Eastern West Riding of Yorkshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Eastern West Riding of Yorkshire
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
County	West Riding of Yorkshire
1868–1885
Seats	Two
Created from	Southern West Riding of Yorkshire
Replaced by	Barkston Ash, Osgoldcross, Otley, Pudsey, Ripon and Spen Valley

Eastern West Riding of Yorkshire was a parliamentary constituency covering part of the historic West Riding of Yorkshire. It returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the bloc vote system.

History

The constituency was created in 1868 when the West Riding of Yorkshire was redistributed from two divisions into three. The two-member West Riding of Yorkshire constituency had been divided for the 1865 general election into two new constituencies, each returning two members: Northern West Riding of Yorkshire and Southern West Riding of Yorkshire. The extra seats were taken from parliamentary boroughs which had been disenfranchised for corruption. In the redistribution which took effect for the 1868 general election the Eastern division was created and the Northern and Southern divisions modified. Each of the three divisions returned two members.

All three were abolished by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 for the 1885 general election. The Eastern division was replaced by six new single-member constituencies: Barkston Ash, Osgoldcross, Otley, Pudsey, Ripon and Spen Valley.

Boundaries

The Reform Act 1867, as amended by the Boundary Act 1868, defined the constituency as the wapentakes of Claro, Skyrack, Barkston Ash and Osgoldcross with the part of Morley not in the Northern division. Skyrack is the wapentake centred on Leeds. The other areas included a number of small towns and the surrounding rural parishes.

Members of Parliament

Election	1st Member		1st Party	2nd Member		2nd Party
1868		Christopher Beckett Denison	Conservative		Joshua Fielden	Conservative
1880		Sir Andrew Fairbairn	Liberal		Sir John Ramsden, Bt	Liberal
1885 Constituency abolished: see Barkston Ash, Osgoldcross, Otley, Pudsey, Ripon and Spen Valley

Election results

Each voter had as many votes as there were seats to be filled. Before the introduction of the secret ballot, in 1872, votes had to be cast by a spoken declaration. Voting took place in public, at the hustings, which were at the place of election for the constituency which was in Leeds.

Elections in the 1880s

General election 31 March–27 April 1880: Eastern West Riding of Yorkshire (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Andrew Fairbairn	9,518	26.9	+3.5
	Liberal	John Ramsden	9,406	26.6	+3.0
	Conservative	Christopher Beckett Denison	8,341	23.5	−3.2
	Conservative	Henry Lascelles	8,157	23.0	−3.2
Majority			1,361	3.9	N/A
Majority			1,065	3.1	N/A
Turnout			17,711 (est)	81.8 (est)	+4.3
Registered electors			21,640
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+3.4
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+3.1

Elections in the 1870s

General election 31 January-17 February 1874: Eastern West Riding of Yorkshire (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Christopher Beckett Denison	8,240	26.7	+0.6
	Conservative	Joshua Fielden	8,077	26.2	+1.2
	Liberal	John Ramsden	7,285	23.6	−1.1
	Liberal	Isaac Holden	7,218	23.4	−0.7
Majority			792	2.6	+2.3
Turnout			15,410 (est)	77.5 (est)	+0.5
Registered electors			19,882
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.1

Elections in the 1860s

General election 17 November-7 December 1868: Eastern West Riding of Yorkshire (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Christopher Beckett Denison	7,437	26.1
	Conservative	Joshua Fielden	7,135	25.0
	Liberal	Harry Thompson	7,047	24.7
	Liberal	Isaac Holden	6,867	24.1
Majority			88	0.3
Turnout			14,243 (est)	77.0 (est)
Registered electors			18,494
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

References

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