Oswestry (UK Parliament constituency)

Oswestry
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1885–1983
Number of members	one
Replaced by	North Shropshire
Created from	North Shropshire

Oswestry is a United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency. It was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 to 1983, when it was renamed North Shropshire. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post method of election.

Boundaries

1885-1918: The Municipal Borough of Oswestry, the Sessional Divisions of Chirbury, Condover, Ford, Oswestry, and Pimhill (except Middle), and the civil parish of Fitz.

1918-1950: The Municipal Borough of Oswestry, the Urban Districts of Ellesmere, Market Drayton, Wem, and Whitchurch, and the Rural Districts of Drayton, Ellesmere, Oswestry, Wem, and Whitchurch.

1950-1974: The Municipal Borough of Oswestry, the Urban Districts of Ellesmere, Market Drayton, Wem, and Whitchurch, and the Rural Districts of Drayton, Ellesmere, Oswestry, and Wem.

1974-1983: The Rural Districts of Market Drayton, North Shropshire, and Oswestry.

Members of Parliament

Constituency created (1885)

	Member	Party
1885	Stanley Leighton	Conservative
1901 by-election	Hon. George Ralph Ormsby-Gore	Conservative
1904 by-election	Allan Heywood Bright	Liberal
1906	William Clive Bridgeman	Conservative
1929	Maj. Bertie Leighton	Conservative
1945	Oliver Poole	Conservative
1950	David Ormsby-Gore	Conservative
1961 by-election	John Biffen	Conservative
1983	Constituency abolished

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Election results

Elections in the 1900s

1901 Oswestry by-election ^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Hon. George Ralph Ormsby-Gore	4,518	56.5	n/a
	Liberal	Allan Heywood Bright	3,430	42.9	n/a
Turnout			7,990	79.9	n/a
Majority			1,088	13.6	n/a
	Conservative hold		Swing	n/a

Oswestry by-election, 1904 ^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Allan Heywood Bright	4,542	52.2	+8.7
	Conservative	William Clive Bridgeman	4,157	47.8	-8.7
Turnout			8,699	86.3	+6.4
Majority			385	4.4	17.4
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+8.7

General Election January 1906:Oswestry ^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	William Clive Bridgeman	5,011	52.6	+4.8
	Liberal	Allan Heywood Bright	4,508	47.4	-4.8
Turnout			9,519	90.7	+4.4
Majority			503	5.2	9.6
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+4.8

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1918: Oswestry ^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Unionist	William Clive Bridgeman	12,276	59.2
	Labour	Thomas Morris	8,467	40.8
Majority			3,809	18.4
Turnout				64.9
	Unionist hold		Swing

endorsed by the Coalition Government.

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1922: Oswestry^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Rt Hon. William Clive Bridgeman	12,837	50.2	-9.0
	Liberal	Russell Sidebottom	6,660	26.0	n/a
	Labour	Thomas Morris	6,105	23.8	-17.0
Majority			6,177	24.2	+5.8
Turnout				80.2	+15.3
	Unionist hold		Swing	n/a

General Election 1923: Oswestry ^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Rt Hon. William Clive Bridgeman	11,528	46.6	-3.6
	Liberal	Russell Sidebottom	9,713	39.3	+13.3
	Labour	Sidney Ronald Campion	3,477	14.1	-9.7
Majority			1,815	7.3	-16.9
Turnout				75.8	-4.4
	Unionist hold		Swing	-8.5

W.C. Bridgeman

General Election 1924: Oswestry ^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Rt Hon. William Clive Bridgeman	14,316	55.1	+8.5
	Liberal	Russell Sidebottom	6,143	23.7	-15.6
	Labour	Thomas Morris	5,503	21.2	+7.1
Majority			8,173	31.4	+24.1
Turnout				78.9	+3.1
	Unionist hold		Swing	+12.0

General Election 1929: Oswestry ^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Bertie Edward Parker Leighton	15,544	47.0	-8.1
	Liberal	John Share Jones	10,565	32.0	+8.3
	Labour	H S Evans	6,944	21.0	-0.2
Majority			4,989	15.0	-16.4
Turnout				78.8	-0.1
	Unionist hold		Swing	-8.2

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931: Oswestry ^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Bertie Edward Parker Leighton	23,740	74.0	+27.0
	Labour	William Elim Warder	8,343	26.0	+5.0
Majority			15,397	48.0
Turnout			32,083	74.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1935: Oswestry ^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Bertie Edward Parker Leighton	Unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Conservative hold		Swing	n/a

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 from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected;

Conservative: Bertie Edward Parker Leighton
Liberal:

General Election 1945: Oswestry ^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Oliver Brian Sanderson Poole	19,082	54.7
	Labour	Gilbert Denys E. Boyd-Carpenter	10,777	30.9
	Liberal	Lt. Leslie Corbet Burcher	5,049	14.5
Majority			8,305	23.8
Turnout				71.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: Oswestry ^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	William David Ormsby-Gore	23,562	61.81
	Labour	Arthur George Wait	14,556	38.19
Majority			9,006	23.62
Turnout				78.27
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1951: Oswestry^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	William David Ormsby-Gore	23,843	62.23
	Labour	Arthur George Wait	14,471	37.77
Majority			9,372	24.46
Turnout				76.89
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Oswestry ^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	William David Ormsby-Gore	22,859	64.77
	Labour	Mark E Boggin	12,434	35.23
Majority			10,425	29.54
Turnout				70.17
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1959: Oswestry ^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	William David Ormsby-Gore	21,055	55.9
	Labour	Glyn Thomas	10,531	28.0
	Liberal	David G. Rees	6,068	16.1
Majority			10,524	27.9
Turnout			37,654	74.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

Oswestry by-election, 1961 ^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	William John Biffen	12,428	40.8	-15.1
	Liberal	John R. Buchanan	8,647	28.4	+12.3
	Labour	Alastair Brian Walden	8,519	28.0	-0.0
	Patriotic Front	John E. Dayton	839	2.8	n/a
Majority			3,781	12.4	-15.5
Turnout			30,433	60.8	-13.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	-13.7

General Election 1964: Oswestry ^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	William John Biffen	18,154	47.4	+6.6
	Labour	George J. Costley	11,407	29.8	+1.8
	Liberal	Thomas R. Crowther	8,745	22.8	-5.6
Majority			6,747	17.6	+5.2
Turnout			38,709
	Conservative hold		Swing	+2.4

General Election 1966: Oswestry ^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	William John Biffen	17,727	48.24
	Labour	George J. Costley	13,011	35.41
	Liberal	Thomas R. Crowther	6,010	16.35
Majority			4,716	12.83
Turnout				73.35
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: Oswestry ^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	William John Biffen	20,361	50.7
	Labour	Neil Turner	10,801	26.9
	Liberal	Dr Edward Paul Cadbury	8,963	22.3
Majority			9,560	23.8
Turnout			40,125	72.0
	Conservative hold		Swing	+5.5

General Election February 1974: Oswestry
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	William John Biffen	20,438	46.93
	Liberal	DJ Evans	13,428	30.83
	Labour	J Bishton	9,685	22.24
Majority			7,010	16.10
Turnout				77.91
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election October 1974: Oswestry
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	William John Biffen	19,165	47.28
	Labour	J Bishton	10,751	26.52
	Liberal	DJ Evans	10,623	26.20
Majority			8,414	20.76
Turnout				71.84
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1979: Oswestry
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	William John Biffen	23,551	54.64
	Labour	Peter Ernest Sandland-Nielsen	10,150	23.55
	Liberal	DJ Evans	9,405	21.82
Majority			13,401	31.09
Turnout				73.90
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

1 2 3 British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 by Craig
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, F W S Craig
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1973
↑ British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig

Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "O"