Election '55

[stepney]

Not sure if this (part of the forum) is the best place for this, and not sure if we've already had it:

[Deleted]

What better place could there be?

[AdminSTB]

Got to love the handwritten numbers on the result cards.

[Andrew_S]

Looks like Chris Latimer has uploaded some of the 1970 election as well.

[Pimpernal]

The abolition of the 15 mins limit on yahoo is a blessing for us all

[chorleyboy]

IIRC this is the earliest election for which coverage still exists (and was only the third to be televised after '50 and '51).

[Deleted]

1955 is arguably one of the most forgotten, low key general elections since the war. Elections are most memorable when they bring about a change of government, unless there is a special reason for making them stand out. Of all the general elections since WW2 I have seen being talked about, 1955 is probably the one I have seen mentioned the least. Was it the last time the Conservatives topped the poll in Scotland?

[johnloony]

Apr 17, 2013 20:42:29 GMT swanarcadian said:

Was it the last time the Conservatives topped the poll in Scotland?

YIVIIS; if you count all the various Conservatives, Unionists, National Liberals and Uncle Tom Cobley and all as "Conservative", then they actually got more than 50% of the votes.

[The Bishop]

The Tories also "won" Scotland in 1959 didn't they??

Though '55 was the last time they got over 50% of the vote there (20 years later than they last did in England, though!)

[Pete Whitehead]

1955 was also the last time they won a majority of seats in Scotland as Labour did in 1959 despite the Tories narrowly topping the poll

[Harry Hayfield]

It just so happens I am tallying the information that was published by the University of Sheffield in 2005 into UK-Elect that tallies every election from 1832 - 2001 onto the 1997 - 2001 boundaries (I am starting off at 1950 as that was the first election with true democracy) so I will be able to answer the question about vote share in Scotland soon (about half way through 1951)

[Pete Whitehead]

Well the question can already be answered by checking any number of other resources such as the Keele one here www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge55/seats55.htm

Can you explain what you mean by this: 'I am tallying the information that was published by the University of Sheffield in 2005 into UK-Elect that tallies every election from 1832 - 2001 onto the 1997 - 2001 boundaries'

?

[stepney]

Apr 18, 2013 13:21:02 GMT Pete Whitehead said:

Well the question can already be answered by checking any number of other resources such as the Keele one here www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge55/seats55.htm

Can you explain what you mean by this: 'I am tallying the information that was published by the University of Sheffield in 2005 into UK-Elect that tallies every election from 1832 - 2001 onto the 1997 - 2001 boundaries'

?

Harry has put this up on another place, and I believe it's this data from the University of Sheffield which purports to map how each 1997 constituency would have voted at each of the elections since 1832 - so, basically, a set of notionals. For my part I'm not convinced this data is worth the paper it's written on the further back one goes.

[Pete Whitehead]

I'll have to ahve a look at that. I've tried to do this for some areas back as far as 1918 but as you say its very hard without any worthwhile local election data to go on for these times. I wouldn't trust anything much before about 1950

[alexander143]

Wow now that is awesome rare share..thanks for sharing..it is amazing look at this..

[Deleted]

"Part 2" is now viewable on YouTube:

[akmd]

IIRC, only 3 hours of the '55 election coverage remains so it's great to have a chance to see this.

[Andrew_S]

Apr 17, 2013 6:48:24 GMT Pimpernal said:

The abolition of the 15 mins limit on yahoo is a blessing for us all

I agree although there was one good thing about having small segments which was/is that people could comment on the things that had taken place in that particular 10/15 minute section.