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Birmingham Handsworth was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Handsworth district of Birmingham. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was abolished in 1983.

Birmingham Handsworth
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
County	West Midlands
1918–1983
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Birmingham Ladywood, Birmingham Perry Barr and Birmingham Small Heath[1]

Handsworth
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1885–1918
Created from	East Staffordshire

Boundaries

1885–1918: The Sessional Divisions of Rushall Tipton, Wednesbury, and West Bromwich, and the Municipal Borough of Walsall. The constituency was created, as a county constituency, for the 1885 general election when it was the Handsworth division of Staffordshire. In 1885 the area was to the north of the parliamentary borough of Birmingham and was the south-eastern county division of Staffordshire. Birmingham, which from 1889 was a county borough, with city status, was mostly located in the geographic county of Warwickshire, but gradually expanded into adjacent areas of Staffordshire and Worcestershire.

The constituency bordered to the west West Bromwich, Wednesbury and Walsall; to the north Lichfield; to the east Tamworth and to the south Birmingham West and Birmingham North.

1918–1955: The County Borough of Birmingham wards of Handsworth, Sandwell, and Soho. By 1918 the Handsworth area had been incorporated within the growing city of Birmingham. For the 1918 general election it became a borough constituency as Birmingham Handsworth.

1955–1974: The County Borough of Birmingham wards of Handsworth, Lozells, and Sandwell. Lozells ward was formerly in Birmingham Aston. Soho ward became part of Birmingham All Saints.

1974–1983: The County Borough of Birmingham wards of Aston, Handsworth, and Sandwell.

The constituency disappeared at the 1983 general election. Sandwell ward became 32.9% of Birmingham Ladywood, Handsworth ward became 24.8% of Birmingham Perry Barr and Aston ward became 11.9% of Birmingham Small Heath.

Members of Parliament

Year		Member	Party
	1885	Henry Wiggin	Liberal
	1886		Liberal Unionist
	1892	Sir Henry Meysey-Thompson	Liberal Unionist
	1906	Ernest Meysey-Thompson	Liberal Unionist
	1912		Unionist
	1922	Oliver Locker-Lampson	Unionist
	1945	Harold Roberts	Conservative
	1950 by-election	Sir Edward Boyle	Conservative
	1970	Sydney Chapman	Conservative
	1974	John Lee	Labour
	1979	Sheila Wright	Labour
1983		constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1885: Handsworth [2][3][4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Henry Wiggin	7,057	63.2
	Conservative	Harry Robert Graham	4,107	36.8
Majority			2,950	26.4
Turnout			11,164	74.5
Registered electors			14,988
	Liberal win (new seat)

General election 1886: Handsworth [2][3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Henry Wiggin	Unopposed
	Liberal Unionist gain from Liberal

Elections in the 1890s

General election 1892: Handsworth [2][3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Henry Meysey-Thompson	7,370	57.6	N/A
	Liberal	Hugh Reid	5,433	42.4	New
Majority			1,937	15.2	N/A
Turnout			12,803	78.4	N/A
Registered electors			16,325
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1895: Handsworth [2][3][5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Henry Meysey-Thompson	Unopposed
	Liberal Unionist hold

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: Handsworth [2][3][5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Henry Meysey-Thompson	Unopposed
	Liberal Unionist hold

General election 1906: Handsworth [2][3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Ernest Meysey-Thompson	13,407	60.8	N/A
	Liberal	Herbert Leon	8,636	39.2	New
Majority			4,771	21.6	N/A
Turnout			22,043	84.0	N/A
Registered electors			26,243
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: Handsworth [2][6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Ernest Meysey-Thompson	14,594	60.6	-0.2
	Liberal	George Jackson	9,488	39.4	+0.2
Majority			5,106	21.2	-0.4
Turnout			24,082	83.2	-0.8
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	-0.2

General election December 1910: Handsworth [2][6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Ernest Meysey-Thompson	Unopposed
	Liberal Unionist hold

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 the July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

• Unionist: Ernest Meysey-Thompson
• Labour: John Davison

General election 1918: Birmingham Handsworth[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Unionist	Ernest Meysey-Thompson	12,019	56.4	N/A
	Independent	Norman Tiptaft	4,697	22.1	New
	Independent Labour	Harry Joseph Odell	4,576	21.5	New
Majority			7,322	34.3	N/A
Turnout			21,292	57.2	N/A
	Unionist hold		Swing
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Birmingham Handsworth[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Oliver Locker-Lampson	18,859	59.6	+3.2
	Independent	Norman Tiptaft	12,790	40.4	+18.3
Majority			6,069	19.2	−15.1
Turnout			31,649	82.9	+25.7
Registered electors			38,164
	Unionist hold		Swing	−7.6

General election 1923: Birmingham Handsworth [8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Oliver Locker-Lampson	Unopposed
	Unionist hold

General election 1924: Birmingham Handsworth[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Oliver Locker-Lampson	20,056	65.6	N/A
	Labour	Philip Noel-Baker	10,516	34.4	New
Majority			9,540	31.2	N/A
Turnout			30,572	78.6	N/A
Registered electors			38,872
	Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1929: Birmingham Handsworth [8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Oliver Locker-Lampson	22,036	53.9	−11.7
	Labour	Louis Anderson Fenn	11,969	29.3	−5.1
	Liberal	Arthur Gordan Bagnall	6,857	16.8	New
Majority			10,067	24.6	−6.6
Turnout			40,851	78.5	−0.1
Registered electors			52,025
	Unionist hold		Swing	−3.3

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Birmingham Handsworth

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Oliver Locker-Lampson	30,989	78.4	+24.5
	Labour	Louis Anderson Fenn	8,548	21.6	-8.7
Majority			22,441	56.8	+32,2
Turnout			39,537	75.1	-3.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1935: Birmingham Handsworth

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Oliver Locker-Lampson	24,135	73.0	-5.4
	Labour	A G Chattaway	8,910	27.0	+5.4
Majority			15,225	46.0	-10.8
Turnout			33,045	61.7	+4.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1940s

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;

• Conservative: Oliver Locker-Lampson
• Labour: A G Chattaway[9]

General election 1945: Birmingham Handsworth

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Harold Roberts	15,607	37.9	-35.1
	Labour	Cyril Bence	13,142	34.3	+7.3
	Independent	Norman Tiptaft	5,112	12.4	New
	Liberal	Barbara Lewis	4,945	12.0	New
	Communist	Jessie Eden[10]	1,390	3.4	New
Majority			1,465	3.6	-42.4
Turnout			40,180	72.5	+10.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	+21.2

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Birmingham Handsworth [11][12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Harold Roberts	24,246	50.5	+12.6
	Labour	Cyril Bence	18,774	39.2	+4.9
	Liberal	Ronald William Eades	4,926	10.3	-1.7
Majority			5,472	11.3	+7.7
Turnout			47,972	83.1	+10.6
	Conservative hold		Swing	+4.3

1950 Birmingham Handsworth by-election[11][12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edward Boyle	22,083	60.7	+10.2
	Labour	Cyril Bence	13,852	38.1	-1.1
	Independent	SW Keatley	453	1.2	New
Majority			8,231	22.6	+11.3
Turnout			36,388	63.2	-19.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	+5.65

General election 1951: Birmingham Handsworth [11][12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edward Boyle	27,201	59.5	+9.0
	Labour	Richard William Evely	18,494	40.5	+1.3
Majority			8,707	19.0	+7.7
Turnout			45,695	79.0	+15.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.9

General election 1955: Birmingham Handsworth [11][12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edward Boyle	24,349	60.0	+0.5
	Labour	Alexander Murie	14,064	34.7	-5.8
	Independent	SW Keatley	2,148	5.3	New
Majority			10,285	25.3	+6.3
Turnout			38,415	69.6	-9.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	+3.15

• Independent Peace candidate

General election 1959: Birmingham Handsworth [11][12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edward Boyle	23,243	60.8	+0.8
	Labour	Alexander Murie	13,116	34.3	-0.4
	Independent	SW Keatley	1,867	4.9	-0.4
Majority			10,127	26.5	+1.1
Turnout			38,226	68.8	-0.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.6

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Birmingham Handsworth [11][12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edward Boyle	16,841	47.5	-13.3
	Labour	Sheila Wright	11,909	33.6	-0.7
	Liberal	Wallace Lawler	6,249	17.6	New
	Independent	SW Keatley	459	1.3	-3.6
Majority			4,932	13.9	-13.6
Turnout			35,459	66.6	-2.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1966: Birmingham Handsworth [11][12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edward Boyle	16,225	49.9	+2.4
	Labour	Sheila Wright	14,931	46.0	+12.4
	Union Movement	Jeffrey Hamm	1,337	4.1	New
Majority			1,294	3.9	-10.0
Turnout			32,493	63.2	-3.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Birmingham Handsworth [11][12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sydney Chapman	16,122	53.0	+3.1
	Labour	Sheila Wright	14,310	47.0	+1.0
Majority			1,812	6.0	+2.1
Turnout			30,432	65.2	+2.0
	Conservative hold		Swing	+2.05

General election February 1974: Birmingham Handsworth

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Lee	14,290	43.5	-3.5
	Conservative	Sydney Chapman	12,667	38.6	-14.4
	Liberal	P Tilsley	5,566	16.9	New
	Marxist-Leninist (England)	S. Thompson	334	1.0	New
Majority			1,623	4.9	-1.1
Turnout			32,857	72.4	+7.2
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+5.45

General election October 1974: Birmingham Handsworth

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Lee	15,011	49.4	+5.9
	Conservative	R Tyler	11,115	37.0	-1.6
	Liberal	DI Grant-Smith	3,205	10.6	-7.3
	National Front	J Finnegan	838	2.8	New
	More Prosperous Britain	Tom Keen	105	0.3	New
	Marxist-Leninist (England)	J. L. Hutchinson	103	0.3	New
Majority			3,896	12.4	+7.5
Turnout			29,339	66.5	-5.9
	Labour hold		Swing	+3.75

General election 1979: Birmingham Handsworth

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Sheila Wright	16,998	55.2	+5.8
	Conservative	R Tyler	13,789	44.8	+7.8
Majority			3,209	10.4	-2.0
Turnout			30,787	68.4	+2.9
	Labour hold		Swing	-1.0

See also

• List of former United Kingdom Parliament constituencies

References

• Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)
• British Parliamentary Constituencies: A Statistical Compendium, by Ivor Crewe and Anthony Fox (Faber and Faber 1984)
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "H" (part 1)

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