Bolton was a borough constituency centred on the town of Bolton in the county of Lancashire. It returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons for the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the bloc vote system.
Created by the Reform Act 1832, it was represented by two Members of Parliament. The constituency was abolished in 1950, being split into single-member divisions of Bolton East and Bolton West.
Members of Parliament
Election1st member1st party2nd member2nd party 1832 Robert Torrens Whig William BollingTory 1834 Conservative 1835 Peter Ainsworth Whig 1837 1841 John Bowring Radical 1847 William Bolling Conservative 1848 by-election Stephen Blair Conservative 1849 by-election Sir Joshua Walmsley Radicals 1852 Thomas Barnes Radical Joseph Crook Radical 1857 William Gray Conservative 1859Liberal 1861 by-election Thomas Barnes Liberal 1865 1868 John Hick Conservative 1874 John Kynaston Cross Liberal 1880 John Pennington Thomasson Liberal 1885 Herbert Shepherd-Cross Unionist Francis Bridgeman Unionist 1886 1892 1895 Conservative George Harwood Liberal 1900 1906 Alfred Henry Gill Labour Jan 1910 Dec 1910 1912 by-election Thomas Taylor Liberal 1914 by-election Robert Tootill Labour 1916 by-election William Edge Liberal Dec 1916 Coalition Liberal 1922 William Russell Conservative National Liberal 1923 Sir Herbert Cunliffe Conservative Albert Law Labour 1924 Cecil Hilton Unionist 1929 Michael Brothers Labour Albert Law Labour 1931 Sir John Haslam Conservative Sir Cyril Entwistle Conservative 1935 1940 by-election Sir Edward Cadogan Conservative 1945 John Henry Jones Labour John Lewis Labour1950 constituency abolished: see Bolton East & Bolton West
Boundaries 1832–1885: The township of Great Bolton, Little Bolton, and Haulgh, except the detached part of the township of Little Bolton which was situate to the north of the town of Bolton.
1885–1918: The existing parliamentary borough, and so much of the municipal borough of Bolton as was not already included in the parliamentary borough.
Elections 1840s – 1850s – 1860s – 1870s – 1880s – 1890s – 1900s – 1910s – 1920s – 1930s – 1940s – References
Winning candidates are highlighted in bold.
Elections in the 1830s
Elections in the 1840s
Bolling's death caused a by-election.
Bowring resigned after being appointed Consul-General at Canton, China, causing a by-election.
Elections in the 1850s
Elections in the 1860s Crook's resignation caused a by-election.
Elections in the 1870s
Elections in the 1880s
Elections in the 1890s
Elections in the 1900s
Elections in the 1910s
Harwood's death causes a by-election.
Gill's death caused a by-election.
Taylor's resignation causes a by-election.
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: Thomas Taylor Labour: Robert Tootill Unionist: Thomas Clarke Pilling Gibbons
Elections in the 1920s
Elections in the 1930s
Elections in the 1940s 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 from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected; Conservative: Cyril Entwistle, John Haslam Labour: E Mellor
However, in the by-election held in 1940 no other parties contested the seat due to the War-time electoral pact meaning that the Conservative candidate Edward Cadogan was elected unopposed.
References