Houghton-le-Spring (UK Parliament constituency)

Houghton-le-Spring was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 to 1983. Centred on the town of Houghton-le-Spring, now part of the City of Sunderland, it elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first-past-the-post system of election.

Houghton-le-Spring
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Houghton-le-Spring in County Durham, boundaries 1974–1983
County	County Durham
Major settlements	Houghton-le-Spring
1885–1983
Seats	One
Created from	South Durham
Replaced by	Houghton & Washington and Easington[1]

History

Creation

The constituency was created for the 1885 general election by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 as one of eight new single-member divisions of the county of Durham, replacing the two 2-member seats of North Durham and South Durham.^[2] The seat included the towns of Houghton-le-Spring, Hetton-le-Hole and Seaham and areas to the south and west of the borough of Sunderland. The majority now lies within the City of Sunderland in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear.

Boundaries

1885–1918

• The Sessional Divisions of Houghton-le-Spring, Sunderland and Seaham Harbour (part); and
• The Municipal Borough of Sunderland^[2]

NB included only non-resident freeholders in the parliamentary borough of Sunderland.

See map on Vision of Britain website.^[3]

1918–1950

• The Urban District of Houghton-le-Spring;
• the Rural Districts of South Shields and Sunderland; and
• part of the Rural District of Houghton-le-Spring.^[4]

Rural/coastal areas between South Shields and Sunderland, including the Boldons, transferred from Jarrow.  Lost Hetton-le-Hole to the new Durham Division of County Durham and Seaham to the new Seaham Division.

1950–1955

• The Urban Districts of Houghton-le-Spring and Seaham; and
• the Rural District of Sunderland.^[5]

Seaham (including Seaham Harbour) transferred back from the abolished Seaham Division. Lost areas to the Borough Constituencies of South Shields, Sunderland North and Sunderland South as a result of the expansion of the respective County Boroughs. Remaining northern areas, largely comprising the Urban District of Boldon (which had largely succeeded the abolished Rural District of South Shields), transferred to Jarrow.

1955–1974

• The Urban Districts of Houghton-le-Spring and Seaham; and
• the Rural District of Sunderland except the parts of the parishes of Ford, Herrington, Hylton, and Silksworth added to the County Borough of Sunderland by the Sunderland Extension Act 1950 (14 Geo. 6. c. liv).^[5]

1974–1983

• The Urban Districts of Hetton, Houghton-le-Spring, and Seaham; and
• in the Rural District of Easington, the parishes of Burdon, Cold Hesledon, Dalton-le-Dale, East Murton, Seaton with Slingley, and Warden Law.^[6]

The Urban District of Hetton transferred back from Durham and northern parts of the Rural District of Easington, including East Murton, transferred from Easington. Parts comprising the former Rural District of Sunderland, which had been largely absorbed by the County Borough, were transferred to Sunderland North (Hylton) and Sunderland South (Ryhope and Silksworth).

Abolition

The seat was abolished for the 1983 general election as a result of the periodic review of parliamentary constituencies following the re-organisation of local government under the Local Government Act 1972. On abolition, Seaham and East Murton, which had been retained within the county of Durham and comprised about 40% of the electorate, were returned to the Easington constituency. The remainder, including Houghton-le-Spring and Hetton-le-Hole, was included in the new constituency of Houghton and Washington in the county of Tyne and Wear.^[7]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1885	John Wilson	Liberal
	1886	Nicholas Wood	Conservative
	1892	Henry Fenwick	Liberal
	1895	Robert Cameron	Liberal
	1913 by-election	Tom Wing	Liberal
	1918	Robert Richardson	Labour
	1931	Robert Chapman	Conservative
	1935	William Stewart	Labour
	1945	Bill Blyton	Labour
	1964	Tom Urwin	Labour
1983		constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

