Birmingham Small Heath (UK Parliament constituency)

Birmingham Small Heath was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Small Heath area of Birmingham. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

The constituency was created for the 1950 general election, and abolished for the 1997 general election, when it was partly replaced by the new Birmingham Sparkbrook and Small Heath constituency.

Boundaries

Throughout its existence the constituency (as can be inferred from its name) included Small Heath ward, but that district was linked with various adjoining parts of the inner-city area of Birmingham. In its first three incarnations the constituency was to the south east of the city centre. Its boundaries moved more to the east of the city centre in the 1983 redistribution.

1950-1955: The County Borough of Birmingham wards of Duddeston, Saltley, and Small Heath. Before 1950 Duddeston ward had been part of Birmingham Duddeston constituency and the other two wards had formed part of Birmingham Yardley.

1955-1974: The County Borough of Birmingham wards of Deritend, Saltley, and Small Heath. Deritend ward was formerly part of Birmingham Sparkbrook. Duddeston ward was transferred to Birmingham Ladywood.

1974-1983: The County Borough of Birmingham wards of Duddeston, Newtown, Saltley, and Small Heath. Duddeston ward had formerly been in Birmingham Ladywood. Deritend ward was transferred to Birmingham Edgbaston.

1983-1997: The City of Birmingham wards of Aston, Nechells, and Small Heath. 72.7% of the new constituency came from the old one, 11.9% from Birmingham Handsworth (Aston ward) and smaller amounts from Birmingham Sparkbrook (6.1%), Birmingham Erdington (4.9%), Birmingham Yardley (2.6%) and Birmingham Ladywood (1.7%).

In the 1997 redistribution, this constituency disappeared. Small Heath ward joined a new seat of Birmingham Sparkbrook and Small Heath, while Aston and Nechells wards became part of the redrawn Birmingham Ladywood.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1950	Fred Longden	Labour Co-operative
	1952 by-election	William Wheeldon	Labour Co-operative
	1961 by-election	Denis Howell	Labour
	1992	Roger Godsiff	Labour
	1997	constituency abolished: see Birmingham Sparkbrook and Small Heath

Election results

Explanatory notes:-

• The votes figure in the 'Turnout' box is the number of registered electors.
• No swing figure is calculated unless the same two parties are in first and second place in both the present and the last election. Swing is the average of the party % vote change between the pair of elections. A positive swing is towards Conservative and a negative swing is towards Labour.
• Labour Co-operative and Labour candidates are regarded as members of the same party. The Liberal, SDP and Liberal Democrat candidates are treated as being from the same party for the purpose of % changes.

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1992: Birmingham Small Heath

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Roger Duncan Godsiff	22,675	65.3	−1.0
	Conservative	Abdul Qayyum Chaudhary	8,686	24.8	+3.7
	Liberal Democrat	Haydn A. Thomas	2,515	7.2	−3.2
	Green	Ms Hazel M. Clawley	824	2.4	+0.7
Majority			13,989	40.3	−4.9
Turnout			55,233	62.8	+2.2
	Labour hold		Swing	−2.4

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Birmingham Small Heath

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Denis Herbert Howell	22,787	66.3	+2.5
	Conservative	Paul Nischal	7,266	21.1	+0.9
	Liberal	John Alexander Melvin Hemming	3,600	10.5	−5.5
	Green	Alan Clawley	559	1.6	N/A
	Communist	Peter Raymond Sheppard	154	0.5	N/A
Majority			15,521	45.2	+1.6
Turnout			56,722	60.6	+0.2
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.7

General Election 1983: Birmingham Small Heath

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Denis Herbert Howell	22,874	63.8	+3.3
	Conservative	Paul Nischal	7,262	20.2	−1.2
	Social Democratic	A.M. Bostock	5,722	16.0	+0.8
Majority			15,612	43.6	+4.5
Turnout			59,376	60.4	−2.5
	Labour hold		Swing	+2.3

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: Birmingham Small Heath

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Denis Herbert Howell	17,735	60.5	−6.0
	Conservative	D.J. Savage	6,268	21.4	+2.3
	Liberal	D.G. Minnis	4,470	15.2	+0.8
	National Front	M. Caffery	490	1.7	N/A
	Socialist Unity	C.C. Adamson	349	1.2	N/A
Majority			11,467	39.1	−8.3
Turnout			46,602	62.9	+5.3
	Labour hold		Swing	−4.2

