Abolished Constituency Names You Would Like To See Return

[gwynthegriff]

Jun 19, 2019 12:57:42 GMT Chris from Brum said:

Jun 19, 2019 12:08:31 GMT gwynthegriff said:

Mrs TheGriff had ancestors in that area which was VERY densely populated in Victorian times. One of her ancestors ran a pub (The Swan?) on Bradford Street, which is still there.

The area is - of course - also the home of Digbeth Coach Station.

Birmingham Coach Station these days, thank you very much. 

You can put lipstick on a pig ...



(Seriously, it is a huge improvement on the old place, but it's still not the most attractive of places.)

[YL]

Jun 19, 2019 13:19:52 GMT edgbaston said:

Are there any proper old maps of the pre 1983 Brum constituencies?

There are some maps from old reviews on Vision of Britain, though coverage isn't complete as far as I can see. Go to www.visionofbritain.org.uk/maps/ and choose "Boundary maps".

E.g. I think these are from the 1955 review:
Sheet 1, covering Scotland and the far north of England
Sheet 2, covering Wales and most of England. Note the inset of the West Midlands, including Birmingham, which had 14 constituencies plus Sutton Coldfield.
Sheet 4, covering Lancashire
Sheet 5, covering the West Riding (strange boundaries in Sheffield)

[Sibboleth]

Yeah, those are the best places Online for primary material. Best place in the real world would be the city archives, on the top floor of the Library of Birmingham. They have a huge map collection.

[iainbhx]

Buckrose, obviously.

But I would like to ditch the vast majority of compass point seats in counties (and quite a few in boroughs) and go back to using the largest towns, maybe two towns if of roughly equal size but none of of this Pugh, Pugh, Barney, McGrew proliferation.

[Deleted]

Jun 19, 2019 19:48:01 GMT iainbhx said:

Buckrose, obviously.

But I would like to ditch the vast majority of compass point seats in counties (and quite a few in boroughs) and go back to using the largest towns, maybe two towns if of roughly equal size but none of of this Pugh, Pugh, Barney, McGrew proliferation.

I would get rid of the compass point names in Glasgow, but keep them in Edinburgh since that has always been the way.

[jacoblamsden]

I know that two of them are still current constituency names, but can anyone explain why Aldridge-Brownhills is not Aldridge and Brownhills, Ruislip-Northwood was not Ruislip and Northwood and Welwyn Hatfield (both the constituency and the district) is not Welwyn and Hatfield?

[AdminSTB]

Jun 19, 2019 20:45:13 GMT jacoblamsden said:

I know that two of them are still current constituency names, but can anyone explain why Aldridge-Brownhills is not Aldridge and Brownhills, Ruislip-Northwood was not Ruislip and Northwood and Welwyn Hatfield (both the constituency and the district) is not Welwyn and Hatfield?

It used to be Welwyn and Hatfield, from 1974 until 1983 when it was renamed in line with the borough.

Easier on the tongue?

[jm]

Barkston Ash
Osgoldcross
Langbaurgh
Vale of York
Carlton
Beeston
City of York

[iainbhx]

Jun 19, 2019 20:07:54 GMT Sandy said:

Jun 19, 2019 19:48:01 GMT iainbhx said:

Buckrose, obviously.

But I would like to ditch the vast majority of compass point seats in counties (and quite a few in boroughs) and go back to using the largest towns, maybe two towns if of roughly equal size but none of of this Pugh, Pugh, Barney, McGrew proliferation.

I would get rid of the compass point names in Glasgow, but keep them in Edinburgh since that has always been the way.

That's perfectly reasonable. Although I would welcome the return of Pentlands.

[Chris from Brum]

Jun 19, 2019 20:45:13 GMT jacoblamsden said:

I know that two of them are still current constituency names, but can anyone explain why Aldridge-Brownhills is not Aldridge and Brownhills, Ruislip-Northwood was not Ruislip and Northwood and Welwyn Hatfield (both the constituency and the district) is not Welwyn and Hatfield?

It refers back to the former Urban District of Aldridge-Brownhills which covered much the same area.

