Halifax (UK Parliament constituency)

Halifax
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Halifax in West Yorkshire.
Location of West Yorkshire within England.
County	1832–1974: West Riding of Yorkshire 1974–present: West Yorkshire
Electorate	69,126 (December 2010)
Major settlements	Halifax, Sowerby Bridge
Current constituency
Created	1832
Member of parliament	Holly Lynch (Labour)
Number of members	1832–1918: Two 1918–present: One
Created from	Yorkshire
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	Yorkshire and the Humber

Halifax is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Holly Lynch of the Labour Party.

1918-1983: The County Borough of Halifax.

1983-2010: The Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale wards of Illingworth, Mixenden, Northowram and Shelf, Ovenden, St John's, Skircoat, Sowerby Bridge, Town, and Warley.

2010-present: The Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale wards of Illingworth and Mixenden, Northowram and Shelf, Ovenden, Park, Skircoat, Sowerby Bridge, Town, and Warley.

This constituency covers the large town of Halifax in West Yorkshire and includes the smaller town of Sowerby Bridge which adjoins Halifax but until 1974 was a separate Urban District.

The parliamentary borough was granted in the Great Reform Act 1832 and returned from that year until 1918 two members. A county borough recognized the density of the developed area in 1888 which provided most functions for inhabitants, retaining the West Yorkshire ceremonial county. The municipal or county borough was under a mayor, 5 aldermen and 45 councillors and had an area of 13,967 acres (56.52 km²).

At the time of the Norman Conquest, Halifax formed part of the extensive manor of Wakefield, which belonged to the king, but in the 13th century was in the hands of John Earl de Warrenne aka. Earl of Surrey (1231-1304). The prosperity of the town began with the first woollen products workshop established here in 1414, when there are said to have been only thirteen houses, which before the end of the 16th century had increased to 520. Camden, about the end of the 17th century, wrote that the people are very industrious, so that though the soil about it be barren and improfitable, not fit to live on, they have so flourished ... by the clothing trade that they are very rich and have gained a reputation for it above their neighbours. The manufacturing standards and trade were improved by the arrival of certain merchants and clothworkers driven from the Spanish Netherlands by the persecution of the Duke of Alva.