Manchester Moss Side (UK Parliament constituency)

Manchester Moss Side
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
1918–1983
Seats	one
Replaced by	Stretford, Manchester Withington, Manchester Central and Manchester Gorton

Manchester Moss Side was a parliamentary constituency in the Moss Side area of the city of Manchester. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system.

The constituency was created for the 1918 general election and abolished for the 1983 general election.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1918	Gerald Berkeley Hurst	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1923	Thomas Raven Ackroyd	Liberal
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1924	Sir Gerald Berkeley Hurst	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1935	William Duckworth	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1945	William Griffiths	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1950	Florence Horsbrugh	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1959	James Watts	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1961 by-election	Frank Taylor	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Feb 1974	Frank Hatton	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1978 by-election	George Morton	Labour
1983		constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1918: Manchester Moss Side

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Gerald Berkeley Hurst	10,621	65.0	N/A
	Liberal	Tom Stott	5,708	35.0	N/A
Majority			4,913	30.1	N/A
Turnout			16,329		N/A
	Unionist win (new seat)

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1922: Manchester Moss Side

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Gerald Berkeley Hurst	11,932	51.2	−13.8
	Liberal	Thomas Raven Ackroyd	6,743	28.9	−6.1
	Labour Co-op	Thomas William Mercer	4,641	19.9	N/A
Majority			5,189	22.3
Turnout			23,316	70.4
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1923: Manchester Moss Side

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Raven Ackroyd	12,210	54.9	+26.0
	Unionist	Sir Gerald Berkeley Hurst	9,097	40.9	−10.3
	Independent	James Charles Daniel Bustard	949	4.3	n/a
Majority			3,113	14.0
Turnout			22,256	66.4
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing	+18.1

General Election 1924: Manchester Moss Side

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Gerald Berkeley Hurst	14,035	58.3	+17.4
	Liberal	Thomas Raven Ackroyd	10,026	41.7	−13.2
Majority			4,009	16.7
Turnout			24,061
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+15.3

General Election 1929: Manchester Moss Side

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Sir Gerald Berkeley Hurst	11,625	39.6	−18.7
	Labour	Albert Arthur Purcell	9,522	32.5	N/A
	Liberal	Thomas Raven Ackroyd	8,191	27.9	−13.8
Majority			2,103	7.2	−9.4
Turnout			29,338	68.3	−1.0
	Unionist hold		Swing	n/a

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931: Manchester Moss Side

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sir Gerald Berkeley Hurst	23,274	74.4	+34.8
	Labour	A Enid Davies	8,012	25.6	−6.9
Majority			15,262	48.8
Turnout			31,286	68.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	+20.9

General Election 1935: Manchester Moss Side

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Rostron Duckworth	15,199	58.7	−15.7
	Labour	Leslie Maurice Lever	10,694	41.3	+15.7
Majority			4,505	17.4
Turnout			25,893	63.2	−5.0
	Conservative hold		Swing	−15.7

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: William Duckworth
• Labour: William Griffiths

General Election 1945: Manchester Moss Side

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William D. Griffiths	10,201	49.5	+8.2
	Conservative	William Rostron Duckworth	7,423	36.0	−22.7
	Liberal	Henry Donald Moore	2,525	12.3	N/A
	Independent	A.R. Edwards	446	2.2	N/A
Majority			2,778	13.5
Turnout			20,595	59.4	−3.8
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+15.5

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: Manchester Moss Side

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Florence Gertrude Horsbrugh	25,347	56.7	+20.7
	Labour	Rowland William Casasola	16,769	37.5	−12.0
	Liberal	Eric Percy Atkin	2,607	5.8	−6.5
Majority			8,578	19.2
Turnout			44,723	78.7	+19.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	+16.4

