Hemsworth (UK Parliament constituency)

Hemsworth
Hemsworth
Former county constituency; for the House of Commons
	2010–2024 boundary of Hemsworth in West Yorkshire
	Location of West Yorkshire within England
County	West Yorkshire
Electorate	74,001 (December 2019)
Major settlements	South Wakefield, Hemsworth and Featherstone
1918–2024
Seats	One
Created from	Barnsley, Normanton and Osgoldcross
Replaced by	Normanton and Hemsworth; Ossett and Denby Dale (minor part);

Hemsworth was a constituency^{[n 1]} in West Yorkshire represented in the House of Commons since 1996 by Jon Trickett of the Labour Party.^{[n 2]}

Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat was subjected to moderate boundary changes and reformed as Normanton and Hemsworth, to be first contested at the 2024 general election.^[2]

Constituency profile

The constituency comprises former coal mining towns and villages that also provided some of the workforce for the manufacturing bases of the town of Barnsley to the south and cities of Wakefield and Leeds to the northwest. Many constituents still commute to these today. Nearby to the east over the border in North Yorkshire is Kellingley Colliery, which closed on 18 December 2015, marking the end of deep-pit coal mining in Britain.^[3] It is one of the Labour Party's longest held seats, having elected its first Labour MP in 1918, and been in continuous existence since that date.

History

From the 1966 to February 1974 general elections (inclusive), Hemsworth was the safest seat for any party in the UK: the Labour vote had peaked in 1966 at 85.39%^[4] and consistently exceeded 80% from 1935 until October 1974 when the Liberal Party contested the seat for the first time since 1923. Successive boundary changes removed certain ex-mining communities to the new Barnsley East constituency in 1983: this and the addition of the more Conservative-inclined ward of Wakefield South in 1997 slightly reduced Labour's dominance, but Hemsworth remained a safe seat in the 2017 election. However, in 2019 the majority was cut from over 10,000 to just 1,180 as Labour's vote collapsed in Northern former mining seats, making it marginal for future elections.

Boundaries

Map of boundaries 2010–2024

1918–1950: The Urban Districts of Cudworth and Royston, the Rural District of Hemsworth, and part of the Rural District of Barnsley.

1950–1955: The Urban Districts of Cudworth, Dearne, Hemsworth, and Royston, and the Rural District of Hemsworth.^[5]

1955–1983: The Urban Districts of Cudworth, Dearne, and Hemsworth, and the Rural District of Hemsworth.^[6]

1983–1997: The City of Wakefield wards of Crofton and Ackworth; Featherstone; Hemsworth; South Elmsall; and South Kirkby.

1997–2010: The City of Wakefield wards of Crofton and Ackworth; Featherstone; Hemsworth; South Elmsall; South Kirkby; and Wakefield South.

2010–2024: The City of Wakefield wards of Ackworth, North Elmsall and Upton; Crofton, Ryhill and Walton; Featherstone; Hemsworth; South Elmsall and South Kirkby; and Wakefield South.

This constituency covered the towns of Hemsworth, Featherstone, South Kirkby & Moorthorpe and South Elmsall, plus the southern part of Wakefield (Sandal, Agbrigg, Belle Vue) and the villages of Ackworth, Crofton, Fitzwilliam, Upton, Sharlston, Streethouse, Walton and Notton in the City of Wakefield district.

Members of Parliament

	Member^[7]	Party
1918	John Guest	Labour
1931	Gabriel Price	Labour
1934 by-election	George Griffiths	Labour
1946 by-election	Horace Holmes	Labour
1959	Alan Beaney	Labour
Feb 1974	Alec Woodall	Labour
1987	George Buckley	Labour
1991 by-election	Derek Enright	Labour
1996 by-election	Jon Trickett	Labour
2024	Constituency abolished

Election results 1918–2024

Elections in the 1910s

General election 1918: Hemsworth^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	John Guest	8,102	55.5
C	Unionist	Joshua Scholefield (barrister)	6,490	44.5
Majority			1,612	11.0
Turnout			14,592	58.0
	Labour win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Hemsworth^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Guest	14,295	63.2	+7.7
	National Liberal	Frank William Crossley-Holland	8,317	36.8	New
Majority			5,978	26.4	+15.4
Turnout			22.612	76.3	+18.3
	Labour hold

General election 1923: Hemsworth ^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Guest	13,159	70.1	+6.9
	Liberal	Huw Conway-Jones	5,624	29.9	New
Majority			7,535	40.2	+13.8
Turnout			18,683	61.3	−15.0
	Labour hold

General election 1924: Hemsworth^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Guest	15,593	69.3	−0.8
	Unionist	H. R. Brown	6,902	30.7	N/A
Majority			8,691	38.6	−1.6
Turnout			22,495	69.7	+8.4
	Labour hold

General election 1929: Hemsworth^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Guest	26,075	79.9	+10.6
	Unionist	R. A. Broughton	6,578	20.1	−10.6
Majority			19,497	59.8	+21.2
Turnout			32,653	75.8	+6.1
	Labour hold		Swing	+10.6

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Hemsworth^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Gabriel Price	23,609	70.5	−9.4
	Unionist	William Garthwaite	9,867	29.5	+9.4
Majority			13,742	41.0	−18.8
Turnout			33,476	72.9	−2.9
	Labour hold		Swing	−9.4

1934 Hemsworth by-election^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Griffiths	Unopposed
	Labour hold

General election 1935: Hemsworth^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Griffiths	28,298	80.1	+9.6
	Conservative	Francis Howard Collier	7,032	19.9	−9.6
Majority			21,266	60.2	+19.2
Turnout			35,330	72.3	−0.6
	Labour hold		Swing	+9.6

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;

Labour: George Griffiths
Conservative:

Elections in the 1940s

General election 1945: Hemsworth^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Griffiths	33,984	81.4	+1.3
	Conservative	Robert William Palliser Dawson	7,778	18.6	−1.3
Majority			26,206	62.8	+2.6
Turnout			41,762	80.8	+8.5
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.3

1946 Hemsworth by-election^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Horace Holmes	Unopposed
	Labour hold

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Hemsworth^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Horace Holmes	47,934	82.38	+1.0
	National Liberal	Jean Patricia Asquith	10,254	17.62	N/A
Majority			37,680	64.76	+2.0
Turnout			58,188	88.21	+7.4
	Labour hold

General election 1951: Hemsworth
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Horace Holmes	47,402	82.71	+0.3
	Conservative	Wilf Proudfoot	9,911	17.29	N/A
Majority			37,491	65.42	+0.4
Turnout			57,313	85.07	−3.1
	Labour hold

General election 1955: Hemsworth
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Horace Holmes	42,603	83.27	+0.6
	Conservative	William Henry Leay	8,561	16.73	−0.6
Majority			34,042	66.54	+1.1
Turnout			51,164	79.87	−5.2
	Labour hold		Swing	+0.6

General election 1959: Hemsworth
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alan Beaney	45,153	82.18	−1.1
	Conservative	William Henry Leay	9,788	17.82	+1.1
Majority			35,365	64.36	−2.2
Turnout			54,941	83.62	+3.8
	Labour hold		Swing	−1.1

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Hemsworth
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alan Beaney	42,528	83.07	+0.9
	Conservative	John RM Keatley	8,667	16.93	−0.9
Majority			33,861	66.14	+1.8
Turnout			51,195	78.81	−4.8
	Labour hold		Swing	+0.9

General election 1966: Hemsworth
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alan Beaney	41,887	85.39	+2.3
	Conservative	Sir Charles William Richards Pickthorn, 2nd Baronet	7,165	14.61	−2.3
Majority			34,722	70.78	+4.6
Turnout			49,052	76.02	−2.8
	Labour hold		Swing	+2.3

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Hemsworth
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alan Beaney	40,013	80.76	−4.6
	Conservative	Michael C Tucker	9,534	19.24	+4.6
Majority			30,479	61.52	−9.3
Turnout			49,547	71.89	−4.1
	Labour hold		Swing	−4.6

General election February 1974: Hemsworth
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alec Woodall	44,093	82.81	+2.1
	Conservative	RF Kerr	9,152	17.19	−2.1
Majority			34,941	65.62	+4.1
Turnout			53,245	77.13	+5.2
	Labour hold		Swing	+2.1

General election October 1974: Hemsworth
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alec Woodall	37,467	76.51	−6.3
	Conservative	P Carvis	5,895	12.04	−5.2
	Liberal	R Taylor	5,607	11.45	New
Majority			31,572	64.47	−1.2
Turnout			48,969	70.15	−7.0
	Labour hold		Swing	−0.6

General election 1979: Hemsworth
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alec Woodall	36,509	69.61	−6.9
	Conservative	John Whitfield	10,466	19.95	+7.9
	Liberal	T Fussey	5,474	10.44	−1.0
Majority			26,043	49.66	−14.8
Turnout			52,449	73.27	+3.1
	Labour hold		Swing	−7.4

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1983: Hemsworth^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alec Woodall	22,081	59.3	−10.3
	Liberal	John Wooffindin	7,891	21.2	+10.8
	Conservative	David Williamson	7,291	19.6	−0.3
Majority			14,190	38.1	−10.6
Turnout			37,263	68.6	−4.7
	Labour hold

General election 1987: Hemsworth^[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Buckley	27,859	67.0	+7.7
	Conservative	Edward Garnier	7,159	17.2	−2.4
	Liberal	John Wooffindin	6,568	15.8	−5.4
Majority			20,700	49.8	+11.7
Turnout			41,586	75.7	+7.1
	Labour hold

Elections in the 1990s

1991 Hemsworth by-election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Derek Enright	15,895	66.3	−0.7
	Liberal Democrats	Valerie Megson	4,808	20.1	+4.3
	Conservative	Garnet Harrison	2,512	10.5	−6.7
	Independent Labour	Paul Ablett	648	2.7	New
	Corrective Party	Timothy Smith	108	0.5	New
Majority			11,097	46.3	−3.5
Turnout			23,971
	Labour hold		Swing	+3.0

General election 1992: Hemsworth^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Derek Enright	29,942	70.8	+3.8
	Conservative	Garnet Harrison	7,867	18.6	+1.4
	Liberal Democrats	Valerie Megson	4,459	10.5	−5.3
Majority			22,075	52.2	+2.4
Turnout			42,268	75.9	+0.2
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.2

1996 Hemsworth by-election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jon Trickett	15,817	71.9	+1.1
	Conservative	Norman Hazell	1,942	8.8	−9.8
	Liberal Democrats	David Ridgeway	1,516	6.9	−3.6
	Socialist Labour	Brenda Nixon	1,193	5.4	New
	Monster Raving Loony	Screaming Lord Sutch	652	3.0	New
	UKIP	Peter Davies	455	2.1	New
	Green	Peg Alexander	157	0.7	New
	Independent	Mark Thomas	122	0.6	New
	National Democrats	Michael Cooper	111	0.5	New
	Natural Law	Dianne Leighton	28	0.1	New
Majority			13,875	63.1	+10.9
Turnout			21,993	39.5	−36.4
	Labour hold		Swing	+5.45

General election 1997: Hemsworth^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jon Trickett	32,088	70.6	+6.8 '"`UNIQ−−ref−00000054−QINU`"'
	Conservative	Norman Hazell	8,096	17.8	−8.0 '"`UNIQ−−ref−00000055−QINU`"'
	Liberal Democrats	Jacqueline Kirby	4,033	8.9	−1.5 '"`UNIQ−−ref−00000056−QINU`"'
	Referendum	Derek Irvine	1,260	2.8	New
Majority			23,992	52.8	+14.8 '"`UNIQ−−ref−00000057−QINU`"'
Turnout			45,477	67.9	−8.0
	Labour hold		Swing	+7.4 ^[14]

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2001: Hemsworth^[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jon Trickett	23,036	65.4	−5.2
	Conservative	Liz Truss	7,400	21.0	+3.2
	Liberal Democrats	Ed Waller	3,990	11.3	+2.4
	Socialist Labour	Paul Turek	801	2.3	New
Majority			15,636	44.4	−8.4
Turnout			35,227	51.8	−16.1
	Labour hold		Swing	-4.2

General election 2005: Hemsworth^[16]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jon Trickett	21,630	58.8	−6.6
	Conservative	Jonathan Mortimer	8,149	22.1	+1.1
	Liberal Democrats	David Hall-Matthews	5,766	15.7	+4.4
	Veritas	John Burdon	1,247	3.4	New
Majority			13,481	36.7	−7.7
Turnout			36,792	54.6	+2.8
	Labour hold		Swing	−3.85

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2010: Hemsworth^[17]^[18]^[19]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jon Trickett	20,506	46.8	−11.9
	Conservative	Ann Myatt	10,662	24.3	+2.2
	Liberal Democrats	Alan Belmore	5,667	12.9	−2.8
	Independent	Ian Womersley	3,946	9.0	New
	BNP	Ian Kitchen	3,059	7.0	New
Majority			9,844	22.5	−14.1
Turnout			43,840	60.4	+6.1
	Labour hold		Swing	-7.0

General election 2015: Hemsworth^[20]^[21]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jon Trickett	21,772	51.3	+4.5
	Conservative	Christopher Pearson	9,694	22.9	−1.4
	UKIP	Steve Ashton	8,565	20.2	New
	Liberal Democrats	Mary MacQueen	1,357	3.2	−9.7
	Yorkshire	Martin Roberts	1,018	2.4	New
Majority			12,078	28.4	+5.9
Turnout			42,406	58.3	−2.1
	Labour hold		Swing	-2.95

