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.

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 Election1st Member 1st Party2nd Member 2nd Party 1832 John Fielden Radical William Cobbett Radical 1835 by-election John Frederick Lees Conservative 1837 William Augustus Johnson Radical"an ultra-Radical of Cobbettite opinions" - 1847 William Johnson Fox Radical John Duncuft Peelite 1852 John Morgan Cobbetta Radical 1852 by-election William Johnson Fox Radical 1857 James Platt Radical 1857 by-election William Johnson Fox Radical 1859 Liberal Liberal 1862 by-election J. T. Hibbert Liberal 1865 John Platt Liberal 1872 by-election John Morgan Cobbett a Conservative 1874 Frederick Spinks Conservative 1877 by-election J. T. Hibbert Liberal 1880 Hon. Edward Stanley Liberal 1885 James Mackenzie Maclean Conservative 1886 Elliott Lees Conservative 1892 Joshua Milne Cheetham Liberal J. T. Hibbert Liberal 1895 Robert Ascroft Conservative James Francis Oswald Conservative 1899 by-election Rt Hon. Alfred Emmott Liberal Walter Runciman Liberal 1900 Winston Churchill b Conservative 1904 Liberal 1906 John Albert Bright Liberal 1910 (Jan) Sir William Barton Liberal 1911 by-election Edmund Bartley-Denniss c Conservative 1916 Coalition Liberal 1921 Liberal 1922 William John Tout Labour Sir Edward Grigg National Liberal 1923 Liberal 1924 Duff Cooper Conservative 1925 by-election William Wiggins Liberal 1929 Rev. Gordon Lang Labour James Wilson Labour 1931 Anthony Crossley Conservative Hamilton Kerr Conservative 1935 John Dodd National Liberal 1945 Frank Fairhurst Labour Leslie Hale Labour1950 Multi member constituency abolished - see Oldham East and Oldham West

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 1840s

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 1880s

Elections in the 1890s

Ascroft’s death and Oswald's resignation caused a by-election.

Elections in the 1900s

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 1920s

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 MaindsReport of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939 Liberal: James Taylor MiddletonThe Liberal Magazine, 1939

Elections in the 1940s

References

Sources Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885–1972, compiled and edited by F. W. S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972) British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (The Macmillan Press 1977) British Parliamentary Election Results 1885–1918, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press 1974) British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press, revised edition 1977) Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume I 1832–1885, edited by M. Stenton (The Harvester Press 1976) Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume II 1886–1918, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (Harvester Press 1978) Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume III 1919–1945, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (Harvester Press 1979) Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume IV 1945–1979, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (Harvester Press 1981)