General Election 1951: Manchester Moss Side

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Florence Gertrude Horsbrugh	27,697	62.2	+5.5
	Labour	Frank Julian Allaun	16,819	37.8	+0.3
Majority			10,878	24.4
Turnout			44,516	77.6	−1.1
	Conservative hold		Swing	+2.6

General Election 1955: Manchester Moss Side

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Florence Gertrude Horsbrugh	23,631	64.3	+2.1
	Labour	Kenneth Marks	13,103	35.7	−2.1
Majority			8,042	19.5
Turnout			36,734	69.1	−8.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	+2.1

General Election 1959: Manchester Moss Side

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Watts	22,090	62.3	−2.0
	Labour	Norman Morris	13,371	37.7	+2.0
Majority			8,719	24.6
Turnout			35,461	69.2	+0.1
	Conservative hold		Swing	−2.0

Elections in the 1960s

Manchester Moss Side by-election, 1961

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Frank Henry Taylor	9,533	41.1	−21.2
	Liberal	Ruslyn Harold Hargreaves	6,447	27.8	N/A
	Labour	Gordon James Oakes	5,980	25.8	−11.9
	Union Movement	Walter Hesketh	1,212	5.2	N/A
Majority			4,228	12.9
Turnout			23,172
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1964: Manchester Moss Side

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Frank Henry Taylor	14,875	45.3	−17.0
	Labour	Peter W. Michelson	10,647	32.4	−5.3
	Liberal	Ruslyn Harold Hargreaves	7,297	22.2	N/A
Majority			4,228	12.9
Turnout			32,819	65.5	−4.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1966: Manchester Moss Side

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Frank Henry Taylor	13,436	45.4	+0.1
	Labour	Rex Church	12,353	41.8	+9.4
	Liberal	David F. Prusmann	3,801	12.9	−9.3
Majority			1,083	3.7
Turnout			29,590	65.4	−0.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: Manchester Moss Side

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Frank Henry Taylor	15,546	52.9	+7.5
	Labour	Frank Hatton	13,833	47.1	+5.3
Majority			1,713	5.8
Turnout			29,379	64.4	−1.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

Note: This constituency underwent boundary changes after the 1970 election, so was notionally a Labour seat.

General Election February 1974: Manchester Moss Side

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Frank Hatton	14,715	41.8	−8.5
	Conservative	Frank Henry Taylor	12,323	35.0	−14.7
	Liberal	William John Lawrence Wallace	7,979	22.7	N/A
	Marxist-Leninist (England)	Ruth Pushkin	206	0.6	N/A
Majority			2,392	6.8
Turnout			35,223	69.1	+4.7
	Labour hold		Swing	+11.6

General Election October 1974: Manchester Moss Side

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Frank Hatton	15,212	47.1	+5.3
	Conservative	John Robert Louis Lee	11,101	34.3	−0.7
	Liberal	William John Lawrence Wallace	5,686	17.6	−5.1
	Irish Civil Rights	Neil Boyle	238	0.7	N/A
	More Prosperous Britain	Harold Smith	96	0.3	N/A
Majority			4,111	12.7
Turnout			32,333	62.9	−6.2
	Labour hold		Swing

Manchester Moss Side by-election, 1978

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Martin Morton	12,556	46.38	−0.7
	Conservative	Thomas E. Murphy	10,998	40.6	+6.3
	Liberal	Peter Thomson	2,502	9.2	−8.4
	National Front	Herbert Andrew	623	2.3	N/A
	Workers Revolutionary	Vanessa Redgrave	394	1.5	N/A
Majority			1,558	5.8
Turnout			27,073
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1979: Manchester Moss Side

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Martin Morton	17,765	51.9	+4.2
	Conservative	Thomas E. Murphy	13,234	38.7	+4.3
	Liberal	John Commons	2,981	8.7	−8.9
	Workers Revolutionary	Vanessa Redgrave	225	0.7	N/A
Majority			4,531	13.3
Turnout			34,205	71.5	+8.6
	Labour hold		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 "M" (part 3)