Barnard Castle (UK Parliament constituency)

Barnard Castle
Barnard Castle
Former county constituency; for the House of Commons
1885–1950
Seats	one
Created from	South Durham
Replaced by	Bishop Auckland and North West Durham

Barnard Castle was a county constituency centred on the town of Barnard Castle in County Durham, which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was created for the 1885 general election and abolished for the 1950 general election.

Boundaries

1885–1918

The Sessional Divisions of Barnard Castle and Staindrop, Stanhope (except the parishes of Hunstanworth and Edmondbyers) and Wolsingham, and part of the Sessional Division of Bishop Auckland.^[1]

The constituency was created for the 1885 general election by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 as one of eight new single-member divisions of the county of Durham, replacing the two 2-member seats of North Durham and South Durham. See map on Vision of Britain website.^[2]

The seat was located in the west of County Durham, in North East England. To the north of the constituency (moving from west to east) were the Northumberland division of Hexham and then North West Durham. To the east (moving from north to south) were Mid Durham, Bishop Auckland and South East Durham. To the south was Richmond (Yorks). To the west of the constituency (moving from south to north) were the Westmorland divisions of Appleby and Kendal.

1918–1950

The Urban Districts of Barnard Castle and Stanhope;
the Rural Districts of Barnard Castle and Weardale; and
parts of the Rural Districts of Auckland and Lanchester.^[3]

The constituency was expanded northwards, absorbing the western part of the abolished North West Durham seat (Lanchester). Crook and Tow Law were added to the new constituency of Spennymoor and a small area in the east was transferred to Bishop Auckland.

Abolition

In 1950 the Barnard Castle urban and rural districts were included in the Bishop Auckland constituency. Other parts of the former constituency returned to the re-established North West Durham seat.

Members of Parliament

Sir Joseph Pease

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Sir Joseph Pease	Liberal
	1903	Arthur Henderson	Labour
	1918	John Swan	Labour
	1922	John Rogerson	Conservative
	1923	Moss Turner-Samuels	Labour
	1924	Cuthbert Headlam	Conservative
	1929	William Lawther	Labour
	1931	Cuthbert Headlam	Conservative
	1935	Thomas Sexton	Labour
	1945	Sydney Lavers	Labour
1950		constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1885: Barnard Castle ^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Joseph Pease	5,962	70.82
	Conservative	Patrick Bowes-Lyon	2,457	29.18
Majority			3,505	41.64
Turnout			8,419	84.27
Registered electors			9,991
	Liberal win (new seat)

General election 1886: Barnard Castle ^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Joseph Pease	Unopposed
	Liberal hold

Elections in the 1890s

General election 1892: Barnard Castle ^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Joseph Pease	5,337	64.60	*N/A*
	Conservative	William M Rolley^[5]	2,924	35.40	New
Majority			2,413	29.20	N/A
Turnout			8,261	75.37	N/A
Registered electors			10,960
	Liberal hold

General election 1895: Barnard Castle ^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Joseph Pease	4,924	56.13	−8.47
	Conservative	WL Vane	3,848	43.87	+8.47
Majority			1,076	12.26	−16.94
Turnout			8,772	78.36	+2.99
Registered electors			11,194
	Liberal hold		Swing	−8.47

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: Barnard Castle ^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Joseph Pease	5,036	58.69	+2.56
	Conservative	WL Vane	3,545	41.31	−2.56
Majority			1,491	17.38	+5.11
Turnout			8,581	77.69	−0.67
Registered electors			11,045
	Liberal hold		Swing	+2.56

By-election, 1903: Barnard Castle ^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Repr. Cmte.	Arthur Henderson	3,370	35.47	*New*
	Conservative	WL Vane	3,323	34.97	−6.34
	Liberal	Hubert Beaumont	2,809	29.56	−29.13
Majority			47	0.50	N/A
Turnout			9,502	84.64	+6.95
Registered electors			11,226
	Labour Repr. Cmte. gain from Liberal		Swing

General election 1906: Barnard Castle ^[4]^{[note 1]}
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Arthur Henderson	5,540	58.76	*N/A*
	Conservative	EW Morrison-Bell	3,888	41.23	−0.08
Majority			1,652	17.53	N/A
Turnout			9,428	81.16	+3.47
Registered electors			11,617
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: Barnard Castle ^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Arthur Henderson	6,096	56.75	−2.01
	Liberal Unionist	HG Stobart	4,646	43.25	+2.02
Majority			1,450	13.50	−4.02
Turnout			10,742	87.96	+6.80
Registered electors			12,212
	Labour hold		Swing	−2.02

General election December 1910: Barnard Castle ^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Arthur Henderson	5,868	57.02	+0.27
	Liberal Unionist	HG Stobart	4,423	42.98	−0.27
Majority			1,445	14.04	+0.54
Turnout			10,291	84.27	−3.69
Registered electors			12,212
	Labour hold		Swing	−2.02

General election 1918: Barnard Castle ^[6]^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Swan	5,468	42.86	−14.16
C	Unionist	John Rogerson	3,837	30.07	−12.91
	Liberal	Albert Ernest Hillary	2,180	17.09	New
	National Farmers' Union	Octavius Monkhouse	1,274	9.99	New
Majority			1,631	12.79	−1.25
Turnout			12,759	63.96	−20.29
Registered electors			19,949
	Labour hold		Swing	−0.63
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Barnard Castle ^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	John Rogerson	8,271	50.67	+20.60
	Labour	John Swan	8,052	49.33	+6.47
Majority			219	1.34	N/A
Turnout			16,323	78.51	+14.55
Registered electors			20,791
	Unionist gain from Labour		Swing	+7.07

General election 1923: Barnard Castle ^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Moss Turner-Samuels	9,171	55.07	+5.74
	Unionist	John Rogerson	7,482	44.93	−5.74
Majority			1,689	10.14	N/A
Turnout			16,653	78.79	+0.28
Registered electors			21,135
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+5.74

General election 1924: Barnard Castle ^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Cuthbert Headlam	9,465	50.84	+5.91
	Labour	Moss Turner-Samuels	9,152	49.16	−5.91
Majority			313	1.68	N/A
Turnout			18,617	84.89	+6.10
Registered electors			21,931
	Unionist gain from Labour		Swing	+5.91

General election 1929: Barnard Castle ^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Will Lawther	9,281	42.01	−7.15
	Unionist	Cuthbert Headlam	8,406	38.06	−12.78
	Liberal	E Spence	4,402	19.93	New
Majority			875	3.95	N/A
Turnout			22,089	83.39	−1.50
Registered electors			26,488
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+2.82

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Barnard Castle ^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Cuthbert Headlam	12,721	55.29	+17.23
	Labour	Will Lawther	10,287	44.71	+2.70
Majority			2,434	10.58	N/A
Turnout			23,008	85.20	+1.81
Registered electors			27,006
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+7.27

General election 1935: Barnard Castle ^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Thomas Sexton	11,458	49.80	+5.09
	Conservative	Cuthbert Headlam	10,138	44.06	−11.23
	Liberal	Alfred Graham	1,393	6.05	New
Majority			1,320	5.74	N/A
Turnout			23,008	84.25	−0.95
Registered electors			27,309
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+8.16

Election in the 1940s

General election 1945: Barnard Castle ^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Sydney Lavers	12,024	58.30	+8.50
	Conservative	Giffard Le Quesne Martel	8,600	41.70	−2.36
Majority			3,424	16.60	+10.86
Turnout			20,624	75.31	−8.94
Registered electors			27,387
	Labour hold		Swing	+5.43

References

^ "Redistribution of Seats Act 1885". Proprietors of the Law Journal Reports. pp. 155–156.
^ "HMSO Boundary Commission Report 1885, Durham".
^ Craig, Fred W. S. (1972). Boundaries of parliamentary constituencies 1885-1972;. Chichester: Political Reference Publications. p. 10. ISBN 0-900178-09-4. OCLC 539011.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Craig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885-1918. London: Macmillan Press. p. 267. ISBN 9781349022984.
^ "Barnard Castle Division". The Northern Echo. 7 July 1892. p. 3. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Craig, F.W.S., ed. (1969). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949. Glasgow: Political Reference Publications. p. 338. ISBN 0-900178-01-9.
^ Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1922

Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)

Notes

^ Results compared to the 1900 general election, not the 1903 by-election

Sources

Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 1)

[:0-1] "Redistribution of Seats Act 1885". Proprietors of the Law Journal Reports. pp. 155–156.

[2] "HMSO Boundary Commission Report 1885, Durham".

[3] Craig, Fred W. S. (1972). Boundaries of parliamentary constituencies 1885-1972;. Chichester: Political Reference Publications. p. 10. ISBN 0-900178-09-4. OCLC 539011.

[craig1885-4] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Craig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885-1918. London: Macmillan Press. p. 267. ISBN 9781349022984.

[5] "Barnard Castle Division". The Northern Echo. 7 July 1892. p. 3. Retrieved 21 November 2017.

[craig1918-7] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Craig, F.W.S., ed. (1969). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949. Glasgow: Political Reference Publications. p. 338. ISBN 0-900178-01-9.

[8] Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1922

[6] Results compared to the 1900 general election, not the 1903 by-election

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