Crewe was a constituency 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. T ...

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 to 1983. It elected one

Member of Parliament (MP) 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 often ...

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 thei ...

system of election.

History

Crewe was first created as one of eight single-member divisions of Cheshire 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 ...

. As its name suggested, the constituency was centred on the town of Crewe in Cheshire. The town of

Nantwich Nantwich ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It has among the highest concentrations of listed buildings in England, with notably good examples of Tudor and Georgian architecture. ...

was also included in the constituency until 1955, when it gained its own eponymous seat. It was abolished following the reorganisation of local authorities in 1974 by the Third Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies for the 1983 general election, when it was divided roughly equally between the new constituencies of Crewe and Nantwich, and Congleton.

Boundaries

1885–1918: The Municipal Borough of Crewe, and parts of the Sessional Divisions of Nantwich and Northwich. ''Included the parishes of

Alsager Alsager ( ) is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It is located to the north-west of Stoke-on-Trent and east of Crewe. The town's population was 13,389 at the 2021 census. ''The Mere'' is a ...

Haslington Haslington is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It lies about 2 miles (3 km) north-east of the much larger railway town of Crewe and approximately 4 miles (6. ...

and

Sandbach Sandbach (pronounced ) is the name of a historic market town and a civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. The civil parish contains four settlements: Sandbach itself as the largest, Elworth, Ettiley Heath a ...

.'' 1918–1950: The Municipal Borough of Crewe, the Urban Districts of

and

, and parts of the Rural Districts of Congleton and

. ''Sandbach transferred to Northwich.'' 1950–1955: The Municipal Borough of Crewe, the Urban District of Nantwich, and the Rural District of Nantwich. ''Gained the remainder of the Rural District of Nantwich, including

Audlem Audlem is a village and civil parish located in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire in North West England, approximately south of Nantwich. Close to the border with the neighbouring county of Shropshire, t ...

, from the abolished constituency of Eddisbury. Sandbach and the part of the Rural District of Congleton 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 was ...

.'' 1955–1983: The Municipal Borough of Crewe, the Urban Districts of Alsager and Sandbach, and in the Rural District of Nantwich the civil parishes of Barthomley, Crewe, Haslington, and Weston. ''Gained Alsager and Sandbach back from Knutsford. The Urban District and the bulk of the Rural District of Nantwich transferred to the new constituency of

.'' From 1 April 1974 until the constituency was abolished at the next boundary review which came into effect for the 1983 general election, the constituency comprised parts of the newly formed Boroughs of Congleton, and Crewe and Nantwich, but its boundaries were unchanged. On abolition, the part comprising the former Municipal Borough of Crewe was included in the new constituency of Crewe and Nantwich, with Alsager, Haslington and Sandbach was added to the new constituency of Congleton.

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

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: Ernest Craig *Liberal: Joseph Davies

Elections in the 1920s

*Liberal candidate,

Alexander Lyle-Samuel Alexander Lyle-Samuel (10 August 1883 – 19 November 1942) was a businessman from Birmingham and Liberal member of the House of Commons. He represented the constituency of Eye in East Suffolk from 1918 until 1923 and was involved in a diffi ...

withdrew.

Elections in the 1930s

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 and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected; *Conservative: Donald Somervell *Labour: William BowenReport of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939

Elections in the 1940s

Elections in the 1950s

Elections in the 1960s

Elections in the 1970s

References

*{{Rayment-hc, c, 6, date=March 2012 Crewe Parliamentary constituencies in Cheshire (historic) Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1885 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1983