Ilkeston (UK Parliament constituency)

Ilkeston is a former United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency. It was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was represented by one Member of Parliament. In 1983 it was abolished, together with South East Derbyshire, when the Derbyshire county constituencies were redrawn - the constituencies of Amber Valley and Erewash were created and the constituency of South Derbyshire was re-created.

Ilkeston
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
Ilkeston in Derbyshire, 1974–1983
1885–1983
Seats	one
Created from	Derbyshire South
Replaced by	Amber Valley and Erewash[1]

Boundaries

1885–1918: The Sessional Division of Smalley, and the parishes of Breaston, Draycott and Wilne, Hopwell, Longeaton, Ockbrook, Risley, and Sawley and Wilsthorpe in the Sessional Division of Derby.^[2]

1918–1950: The Municipal Borough of Ilkeston, the Urban Districts of Heanor and Ripley, and the Rural District which consisted of the parishes of Codnor Park and Shipley.^[3]

1950–1983: The Municipal Borough of Ilkeston, the Urban Districts of Alfreton, Heanor, and Ripley, and in the Rural District of Belper the parish of Shipley.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Thomas Watson	Liberal
	1887	Sir Walter Foster
	1910	Jack Seely
	1922	George Oliver	Labour
	1931	Abraham Flint	National Labour
	1935	George Oliver	Labour
	1964	Ray Fletcher
1983		constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1885: Ilkeston ^[4][5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Watson	5,780	60.4
	Conservative	William Drury Nathaniel Drury-Lowe[6][7]	3,793	39.6
Majority			1,987	20.8
Turnout			9,573	89.8
Registered electors			10,660
	Liberal win (new seat)

General election 1886: Ilkeston ^[8][9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Watson	4,621	54.9	−5.5
	Conservative	Samuel Leeke	3,793	45.1	+5.5
Majority			828	9.8	−11.0
Turnout			8,414	78.9	−10.9
Registered electors			10,660
	Liberal hold		Swing	−5.5

Watson's death caused a by-election.

Sir Walter Foster

By-election, 24 Mar 1887: Ilkeston^[10][11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Balthazar Foster	5,512	56.9	+2.0
	Conservative	Samuel Leeke	4,180	43.1	−2.0
Majority			1,332	13.8	+4.0
Turnout			9,692	88.5	+9.6
Registered electors			10,948
	Liberal hold		Swing	+2.0

Elections in the 1890s

General election 1892: Ilkeston ^[12][13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Balthazar Foster	6,185	58.4	+3.5
	Conservative	Samuel Leeke	4,402	41.6	−3.5
Majority			1,783	16.8	+7.0
Turnout			10,587	78.2	−0.7
Registered electors			13,541
	Liberal hold		Swing	+3.5

General election 1895: Ilkeston ^[14][15][16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Balthazar Foster	6,215	54.2	−4.2
	Conservative	Edward Picton Baumgarten	5,254	45.8	+4.2
Majority			961	8.4	−8.4
Turnout			11,469	87.1	+8.9
Registered electors			13,175
	Liberal hold		Swing	−4.2

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: Ilkeston ^[17][18][19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Balthazar Foster	6,633	53.8	−0.4
	Conservative	Henry Wright	5,698	46.2	+0.4
Majority			935	7.6	−0.8
Turnout			12,331	84.9	−2.2
Registered electors			14,519
	Liberal hold		Swing	−0.4

General election 1906: Ilkeston ^[20][21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Balthazar Foster	9,655	64.3	+10.5
	Conservative	LC Tipper	5,358	35.7	−10.5
Majority			4,297	28.6	+21.0
Turnout			15,013	87.2	+2.3
Registered electors			17,216
	Liberal hold		Swing	+10.5

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: Ilkeston ^[22][23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Balthazar Foster	10,632	62.3	−2.0
	Conservative	Forbes St John Morrow	6,432	37.7	+2.0
Majority			4,200	24.6	−4.0
Turnout			17,064	87.7	+0.5
Registered electors			19,467
	Liberal hold		Swing	−2.0

Seely

1910 Ilkeston by-election^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Seely	10,204	59.8	−2.5
	Conservative	Henry Wright	6,871	40.2	+2.5
Majority			3,333	19.6	−5.0
Turnout			17,075	87.7	0.0
Registered electors			19,467
	Liberal hold		Swing	−2.5

General election December 1910: Ilkeston^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Seely	9,990	62.7	+0.4
	Conservative	William Marshall Freeman	5,946	37.3	−0.4
Majority			4,044	25.4	+0.8
Turnout			15,936	81.9	−5.8
Registered electors			19,467
	Liberal hold		Swing	+0.4

1912 Ilkeston by-election^[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Seely	9,049	53.6	−9.1
	Unionist	William Marshall Freeman	7,838	46.4	+9.1
Majority			1,211	7.2	−18.2
Turnout			16,887	81.7	−0.2
Registered electors			20,670
	Liberal hold		Swing	−9.1

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 July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

• Liberal: John Seely
• Unionist: William Marshall Freeman^[27]

