Bristol North (UK Parliament constituency)

Bristol North was a borough constituency which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the UK Parliament from 1885 until it was abolished for the 1950 general election.

Bristol North
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
Major settlements	Bristol
1885–1950
Seats	One
Created from	Bristol (abolished)
Replaced by	Bristol North East (majority) Bristol Central (part)

History

The seat was one of a small minority spanning the period which never elected a Conservative and Unionist Party candidate. In its early history Bristol North three times elected a Liberal Unionist who was affiliated with the Conservative Party; the latter having declined to field a candidate in those elections and in three others of the eight before World War I. In the eight elections from and including 1918 the Labour Party fielded candidates and won three times; a Unionist stood once without success; candidates considered Lloyd-George Coalition Liberal, National Liberal and Liberal National (reflecting complex splinter groups of the Liberal Party during the period) stood once apiece and an Independent Liberal who was the MP as a mainstream Liberal since the previous election in 1924 ran against the official party's new candidate in 1929, unsuccessfully. In two of these four instances the splinter arguably centrist Liberal candidate won. The Liberal incumbent Bernays also defected from the main body of his party in 1936 to join the National Liberal (1931) Party despite being re-elected as a candidate of the more established party in 1935.

Boundaries

1885–1918: The Municipal Borough of Bristol wards of District, St James's, and St Paul's, and part of North ward, and the local government district of Stapleton.

1918–1950: The County Borough of Bristol wards of District, St Philip and Jacob North, and Stapleton, and part of Easton ward.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Lewis Fry*	Liberal
	1886		Liberal Unionist
	1892	Charles Townsend	Liberal
	1895	Lewis Fry	Liberal Unionist
	1900	Sir Frederick Wills, Bt.	Liberal Unionist
	1906	Augustine Birrell*	Liberal
	1918	Edwin Stanley Gange	Coalition Liberal
	1922	Christian Henry Charles Guest	National Liberal
	1923	Walter Henry Ayles	Labour
	1924	Frederick Edward Guest	Liberal
	1929	Walter Henry Ayles	Labour
	1931	Robert Bernays*	Liberal
	1936		National Liberal
	1945	William Coldrick	Labour Co-operative
	1950	constituency abolished

Note: * denotes re-elected.

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

Colston

General election 1885: Bristol North ^[1][2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Lewis Fry	4,110	57.4
	Conservative	Charles Edward Hungerford Athol Colston	3,046	42.6
Majority			1,064	14.8
Turnout			7,156	79.5
Registered electors			9,002
	Liberal win (new seat)

Fry

General election 1886: Bristol North ^[1][2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Lewis Fry	3,587	56.7	+14.1
	Liberal	Alfred Carpenter	2,737	43.3	−14.1
Majority			850	13.4	N/A
Turnout			6,324	70.3	−9.2
Registered electors			9,002
	Liberal Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+14.1

Elections in the 1890s

General election 1892: Bristol North ^[1][2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Townsend	4,409	52.0	+8.7
	Liberal Unionist	Lewis Fry	4,064	48.0	−8.7
Majority			345	4.0	N/A
Turnout			8,473	78.0	+7.7
Registered electors			10,862
	Liberal gain from Liberal Unionist		Swing	+8.7

General election 1895: Bristol North ^[1][2][3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Lewis Fry	4,702	51.3	+3.3
	Liberal	Charles Townsend	4,464	48.7	−3.3
Majority			238	2.6	N/A
Turnout			9,166	79.8	+1.8
Registered electors			11,490
	Liberal Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+3.3

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: Bristol North ^[1][2][3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Sir Frederick Wills	4,936	54.1	+2.8
	Liberal	Sir Clarence Smith	4,182	45.9	−2.8
Majority			754	8.2	+5.6
Turnout			9,118	75.0	−4.8
Registered electors			12,157
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	+2.8

