Tyneside (UK Parliament constituency)

Tyneside
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
County	Northumberland
1885–1918
Seats	One
Created from	South Northumberland
Replaced by	Wallsend, Newcastle upon Tyne East, Newcastle upon Tyne West, Wansbeck

Tyneside was a parliamentary constituency in the Tyneside area of north-east England, which returned 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.

The constituency was created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 for the 1885 general election as one of four single-member Divisions of the county of Northumberland,^[1] and abolished for the 1918 general election.

Boundaries

The contents of the county division, as defined by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, were:

The Sessional Division of Castle West (part), the Municipal Boroughs of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and Tynemouth, and the Parish of Wallsend.^[1][2]

NB included non-resident freeholders in the parliamentary boroughs of Newcastle upon Tyne and Tynemouth.

Abolition

On abolition in 1918, the contents of the seat were distributed as follows:

• the majority of the electorate, comprising the municipal borough of Wallsend and the urban districts of Gosforth, Longbenton and Weetslade formed the new Parliamentary Borough of Wallsend;^[3]
• the former urban districts of Walker, and Benwell and Fenham which had been abolished in 1904 and absorbed into the County Borough of Newcastle upon Tyne were included in Newcastle upon Tyne East and West respectively; and
• the urban district of Newburn and surrounding rural areas were transferred to Wansbeck.^[4]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party	Notes
	1885	Albert Grey	Liberal	Elected as a Liberal, but joined the Liberal Unionists when the party split in 1886
	1886	Wentworth Beaumont	Liberal
	1892	Jack Pease	Liberal	One of the Pease family of Darlington
	1900	Hugh Crawford Smith	Liberal Unionist
	1906	J. M. Robertson	Liberal	Journalist, advocate of rationalism and secularism
	1918	constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

Albert Grey

General election 1885: Tyneside^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Albert Grey	5,782	62.7
	Conservative	Gainsford Bruce	3,440	37.3
Majority			2,342	25.4
Turnout			9,222	77.8
Registered electors			11,852
	Liberal win (new seat)

General election 1886: Tyneside^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Wentworth Beaumont	4,112	50.8	−11.9
	Liberal Unionist	Albert Grey	3,990	49.2	+11.9
Majority			122	1.6	−23.8
Turnout			8,102	68.4	−9.4
Registered electors			11,852
	Liberal hold		Swing	−11.9

Elections in the 1890s

Joseph Pease

General election 1892: Tyneside^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Jack Pease	5,468	52.1	+1.3
	Liberal Unionist	Arnold White	5,018	47.9	−1.3
Majority			450	4.2	+2.6
Turnout			10,486	76.4	+8.0
Registered electors			13,727
	Liberal hold		Swing	+1.3

General election 1895: Tyneside^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Jack Pease	6,066	51.9	−0.2
	Liberal Unionist	Arnold White	5,631	48.1	+0.2
Majority			435	3.8	−0.4
Turnout			11,697	78.3	+1.9
Registered electors			14,932
	Liberal hold		Swing	-0.2

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: Tyneside^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Hugh Crawford Smith	7,093	51.3	+3.2
	Liberal	Jack Pease	6,730	48.7	−3.2
Majority			363	2.6	N/A
Turnout			13,823	74.9	−3.4
Registered electors			18,460
	Liberal Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+3.2

J. M. Robertson

General election 1906: Tyneside^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	J. M. Robertson	11,496	62.5	+13.8
	Conservative	James Knott	6,885	37.5	−13.8
Majority			4,611	25.0	N/A
Turnout			18,381	79.3	+4.4
Registered electors			23,167
	Liberal gain from Liberal Unionist		Swing	+13.8

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: Tyneside^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	J. M. Robertson	13,158	62.8	+0.3
	Conservative	Alfred Cochrane	7,807	37.2	−0.3
Majority			5,351	25.6	+0.6
Turnout			20,965	81.5	+2.2
Registered electors			25,711
	Liberal hold		Swing	+0.3

General election December 1910: Tyneside^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	J. M. Robertson	11,693	63.0	+0.2
	Conservative	Helenus Macaulay Robertson	6,857	37.0	−0.2
Majority			4,836	26.0	+0.4
Turnout			18,550	72.1	−9.4
Registered electors			25,711
	Liberal hold		Swing	+0.2

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: J. M. Robertson
• Unionist:

See also

• History of parliamentary constituencies and boundaries in Northumberland

References

1. Great Britain, Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales. The public general acts. unknown library. Proprietors of the Law Journal Reports, 1884. p. 167.
2. "HMSO Boundary Commission Report 1885 Northumberland".
3. Fraser, Hugh (1918). The Representation of the people act, 1918 : with explanatory notes. University of California Libraries. London : Sweet and Maxwell. p. 460.
4. Fraser, Hugh (1918). The Representation of the people act, 1918 : with explanatory notes. University of California Libraries. London : Sweet and Maxwell. p. 517.
5. Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885-1918. London: Macmillan Press. p. 363. ISBN 9781349022984.

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "T" (part 2)