Bradford Central

Bradford Central
Bradford Central
Former borough constituency; for the House of Commons
County	West Riding of Yorkshire
Major settlements	Bradford
1885–1955
Seats	One
Created from	Bradford
Replaced by	Bradford North (Majority), Bradford East (Part) and Bradford West (Part)

Bradford Central was a parliamentary constituency in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Elections were held under the first-past-the-post voting system.

The constituency was created for the 1885 general election, when the Redistribution of Seats Act split the two-member Bradford constituency into three single-seat divisions. It was abolished for the 1955 general election.

Political history

For most of its existence, Bradford Central was a marginal seat, initially between the Liberal Party and the Conservatives or their Liberal Unionist allies. The Liberals held it for all but eleven of the years from 1885 to 1918, after which it became a Labour-Conservative marginal. Control alternated between Labour and the Conservatives through the 1920s and 1930s, and in 1945 it became a safe seat for Labour.

Boundaries

1885–1918: The Municipal Borough of Bradford wards of Exchange, Lister Hills, Little Horton, North, and West.

1918–1950: The County Borough of Bradford wards of East, Exchange, Manningham, North, South, and West.

1950–1955: The County Borough of Bradford wards of Bradford Moor, Exchange, Manningham, North East, and South.

Members of Parliament

Election	Member^[1]		Notes
1885	William Edward Forster	Liberal	Died April 1886
1886 by-election	George Shaw Lefevre	Liberal	Member for Reading (1863–1885) First Commissioner of Works (1892–1894) President of the Local Government Board (1894–1895)
1895	James Leslie Wanklyn	Liberal Unionist
1906	George Scott Robertson	Liberal	Died January 1916
1916 by-election	James Hill	Liberal
Constituency split, majority formed part of Bradford South, minority joined parts of Bradford East and the abolished Bradford West
1918	Henry Butler Ratcliffe	Unionist
1922	William Leach	Labour	Under-Secretary of State for Air (1924)
1924	Anthony Gadie	Unionist
1929	William Leach	Labour
1931	George Hathaway-Eady	Conservative
1935	William Leach	Labour
1945	Maurice Webb	Labour	Minister of Food (1950–1951) Contested Bradford North following redistribution
1955	Constituency abolished, majority joined Bradford North, minority joined Bradford East and the reformed Bradford West

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

1885 general election: Bradford Central^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	William Edward Forster	5,275	58.6
	Conservative	George Motley Waud	3,732	41.4
Majority			1,543	17.2
Turnout			9,007	79.7
Registered electors			11,297
	Liberal win (new seat)

By-election 21 April 1886: Bradford Central^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	George Shaw Lefevre	4,407	54.9	−3.7
	Conservative	Edward Hoare	3,627	45.1	+3.7
Majority			780	9.8	−4.4
Turnout			8,032	71.1	−8.6
Registered electors			11,297
	Liberal hold

1886 general election: Bradford Central^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	George Shaw Lefevre	4,410	52.7	−2.2
	Liberal Unionist	Charles Norwood	3,951	47.3	+2.2
Majority			459	5.4	−4.4
Turnout			8,361	74.0	+2.9
Registered electors			11,297
	Liberal hold

Elections in the 1890s

1892 general election: Bradford Central^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	George Shaw Lefevre	4,710	52.6	−0.1
	Liberal Unionist	Marquess of Lorne	4,245	47.4	+0.1
Majority			465	5.2	−0.2
Turnout			8,955	78.3	+4.3
Registered electors			11,434
	Liberal hold

By-election, 23 August 1892: Bradford Central^[2]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	George Shaw Lefevre	Unopposed
Registered electors
	Liberal hold

1895 general election: Bradford Central^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	James Leslie Wanklyn	4,024	50.3	+2.9
	Liberal	George Shaw Lefevre	3,983	49.7	−2.9
Majority			41	0.6	N/A
Turnout			7,917	77.6	−0.7
Registered electors			10,316
	Liberal Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+2.9

Elections in the 1900s

1900 general election: Bradford Central^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	James Leslie Wanklyn	4,634	53.6	+3.3
	Liberal	A. Anderton	4,007	46.4	−3.3
Majority			627	7.2	+6.6
Turnout			8,641	82.8	+5.2
Registered electors			10,442
	Liberal Unionist hold

1906 general election: Bradford Central^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	George Scott Robertson	4,954	57.8	+4.2
	Conservative	Vicary Gibbs^[5]	3,614	42.2	−4.2
Majority			1,340	15.6	N/A
Turnout			8,568	85.9	+3.1
Registered electors			9,978
	Liberal gain from Liberal Unionist		Swing	4.2

Elections in the 1910s

January 1910 general election: Bradford Central^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	George Scott Robertson	5,249	59.3	+1.5
	Liberal Unionist	Viscount Howick	3,608	40.7	−1.5
Majority			1,641	18.6	+3.0
Turnout			8,857	89.9	+4.0
Registered electors			9,848
	Liberal hold

December 1910 general election: Bradford Central^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	George Scott Robertson	4,677	58.0	−1.3
	Conservative	G. H. R. Pauling	3,381	42.0	+1.3
Majority			1,296	16.0	−2.6
Turnout			8,058	81.8	−8.1
Registered electors			9,848
	Liberal hold

