Osgoldcross (UK Parliament constituency)

Osgoldcross
Osgoldcross
Former county constituency; for the House of Commons
1885–1918
Seats	one
Created from	Eastern West Riding of Yorkshire
Replaced by	Barkston Ash, Hemsworth and Pontefract

Osgoldcross was a parliamentary constituency in the Osgoldcross Rural District of West Yorkshire. 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.

History

The constituency was created when the two-member Eastern West Riding of Yorkshire was divided by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 for the 1885 general election. It was abolished for the 1918 general election.

Boundaries

The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 provided that the constituency should consist of

the municipal borough of Pontefract,
the wapentake of Osgoldcross,
the Parishes in the Sessional Division of Upper Barkston Ash of Brotherton, Fairburn, Ledsham and Ledstone, and
the Parishes in the Sessional Division of Skyrack of Allerton Bywater and Kippax.^[1]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
style="background-color: Template:Independent Liberal/meta/color" \|	1885	Sir John Ramsden, Bt	Independent Liberal
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Unionist Party (UK)/meta/color" \|	1886	Sir John Ramsden, Bt	Liberal Unionist
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" \|	1886	Sir John Austin, Bt	Liberal
style="background-color: Template:Independent Liberal/meta/color" \|	1899	Sir John Austin, Bt	Independent Liberal
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" \|	1906	Sir Joseph Compton-Rickett	Liberal
1918		constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1885: Osgoldcross^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir John William Ramsden	5,153	62.8	n/a
	Conservative	R Hardy	3,063	37.2	n/a
Majority			2,100	25.6	n/a
Turnout				79.5	n/a
	Liberal win (new seat)

General Election 1886: Osgoldcross ^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Austin	4,008	57.1	−5.7
	Liberal Unionist	Sir John William Ramsden	3,010	42.9	n/a
Majority			998	14.2	−11.4
Turnout				68.0
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

Elections in the 1890s

General Election 1892: Osgoldcross ^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Austin	5,160	61.1	+4.0
	Conservative	CB Dobson	3,284	38.9	−4.0
Majority			1,876	22.2	+8.0
Turnout				66.9	−1.1
	Liberal hold		Swing	+4.0

General Election 1895: Osgoldcross ^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir John Austin	5,119	55.8	−5.3
	Conservative	John Harling	4,054	44.2	+5.3
Majority			1,065	11.6	−10.6
Turnout				70.1
	Liberal hold		Swing	-5.3

Osgoldcross by-election, 1899^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent Liberal	Sir John Austin	5,818	66.8
	Liberal	Charles Henry Roberts	2,893	33.2
Majority			2,925	33.6
Turnout				62.2
	Independent Liberal gain from Liberal		Swing

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1900: Osgoldcross ^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Liberal	Sir John Austin	5,609	65.0	−1.8
	Liberal	Vickerman Henzell Rutherford	3,025	35.0	+1.8
Majority			2,584	30.0	−3.6
Turnout				58.8	−3.4
	Independent Liberal hold		Swing	-1.8

General Election 1906: Osgoldcross^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Joseph Rickett	8,482	66.1
	Conservative	Granville Charles Hastings Wheler	4,358	33.9	n/a
Majority			4,124	32.1
Turnout			12,840
	Liberal gain from Independent Liberal		Swing

Elections in the 1910s

General Election January 1910: Osgoldcross ^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Sir Joseph Compton-Rickett	9,517	66.3
	Conservative	Gerald de la Pryme Hargreaves	4,840	33.7
Majority			4,677	32.6
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election December 1910: Osgoldcross^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Joseph Compton-Rickett	8,518	66.2	−0.1
	Conservative	Malcolm Campbell-Johnston	4,347	33.8	+0.1
Majority			4,171	32.4	−0.2
Turnout				70.4
	Liberal hold		Swing	-0.1

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: Rt Hon. Sir Joseph Compton-Rickett
Unionist:
Labour: John Samuel Potts^[11]

References

^ Redistribution of Seats Act 1885
^ British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
^ British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
^ British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
^ British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
^ British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
^ British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
^ British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
^ British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
^ British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
^ The miners and British politics 1906-1914

Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "O"

[1] Redistribution of Seats Act 1885

[2] British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)

[3] British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)

[4] British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)

[5] British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)

[6] British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)

[7] British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)

[8] British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)

[9] British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)

[10] British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)

[11] The miners and British politics 1906-1914

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