[Deleted]

Jun 19, 2019 20:58:57 GMT jm said:

Barkston Ash
Osgoldcross
Langbaurgh
Vale of York
Carlton
Beeston
City of York

Are you suggesting we dedicate a constituency to carlton43? 

[Chris from Brum]

Jun 19, 2019 21:17:38 GMT Sandy said:

Jun 19, 2019 20:58:57 GMT jm said:

Barkston Ash
Osgoldcross
Langbaurgh
Vale of York
Carlton
Beeston
City of York

Are you suggesting we dedicate a constituency to carlton43? 

I do believe that my late father-in-law stood for the Liberal party in Carlton in the 1979 GE.

[Adam in Stroud]

Jun 19, 2019 20:45:13 GMT jacoblamsden said:

I know that two of them are still current constituency names, but can anyone explain why Aldridge-Brownhills is not Aldridge and Brownhills, Ruislip-Northwood was not Ruislip and Northwood and Welwyn Hatfield (both the constituency and the district) is not Welwyn and Hatfield?

The name was inherited from Ruislip-Northwood Urban District Council, which originally had identical boundaries to the constituency.

Northwood was originally a few scattered houses ("an accidental aggregation of houses far from church or school" in the mid C19th) in the northern end of the parish of Ruislip. Since Domesday the parish centre was the village of Ruislip in the southern half of the parish and all the arable and was there - Northwood was surrounded by the Common, mainly wooded because the land was gravelly and harder to plough.

Then in 1887 the Metropolitan Railway came through Northwood and it became a dormitory suburb of London. Ruislip stayed a predominantly rural village until the Uxbridge branch was built in 1904. I imagine when the UDC was created, also in 1904, it was felt wrong to simply call it Ruislip and ignore the largest settlement, but the hyphen recognised that Northwood had originally been a subsidiary hamlet of Ruislip. (Apparently there was some debate as to whether Ruislip should be in an Urban District at all, but the vicar persuaded the residents that suburbanisation was bound to happen rapidly once the railway was built.)

[greenhert]

Jun 19, 2019 21:21:33 GMT Chris from Brum said:

Jun 19, 2019 21:17:38 GMT Sandy said:

Are you suggesting we dedicate a constituency to carlton43 ? 

I do believe that my late father-in-law stood for the Liberal party in Carlton in the 1979 GE.

John Frederick West was his name.

[Deleted]

Jun 19, 2019 21:56:31 GMT greenhert said:

Jun 19, 2019 21:21:33 GMT Chris from Brum said:

I do believe that my late father-in-law stood for the Liberal party in Carlton in the 1979 GE.

John Frederick West was his name.

I'm quite sure that Chris knows his own father in law's name already....

[Chris from Brum]

Jun 19, 2019 21:56:31 GMT greenhert said:

Jun 19, 2019 21:21:33 GMT Chris from Brum said:

I do believe that my late father-in-law stood for the Liberal party in Carlton in the 1979 GE.

John Frederick West was his name.

Correct. Max Payne, Tony Benn's Liberal-SDP Alliance opponent in the Chesterfield by-election and he were very good friends. Sadly, by the time I got to know him in 1990 he was stricken with MS, and he died in 1997 about a year after my daughter, his second grandchild, had been born.

[jacoblamsden]

Eye
Rye
Hythe
Hyde
South Molton
Eton and Slough
Isle of Thanet
Isle of Ely
Clay Cross
Holland with Boston
Ince
The Hartlepools
Houghton-le-Spring
Barnard Castle
Buckrose
Barkston Ash
Ross and Cromarty
Biggleswade
Cockermouth
St Augustine's
Osgoldcross
East Looe
St Germans
Plympton Erle
Beeralston
Great Marlow
Weobley

[jamie]

Jun 19, 2019 20:58:57 GMT jm said:

Barkston Ash
Osgoldcross
Langbaurgh
Vale of York
Carlton
Beeston
City of York

🤮🤮🤮

[jamie]

Barkston Ash would be a welcome return. Terrible name from a descriptive perspective, but sounds awesome.

[Chris from Brum]

Jun 19, 2019 23:57:29 GMT jamie said:

Barkston Ash would be a welcome return. Terrible name from a descriptive perspective, but sounds awesome.

One of the old Wapentakes of the West Riding, as Langbaurgh was of the North Riding.