Altrincham was a

county constituency In the United Kingdom (UK), each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one member to the House of Commons. Within the United Kingdom there are five bodies with members elected by electoral districts called "constituenc ...

of the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

from

1885 Events January–March * January 3– 4 – Sino-French War – Battle of Núi Bop: French troops under General Oscar de Négrier defeat a numerically superior Qing Chinese force, in northern Vietnam. * January 4 – ...

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. Januar ...

. It elected one

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) by the

first past the post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

system of

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

History and boundaries

Altrincham was created under the

Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 (48 & 49 Vict., c. 23) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was a piece of electoral reform legislation that redistributed the seats in the House of Commons, introducing the concept of equal ...

from the much larger two-member constituencies of Mid Cheshire and East Cheshire, as one of eight new single-member divisions of the county of

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

. Under the

Representation of the People Act 1918 The Representation of the People Act 1918 was an Act of Parliament passed to reform the electoral system in Great Britain and Ireland. It is sometimes known as the Fourth Reform Act. The Act extended the franchise in parliamentary elections, also ...

, it was redefined to cover the urban districts of

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester city centre, southwest of Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2011 Census, it had a population o ...

Ashton upon Mersey Ashton upon Mersey is an area of the Trafford, Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 9,693 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census. It lies on the south bank of the River Mersey, south of Manc ...

, Bowdon,

Cheadle and Gatley Cheadle may refer to: *Cheadle, Alberta, Canada *Cheadle, Greater Manchester, England **Cheadle (UK Parliament constituency), a constituency composed of the town and environs of Cheadle, Greater Manchester, England *Cheadle, Staffordshire, England * ...

Hale Hale may refer to: Places Australia *Hale, Northern Territory, a locality *Hale River, in southeastern Northern Territory Canada *Hale, Ontario, in Algoma District United Kingdom * Hale, Cumbria, a hamlet near Beetham, Cumbria *Hale, Greater Man ...

Handforth Handforth is a town and civil parish in Cheshire, England, south of Manchester city centre. The population at the 2011 census was 6,266. In the 1960s and 1970s, two overspill housing estates, Spath Lane in Handforth, and Colshaw Farm nearby in Wi ...

Lymm Lymm is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Warrington, Cheshire, England, which incorporates the hamlets of Booths Hill, Broomedge, Church Green, Deansgreen, Heatley, Heatley Heath, Little Heatley, Oughtrington, Reddish, Rushgreen and ...

and Sale, and part of the rural district of Bucklow, all in

. The boundaries were broadly similar, with

Bramhall Bramhall is a suburban area in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. Historically in Cheshire, it had a population of 17,436 at the 2011 Census.Bramhall South and Bramhall North Wards History The Anglo-Saxon m ...

(then part of

Hazel Grove and Bramhall The hazel (''Corylus'') is a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae,Germplasmgobills Information Network''Corylus''Rushforth, K. (1999). ...

UD) being transferred to

Knutsford Knutsford () is a market town in the borough of Cheshire East, in Cheshire, England. Knutsford is south-west of Manchester, north-west of Macclesfield and 12.5 miles (20 km) south-east of Warrington. The population at the 2011 Census wa ...

. Subsequent reorganisations of local authority areas resulted in Ashton upon Mersey being absorbed into Sale, which later became a municipal borough; Altrincham being expanded to include the parish of

Timperley Timperley is a suburban village in the borough of Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. Historically in Cheshire, it is approximately six miles southwest of central Manchester. The population at the 2011 census was 11,061. History The name Ti ...

, also becoming a municipal borough; and Handforth being absorbed into the urban district of Wilmslow. The

House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1944 The House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1944 (7 & 8 Geo.6. c.41) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that established permanent boundary commissions for each of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom, and provide ...

set up

Boundary Commissions A boundary commission is a legal entity that determines borders of nations, states, constituencies. Notable boundary commissions have included: * Afghan Boundary Commission, an Anglo-Russian Boundary Commission, of 1885 and 1893, delineated the n ...

to carry out periodic reviews of the distribution of parliamentary constituencies. It also authorised an initial review to subdivide abnormally large constituencies (those exceeding an electorate of 100,000) in time for the 1945 election. This was implemented by the Redistribution of Seats Order 1945 under which Cheshire was allocated one additional seat, by splitting the Altrincham Division into two seats: * Altrincham and Sale Parliamentary Borough, comprising the two respective municipal boroughs; and * Bucklow County Division, comprising the urban districts of Bowdon,

and

and the part of the rural district of Bucklow. It also included the former parishes of

Baguley Baguley ( ) is an electoral ward of the city of Manchester in Wythenshawe, England. The population at the 2011 census was 14,794. Baguley is derived from the Old English words Bagca, badger, and Leah, clearing or meadow. Historically in Cheshi ...

Northenden Northenden is a suburb of Manchester, Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 14,771 at the 2011 census. It lies on the south side of the River Mersey, west of Stockport and south of Manchester city centre, bounded by Didsbury t ...

and

Northen Etchells Northen Etchells was a township in Cheshire, England. "Northen" is an old name for Northenden and "Etchells" came from Anglo-Saxon ''ēcels'' = "land added to an estate". Geography Northen Etchells covered the rural area that includes much of ...

which had been absorbed into the county borough of Manchester. The part comprising the former urban district of Handforth was transferred to Knutsford.

Members of Parliament

* ''Constituency created'' (1885)

Election results

Elections in the 1880s

Brooks' death caused a by-election.

Elections in the 1890s

Elections in the 1900s

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1914–15: 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; *Unionist: Collingwood George Clements Hamilton *Liberal: Edward Powell

Elections in the 1920s

Elections in the 1930s

* Percentage change and swing are calculated from 1929.

Elections in the 1940s

A General Election was due to take place before the end of 1940, but was postponed due to the Second World War. By 1939, the following candidates had been selected to contest this constituency; * Conservative:

Edward Grigg Edward William Macleay Grigg, 1st Baron Altrincham, (8 September 1879 – 1 December 1955) was a British colonial administrator and politician. Biography Early years Grigg was the son of Henry Bridewell Grigg, CIE, a member of the Indian Civ ...

* Labour: C F C Donnelly

References

* {{Rayment-hc, a, 1, date=March 2012