Birmingham West (UK Parliament constituency)

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 United Kingdom general election, 1950, 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

Election		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 Frank Higgs	Conservative
	1945	Charles James Simmons	Labour
	1950	Constituency abolished

Election results

Elections 1931-45

General Election 1945: Birmingham, West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Charles James Simmons	12,639	63.54
	Conservative	Walter Frank Higgs	7,253	36.46
Majority			5,386	27.08
Turnout				66.94
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

By Election 1937: Birmingham, West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Walter Frank Higgs	12,552
	Labour	Richard Howard Stafford Crossman	9,632
Majority			2,920
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1935: Birmingham, West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sir Austen Chamberlain	16,530	64.35
	Labour	O.G. Willey	9,159	35.65
Majority			7,371	28.69
Turnout				63.59
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1931: Birmingham, West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sir Austen Chamberlain	22,448	68.12
	Labour	O.G. Willey	10,507	31.88
Majority			11,941	36.23
Turnout				75.86
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1929: Birmingham West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Rt Hon. Sir Joseph Austen Chamberlain	16,862	50.1
	Labour	Octavius George Willey	16,819	49.9
Majority			43	0.2
Turnout			33,681
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1923: Birmingham West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Rt Hon. Sir Joseph Austen Chamberlain	13,940	58.3	-3.3
	Labour	Frank Samuel Smith	9,983	41.7	+3.3
Majority			3,957	16.6	-6.6
Turnout				63.9
	Unionist hold		Swing	-3.3

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1918: Birmingham, West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Austen Chamberlain	unopposed
Turnout			35,836	N/A
	Conservative hold		Swing

Birmingham, West: by-election, 25 April 1918

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Austen Chamberlain	unopposed
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing

Birmingham, West: by-election, 14 July 1914

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Austen Chamberlain	unopposed
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election December 1910: Birmingham, West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Joseph Chamberlain	unopposed
Turnout
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing

General Election January 1910: Birmingham, West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Joseph Chamberlain	unopposed
Turnout
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing

Elections in the 1900s

File:RL Outhwaite.jpg

RL Outhwaite

General Election 1906: Birmingham, West Electorate

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Joseph Chamberlain	7,173	77.4
	Liberal	Robert Leonard Outhwaite	2,094	22.6
Majority			5,079	54.8
Turnout			12,483	74.2
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1900: Birmingham, West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Joseph Chamberlain	unopposed
Turnout			13,035	N/A
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing

Elections in the 1890s

General Election 1895: Birmingham, West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Joseph Chamberlain	5,537	81.5
	Liberal	B. O'Connor	1,259	18.5
Majority			4,278	63.0
Turnout			11,647	58.3
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing

Birmingham, West: by-election, 1 July 1895

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Joseph Chamberlain	unopposed
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1892: Birmingham, West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Joseph Chamberlain	6,297	76.7
	Liberal	J. Corrie Grant	1,879	22.9
	Independent	J.W. Mahony	31	0.4
Majority			4,418	53.8
Turnout			11,554	71.0
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1886: Birmingham, West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Joseph Chamberlain	unopposed
Turnout			10,329	N/A
	Liberal Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing

Birmingham, West: by-election, 9 February 1886

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Joseph Chamberlain	unopposed
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1885: Birmingham, West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Joseph Chamberlain	5,419	67.1
	Conservative	John Dumphreys	2,655	32.9
Majority			2,764	34.2
Turnout			10,329	78.2
	Liberal hold		Swing

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See also

• List of former United Kingdom Parliamentary constituencies

References

• 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)

• British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig