Sunderland (UK Parliament constituency)

Sunderland was a borough constituency of the House of Commons, created by the Reform Act 1832 for the 1832 general election. It elected two Members of Parliament (MP) by the bloc vote system of election until it was split into single-member seats of Sunderland North and Sunderland South for the 1950 general election.

Members of Parliament

Election results

Elections in the 1900s

W.T. Doxford

Alexander Wilkie

General Election 1900: Sunderland^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Y William Theodore Doxford	9,617	25.7
	Conservative	Y John Stapylton Grey Pemberton	9,566	25.6
	Liberal	George Burton Hunter	9,370	25.1
	Labour	Alexander Wilkie	8,842	23.6
Majority			196	0.5
Turnout				78.3
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing

• some records describe Wilkie as Liberal-Labour

James Stuart

General Election 1906: Sunderland

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Y James Stuart	13,620	32.2
	Labour	Y Thomas Summerbell	13,430	31.9
	Conservative	DH Haggle	7,879	18.7
	Conservative	John Stapylton Grey Pemberton	7,244	17.2
Majority			5,551	13.2
Turnout				85.5
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election January 1910: Sunderland^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Independent Conservative	Y *Samuel Storey	12,334	26.2
	Conservative	Y James Knott	12,270	26.0
	Liberal	Rt Hon. James Stuart	11,529	24.4
	Labour	Thomas Summerbell	11,058	23.4
Majority			805	1.8
Turnout				87.2
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing
	Independent Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing

• Storey stood as "Independent Tariff Reform" but was fully supported by local Conservative Association

Greenwood

General Election December 1910: Sunderland^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Y Hamar Greenwood	11,997
	Labour	Y Frank Walter Goldstone	11,291
	Conservative	William Joynson-Hicks	10,300
	Conservative	Samuel Samuel	10,132
Majority
Turnout
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing

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: Hamar Greenwood
• Labour: Frank Walter Goldstone
• Unionist:

• endorsed by Coalition Government

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1923: Sunderland ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	YWalter Raine	23,497	19.9
	Unionist	YLuke Thompson	23,379	19.8
	Liberal	Lawrence Andrew Common	22,438	19.0	+7.3
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Sir Hamar Greenwood	22,034	18.6
	Labour	David Baxter Lawley	13,707	11.6	-0.6
	Labour	Thomas William Gillinder	13,184	11.1	-1.0
Majority			1,905	1.1
Turnout				77.9
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1924^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	YLuke Thompson	28,612	25.4	+5.6
	Unionist	YWalter Raine	28,608	25.3	+5.4
	Labour	J. MacVeagh	21,823	19.3	+7.7
	Liberal	Lawrence Andrew Common	20,139	17.8	-1.2
	Liberal	Ian Campbell Hannah	13,731	12.2	-6.4
Turnout				84.6	+6.7
Majority			6,785	6.0	+5.2
	Unionist hold		Swing
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing

General Election 1929: Sunderland ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	YMarion Phillips	31,794	19.5	+0.2
	Labour	YAlfred Smith	31,085	19.0	-0.3
	Unionist	Sir Walter Raine	29,180	17.9	-7.4
	Unionist	Luke Thompson	28,937	17.7	-7.7
	Liberal	Elizabeth Trebelle Morgan	21,300	13.0	-4.8
	Liberal	Sir John William Pratt	21,142	12.9	+0.7
Majority			1,905	1.1	7.1
Turnout				81.1	-3.5
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing

Elections in the 1930s

Sunderland by-election, 1931 ^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Y Luke Thompson	30,497	40.3
	Labour	James Thomas Brownlie	30,074	39.8
	Liberal	Elizabeth Trebelle Morgan	15,020	19.9
Majority			423	0.5
Turnout				73.1
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General Election 1931: Sunderland

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Y Luke Thompson	53,386	32.3
	Conservative	Y Samuel Storey, jr.	52,589	31.80
	Labour	Marion Phillips	29,707	18.0
	Labour	Denis Nowell Pritt	29,680	17.9
Majority			22,882	13.8
Turnout				81.1
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General Election 1935: Sunderland

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal National	Y Stephen Noel Furness	49,001	30.2
	Conservative	Y Samuel Storey, jr.	48,760	30.0
	Labour	George Edward Gordon Catlin	32,483	20.0
	Labour	Elizabeth Leah Manning	32,059	19.8
Majority			16,277	10.0
Turnout				79.0
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Liberal National gain from Conservative		Swing

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 and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected;

• Conservative: Samuel Storey, jr.
• Liberal National: Stephen Noel Furness
• Labour: Thomas Frederick Peart, Frederick Thomas Willey ^[11]

General Election 1945: Sunderland

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Y Frederick Thomas Willey	38,769	28.1
	Labour	Y Richard Ewart	36,711	26.6
	Liberal National	Stephen Noel Furness	29,366	21.3
	Conservative	Samuel Storey, jr.	28,579	20.7
	Communist	T.A. Richardson	4,501	3.3
Majority			7,345	5.90
Turnout				77.2
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing
	Labour gain from Liberal National		Swing

References

• Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X. 
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 6)