Oldham was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Oldham, England. It returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The constituency was created by the Great Reform Act of 1832 and was abolished for the 1950 general election when it was split into the Oldham East and Oldham West constituencies.
The Oldham constituency was where Winston Churchill began his political career. Although taking two attempts to succeed, in the 1900 general election Churchill was elected as the member of Parliament for Oldham. He held the constituency for the Conservative Party until he defected from them in defence of free trade in 1904. He then represented the Liberal Party as MP for the seat until the 1906 general election.
Boundaries
Though centred on Oldham (the town), the constituency covered a much broader territory; Shaw and Crompton, Royton, Chadderton and Lees all formed part of this district, though these were each granted individual urban district status at a local government level in 1894.
1885–1918: The existing parliamentary borough, and so much of the municipal borough of Oldham as was not already included in the parliamentary borough.[1]
Multi member constituency abolished - see Oldham East and Oldham West
Notes:-
a J M Cobbett's political affiliations are complicated.[18] He had stood unsuccessfully on an all-Radical 'plague on both your houses' slate with John Fielden in 1847. He was elected in 1852 as the Radical half of an explicit Radical-Tory alliance.[19] At the 1857 election he was opposed by two Liberals and denied that he had sold out to Palmerston, asserting that the Liberal Chief Whip had no confidence in him.[20] In 1865 he stood unsuccessfully in conjunction with a Conservative,[21] opposed by two Liberals. Nonetheless, from 1852 to 1865 outside Oldham he was generally taken to be a Liberal. From 1872 to his death in 1877 he sat as a Conservative (but one calling for annual Parliaments and manhood suffrage)[22]
b Churchill changed his party allegiance in April 1904.
c Denniss changed his surname to Bartley-Denniss, when he was knighted in 1922.
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;
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;
^"Chap. 23. Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885". The Public General Acts of the United Kingdom passed in the forty-eighth and forty-ninth years of the reign of Queen Victoria. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode. 1885. pp. 111–198.
^ abLeigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "O"
^ abcdefRix, Kathryn (21 July 2015). "A rather pale copy of the original: John Morgan Cobbett (1800–1877)". The Victorian Commons. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
^ abcdefghStooks Smith, Henry. (1973) [1844-1850]. Craig, F. W. S. (ed.). The Parliaments of England (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 185. ISBN 0-900178-13-2.
^ abChurton, Edward (1838). The Assembled Commons or Parliamentary Biographer: 1838. pp. 90, 134. Retrieved 27 November 2018 – via Google Books.
^The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "John Fielden". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
^"an ultra-Radical of Cobbettite opinions" - "Oldham". Manchester Times. 29 July 1837. p. 3.
^ abc"William Johnson Fox (1786–1864), Religious and political orator, journalist and Liberal politician; MP for Oldham". National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
^ abcRudy, Jason R. (2009). Electric meters: Victorian physiological poetics. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press. p. 47. ISBN 978-0-8214-1882-6. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
^ abc"Oldham". Leeds Times. 7 August 1847. p. 7. Retrieved 10 June 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^"The Elections". London Evening Standard. 2 July 1852. pp. 3–4. Retrieved 10 June 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^The Reasoner, Volumes 2-3. 1847. p. 461. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
^"The Country". The Spectator. 11 July 1835. p. 7. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
^"Electioneering Prospects in Lancashire". Newcastle Guardian and Tyne Mercury. 3 July 1852. p. 2. Retrieved 10 June 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^Rix, Kathryn (27 August 2015). "MP of the Month: the untimely death of James Platt, MP for Oldham (1823–57)". The Victorian Commons. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
^"The General Election". Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper. 15 March 1857. p. 2. Retrieved 10 June 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^"Death of Mr J M Cobbett MP for Oldham". Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser. 15 February 1877.
^"The Elections". Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser. 10 July 1852.
^"The General Election". Morning Post. 30 March 1857.
^"Oldham Election". Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser. 24 June 1865.
^"Death of Mr Cobbett MP". Pall Mall Gazette. 14 February 1877.
^ abcdefghijklmnopqrCraig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (e-book) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.
^"The Oldham Election". The Daily News. 3 December 1852. p. 5. Retrieved 14 June 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^"Election Intelligence". Western Mail. 26 February 1877. p. 3. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
^ ab"The Conservative Candidates for Oldham". Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser. 22 November 1882. p. 8. Retrieved 6 December 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ abLiberal Year Book (1889), p.217
^ abcdefCraig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885-1918. London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 9781349022984.
^ abThe Liberal Yearbook (1917), p.316
^ abcdP. F. Clarke, Lancashire and the New Liberalism, pp. 435–436