1916 by-election: Bradford Central^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	Sir James Hill, Bt	Unopposed
Registered electors
	Liberal hold

1918 general election: Bradford Central^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
C	Unionist	Henry Butler Ratcliffe	12,434	51.0
	Labour	William Leach	7,636	31.3
	Liberal	James Hill	4,304	17.7
Majority			4,798	19.7
Turnout			24,374	54.7
Registered electors			44,549
	Unionist win (new boundaries)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

1922 general election: Bradford Central^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William Leach	14,296	42.4	+11.1
	Unionist	Fred Denby Moore	12,171	36.1	−14.9
	Liberal	Rev. William Paxton	7,250	21.5	+3.8
Majority			2,125	6.3	N/A
Turnout			33,717	75.4	+20.7
Registered electors			44,689
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+13.0

1923 general election: Bradford Central^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William Leach	14,241	44.6	+1.8
	Unionist	Jonas Pearson	9,725	30.4	−5.7
	Liberal	Rev. William Paxton	7,973	25.0	+3.5
Majority			4,516	14.2	+7.9
Turnout			31,939	71.0	−4.4
Registered electors			44,991
	Labour hold

1924 general election: Bradford Central^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Anthony Gadie	17,854	51.7	+21.3
	Labour	William Leach	16,652	48.3	+3.7
Majority			1,202	3.4	N/A
Turnout			34,506	76.5	+5.5
Registered electors			45,127
	Unionist gain from Labour		Swing	+8.8

1929 general election: Bradford Central^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William Leach	24,876	59.0	+10.7
	Unionist	Anthony Gadie	17,265	41.0	−10.7
Majority			7,611	18.9	N/A
Turnout			42,141	80.0	+3.5
Registered electors			52,674
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+10.7

Elections in the 1930s

1931 general election: Bradford Central^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Hathaway-Eady	24,986	61.4	+20.4
	Labour	William Leach	15,697	38.6	−20.4
Majority			9,289	22.8	N/A
Turnout			40,673	78.2	−1.8
Registered electors			51,996
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+20.4

1935 general election: Bradford Central^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William Leach	16,397	51.8	+13.2
	Conservative	George Hathaway-Eady	15,241	48.2	−13.2
Majority			1,156	3.6	N/A
Turnout			31,638	66.0	−12.2
Registered electors			47,906
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+13.2

Elections in the 1940s

1945 general election: Bradford Central^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Maurice Webb	16,764	57.5	+6.7
	Conservative	T. L. Dallas	7,776	26.6	−21.6
	Liberal	Peter Edward Trench	4,655	15.9	New
Majority			8,988	30.9	+27.3
Turnout			29,205	76.2	+10.2
Registered electors			38,331
	Labour hold

Elections in the 1950s

1950 general election: Bradford Central^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Maurice Webb	24,822	58.7
	Conservative	T. Boyce	13,375	31.7
	Liberal	Charles Frederick Sarsby	4,063	9.6
Majority			11,447	27.1
Turnout			42,260	84.6
Registered electors			49,935
	Labour win (new boundaries)

1951 general election: Bradford Central^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Maurice Webb	25,215	60.7	+2.0
	Conservative	Arthur Tiley	16,343	39.3	+7.6
Majority			8,872	21.4	−5.7
Turnout			41,558	83.7	−0.9
Registered electors			49,625
	Labour hold

References

↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 4)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1974]. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 79. ISBN 0-900178-27-2.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 99. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
↑ The by-election in 1892 was caused by the appointment of George Shaw-Lefevre to the ministerial post of First Commissioner of Works. Until the 1920s, appointment as a minister required an MP to seek re-election.
↑ Vicary Gibbs had been the MP for St Albans from 1892 to 1904
↑ "UK General Election results February 1950, part 4". Richard Kimber's political science resources. Retrieved 9 July 2010.
↑ "UK General Election results October 1951, part 4". Richard Kimber's political science resources. Retrieved 9 July 2010.

British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (The Macmillan Press 1974)

[1] Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 4)

[craig1885-1918-2] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1974]. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 79. ISBN 0-900178-27-2.

[craig1918-1949-3] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 99. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.

[4] The by-election in 1892 was caused by the appointment of George Shaw-Lefevre to the ministerial post of First Commissioner of Works. Until the 1920s, appointment as a minister required an MP to seek re-election.

[5] Vicary Gibbs had been the MP for St Albans from 1892 to 1904

[kimber-1950-6] "UK General Election results February 1950, part 4". Richard Kimber's political science resources. Retrieved 9 July 2010.

[kimber-1951-7] "UK General Election results October 1951, part 4". Richard Kimber's political science resources. Retrieved 9 July 2010.

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Bradford constituencies
Current	Bradford East (1885–1974, 2010–) Bradford South (1918–) Bradford West (1885–1918, 1955–) Keighley and Ilkley (2024–)¹ Shipley (1885–)
Historic	Bradford (1832–1885) Bradford Central (1885–1955) Bradford North (1918–2010) ¹Known as Keighley from 1885 to 2024