MPs and Mayors of Heywood

Joel Barnett, Heywood's longest-serving MP.
Heywood's parliamentary status has changed several times over the years. It has been in the constituency of 'Heywood and Middleton' since 1983, prior to which it was in 'Heywood and Royton' (created in 1950). Before that it was 'Heywood and Radcliffe' (1918-46), and 'Heywood' (1885-1918).

New constituency changes are currently being discussed that could result in the town of Heywood being split under two different constituencies for the first time in its history. 

List of MPs to have represented Heywood


'Heywood'
Elected 1885: Isaac Hoyle (Liberal)
1892: Thomas Snape (Liberal)
1895: George Kemp (Liberal)
1906: Edward Hopkinson Holden (Liberal)
1910: Harold Thomas Cawley (Liberal) (Killed in action, WW1.)
1915: Albert Holden Illingworth (Liberal)

'Heywood and Radcliffe'
1918: Albert Holden Illingworth (Coalition Liberal) (The Liberals and Conservatives formed a governing coalition during the First World War.)
1921: Walter Halls (Liberal)
1922: Abraham England (Liberal)
1931: Joseph Cooksey Jackson (Conservative)
1935: Richard Whitaker Porritt (Conservative) (Killed in action, WW2.)
1940: James Henry Wootton-Davies (Conservative)
1945: John Edmondson Whittaker (Labour)
1946: Arthur William James Anthony Greenwood (Labour)

1950: Harold Sutcliffe (Conservative)
1955: John Anthony Leavey (Conservative)
1964: Joel Barnett (Labour)

1983: James Callaghan (Labour)
1997: Jim Dobbin (Labour)
2014: Liz McInnes (Labour)

The main two political parties until the 1920s were the Liberals and the Conservatives. The Liberals grew from the radical reform movements of the early 19th century and were sympathetic to the welfare of the working class. Political representation at that time was shaped by who was actually allowed to vote. The right to vote had been restricted to wealthy landowners for centuries, and even after the Great Reform Act of 1832 only one in five man could vote. Women were prohibited altogether. Skilled urban working class gained the vote after the Second Reform Act of 1867, and while suffrage was still restricted, this allowed the formation of the first Liberal government, under William Gladstone. 

In 1884 working class men in the countryside could vote, but even then only 2 out of 3 men nationally were allowed to vote. For the first 30 years of its existence (after 1885), the electorate of Heywood returned Liberal MPs. 

In the wake of the First World War, the Representation of the People Act 1918 granted voting rights to almost all men over 21 years old, and women aged over 30 years, but it was not until 1928 that universal suffrage came into being, with just about all women and men over 21 being allowed the vote. This changed the political landscape and the Labour Party - formed in 1900 - became the main opposition force to the Conservatives during the 1920s. Despite this, Heywood had Conservative MPs from 1931-45, and it was not until the 1960s that a +50-year run of Labour MPs began.

List of the Mayors of Heywood Borough


Thomas Isherwood 1881-82
Thomas F Mackison 1883
Thomas Lord 1884 - 1885
John Fletcher 1886
Sutcliffe Firth 1887 - 1888
David Marlor 1889
John Cronshaw 1890 - 1891
James Lawton 1892 - 1893
George N Hodgkinson 1894 - 1895
William Healey 1896 - 1897
Abm. Clough Maden 1898 - 1899
Thomas Popple 1900 - 1901
Joseph Hoyle 1902 - 1903
Alfred Smith 1904 - 1905
David Healey 1906 - 1907
Charles Coupe 1908 - 1909
Arthur Barrett 1910 - 1911
Harry Foster Jeffery 1912 - 1913
Robert Dovie McMurdo 1914 - 1915
Richard Grundy 1916 - 1917
J Smith Hargreaves 1918 - 1919
J Smith Hargreaves 1919 - 1920
David Healey 1921 - 1922
Joseph Nuttall 1923 - 1924
Arthur Firth 1925 - 1926
James Berry 1927 - 1928
Daniel Booth 1929 - 1930
Walter Duckworth 1931 - 1932
Albert Ed. Goldstone 1933 - 1934
Charles Watson 1935
Tom Ernest Chadwick 1936
Thomas Kershaw 1937
James Perry 1938
Harry Benson Beaton 1939
Sam Birch 1940
Walter D Healey 1941
William Bentley 1942
James Hunt 1943
William Taylor 1944
Ernest Warrington 1945
William Pickup 1946
Charles Crapper Holt 1947
Hebert Holt 1949
Rev. Geoffrey Kershaw 1950
Robert Carruthers 1951
Arthur Collinge Butterworth 1952
Robert Barker 1953
Percy Oliver Walker 1954
Stanley Browning 1955
Frank Revington 1956
William Joyce 1957
George Hardman 1958
John Connell 1959
Stuart Mason Healey 1960
Sarah Jane Bentley 1961
Tom Merrick 1962
Arthur Sherwin 1963
George R T Dobson 1964
James F Garvey 1965
Edmund J W Aspinall 1966
Francis Walmsley 1967
John James Wilkinson 1968
Cyril Harford Haslam 1969
Mary Adlington 1970
Anthony Joseph Ryan 1971
Harold Lees 1972
Leonard Nuttall 1973

1974 - Heywood became part of the 'Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council'.

Comments

Post a Comment