Oldham was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Oldham, England. It returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The constituency was created by the Reform Act 1832 and was abolished for the 1950 general election when it was split into the Oldham East and Oldham West constituencies.
The Oldham constituency was where Winston Churchill began his political career. Although taking two attempts to succeed, in the 1900 general election Churchill was elected as the member of Parliament for Oldham. He held the constituency for the Conservative Party until he defected from them in defence of free trade in 1904. He then represented the Liberal Party as MP for the seat until the 1906 general election.
Contents
Boundaries
Though centred on Oldham (the town), the constituency covered a much broader territory; Shaw and Crompton, Royton, Chadderton and Lees all formed part of this district, though these were each granted individual urban district status at a local government level in 1894.
1885–1918: The existing parliamentary borough, and so much of the municipal borough of Oldham as was not already included in the parliamentary borough.
Members of Parliament
Notes:-
a J M Cobbett's political affiliations are complicated. He had stood unsuccessfully on an all-Radical 'plague on both your houses' slate with John Fielden in 1847. He was elected in 1852 as the Radical half of an explicit Radical-Tory alliance. At the 1857 election he was opposed by two Liberals and denied that he had sold out to Palmerston, asserting that the Liberal Chief Whip had no confidence in him. In 1865 he stood unsuccessfully in conjunction with a Conservative, opposed by two Liberals. Nonetheless, from 1852 to 1865 outside Oldham he was generally taken to be a Liberal. From 1872 to his death in 1877 he sat as a Conservative (but one calling for annual Parliaments and manhood suffrage)
b Churchill changed his party allegiance in April 1904.
c Denniss changed his surname to Bartley-Denniss, when he was knighted in 1922.
Elections
Elections in the 1830s
Cobbett's death caused a by-election.
Elections in the 1850s
Duncuft's death caused a by-election.
Platt's death caused a by-election.
Elections in the 1860s
Fox's resignation caused a by-election.
Elections in the 1870s
Platt's death caused a by-election.
Cobbett's death caused a by-election.
Elections in the 1890s
Ascroft’s death and Oswald's resignation caused a by-election.
Elections in the 1910s
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: W. H. Sumnervell
Unionist: John Radcliffe Platt, Edmund Bartley-Denniss
Labour: William C. Robinson
Elections in the 1930s
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: Hamilton Kerr
Liberal National: John Dodd
Labour: Leslie Hale, D A Mainds
Liberal: James Taylor Middleton