Manchester (UK Parliament constituency)

Manchester was a Parliamentary borough constituency in the county of Lancashire which was represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Its territory consisted of the city of Manchester.

Manchester
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
County	Lancashire (now Greater Manchester)
Major settlements	Manchester
1832–1885
Seats	1832–1868: Two 1868–1885: Three
Created from	Lancashire
Replaced by	Manchester East Manchester North Manchester North East Manchester North West Manchester South Manchester South West
1654–1660
Type of constituency	Borough constituency

History

Manchester had first been represented in Parliament in 1654, when it was granted one seat in the First Protectorate Parliament. However, as with other boroughs enfranchised during the Commonwealth, it was disenfranchised at the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660.

The subsequent growth of Manchester into a major industrial city left its lack of representation a major anomaly, and demands for a seat in Parliament led to a mass public meeting in August 1819. This peaceful rally of 60,000 pro-democracy reformers, men, women and children, was attacked by armed cavalry resulting in 15 deaths and over 600 injuries,^[1] and became known as the Peterloo Massacre.

Reform was attempted unsuccessfully by Lord John Russell, whose bills in 1828 and 1830 were rejected by the Commons. The city was finally enfranchised by the Reform Act 1832, and at the 1832 general election, Manchester returned two Members of Parliament (MPs). The Reform Act 1867 increased this in 1868 to three Members of Parliament.

Under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, the constituency was abolished with effect from the 1885 general election, when the city was split into six new single-member divisions: East, North, North East, North West, South, and South West.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1654–1660

Election	First member
1654	Charles Worsley
1656	Richard Radcliffe

MPs 1832–1885

Election	First member[2]		First party[3]	Second member		Second party	Third member		Third party
1832		Mark Philips	Whig[4][5][6]		Charles Poulett-Thomson	Whig[4][5][6]	2 seats until 1868 3 seats from 1868 to 1885
1839 by-election					Robert Hyde Greg	Whig[4][7][8]
1841					Thomas Milner Gibson	Radical[9][10][11][12][13]
1847		John Bright	Radical
1857		John Potter	Whig[14][15]		James Aspinall Turner	Whig[14][15]
1858 by-election		Thomas Bazley	Whig[16]
1859			Liberal			Liberal
1865					Edward James	Liberal
1867 by-election					Jacob Bright	Liberal
1868								Hugh Birley	Conservative
1874					William Romaine Callender	Conservative
1876 by-election					Jacob Bright	Liberal
1880		John Slagg	Liberal
1883 by-election								William Houldsworth	Conservative
1885	Constituency abolished (1885)

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

By-election, 6 Oct 1883: Manchester^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Houldsworth	18,188	74.5	+29.4
	Liberal	Richard Pankhurst	6,216	25.5	−29.4
Majority			11,972	49.0	N/A
Turnout			24,404	46.2	−27.8 (est)
Registered electors			52,831
	Conservative hold		Swing	+29.4

• Caused by Birley's death.

General election 1880: Manchester (3 seats)^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Slagg	24,959	27.5	+2.6
	Liberal	Jacob Bright	24,789	27.4	+3.3
	Conservative	Hugh Birley	20,594	22.7	−3.0
	Conservative	William Houldsworth	20,268	22.4	−2.9
Majority			4,521	5.0	N/A
Turnout			45,305 (est)	74.0 (est)	+9.5
Registered electors			61,234
	Liberal hold		Swing
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1870s

By-election, 19 Feb 1876: Manchester^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Jacob Bright	22,770	52.0	+3.0
	Conservative	Francis Powell[18]	20,985	48.0	−3.0
Majority			1,785	4.0	N/A
Turnout			43,755	70.5	+6.0
Registered electors			62,074
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+3.0

• Caused by Callender's death.

General election 1874: Manchester (3 seats)^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Hugh Birley	19,984	25.7	+4.1
	Conservative	William Romaine Callender	19,649	25.3	+7.6
	Liberal	Thomas Bazley	19,325	24.9	+3.3
	Liberal	Jacob Bright	18,727	24.1	+5.8
Majority			922	1.2	N/A
Turnout			38,843 (est)	64.5 (est)	+5.2
Registered electors			60,222
	Conservative hold		Swing	−0.2
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+1.5
	Liberal hold		Swing	−1.3

Elections in the 1860s

General election 1868: Manchester (3 seats)^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Hugh Birley	15,486	21.6	N/A
	Liberal	Thomas Bazley	14,192	19.8	−12.6
	Liberal	Jacob Bright	13,154	18.3	−4.5
	Conservative	Joseph Hoare	12,684	17.7	N/A
	Liberal	Ernest Charles Jones	10,662	14.9	N/A
	Liberal	Mitchell Henry	5,236	7.3	N/A
Turnout			28,620 (est)	59.3 (est)	+2.6
Registered electors			48,256
Majority			4,824	6.7	N/A
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing
Majority			1,508	2.1	−2.5
	Liberal hold		Swing
	Liberal win (new seat)

• Seat increased to three members.

