Wakefield (UK Parliament constituency)

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Wakefield County constituency
Wakefield shown within West Yorkshire, and West Yorkshire shown within England
Created:	1832
MP:	Mary Creagh
Party:	Labour
Type:	House of Commons
County:	West Yorkshire
EP constituency:	Yorkshire and the Humber

Wakefield is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

[edit] Boundaries

The constituency is a very odd shape; it covers three-quarters of the West Yorkshire city of Wakefield and a number of villages to the south-west of the city. "Wakefield South" ward is not included in the seat; this is the most affluent part of the city, yet is included in the ultra-Labour seat of Hemsworth.

The city part of the seat has a very high density of council housing. Combined with a history of coal-mining, this has led the seat to be continuously Labour. However, the "Wakefield West" ward has unexpectedly returned Conservatives in the last three elections.

The rural part of the seat includes several well-known villages: Netherton - often mentioned during the 1984-5 miners' strike, as it contained two pits, one of which was threatened with accelerated closure; Denby Dale, which is famous for its pies and festivals; Emley, which has a large tower. Other settlements include Kirkburton, Woolley, Middlestown, Overton, Durkar, Crigglestone, Clayton West and Skelmanthorpe. The rural wards - "Wakefield Rural", "Denby Dale" and "Kirkburton" - are usually Tory in local elections. However, there are so many old pit sites in the area that there is a large number of ex-miners in the area who sometimes secure Labour victories. The National Coal Mining Museum for England is situated within the seat; it was formerly known as Caphouse Colliery before its 1985 closure.

[edit] Members of Parliament

• 1832 — 1837: Daniel Gaskell, Liberal
• 1837 — 1841: William Saunders Sebright Lascelles, Conservative
• 1841 — 1842: Joseph Holdsworth, Liberal (unseated on petition)
• 1842 — 1847: William Saunders Sebright Lascelles, Conservative
• 1847 — 1857: George Sandars, Conservative
• 1857 — 1859: John Charlesworth Dodgson-Charlesworth, Conservative
• 1859 — 1862: Both candidates disqualified for bribery, and borough went unrepresented until new writ issued
• 1862 — 1865: John Charles Dalrymple Hay, Conservative
• 1865 — 1868: William Henry Leatham, Liberal
• 1868 — 1874: Somerset Archibald Beaumont, Liberal
• 1874: Edward Green, Conservative (unseated on petition)
• 1874 — 1880: Thomas Kemp Sanderson, Conservative
• 1880 — 1885: Robert Bownas Mackie, Liberal
• 1885 — 1892: Edward Green, Conservative
• 1892 — 1895: Albany Hawkes Charlesworth, Conservative
• 1895 — 1902: William Wentworth-FitzWilliam, 7th Earl FitzWilliam, Conservative
• 1902 — 1910: Edward Allen Brotherton, Conservative
• 1910 — 1918: Arthur Harold Marshall, Liberal
• 1918 — 1922: Edward Allen Brotherton, Conservative
• 1922 — 1923: Robert Geoffrey Ellis, Conservative
• 1923 — 1924: George Henry Sherwood, Labour
• 1924 — 1929: Robert Geoffrey Ellis, Conservative
• 1929 — 1931: George Henry Sherwood, Labour
• 1931 — 1932: George Brown Hillman, Conservative
• 1932 — 1954: Arthur Greenwood, Labour
• 1954 — 1964: Arthur Creech Jones, Labour (by-election following the death of Greenwood)
• 1964 — 1987: Walter Harrison, Labour
• 1987 — 2005: David Hinchliffe, Labour
• 2005 — present: Mary Creagh, Labour

[edit] Elections

[edit] See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in West Yorkshire

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