Birrell

General election 1906: Bristol North ^[1][2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Augustine Birrell	6,953	63.4	+17.5
	Liberal Unionist	John Alderson Foote	4,011	36.6	−17.5
Majority			2,942	26.8	N/A
Turnout			10,964	83.9	+8.9
Registered electors			13,061
	Liberal gain from Liberal Unionist		Swing	+17.5

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: Bristol North ^[1][4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Augustine Birrell	6,805	55.5	−7.9
	Liberal Unionist	Maurice Henry Woods	5,459	44.5	+7.9
Majority			1,346	11.0	−15.8
Turnout			12,264	87.7	+3.8
	Liberal hold		Swing	-7.9

General election December 1910: Bristol North ^[1][4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Augustine Birrell	6,410	55.8	+0.3
	Conservative	Laurie Magnus	5,084	44.2	−0.3
Majority			1,326	11.6	+0.6
Turnout			11,494	82.2	−5.5
	Liberal hold		Swing	+0.3

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: Rt Hon. Augustine Birrell
• Unionist: Laurie Magnus

General election 1918: Bristol North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Liberal	Edwin Stanley Gange	11,400	60.2	+4.4
	Labour	James Kaylor	5,007	26.5	New
	National	Ernest Willoughby Petter	2,520	13.3	N/A
Majority			6,393	33.7	+22.1
Turnout			18,927
	Liberal hold
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Bristol North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	Christian Henry Charles Guest	17,495	64.6	+4.4
	Labour	Walter Henry Ayles	9,567	35.4	+8.9
Majority			7,928	29.2	N/A
Turnout			27,062	73.2	+18.5
Registered electors			36,985
	National Liberal gain from National Liberal

General election 1923: Bristol North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Walter Henry Ayles	10,432	37.5	+2.1
	Liberal	Christian Henry Charles Guest	8,770	31.5	−33.1
	Unionist	Ernest Willoughby Petter	8,643	31.0	New
Majority			1,663	6.0	N/A
Turnout			27,845	74.4	+1.2
Registered electors			37,424
	Labour gain from National Liberal		Swing	+17.6

General election 1924: Bristol North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Frederick Edward Guest	17,799	59.1	+27.6
	Labour	Walter Henry Ayles	12,319	40.9	+3.4
Majority			5,480	18.2	N/A
Turnout			30,118	79.6	+5.2
Registered electors			37,821
	Liberal gain from Labour		Swing	+12.1

General election 1929: Bristol North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Walter Henry Ayles	18,619	48.7	+7.8
	Independent Liberal	Rt Hon. Frederick Edward Guest	12,932	33.8	−25.3
	Liberal	John Osborne Marshall Skelton	6,713	17.5	−41.6
Majority			5,687	14.9	N/A
Turnout			38,264	78.1	−1.5
Registered electors			49,014
	Labour gain from Liberal

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Bristol North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Robert Hamilton Bernays	27,040	66.2	+48.7
	Labour	Walter Henry Ayles	13,826	33.8	−14.9
Majority			13,214	32.4	N/A
Turnout			40,866	80.9	+2.8
	Liberal gain from Labour		Swing	+31.8

General election 1935: Bristol North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Robert Hamilton Bernays	20,977	56.5	−9.7
	Labour	Walter Henry Ayles	16,149	43.5	+9.7
Majority			4,828	13.0	−19.4
Turnout			37,126	73.2	−7.7
	Liberal hold		Swing	-9.7

Elections in the 1940s

General election 1945: Bristol North ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	William Coldrick	22,819	57.8	+14.3
	National Liberal	John Henshaw Britton	16,648	42.2	−14.3
Majority			6,171	15.6	N/A
Turnout			39,467	74.0	+1.8
	Labour Co-op gain from National Liberal

References

1. British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, FWS Craig
2. The Liberal Year Book, 1907
3. Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1901
4. Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1916
5. Craig, F.W.S., ed. (1969). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949. Glasgow: Political Reference Publications. p. 107. ISBN 0-900178-01-9.

51.50286°N 2.61783°W / 51.50286; -2.61783