John Wilson

General election 1885: Houghton-le-Spring ^[8][9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Lib-Lab	John Wilson	6,511	57.7
	Conservative	Nicholas Wood	4,767	42.3
Majority			1,744	15.4
Turnout			11,278	86.8
Registered electors			12,992
	Lib-Lab win (new seat)

General election 1886: Houghton-le-Spring ^[8][9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nicholas Wood	5,870	53.7	+11.4
	Lib-Lab	John Wilson	5,059	46.3	−11.4
Majority			811	7.4	N/A
Turnout			10,929	84.1	−2.7
Registered electors			12,992
	Conservative gain from Lib-Lab		Swing	+11.4

Elections in the 1890s

General election 1892: Houghton-le-Spring ^[8][9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Henry Fenwick	6,256	52.6	+6.3
	Conservative	Nicholas Wood	4,823	40.6	−13.1
	Independent Liberal and Direct Veto	Jonathan Hargrove[n 1]	814	6.8	New
Majority			1,433	12.0	N/A
Turnout			11,893	86.7	+2.6
Registered electors			13,716
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+9.7

Robert Cameron

General election 1895: Houghton-le-Spring ^[8][10][9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Robert Cameron	6,592	53.6	+1.0
	Conservative	Vincent Charles Stuart Wortley Corbett	5,711	46.4	+5.8
Majority			881	7.2	−4.8
Turnout			12,303	88.0	+1.3
	Liberal hold		Swing	−2.4

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: Houghton-le-Spring ^[8][10][9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Robert Cameron	6,865	58.3	+4.7
	Conservative	Ralph Stapleton Ward-Jackson	4,917	41.7	−4.7
Majority			1,948	16.6	+9.4
Turnout			11,782	82.3	−5.7
Registered electors			14,317
	Liberal hold		Swing	+4.7

General election 1906: Houghton-le-Spring ^[8][9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Robert Cameron	9,429	72.2	+13.9
	Liberal Unionist	Roland Edmund Lomax Vaughan Williams	3,639	27.8	−13.9
Majority			5,790	44.4	+27.8
Turnout			13,068	83.2	+0.9
Registered electors			15,711
	Liberal hold		Swing	+13.9

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: Houghton-le-Spring ^[11][9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Robert Cameron	10,393	70.3	−1.9
	Conservative	Hugh Sidney Streatfield	4,382	29.7	+1.9
Majority			6,011	40.6	−3.8
Turnout			14,775	84.4	+1.2
Registered electors			17,504
	Liberal hold		Swing	−1.9

General election December 1910: Houghton-le-Spring ^[11][9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Robert Cameron	Unopposed
	Liberal hold

Tom Wing

1913 Houghton-le-Spring by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Wing	6,930	43.6	N/A
	Unionist	Thomas Richardson	4,807	30.2	New
	Labour	William House	4,165	26.2	New
Majority			2,123	13.4	N/A
Turnout			15,902	83.6	N/A
Registered electors			19,032
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

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;

• Liberal: Thomas Wing
• Unionist:
• Labour: W. P. Richardson

General election 14 December 1918: Houghton-le-Spring^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Richardson	7,315	36.4	N/A
	Liberal	Thomas Wing	6,626	32.9	N/A
C	National Democratic	John Lindsley	6,185	30.7	New
Majority			689	3.5	N/A
Turnout			20,126	61.8	N/A
Registered electors			32,552
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing	N/A
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Houghton-le-Spring^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Richardson	14,611	51.9	+15.5
	Unionist	Walter William Shaw	7,555	26.9	New
	Liberal	John Edward Johnston	5,958	21.2	−11.7
Majority			7,056	25.0	+21.5
Turnout			28,124	78.4	+16.6
Registered electors			35,871
	Labour hold		Swing	+13.6

General election 1923: Houghton-le-Spring ^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Richardson	15,225	59.3	+7.4
	Liberal	Aaron Curry	10,445	40.7	+19.5
Majority			4,780	18.6	−6.4
Turnout			25,670	69.0	−9.4
Registered electors			37,224
	Labour hold		Swing	−6.1

General election 1924: Houghton-le-Spring ^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Richardson	17,857	57.8	−1.5
	Liberal	Aaron Curry	13,023	42.2	+1.5
Majority			4,834	15.6	−3.0
Turnout			30,880	79.6	+10.6
Registered electors			38,779
	Labour hold		Swing	−1.5

General election 1929: Houghton-le-Spring ^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Richardson	25,056	57.1	−0.7
	Liberal	Thomas Wing	10,267	23.4	−18.8
	Unionist	William George Pearson	8,545	19.5	New
Majority			14,789	33.7	+18.1
Turnout			43,868	80.3	+0.7
Registered electors			54,615
	Labour hold		Swing	+9.1

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Houghton-le-Spring

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Chapman	25,549	52.95
	Labour	Robert Richardson	22,700	47.05
Majority			2,849	5.90	N/A
Turnout			48,249	82.78
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General election 1935: Houghton-le-Spring

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William Stewart	30,665	57.15
	Conservative	Robert Chapman	22,990	42.85
Majority			7,675	14.30	N/A
Turnout			52,945	82.04
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Election in the 1940s

General election 1945: Houghton-le-Spring

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Billy Blyton	43,730	66.67
	Conservative	TB Martin	21,864	33.33
Majority			21,866	33.34
Turnout			65,594	76.87
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Houghton-le-Spring

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Billy Blyton	36,044	77.14
	Conservative	Beatrice Bolam	10,682	22.86
Majority			25,362	54.28
Turnout			46,726	87.22
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1951: Houghton-le-Spring

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Billy Blyton	37,718	75.80
	Conservative	Beatrice Bolam	12,042	24.20
Majority			25,676	51.60
Turnout			49,760	86.61
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1955: Houghton-le-Spring

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Billy Blyton	33,375	76.11
	Conservative	Thomas Edward Sydney Egerton	10,476	23.89
Majority			22,899	52.22
Turnout			43,851	79.49
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1959: Houghton-le-Spring

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Billy Blyton	35,960	75.93
	Conservative	Andrew Robert Coghill Arbuthnot	11,398	24.07
Majority			24,562	51.86
Turnout			47,358	83.41
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Houghton-le-Spring

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Thomas Urwin	32,914	74.82
	Conservative	Peter Coles Price	11,076	25.18
Majority			21,838	49.64
Turnout			43,990	78.70
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1966: Houghton-le-Spring

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Thomas Urwin	32,067	77.51
	Conservative	Frederick Howard Michael Craig-Cooper	9,304	22.49
Majority			22,763	55.02
Turnout			41,371	73.88
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Houghton-le-Spring

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Thomas Urwin	32,888	73.41
	Conservative	Frederick Howard Michael Craig-Cooper	11,914	26.59
Majority			20,974	46.82
Turnout			44,802	71.60
	Labour hold		Swing

General election February 1974: Houghton-le-Spring

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Thomas Urwin	34,263	76.89	+3.48
	Conservative	RC Ritchie	10,300	23.11	−3.48
Majority			23,963	53.77
Turnout			44,563	75.09
	Labour hold		Swing	+3.48

General election October 1974: Houghton-le-Spring

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Thomas Urwin	29,699	68.44
	Liberal	W Robson	9,298	21.43	New
	Conservative	RC Ritchie	4,399	10.14
Majority			20,401	47.01
Turnout			43,396	72.44
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1979: Houghton-le-Spring

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Thomas Urwin	30,181	68.45
	Conservative	Philip Straw	9,105	20.65
	Liberal	J Ellis	4,479	10.16
	Workers Revolutionary	D Temple	326	0.74	New
Majority			21,076	47.80
Turnout			44,091	72.89
	Labour hold		Swing

See also

• History of parliamentary constituencies and boundaries in Durham