar Press. p. 40. ISBN 9781859280768. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
19. "Postscript". Coventry Herald. 9 February 1849. p. 4. Retrieved 15 April 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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