General Election October 1974: Birmingham Small Heath

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Denis Herbert Howell	19,703	66.5	+9.2
	Conservative	R. O'Connor	5,648	19.1	−1.5
	Liberal	D. Caney	4,260	14.4	−7.7
Majority			14,055	47.4	+12.2
Turnout			51,394	57.6	−8.4
	Labour hold		Swing	+5.4

General Election February 1974: Birmingham Small Heath

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Denis Herbert Howell	19,319	57.3	−3.8
	Liberal	D.G. Minnis	7,441	22.1	+14.3
	Conservative	R. O'Connor	6,941	20.6	−14.0
Majority			11,878	35.2	+4.7
Turnout			51,056	66.0	+8.1
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1970: Birmingham Small Heath

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Denis Herbert Howell	13,794	61.1	−8.4
	Conservative	Nicholas William Budgen	6,923	30.6	+1.9
	Liberal	Cllr. Gordon H. Herringshaw	1,754	7.8	N/A
	British Commonwealth Party	Saeeduz Zafar	117	0.5	N/A
Majority			6,871	30.5	−10.3
Turnout			38,979	57.9	−1.7
	Labour hold		Swing	−5.2

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1966: Birmingham Small Heath

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Denis Herbert Howell	18,075	69.5	+9.1
	Conservative	F.H.G.H. Goodhart	7,471	28.7	−7.6
	Communist	G. Jelf	477	1.8	−1.5
Majority			10,604	40.8	+16.7
Turnout			43,686	59.6	−1.3
	Labour hold		Swing	+8.4

General Election 1964: Birmingham Small Heath

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Denis Herbert Howell	17,010	60.4	+1.2
	Conservative	A.J. Prescott	10,233	36.3	+7.5
	Communist	G. Jelf	926	3.3	N/A
Majority			6,777	24.1	−6.3
Turnout			46,268	60.9	+18.3
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.4

• Death of Wheeldon 7 October 1960

Birmingham Small Heath by-election, 1961

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Denis Herbert Howell	12,182	59.2	+1.8
	Conservative	B.C. Owens	5,923	28.8	−13.8
	Liberal	W. Kirk	2,476	12.0	N/A
Majority			6,259	30.4	+15.6
Turnout			48,318	42.6	−23.1
	Labour hold		Swing	−7.8

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1959: Birmingham Small Heath

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	William Edwin Wheeldon	19,213	57.4	−3.4
	Conservative	B.C. Owens	14,282	42.6	+3.4
Majority			4,931	14.8	−6.8
Turnout			51,004	65.7	−0.1
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	−3.4

General Election 1955: Birmingham Small Heath

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	William Edwin Wheeldon	22,444	60.8	−6.2
	Conservative	J.W. Bissell	14,484	39.2	+6.2
Majority			7,960	21.6	−12.4
Turnout			56,101	65.8	+9.2
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	−6.2

• Death of Longden 5 October 1952

Birmingham Small Heath by-election, 1952

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	William Edwin Wheeldon	19,491	67.0	+3.6
	Conservative	Edith Maud Pitt	9,614	33.0	+2.1
Majority			9,877	34.0	+1.5
Turnout			62,459	46.6	−30.6
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	−2.9

General Election 1951: Birmingham Small Heath

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Fred Longden	31,079	63.4	+0.6
	Conservative	F. Irwin	15,156	30.9	+0.3
	Liberal	F.G. Smith	2,779	5.7	−0.9
Majority			15,923	32.5	+0.3
Turnout			63,504	77.2	−2.1
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	0.5

General Election 1950: Birmingham Small Heath

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Fred Longden	31,985	62.8	N/A
	Conservative	J. Pagett	15,556	30.6	N/A
	Liberal	F.G. Smith	3,365	6.6	N/A
Majority			16,429	32.2	N/A
Turnout			64,233	79.3	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)

• Boundary Changes
• Constituency abolished 1997

See also

• List of former United Kingdom Parliamentary constituencies

References

• Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)
• British Parliamentary Constituencies: A Statistical Compendium, by Ivor Crewe and Anthony Fox (Faber and Faber 1984)
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Research Services 1983)
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1974-1983, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Research Services 1984)
• Britain Votes 4, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Research Services 1988)
• Britain Votes 5, compiled and edited by Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher (Parliamentary Research Services - Dartmouth Publishing 1993)
• Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume IV 1945-1979, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (Harvester Press 1981)
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 3)