Rossendale (UK Parliament constituency)

53.708°N 2.240°W / 53.708; -2.240

Rossendale
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
Rossendale in Lancashire, showing boundaries used from 1974-1983
County	Lancashire
Major settlements	Rawtenstall
1885–1983
Seats	One
Created from	North East Lancashire
Replaced by	Rossendale and Darwen Bury North

Rossendale was a parliamentary constituency in the Lancashire, England. Created in 1885, it elected one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first-past-the-post voting system. When created it comprised the districts of Rawtenstall, Bacup, and Haslingden; Ramsbottom district was added to the constituency in 1950.

The constituency ceased to exist with the implementation of the 1983 boundary changes and was replaced by the Rossendale and Darwen constituency. The exact nature of the changes were as follows: 9,882 electors of the Rossendale seat were transferred to Bury North. 25,918 electors were added from the abolished Darwen constituency and 5,267 from Heywood and Royton.

Boundaries

1885–1918: The Sessional Division of Rossendale, and part of the Borough of Bacup.

1918–1950: The Boroughs of Bacup, Haslingden, and Rawtenstall.

1950–1983: The Boroughs of Bacup, Haslingden, and Rawtenstall, and the Urban District of Ramsbottom.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Spencer Cavendish	Liberal
	1886		Liberal Unionist
	1892 by-election	John Maden	Liberal
	1900 by-election	Sir William Mather	Liberal
	1904 by-election	Lewis Harcourt	Liberal
	1917 by-election	Sir John Maden	Liberal
	1918	Robert Waddington	Coalition Conservative
	1922	David Halstead	Conservative
	1923	Robert Waddington	Conservative
	1929	Arthur Law	Labour
	1931	Ronald Cross	Conservative
	1945	George Walker	Labour
	1950	Tony Greenwood	Labour
	1970	Ronald Bray	Conservative
	Oct 1974	Michael Noble	Labour
	1979	David Trippier	Conservative
	1983	constituency abolished: see Rossendale and Darwen

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

Hartington

General election 1885: Rossendale ^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Spencer Cavendish	6,060	58.9
	Conservative	William Farrer Ecroyd	4,228	41.1
Majority			1,832	17.8
Turnout			10,288	89.9
Registered electors			11,450
	Liberal win (new seat)

General election 1886: Rossendale ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Spencer Cavendish	5,399	57.8	+16.7
	Liberal	Thomas Newbigging	3,949	42.2	−16.7
Majority			1,450	15.6	N/A
Turnout			9,348	81.6	−8.3
Registered electors			11,450
	Liberal Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+16.7

Elections in the 1890s

Cavendish succeeded to the peerage, becoming Duke of Devonshire and causing a by-election.

1892 Rossendale by-election^[3][4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Maden	6,066	55.6	+13.4
	Liberal Unionist	Thomas Brooks	4,841	44.4	−13.4
Majority			1,225	11.2	N/A
Turnout			10,907	93.4	+11.8
Registered electors			11,679
	Liberal gain from Liberal Unionist		Swing	+13.4

General election 1892: Rossendale ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Maden	6,058	58.3	+16.1
	Conservative	Arthur Goldsmith Sparrow	4,334	41.7	−16.1
Majority			1,724	16.6	N/A
Turnout			10,392	89.0	+7.4
Registered electors			11,679
	Liberal gain from Liberal Unionist		Swing	+16.1

General election 1895: Rossendale ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Maden	Unopposed
	Liberal hold

Elections in the 1900s

William Mather

1900 Rossendale by-election^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Mather	5,936	56.5	N/A
	Conservative	George Kingsbury	4,564	43.5	New
Majority			1,372	13.0	N/A
Turnout			10,500	86.4	N/A
Registered electors			12,148
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1900: Rossendale ^[8] Electorate 12,148

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Mather	Unopposed
	Liberal hold

Lewis Harcourt

1904 Rossendale by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Lewis Harcourt	Unopposed
	Liberal hold

General election 1906: Rossendale ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Lewis Harcourt	6,881	59.6	N/A
	Conservative	John Kebty-Fletcher	4,662	40.4	New
Majority			2,219	19.2	N/A
Turnout			11,543	90.4	N/A
Registered electors			12,765
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: Rossendale ^[10] Electorate 12,765

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Lewis Harcourt	7,185	57.4	−2.2
	Conservative	John Kebty-Fletcher	4,695	37.5	−2.9
	Women's Suffrage	Arthur Bulley	639	5.1	New
Majority			2,490	19.9	+0.7
Turnout			12,519	94.7	+4.3
Registered electors			13,217
	Liberal hold		Swing	+0.4

General election December 1910: Rossendale ^[11] Electorate 12,765

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Lewis Harcourt	6,619	56.0	−1.4
	Conservative	Joshua Craven Hoyle	5,206	44.0	+6.5
Majority			1,413	12.0	−7.9
Turnout			11,825	89.5	−5.2
Registered electors			13,217
	Liberal hold		Swing	−4.0

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: Lewis Harcourt
• Unionist:

1917 Rossendale by-election^[12][13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Maden	6,019	76.9	+20.9
	Independent Labour and Peace by Negotiation	Albert Taylor	1,804	23.1	New
Majority			4,215	53.8	+41.8
Turnout			7,823	57.2	−32.3
Registered electors			13,682
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1918: Rossendale^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Unionist	Robert Waddington	8,907	39.2	−4.8
	Labour	Gilbert Wright Jones	7,984	35.1	New
	Liberal	John Maden	5,837	25.7	−30.3
Majority			923	4.1	N/A
Turnout			22,728	63.6	−25.9
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+12.8
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Rossendale^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	David Halstead	12,881	42.6	+3.4
	Labour	Gilbert Wright Jones	11,029	36.5	+1.4
	Liberal	Richard Durning Holt	6,327	20.9	−4.8
Majority			1,852	6.1	+2.0
Turnout			30,237	85.0	+21.4
	Unionist hold		Swing

Norman Angell

General election 1923: Rossendale ^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Robert Waddington	11,362	37.6	−5.0
	Liberal	Ernest Young	9,592	31.8	+10.9
	Labour	Norman Angell	9,230	30.6	−5.9
Majority			1,770	5.8	−0.3
Turnout			30,184	83.8	−1.2
	Unionist hold		Swing	-8.0

General election 1924: Rossendale^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Robert Waddington	12,836	41.7	+4.1
	Labour	James Bell	9,951	32.4	+1.8
	Liberal	Ernest Young	7,958	25.9	−5.9
Majority			2,885	9.3	+3.5
Turnout			30,745
	Unionist hold		Swing

General election 1929: Rossendale^[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Arthur Law	14,624	36.0	+3.6
	Liberal	Edwin Bayliss	13,747	33.9	+8.0
	Unionist	Wilfrid Sugden	12,225	30.1	−11.6
Majority			877	2.1	N/A
Turnout			40,596	87.7
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	-2.2

• Furness Dean was Liberal candidate but withdrew at the last minute for health reasons.^[19]

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Rossendale ^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ronald Cross	16,206	40.1	+10.0
	Liberal	William Furness Dean	13,089	32.4	−1.5
	Labour	Arthur Law	11,135	27.5	−8.5
Majority			3,117	7.7	N/A
Turnout			40,430	87.6	−0.1
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General election 1935: Rossendale ^[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ronald Cross	15,650	39.4	−0.7
	Labour	Evelyn Walkden	14,769	37.1	+9.6
	Liberal	Arthur Holgate	9,343	23.5	−8.9
Majority			881	2.3	−5.4
Turnout			39,762	86.1	−1.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

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 and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected;

• Conservative: Ronald Cross
• Labour: George Walker^[22]

Election in the 1940s

General election 1945: Rossendale^[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Walker	15,741	43.6	+6.5
	Conservative	Ronald Cross	10,153	28.1	−11.3
	Liberal	Arthur Ward Jones	8,542	23.7	+0.2
	Communist	William Whittaker	1,663	4.6	New
Majority			5,588	15.5	N/A
Turnout			36,099	83.2	−2.9
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Rossendale

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Greenwood	21,596	45.15
	Conservative	Thomas Mercer Backhouse	19,483	40.73
	Liberal	Lillian May Tomlinson	6,757	14.13
Majority			2,113	4.42
Turnout			47,836	88.94
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1951: Rossendale

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Greenwood	24,814	51.74
	Conservative	Thomas Mercer Backhouse	23,144	48.26
Majority			1,670	3.48
Turnout			47,958	88.59
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1955: Rossendale

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Greenwood	23,472	53.31
	Conservative	John E Parkinson	20,561	46.69
Majority			2,911	6.62
Turnout			44,033	84.21
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1959: Rossendale

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Greenwood	20,743	47.52
	Conservative	James Richard Trist Holt	18,152	41.59
	Liberal	Alan Cooper	4,752	10.89	New
Majority			2,591	5.93
Turnout			43,647	86.30
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Rossendale

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Greenwood	21,371	53.97
	Conservative	Colin Clive Baillieu	18,230	46.03
Majority			3,141	7.94
Turnout			39,601	81.83
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1966: Rossendale

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Greenwood	21,093	55.40
	Conservative	Colin Clive Baillieu	16,984	44.60
Majority			4,109	10.80
Turnout			38,077	80.40
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Rossendale

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ronald Bray	20,448	52.4	+7.8
	Labour	Betty Boothroyd	18,568	47.6	−7.8
Majority			1,880	4.8	N/A
Turnout			39,016	78.2	−2.2
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+7.8

General election February 1974: Rossendale

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ronald Bray	16,040	38.4	−14.0
	Labour	Michael Noble	15,243	36.5	−11.1
	Liberal	JA Hamilton	10,478	25.09	New
Majority			797	1.91	−2.9
Turnout			41,761	83.50	+5.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	–1.5

General election October 1974: Rossendale

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Michael Noble	16,156	39.6	+3.1
	Conservative	Ronald Bray	15,953	39.1	+0.7
	Liberal	J.A. Hamilton	8,693	21.3	−3.8
Majority			203	0.5	N/A
Turnout			40,802	80.9	−2.6
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+1.2

General election 1979: Rossendale

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Trippier	20,370	48.0	+8.9
	Labour	Michael Noble	18,497	43.6	+4.0
	Liberal	P. Arnold	3,534	8.3	−13.0
Majority			1,873	4.4	N/A
Turnout			42,401	83.8	+2.9
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+2.5

See also

• Rossendale and Darwen Parliamentary constituency