General election 2017: Hemsworth^[22]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jon Trickett	25,740	56.0	+4.7
	Conservative	Mike Jordan	15,566	33.9	+11.0
	UKIP	David Dews	2,591	5.6	−14.6
	Yorkshire	Martin Roberts	1,135	2.5	+0.1
	Liberal Democrats	Mary MacQueen	912	2.0	−1.2
Majority			10,174	22.1	−6.3
Turnout			45,944	63.9	+5.6
	Labour hold		Swing	-3.15

General election 2019: Hemsworth ^[23]^[24]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jon Trickett	16,460	37.5	−18.5
	Conservative	Louise Calland	15,280	34.8	+0.9
	Brexit Party	Waj Ali	5,930	13.5	New
	Independent	Ian Womersley	2,458	5.6	New
	Liberal Democrats	James Monaghan	1,734	3.9	+1.9
	Yorkshire	Martin Roberts	964	2.2	−0.3
	Green	Lyn Morton	916	2.1	New
	Independent	Pete Wilks	165	0.4	New
Majority			1,180	2.7	−19.4
Turnout			43,907	59.6	−4.3
	Labour hold		Swing	-9.7

Notes

^ A county constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
^ As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.

References

^ "Constituency data: electorates – House of Commons Library". Parliament UK. 15 June 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
^ "The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England – Volume one: Report – Yorkshire and the Humber | Boundary Commission for England". boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk. Retrieved 5 August 2023.
^ Yorkshire Evening Post, 11 December 2015
^ "Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources: UK General Election results March 1966". Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 15 February 2007.
^ "Representation of the People Act 1948: Schedule 1", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1948 c. 65 (sch. 1), retrieved 23 July 2023
^ "The Parliamentary Constituencies (Wakefield and Hemsworth) Order 1955. SI 1955/175". Statutory Instruments 1955. Part II. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. 1956. pp. 2177–2178.
^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "H" (part 2)
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j British parliamentary election results 1918–1949, FWS Craig
^ The Times' Guide to the House of Commons. 1950.
^ "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
^ "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
^ "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
^ "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e From 1992 notional result
^ "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
^ "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
^ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
^ http://www.wakefield.gov.uk/CouncilAndDemocracy/ElectoralServices/Elections/generalcandidates.htm^{[permanent dead link]}
^ "UK > England > Yorkshire & the Humber > Hemsworth". Election 2010. BBC. 7 May 2010. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
^ "Hemsworth". BBC News. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
^ "Hemsworth parliamentary constituency – Election 2017" – via www.bbc.co.uk.
^ "Error" (PDF).
^ "Hemsworth Parliamentary constituency, 2019". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 16 December 2019.

Sources

Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.

External links

Hemsworth UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) at MapIt UK
Hemsworth UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at MapIt UK

[2] A county constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)

[3] As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.

[1] "Constituency data: electorates – House of Commons Library". Parliament UK. 15 June 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2020.

[4] "The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England – Volume one: Report – Yorkshire and the Humber | Boundary Commission for England". boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk. Retrieved 5 August 2023.

[5] Yorkshire Evening Post, 11 December 2015

[Kimber1966-6] "Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources: UK General Election results March 1966". Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 15 February 2007.

[7] "Representation of the People Act 1948: Schedule 1", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1948 c. 65 (sch. 1), retrieved 23 July 2023

[8] "The Parliamentary Constituencies (Wakefield and Hemsworth) Order 1955. SI 1955/175". Statutory Instruments 1955. Part II. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. 1956. pp. 2177–2178.

[9] Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "H" (part 2)

[ReferenceA-10] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j British parliamentary election results 1918–1949, FWS Craig

[11] The Times' Guide to the House of Commons. 1950.

[electoralcalculus1983-12] "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

[electoralcalculus1987-13] "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

[electoralcalculus1992-14] "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

[electoralcalculus1997-15] "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

[from_1992_result-16] From 1992 notional result

[electoralcalculus2001-17] "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

[electoralcalculus2005-18] "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

[electoralcalculus2010-19] "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.

[20] ttp://www.wakefield.gov.uk/CouncilAndDemocracy/ElectoralServices/Elections/generalcandidates.htm^{[permanent dead link]}

[21] "UK > England > Yorkshire & the Humber > Hemsworth". Election 2010. BBC. 7 May 2010. Retrieved 12 May 2010.

[electoralcalculus-22] "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.

[2015_result-23] "Hemsworth". BBC News. Retrieved 13 May 2015.

[24] "Hemsworth parliamentary constituency – Election 2017" – via www.bbc.co.uk.

[Statement_of_persons_nominated-25] "Error" (PDF).

[26] "Hemsworth Parliamentary constituency, 2019". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 16 December 2019.

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