Consett (UK Parliament constituency)

Consett was a county constituency, centred on the town of Consett in County Durham. 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 voting system from 1918 to 1983.

Consett
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Consett in County Durham, boundaries 1974-83
1918–1983
Seats	one
Created from	North West Durham
Replaced by	North Durham and North West Durham[1]

History

Creation

Consett was created under the Representation of the People Act 1918 for the 1918 general election. It succeeded the abolished North West Division of Durham, comprising the whole of that seat, excluding Tanfield, which was included in the new constituency of Blaydon, and Lanchester, which was transferred to Barnard Castle.

Boundaries

1918–1950

• The Urban Districts of Annfield Plain, Benfieldside, Consett, Leadgate, and Stanley; and
• in the Rural District of Lanchester, the parishes of Craghead, Ebchester, Healeyfield, Knitsley, and Medomsley.^[2]

1950–1983

• The Urban Districts of Consett and Stanley.^[3]

Only minor changes - the Urban Districts of Annfield Plain and Tanfield (transferred back from Blaydon) had been merged with Stanley; and Benfieldside and Leadgate with Consett, along with the parishes of Ebchester and Medomsley.

Abolition

The seat was abolished for the 1983 general election as a result of the periodic review of parliamentary constituencies following the re-organisation of local government under the Local Government Act 1972. On abolition, eastern areas, comprising the former Urban District of Stanley, were included in the newly created constituency of North Durham, and eastern areas, comprising the former Urban District of Consett, were transferred back to North West Durham (which had been re-established in 1950).

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1918	Aneurin Williams	Liberal
	1922	Herbert Dunnico	Labour
	1931	John Dickie	Liberal National
	1935	David Adams	Labour
	1943	James Glanville	Labour
	1955	William Stones	Labour
	1966	David Watkins	Labour
1983		constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1910s

Aneurin Williams

General election 1918: Consett^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Aneurin Williams	7,576	34.3
C	National Democratic	Robert Gee	7,283	32.9
	Labour	G. H. Stuart-Bunning	7,268	32.8
Majority			293	1.4
Turnout			22,127	64.3
	Liberal win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Consett ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Herbert Dunnico	14,469	46.5	+13.7
	Liberal	Aneurin Williams	9,870	31.8	−2.5
	Unionist	Sydney Erskine Dare Wilson	6,745	21.7	New
Majority			4,599	14.7	N/A
Turnout			31,084	82.0	+17.7
Registered electors			37,886
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing	+8.1

Ursula Williams

General election 1923: Consett ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Herbert Dunnico	15,862	52.0	+5.5
	Liberal	Ursula Williams	14,619	48.0	+16.2
Majority			1,243	4.0	−10.7
Turnout			30,481	78.2	−3.8
Registered electors			38,989
	Labour hold		Swing	−5.4

General election 1924: Consett ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Herbert Dunnico	18,842	55.9	+3.9
	Constitutionalist	James E Davies	14,836	44.1	New
Majority			4,006	11.8	+7.8
Turnout			33,678	83.4	+5.2
Registered electors			40,363
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1929: Consett^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Herbert Dunnico	22,256	56.5	+0.6
	Liberal	John Dickie	10,772	27.3	New
	Unionist	John William Watts	6,400	16.2	N/A
Majority			11,484	29.2	+17.4
Turnout			39,428	80.1	−3.3
Registered electors			49,233
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Consett^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	John Dickie	22,474	53.0	+25.7
	Labour	Herbert Dunnico	19,927	47.0	−9.5
Majority			2,547	6.01	N/A
Turnout			42,401	83.24	+3.1
	National Liberal gain from Labour		Swing	+17.6

General election 1935: Consett^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Adams	25,419	58.7	+11.7
	National Liberal	John Dickie	17,897	41.3	−11.7
Majority			7,522	17.4	+11.4
Turnout			43,316	83.8	+0.6
	Labour gain from National Liberal		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;

• Labour: David Adams^[11]

Elections in the 1940s

1943 Consett by-election^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Glanville	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Labour hold

General election 1945: Consett^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Glanville	28,617	70.1	+11.4
	National Liberal	James Aloysius McGilley	12,198	29.9	−11.4
Majority			16,419	40.2	+22.8
Turnout			40,815	77.4	−6.4
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Consett

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Glanville	34,907	66.79
	Conservative	Philip Goodhart	12,634	24.17
	Liberal	Norman Dees	4,721	9.03	New
Majority			22,273	42.62
Turnout			52,262	86.84
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1951: Consett

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Glanville	35,705	69.24
	Conservative	George Frederick H Walker	15,861	30.76
Majority			19,844	38.48
Turnout			51,566	85.06
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1955: Consett

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William Stones	30,979	67.05
	Conservative	Fergus Montgomery	15,224	32.95
Majority			15,755	34.10
Turnout			46,203	77.51
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1959: Consett

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William Stones	32,307	66.83
	Conservative	Denis Alan Orde	16,037	33.17
Majority			16,270	33.66
Turnout			48,344	81.65
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Consett

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William Stones	29,676	68.10
	Conservative	Denis W Stokoe	13,901	31.90
Majority			15,775	36.20
Turnout			43,577	76.73
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1966: Consett

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Watkins	29,753	73.26
	Conservative	Robert William G Sanderson	10,858	26.74
Majority			18,895	46.52
Turnout			40,611	73.51
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Consett

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Watkins	28,985	70.87
	Conservative	Neville Trotter	11,914	29.13
Majority			17,071	41.74
Turnout			40,899	70.17
	Labour hold		Swing

General election February 1974: Consett

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Watkins	27,401	61.10
	Conservative	T Wilkinson	9,058	20.20
	Liberal	R McClure	8,384	18.70	New
Majority			18,343	40.90
Turnout			44,843	76.50
	Labour hold		Swing

General election October 1974: Consett

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Watkins	27,123	66.98
	Conservative	M Lycett	7,677	18.96
	Liberal	J Gillinder	5,695	14.06
Majority			19,446	48.02
Turnout			40,495	68.62
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1979: Consett

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Watkins	26,708	61.26
	Conservative	M Lycett	10,841	24.87
	Liberal	R Kennedy	6,048	13.87
Majority			15,867	36.39
Turnout			43,597	75.76
	Labour hold		Swing

See also

• History of parliamentary constituencies and boundaries in Durham

References

1. "'Consett', Feb 1974 - May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Archived from the original on 1 April 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
2. "Representation of the People Act 1918". 1918. p. 496.
3. Craig, Fred W. S. (1972). Boundaries of parliamentary constituencies 1885-1972;. Chichester: Political Reference Publications. pp. 58, 129. ISBN 0-900178-09-4. OCLC 539011.
4. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
5. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
6. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
7. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
8. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
9. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
10. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
11. Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939
12. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
13. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 5)