# Combined English Universities (UK Parliament constituency)

Combined English Universities was a university constituency represented in the United Kingdom Parliament (from 1918 until 1950). It was formed by enfranchising and combining all the English universities, except for Cambridge, Oxford and London which were already separately represented. The constituency effectively represented the red brick universities and Durham University with two members of parliament.

## Boundaries

This university constituency was created by the Representation of the People Act 1918 and abolished in 1950 by the Representation of the People Act 1948.
The original proposal of the Speaker's Conference, which considered electoral reform before the 1918 legislation was prepared, was to combine all the English and Welsh universities except for Oxford and Cambridge into a three-member constituency. However, during consideration of the legislation, it was agreed that London University alone should continue to return one member. The University of Wales was also given its own seat. The other universities, which were still to be combined, had their proposed representation reduced to two members.
Combined English Universities was not a physical area. Its electorate consisted of the graduates of the universities included in the seat.
The universities represented by this constituency were Birmingham, Bristol, Durham, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Reading (from August 1928) and Sheffield.
The constituency returned two members of Parliament, elected at general elections by the single transferable vote method of proportional representation. However, the first past the post system was used in by-elections.

## Members of Parliament

This is a list of people who were elected to represent these English universities in the Parliament of the United Kingdom between 1918 and 1950. The elections were not held on the polling dates for general elections in the territorial constituencies. The university constituency elections were held over five days, not on the ordinary polling date, so that plural voting graduates could vote in their place of residence and then visit their university to participate in its election.
* Constituency created (1918)
| Election | Election | Election | First member | First party | Second member | Second party |
| | | 1918 | H. A. L. Fisher | Coalition Liberal | Sir Martin Conway | Coalition Conservative |
| | | 1922 | H. A. L. Fisher | National Liberal | Sir Martin Conway | Conservative |
| | | 1923 | H. A. L. Fisher | Liberal | Sir Martin Conway | Conservative |
| | | 1926 by-election | Sir Alfred Hopkinson | Conservative | Sir Martin Conway | Conservative |
| | | 1929 | Eleanor Rathbone | Independent | Sir Martin Conway | Conservative |
| | | 1931 | Eleanor Rathbone | Independent | Sir Reginald Craddock | Conservative |
| | | 1937 by-election | Eleanor Rathbone | Independent | Edmund Harvey | Independent Progressive |
| | | 1945 | Eleanor Rathbone | Independent | Kenneth Lindsay | Independent |
| | | 1946 by-election | Henry Strauss | Conservative | Kenneth Lindsay | Independent |
| 1950 | 1950 | 1950 | University constituencies abolished | University constituencies abolished | University constituencies abolished | University constituencies abolished |

## Elections

There were six contested STV elections. The MPs in 1935 were returned unopposed. By-elections, to fill a single seat, used the first past the post or relative majority electoral system.

### Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1918: Combined English Universities (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| C | Liberal | H. A. L. Fisher | 48.09 | 959 | | |
| C | Unionist | Martin Conway | 15.20 | 303 | 465 | 777 |
| | Labour | John A. Hobson | 18.36 | 366 | 454 | 481 |
| | Unionist | Herbert Williams | 18.36 | 366 | 410 | eliminated |
| Electorate: 2,357 Valid: 1,994 Quota: 665 Turnout: 84.60% |||||||
| C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government. |||||||

### Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1922: Combined English Universities (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| | Unionist | Martin Conway | 32.8 | 968 | 982 | 1,093 | | |
| | National Liberal | H. A. L. Fisher | 27.7 | 819 | 821 | 849 | 883 | 1,009 |
| | Independent | John Strong | 19.4 | 571 | 575 | 595 | 611 | 813 |
| | Labour | Leonard Woolf | 12.2 | 361 | 361 | 365 | 366 | eliminated |
| | Ind. Unionist | Wilfred Barnard Faraday | 4.8 | 141 | 206 | eliminated | | |
| | Ind. Unionist | Sidney C. Lawrence | 3.1 | 90 | eliminated | | | |
| Electorate: 3,967 Valid: 2,946 Quota: 983 Turnout: 74.3% |||||||||
General election 1923: Combined English Universities (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Unionist | Martin Conway | 1,711 | 44.1 | +11.3 |
| | Liberal | H. A. L. Fisher | 1,316 | 34.0 | +5.3 |
| | Labour | Joseph John Findlay | 850 | 21.9 | +9.7 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 3,877 | | |
| Quota | Quota | Quota | 1,293 | | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 5,008 | 77.4 | +3.1 |
* As two candidates achieved the quota only one count was necessary
General Election 1924: Combined English Universities (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 |
| | Unionist | Martin Conway | 50.4 | 2,231 | |
| | Liberal | H. A. L. Fisher | 30.1 | 1,333 | 2,064 |
| | Labour | Joseph John Findlay | 19.5 | 861 | 885 |
| Electorate: 5,655 Valid: 4,425 Quota: 1,476 Turnout: 78.2% ||||||
1926 Combined English Universities by-election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Unionist | Alfred Hopkinson | 2,343 | 53.9 | +3.5 |
| | Liberal | Ramsay Muir | 2,000 | 46.1 | +16.0 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 343 | 7.8 | N/A |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 4,343 | 66.7 | −11.5 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 6,513 | | |
| | Unionist gain from Liberal | Unionist gain from Liberal | Swing | | |
General Election 1929: Combined English Universities (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 |
| | Unionist | Martin Conway | 26.8 | 2,679 | 4,321 |
| | Independent | Eleanor Rathbone | 33.3 | 3,331 | 3,394 |
| | Liberal | Robert Seymour Conway | 22.3 | 2,231 | 2,281 |
| | Unionist | Amherst Selby-Bigge | 17.6 | 1,762 | eliminated |
| Electorate: 13,775 Valid: 10,003 Quota: 3,335 Turnout: 72.6% ||||||

### Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931: Combined English Universities (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| | Independent | Eleanor Rathbone | 37.2 | 5,096 | | | |
| | Conservative | Reginald Craddock | 26.5 | 3,633 | 3,685 | 3,754 | 4,858 |
| | National Labour | William Jowitt | 20.1 | 2,759 | 3,003 | 3,207 | 3,632 |
| | Conservative | Herbert Williams | 12.8 | 1,748 | 1,819 | 1,922 | eliminated |
| | New Party | Harold Nicolson | 3.4 | 461 | 623 | eliminated | |
| Electorate: 19,109 Valid: 13,697 Quota: 4,567 Turnout: 71.7% ||||||||
General election 1935: Combined English Universities (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Reginald Craddock | Unopposed | N/A | N/A |
| | Independent | Eleanor Rathbone | Unopposed | N/A | N/A |
1937 Combined English Universities by-election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Independent Progressive | Edmund Harvey | 6,596 | 47.4 | New |
| | Conservative | Francis Oswald Lindley | 4,952 | 35.6 | N/A |
| | Independent Liberal | Henry Britten Brackenbury | 2,373 | 17.0 | New |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 1,644 | 11.8 | N/A |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 13,921 | 48.3 | N/A |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 28,808 | | |
| | Independent Progressive gain from Conservative | Independent Progressive gain from Conservative | Swing | N/A | |

### Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Combined English Universities (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| | Independent Progressive | Eleanor Rathbone | 53.3 | 11,176 | | | | |
| | Independent | Kenneth Lindsay | 9.2 | 1,923 | 3,503 | 3,856 | 4,528 | 5,826 |
| | Independent Labour | Stanley Wormald | 15.3 | 3,212 | 3,973 | 4,081 | 4,473 | 4,675 |
| | National | Eric Cuthbert Arden | 11.6 | 2,433 | 3,073 | 3,389 | 3,829 | eliminated |
| | Independent | John Henry Richardson | 5.3 | 1,124 | 1,995 | 2,341 | eliminated | |
| | Independent | A.R. Foxall | 5.3 | 1,105 | 1,437 | eliminated | | |
| Electorate: 41,976 Valid: 20,973 Quota: 6,992 Turnout: 50.0% |||||||||
By-Election 13–18 March 1946: Combined English Universities :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Henry Strauss | 5,483 | 30.0 | N/A |
| | Independent Progressive | Mary Stocks | 5,124 | 28.0 | −25.3 |
| | Independent Liberal | Ernest Simon | 4,028 | 22.0 | New |
| | Independent Labour | Stanley Wormald | 3,414 | 18.7 | +3.4 |
| | British People's | Gerard Stephen Oddie | 239 | 1.3 | New |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 359 | 2.0 | N/A |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 18,288 | 42.1 | −7.9 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 43,438 | | |
| | Conservative gain from Independent | Conservative gain from Independent | Swing | | |