Chester-le-Street (UK Parliament constituency)

Chester-le-Street
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1885–1983
Number of members	one
Replaced by	North Durham
Created from	North Durham

Chester-le-Street was a county constituency centred on the town of Chester-le-Street in County Durham. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

The constituency was created for the 1885 general election, and abolished for the 1983 general election.

Chester-le-Street and its successor constituency (North Durham) have over 100 years of continuous Labour representation.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Sir James Joicey	Liberal
	1906	John Wilkinson Taylor	Labour
	1919 by-election	John James Lawson	Labour
	1950	Patrick Bartley	Labour
	1956 by-election	Norman Pentland	Labour
	1973 by-election	Giles Radice	Labour
1983		constituency abolished: see North Durham

Election results

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1885: Chester-le-Street Electorate

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal				n/a
	Conservative				n/a
Majority					n/a
Turnout					n/a
	Liberal win (new seat)

General Election 1886: Chester-le-Street Electorate

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal
	Conservative
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

Elections in the 1890s

General Election 1892: Chester-le-Street Electorate

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal
	Conservative
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1895: Chester-le-Street Electorate

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal
	Conservative
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1900: Chester-le-Street Electorate

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal
	Conservative
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1906: Chester-le-Street Electorate

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal
	Conservative
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

Elections in the 1910s

General Election January 1910: Chester-le-Street Electorate

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal
	Conservative
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election December 1910: Chester-le-Street Electorate

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal
	Conservative
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1918: Chester-le-Street Electorate

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist
	Liberal
	Labour
Majority
Turnout
	Unionist hold		Swing

• denotes candidate who was endorsed by the Coalition Government.

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1922: Chester-le-Street

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist
	Liberal
	Labour
Majority
Turnout
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1923: Chester-le-Street

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John James Lawson	20,712	74.7
	Unionist	Charles Reginald Schiller Harris	7,015	25.3
Majority			13,697	49.4
Turnout
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1924: Chester-le-Street

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist
	Liberal
	Labour
Majority
Turnout
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing

General Election 1929: Chester-le-Street

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John James Lawson	26,975	69.8
	Unionist	E G Payne	6,334	16.4
	Liberal	Joseph W Wright	5,340	13.8	n/a
Majority			20,641	53.4
Turnout
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931: Chester-le-Street

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John James Lawson	24,373	60.62
	Conservative	RG Kellett	15,834	39.38
Majority			8,539	21.24
Turnout				79.35
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1935: Chester-le-Street

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John James Lawson	29,111	70.98
	Conservative	CR Besley	11,901	29.02
Majority			17,210	41.96
Turnout				78.24
	Labour hold		Swing

Election in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Chester-le-Street

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John James Lawson	33,788	76.76
	Conservative	Viscount Lambton	10,228	23.24
Majority			23,560	53.53
Turnout				79.79
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: Chester-le-Street

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Patrick Bartley	35,348	77.30
	Conservative	HJM Millican	10,379	22.70
Majority			24,969	54.60
Turnout				87.28
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1951: Chester-le-Street

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Patrick Bartley	35,511	76.96
	Conservative	HJM Millican	10,632	23.04
Majority			24,879	53.92
Turnout				86.64
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Chester-le-Street

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Patrick Bartley	32,323	76.29
	Conservative	DA Wright	10,047	23.71
Majority			22,276	52.57
Turnout				79.57
	Labour hold		Swing

Chester-le-Street by-election, 1956

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Norman Pentland	27,912	80.8
	Conservative	William Rees-Mogg	6,625	19.2
Majority			21,287
Turnout			34,537	65.0	-
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1959: Chester-le-Street

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Norman Pentland	33,901	75.78
	Conservative	William Rees-Mogg	10,838	24.22
Majority			23,063	51.55
Turnout				83.03
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1964: Chester-le-Street

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Norman Pentland	32,895	75.20
	Conservative	JM Gorst	10,851	24.80
Majority			22,044	50.39
Turnout				79.43
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1966: Chester-le-Street

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Norman Pentland	32,467	76.96
	Conservative	CMK Taylor	9,720	23.04
Majority			22,747	53.92
Turnout				74.87
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: Chester-le-Street

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Norman Pentland	33,694	71.60
	Conservative	D Ramshaw	13,363	28.40
Majority			20,331	43.21
Turnout				73.67
	Labour hold		Swing

Chester-le-Street by-election, 1973

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Giles Radice	25,874	53.0
	Liberal	George Suggett	18,802	38.6
	Conservative	Neil Balfour	4,092	8.4
Majority			7,066
Turnout			48,768	71.4	-
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election February 1974: Chester-le-Street

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Giles Radice	33,534	59.21
	Liberal	DJ Herd	14,808	26.15
	Conservative	Neil Balfour	8,291	14.64
Majority			18,726	33.07
Turnout				83.48
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election October 1974: Chester-le-Street

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Giles Radice	33,511	65.69
	Liberal	D McCourt	9,233	18.10
	Conservative	R Ditchburn	8,268	16.21
Majority			24,278	47.59
Turnout				74.63
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1979: Chester-le-Street

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Giles Radice	38,672	60.40
	Conservative	James Randall Couchman	16,112	25.16
	Liberal	D McCourt	9,247	14.44
Majority			22,560	35.23
Turnout				76.76
	Labour hold		Swing

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 3)

• 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 1918-1949, FWS Craig
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig