Nottingham Central (UK Parliament constituency)

Nottingham Central was a borough constituency in the city of Nottingham. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Nottingham Central
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
1918–February 1974
Seats	one
Created from	Nottingham East, Nottingham West and Nottingham South
Replaced by	Nottingham East, Nottingham North

The constituency was created for the 1918 general election, and abolished for the February 1974 general election.

Boundaries

1918–1950: The County Borough of Nottingham wards of Forest, Market, Robin Hood, St Ann's, and Sherwood.

1950–1955: The County Borough of Nottingham wards of Forest, Market, Robin Hood, St Mary's, and Sherwood, and the Rural District of Nottingham.

1955–1974: The County Borough of Nottingham wards of Forest, Manvers, Market, Radford, and St Ann's, and the Rural District of Nottingham.

Members of Parliament

Year		Member	Party
	1918	Albert Atkey	Unionist
	1922	Reginald Berkeley	Liberal
	1924	Albert Bennett	Unionist
	1930	Sir Terence O'Connor	Conservative
	1940	Sir Frederick Sykes	Conservative
	1945	Geoffrey de Freitas	Labour
	1950	Ian Winterbottom	Labour
	1955	John Cordeaux	Conservative
	1964	Jack Dunnett	Labour
Feb 1974		constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1910s

General election 1918: Nottingham Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Unionist	Albert Atkey	10,552	63.8
	Liberal	Edmund Huntsman	3,988	24.1
	National	Arthur Kitson	1,999	12.1
Majority			6,564	39.7
Turnout			16,539	51.0
	Unionist win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Nottingham Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Reginald Berkeley	11,481	50.0	+25.9
	Unionist	Albert Atkey	11,459	50.0	−13.8
Majority			22	0.0	N/A
Turnout			22,940	68.9	+17.9
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing	+19.9

General election 1923: Nottingham Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Reginald Berkeley	13,208	53.7	+3.7
	Unionist	Albert Atkey	11,403	46.3	−3.7
Majority			1,805	7.4	+7.4
Turnout			24,611	72.8	+3.9
	Liberal hold		Swing	+3.7

General election 1924: Nottingham Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Albert Bennett	15,107	57.3	+11.0
	Labour	William Henderson Coultate	6,852	26.0	New
	Liberal	Charles Roberts	4,409	16.7	−37.0
Majority			8,255	31.3	New
Turnout			26,368	76.6	+3.8
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing

General election 1929: Nottingham Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Albert Bennett	14,571	41.7	−15.6
	Labour Co-op	Eleanor Barton	11,573	33.2	+7.2
	Liberal	Arthur Brampton	8,738	25.1	+8.4
Majority			2,998	8.5	−22.8
Turnout			34,882	77.4	+0.8
	Unionist hold		Swing	−11.4

Elections 1930–45

1930 Nottingham Central by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Terence O'Connor	14,946	54.3	+12.6
	Labour Co-op	Alfred Waterson	7,923	28.8	−4.4
	Liberal	Reginald Berkeley	4,648	16.9	−8.2
Majority			7,023	25.5	+17.0
Turnout			27,517	61.1	−16.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	+8.5

General election 1931: Nottingham Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Terence O'Connor	25,828	77.42
	Labour Co-op	Alfred Waterson	7,532	22.58
Majority			18,296	54.84
Turnout			33,360	75.50
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1935: Nottingham Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Terence O'Connor	18,706	64.73
	Labour Co-op	William Allitt	10,193	35.27
Majority			8,513	29.46
Turnout			28,899	68.89
	Conservative hold		Swing

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 that year, Terence O'Connor had been selected by the Conservatives and Geoffrey de Freitas by Labour.

After O'Connor's death in May 1940, a by-election was held in July, at which Frederick Sykes was returned unopposed for the Conservatives.

1940 Nottingham Central by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Frederick Sykes	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Conservative hold

General election 1945: Nottingham Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Geoffrey de Freitas	13,681	48.39
	Conservative	Frederick Sykes	10,947	38.72
	Liberal	D Craven Griffiths	3,644	12.89	New
Majority			2,734	9.67	N/A
Turnout			28,272	73.88
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Elections 1950–70

General election 1950: Nottingham Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ian Winterbottom	19,237	46.31
	Conservative	Robert Cary	17,487	42.10
	Liberal	John Michael Glyn-Barton	4,814	11.59
Majority			1,750	4.21
Turnout			41,538	82.86
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1951: Nottingham Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ian Winterbottom	20,517	50.17
	Conservative	J Anthony H Crean	20,378	49.83
Majority			139	0.34
Turnout			40,895	81.37
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1955: Nottingham Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Cordeaux	20,903	50.92
	Labour	Ian Winterbottom	20,145	49.08
Majority			758	1.84	N/A
Turnout			41,048	72.70
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General election 1959: Nottingham Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Cordeaux	24,004	52.33
	Labour	Ian Winterbottom	21,869	47.67
Majority			2,135	4.66
Turnout			45,873	87.39
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1964: Nottingham Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jack Dunnett	21,040	52.66
	Conservative	John Cordeaux	18,912	47.34
Majority			2,128	5.32	N/A
Turnout			39,952	71.36
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

General election 1966: Nottingham Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jack Dunnett	21,348	58.86
	Conservative	Antony EJ Mitton	14,922	41.14
Majority			6,426	17.72
Turnout			36,270	67.74
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1970: Nottingham Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jack Dunnett	17,638	55.61
	Conservative	Bernard Brook-Partridge	14,079	44.39
Majority			3,559	11.22
Turnout			31,717	60.15
	Labour hold		Swing

See also

• 1930 Nottingham Central by-election
• 1940 Nottingham Central by-election

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "N" (part 3)