General election 1918: Ilkeston^[28]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Liberal	John Seely	9,660	54.8	−7.9
	Labour	George Oliver	7,962	45.2	New
Majority			1,698	9.6	−15.8
Turnout			17,622	61.0	−20.9
	Liberal hold		Swing
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Ilkeston ^[29]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Oliver	9,432	40.0	−5.2
	National Liberal	John Seely	8,348	35.3	−19.5
	Unionist	William Marshall Freeman	5,841	24.7	New
Majority			1,084	4.7	N/A
Turnout			23,621	76.8	+15.8
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing	+7.1

Thomas Casey

General election 1923: Ilkeston ^[30]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Oliver	9,191	42.1	+2.1
	Unionist	William Marshall Freeman	6,566	30.0	+5.3
	Liberal	Thomas Worrall Casey	6,112	27.9	−7.4
Majority			2,625	12.1	+7.4
Turnout			21,869	69.4	−7.4
	Labour hold		Swing	−1.6

Anna Barlow

General election 1924: Ilkeston ^[31]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Oliver	11,011	44.9	+2.8
	Unionist	Victor Raikes	9,203	37.5	+7.5
	Liberal	Anna Barlow	4,320	17.6	−10.3
Majority			1,808	7.4	−4.7
Turnout			24,534	76.1	+6.7
	Labour hold		Swing	−2.4

General election 1929: Ilkeston^[32]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Oliver	20,202	59.0	+14.1
	Liberal	John Vincent Shaw	7,766	22.7	+5.1
	Unionist	Victor Raikes	6,258	18.3	−19.2
Majority			12,436	36.3	+28.9
Turnout			34,226	80.7	+4.6
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.5

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Ilkeston^[33]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Labour	Abraham Flint	17,587	50.0	N/A
	Labour	George Oliver	17,585	50.0	−9.0
Majority			2	0.0	N/A
Turnout			35,172	79.7	−1.0
	National Labour gain from Labour		Swing

General election 1935: Ilkeston^[34]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Oliver	23,851	64.3	+14.3
	National	Charles Markham	13,250	35.7	−14.3
Majority			10,601	28.6	N/A
Turnout			37,101	81.7	+2.0
	Labour gain from National Labour		Swing	+14.3

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;

• Labour: George Oliver
• Conservative:
• Liberal:

General election 1945: Ilkeston^[35]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Oliver	26,536	66.8	+2.5
	Conservative	Philip G Hartley	8,439	21.3	N/A
	Liberal	Charles Orton Foster	4,720	11.9	N/A
Majority			18,097	45.5	+16.9
Turnout			39,695	81.1	−0.6
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Ilkeston^[36]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Oliver	39,495	64.9	−1.9
	Liberal	Geoffrey Eugene MacPherson	11,262	18.5	+6.6
	Conservative	DFR Evans	10,113	16.6	−4.7
Majority			28,233	46.4	+0.9
Turnout			60,870	88.5	+7.4
	Labour hold		Swing	−4.3

General election 1951: Ilkeston^[37]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Oliver	40,671	67.41
	Conservative	C Frank Baker	10,273	17.03
	Liberal	Geoffrey Eugene MacPherson	9,387	15.56
Majority			30,398	50.38
Turnout			60,331
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1955: Ilkeston^[38]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Oliver	38,961	69.29
	Conservative	John Farr	17,268	30.71
Majority			21,693	38.58
Turnout			56,229	80.37
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1959: Ilkeston^[39]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Oliver	39,930	68.59
	Conservative	Gerald Ivan Walters	18,286	31.41
Majority			21,644	37.18
Turnout			58,216	83.50
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Ilkeston^[40]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ray Fletcher	33,924	60.2	−8.6
	Conservative	Jeffery Nicholas Lewis Tillett	13,542	24.0	−7.4
	Liberal	Peggy Edwards	8,930	15.8	New
Majority			20,382	36.2	−1.0
Turnout			56,396
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1966: Ilkeston^[41]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ray Fletcher	36,522	70.09
	Conservative	Basil J Eales	15,582	29.91
Majority			20,940	40.18
Turnout			52,104	76.20
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Ilkeston^[42]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ray Fletcher	32,961	59.9	−10.2
	Conservative	Richard Beardsley	15,870	28.9	−1.0
	Liberal	Wim Smit	6,157	11.2	New
Majority			17,091	31.0	−9.2
Turnout			54,988	74.15	−2.05
	Labour hold		Swing

General election February 1974: Ilkeston

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ray Fletcher	31,500	52.02
	Conservative	PM Morrell	17,320	28.60
	Liberal	Geoffrey Pool	11,734	19.38
Majority			14,180	23.42
Turnout			60,554	81.45
	Labour hold		Swing

General election October 1974: Ilkeston

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ray Fletcher	31,153	54.96
	Conservative	A N R Hamilton	15,858	27.98
	Liberal	Geoffrey Pool	9,671	17.06
Majority			15,295	27.25
Turnout			56,682	74.85
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1979: Ilkeston^[43]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ray Fletcher	29,270	50.61
	Conservative	Michael Clark	21,160	35.99
	Liberal	Desmond Blackburn	7,879	13.40
Majority			8,110	14.62
Turnout			58,309
	Labour hold		Swing

See also

• List of former United Kingdom Parliament constituencies
• Unreformed House of Commons