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Manchester Clayton was a parliamentary constituency in the city of Manchester. 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 system.

Manchester Clayton
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
1918–1955
Number of members	one
Replaced by	Manchester Cheetham and Manchester Openshaw
Created from	Manchester East, Manchester North and Manchester North East

The constituency was created for the 1918 general election and abolished for the 1955 general election.

Boundaries

1918–1950

The constituency was created as a result of the Report of the Boundary Commission in 1917, when it was recommended to be called "Manchester Newton Heath".[1] However, when the Representation of the People Bill to give effect to the commission's recommendations was debated in Parliament, the Government accepted an amendment to change the name to Clayton.[2] The new constituency came into effect at the 1918 general election. Although Parliament had altered the recommended name, it retained the recommended boundaries, and was defined as consisting of three municipal wards of the county borough of Manchester, namely Beswick, Bradford and Newton Heath.[3]

1950–1955

Constituencies throughout Great Britain and Northern Ireland were reorganised by the Representation of the People Act 1948, which introduced the term "borough constituency". Manchester, Clayton Borough Constituency was redefined to comprise four wards: Beswick, Bradford, Miles Platting and Newton Heath. Miles Platting had previously formed part of the Manchester Platting seat.[4] The revised boundaries were first used in the 1950 general election.

Abolition

Following a report by the boundary commissioners appointed under the House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1949, constituencies in the Manchester area were reorganised in 1955. The Clayton constituency was abolished, with its area divided between the Manchester Cheetham and Manchester Openshaw seats.[5]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1918	Edward Hopkinson	Conservative
	1922 by-election	John Edward Sutton	Labour
	1922	William Flanagan	Conservative
	1923	John Edward Sutton	Labour
	1931	William Flanagan	Conservative
	1935	John Jagger	Labour
	1942 by-election	Harry Thorneycroft	Labour
	1955	constituency abolished

History of the constituency

See Clayton, Greater Manchester

Election results

Election in the 1910s

General election 1918: Manchester Clayton [6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Edward Hopkinson	12,285	61.6
	Labour	John Sutton	7,654	38.4
Majority			4,631	23.2
Turnout			19,939	57.5
Registered electors			34,659
	Unionist win (new seat)

Election in the 1920s

By-election, 1922: Manchester Clayton [6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Sutton	14,662	57.1	+18.7
	Unionist	William Flanagan	11,038	42.9	−18.7
Majority			3,624	14.2	N/A
Turnout			25,700	73.7	+16.2
Registered electors			34,851
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+18.7

General election 1922: Manchester Clayton [6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	William Flanagan	14,800	50.0	−11.6
	Labour	John Sutton	14,789	50.0	+11.6
Majority			11	0.0	−23.2
Turnout			29,589	82.9	+25.4
Registered electors			35,681
	Unionist hold		Swing	−11.6

General election 1923: Manchester Clayton [6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Sutton	17,255	56.7	+6.7
	Unionist	William Flanagan	13,164	43.3	−6.7
Majority			4,091	13.4	N/A
Turnout			30,419	83.5	+0.6
Registered electors			36,430
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+6.7

General election 1924: Manchester Clayton [6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Sutton	17,338	54.2	−2.5
	Unionist	T.E. Thorpe	14,634	45.8	+2.5
Majority			2,704	8.4	−5.0
Turnout			31,972	84.7	+1.2
Registered electors			37,729
	Labour hold		Swing	−2.5

General election 1929: Manchester Clayton [6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Sutton	21,103	55.0	+0.8
	Unionist	William Flanagan	14,062	36.6	−9.2
	Liberal	Charles Harold Travis	3,207	8.4	New
Majority			7,041	18.4	+10.0
Turnout			38,372	83.1	−1.6
Registered electors			47,308
	Labour hold		Swing	+5.0

Election in the 1930s

General election 1931: Manchester Clayton
Manchester County Borough wards of Beswick, Bradford and Newton Heath[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Flanagan	22,072	56.2	+15.6
	Labour	John Sutton	17,169	43.8	−11.2
Majority			4,903	12.4	N/A
Turnout			39,241	83.4	+0.3
Registered electors			47,038
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+13.4

General election 1935: Manchester Clayton[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Jagger	19,225	53.7	+9.9
	Conservative	Thomas Hewlett	16,557	46.3	−9.9
Majority			2,668	7.4	N/A
Turnout			35,782	77.0	−7.4
Registered electors			46,475
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+9.9

Election in the 1940s

By-election, 1942: Manchester Clayton[6]>

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Harry Thorneycroft	8,892	93.3	+39.6
	Independent	E. H. Foot	636	6.7	New
Majority			8,256	86.6	+79.2
Turnout			9,528	20.8	−56.2
Registered electors			45,720
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1945: Manchester Clayton
Manchester County Borough wards of Beswick, Bradford and Newton Heath[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Harry Thorneycroft	22,401	69.4	+15.7
	National Liberal	Philip Smith	9,883	30.6	-15.7
Majority			12,518	38.8	+31.4
Turnout			32,284	69.6	−7.4
Registered electors			46,394
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Manchester Clayton
Manchester County Borough wards of Beswick, Bradford, Miles Platting and Newton Heath

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Harry Thorneycroft	29,128	63.0	-6.4
	Conservative	D H Broome	14,800	32.0	+1.4
	Liberal	Herbert Walls	2,295	5.0	New
Majority			14,328	31.0	-6.8
Turnout			46,223
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1951: Manchester Clayton
Manchester County Borough wards of Beswick, Bradford, Miles Platting and Newton Heath[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Harry Thorneycroft	27,985	63.5	+0.5
	Conservative	Marjorie S Grant	16,122	36.5	+4.5
Majority			11,863	27.0	-4.0
Turnout			44,107
	Labour hold		Swing

References

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 "C" (part 4)

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