Middleton and Prestwich | |
---|---|
Former County constituency for the House of Commons |
|
1918–1983 | |
Number of members | one |
Replaced by | Bury South and Heywood & MIddleton |
Middleton and Prestwich was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Middleton and Prestwich districts of Greater Manchester. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
The constituency was created for the 1918 general election, and abolished for the 1983 general election, when it was partially replaced by the new constituencies of Heywood and Middleton and Bury South.
It was an unusual constituency because Middleton and Prestwich were physically separated by Heaton Park, a large green area bequeathed to Manchester City Council, and had nothing whatsoever in common. Prestwich was a well established middle class suburb with a large Jewish minority and during the inter-war years boasted several millionaires. Middleton on the other hand was greatly expanded by a large Manchester overspill council estate and at one point during the 1950s Prestwich had no Labour councillors while Middleton had no Conservatives. The new constituency of Heywood and Middleton resolved this mismatch by linking together two adjacent towns.
1918-1950: The Municipal Borough of Middleton, and the Urban Districts of Chadderton and Prestwich.
1950-1983: The Municipal Boroughs of Middleton and Prestwich, and the Urban District of Whitefield.
General Election 1939/40: 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 from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected;