Birmingham West (UK Parliament constituency)

Birmingham West
Birmingham West
Former borough constituency; for the House of Commons
1885–1950
Seats	One
Created from	Birmingham
Replaced by	Birmingham Aston and Birmingham Ladywood

Birmingham West was a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP), elected by the first-past-the-post voting system.

It was created upon the abolition of the 3-seat Birmingham constituency in 1885 and abolished in 1950.

Boundaries

Before 1885 the city of Birmingham had been a three-member constituency (see Birmingham (UK Parliament constituency) for further details). Under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 the parliamentary borough of Birmingham was split into seven single-member divisions, one of which was Birmingham West. It consisted of All Saints' and St Paul's wards and part of Rotton Park ward.

In the 1918 redistribution of parliamentary seats, the Representation of the People Act 1918 provided for twelve Birmingham divisions - one of which was designated as the Birmingham West constituency. In 1945 one of the other Birmingham seats was split in two, as it had over 100,000 electors, but that change did not affect the other divisions. The Birmingham West constituency in 1918 consisted of the County Borough of Birmingham ward of St Paul's and parts of All Saints' and Lozells wards.

In the redistribution which took effect in the 1950 United Kingdom general election, the Representation of the People Act 1948 redivided Birmingham into thirteen constituencies. The West division was abolished. St Paul's and Lozells wards became part of Birmingham Aston. All Saints' ward became part of Birmingham Ladywood.

Members of Parliament

	Member	Party
1885	Joseph Chamberlain	Liberal
1886		Liberal Unionist
1912		Conservative
1914 by-election	Sir Austen Chamberlain	Conservative
1918		Coalition Conservative
1922		Conservative
1937 by-election	Walter Higgs	Conservative
1945	Charles Simmons	Labour
1950	Constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1885: Birmingham, West^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Joseph Chamberlain	5,419	67.1
	Conservative	John Dumphreys	2,655	32.9
Majority			2,764	34.2
Turnout			8,074	78.2
Registered electors			10,329
	Liberal win (new seat)

Chamberlain was appointed President of the Local Government Board, requiring a by-election.

Birmingham, West: by-election, 9 February 1886^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Joseph Chamberlain	Unopposed
	Liberal hold

General election 1886: Birmingham, West^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal Unionist	Joseph Chamberlain	Unopposed
Registered electors			10,329
	Liberal Unionist gain from Liberal

Elections in the 1890s

General election 1892: Birmingham, West^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Joseph Chamberlain	6,297	76.7	*N/A*
	Liberal	Corrie Grant	1,879	22.9	New
	Independent Labour	J.W. Mahony	31	0.4	New
Majority			4,418	53.8	N/A
Turnout			8,207	71.0	N/A
Registered electors			11,554
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

Birmingham, West: by-election, 1 July 1895^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Joseph Chamberlain	Unopposed
	Liberal Unionist hold

General election 1895: Birmingham, West^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Joseph Chamberlain	5,537	81.5	+4.8
	Liberal	Bernard O'Connor	1,259	18.5	−4.4
Majority			4,278	63.0	+9.2
Turnout			6,796	58.3	−12.7
Registered electors			11,647
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	+4.6

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: Birmingham, West^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal Unionist	Joseph Chamberlain	Unopposed
Registered electors			13,035
	Liberal Unionist hold

General election 1906: Birmingham, West^[1] Electorate
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Joseph Chamberlain	7,173	77.4	*N/A*
	Liberal	R. L. Outhwaite	2,094	22.6	New
Majority			5,079	54.8	N/A
Turnout			9,267	74.2	N/A
Registered electors			12,483
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: Birmingham, West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Joseph Chamberlain	Unopposed
	Liberal Unionist hold

General election December 1910: Birmingham, West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Joseph Chamberlain	Unopposed
	Liberal Unionist hold

Birmingham, West: by-election, 14 July 1914
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Austen Chamberlain	Unopposed
	Unionist hold

Birmingham, West: by-election, 25 April 1918
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Austen Chamberlain	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

General election 1918: Birmingham, West
Party		Candidate	Votes
C	Unionist	Austen Chamberlain	Unopposed
	Unionist hold
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

By-election, 1921: Birmingham West ^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes
C	Unionist	Austen Chamberlain	Unopposed
	Unionist hold
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

General election 1922: Birmingham West ^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Austen Chamberlain	15,405	61.6	*N/A*
	Labour	Frank Smith	9,599	38.4	New
Majority			5,806	23.2	N/A
Turnout			25,004	67.1	N/A
Registered electors			37,263
	Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1923: Birmingham West ^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Austen Chamberlain	13,940	58.3	−3.3
	Labour	Frank Smith	9,983	41.7	+3.3
Majority			3,957	16.6	−6.6
Turnout			23,923	63.9	−3.2
Registered electors			37,433
	Unionist hold		Swing	−3.3

General election 1924: Birmingham West ^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Austen Chamberlain	14,801	67.4	+9.1
	Communist	Robert Dunstan	7,158	32.6	New
Majority			7,643	34.8	+18.2
Turnout			21,959	58.2	−5.7
Registered electors			37,754
	Unionist hold		Swing

General election 1929: Birmingham West ^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Austen Chamberlain	16,862	50.1	−17.3
	Labour	George Willey	16,819	49.9	New
Majority			43	0.2	−34.6
Turnout			33,681	73.9	+15.7
Registered electors			45,593
	Unionist hold		Swing

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Birmingham, West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Austen Chamberlain	22,448	68.12
	Labour	George Willey	10,507	31.88
Majority			11,941	36.24
Turnout			32,955	75.86
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1935: Birmingham, West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Austen Chamberlain	16,530	64.35
	Labour	George Willey	9,159	35.65
Majority			7,371	28.70
Turnout			25,689	63.59
	Conservative hold		Swing

1937 Birmingham West by-election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Walter Higgs	12,552	56.58
	Labour	Richard Crossman	9,632	43.42
Majority			2,920	13.16
Turnout			22,184
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections 1940s

General election 1945: Birmingham, West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Charles Simmons	12,639	63.54
	Conservative	Walter Higgs	7,253	36.46
Majority			5,386	27.08	N/A
Turnout			19,892	66.94
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Craig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885-1918. London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 9781349022984.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig

Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)
Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 3)
Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1974]. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-27-2.
Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 90. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.