By-election, 27 November 1867: Manchester^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Jacob Bright	8,160	53.6	+30.8
	Conservative	John Marsland Bennett[19]	6,420	42.2	New
	Liberal	Mitchell Henry[20]	643	4.2	N/A
Majority			1,740	11.4	+6.8
Turnout			15,223	70.7	+14.0
Registered electors			21,542
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

• James' death caused a by-election. Bright was an advanced Liberal, and Henry was a Whig liberal.^[21]

General election 1865: Manchester (2 seats)^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Bazley	7,909	32.4	+2.8
	Liberal	Edward James	6,698	27.4	N/A
	Liberal	Jacob Bright	5,562	22.8	N/A
	Liberal	Abel Heywood	4,242	17.4	−4.0
Majority			1,136	4.6	−2.7
Turnout			12,206 (est)	56.7 (est)	−12.8
Registered electors			21,542
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1850s

General election 1859: Manchester (2 seats)^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Bazley	7,545	29.6	−1.1
	Liberal	James Aspinall Turner	7,300	28.6	−0.2
	Liberal	Abel Heywood	5,448	21.4	N/A
	Conservative	Joseph Denman[22][23]	5,201	20.4	New
Majority			1,852	7.2	−1.1
Turnout			12,747 (est)	69.5 (est)	−6.1
Registered electors			18,334
	Liberal hold		Swing
	Liberal hold		Swing

By-election, 17 November 1858: Manchester^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Thomas Bazley	Unopposed
	Whig hold

• Caused by Potter's death.

General election 1857: Manchester (2 seats)^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	John Potter	8,368	30.7
	Whig	James Aspinall Turner	7,854	28.8
	Radical	Thomas Milner Gibson	5,588	20.5	−8.9
	Radical	John Bright	5,458	20.0	−8.0
Majority			2,266	8.3	N/A
Turnout			13,634 (est)	75.6 (est)	+5.3
Registered electors			18,044
	Whig gain from Radical		Swing
	Whig hold		Swing

General election 1852: Manchester (2 seats)^[17][24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Thomas Milner Gibson	5,762	29.4	N/A
	Radical	John Bright	5,475	28.0	N/A
	Conservative	George Loch	4,364	22.3	New
	Conservative	Joseph Denman	3,969	20.3	New
Majority			1,111	5.7	N/A
Turnout			9,785 (est)	70.3 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			13,921
	Radical hold		Swing	N/A
	Radical hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1840s

General election 1847: Manchester (2 seats)^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Radical	John Bright	Unopposed
	Radical	Thomas Milner Gibson	Unopposed
Registered electors			12,841
	Radical hold
	Radical gain from Whig

By-election, 13 July 1846: Manchester^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Radical	Thomas Milner Gibson	Unopposed
	Radical hold

• Caused by Gibson's appointment as Vice-President of the Board of Trade

General election 1841: Manchester (2 seats)^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Mark Philips	3,695	28.3	−49.3
	Radical	Thomas Milner Gibson	3,575	27.3	N/A
	Conservative	George Murray	3,115	23.8	+12.6
	Conservative	William Entwisle	2,692	20.6	+9.4
Turnout			6,539 (est)	60.4 (est)	c. +5.5
Registered electors			10,818
Majority			120	1.0	−13.4
	Whig hold		Swing	−31.0
Majority			460	3.5	N/A
	Radical gain from Whig		Swing

Elections in the 1830s

By-election, 7 September 1839: Manchester^[17][4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Robert Hyde Greg	3,096	50.5	−27.1
	Conservative	George Murray	2,969	48.4	+26.0
	Radical	Thomas Perronet Thompson	63	1.0	N/A
Majority			127	2.1	−12.3
Turnout			6,128	54.8	−0.1
Registered electors			11,185
	Whig hold		Swing	−26.6

• Caused by Poulett-Thomson's resignation after being appointed Governor-General of Canada

General election 1837: Manchester (2 seats)^[17][4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Charles Poulett-Thomson	4,158	40.8	+6.0
	Whig	Mark Philips	3,750	36.8	+4.0
	Conservative	William Ewart Gladstone	2,281	22.4	−3.9
Majority			1,469	14.4	+7.9
Turnout			6,146	54.9	−11.5
Registered electors			11,185
	Whig hold		Swing	+4.0
	Whig hold		Swing	+3.0

By-election, 30 April 1835: Manchester^[17][4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Charles Poulett-Thomson	3,183	63.4	−4.2
	Conservative	Benjamin Braidley	1,837	36.6	+10.3
Majority			1,346	26.8	+20.3
Turnout			5,020	59.5	−6.9
Registered electors			8,432
	Whig hold		Swing	−4.7

• Caused by Poulett-Thomson's appointment as President of the Board of Trade

General election 1835: Manchester (2 seats)^[17][4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Charles Poulett-Thomson	3,355	34.8	+13.5
	Whig	Mark Philips	3,163	32.8	+2.6
	Conservative	Benjamin Braidley	2,535	26.3	+10.2
	Radical	Charles Wolseley	583	6.1	−7.4
Majority			628	6.5	+4.1
Turnout			5,595	66.4	−11.9
Registered electors			8,432
	Whig hold		Swing	+8.6
	Whig hold		Swing	+3.2

General election 1832: Manchester (2 seats)^[17][4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	Mark Philips	2,923	30.2
	Whig	Charles Poulett-Thomson	2,068	21.3
	Whig	Samuel Jones-Loyd	1,832	18.9
	Tory	John Thomas Hope	1,560	16.1
	Radical	William Cobbett	1,305	13.5
Majority			236	2.4
Turnout			5,267	78.3
Registered electors			6,726
	Whig win (new seat)
	Whig win (new seat)

Sources

• Manchester City Council Archive