Sunderland was a

borough 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. T ...

, created by the

Reform Act 1832 The Representation of the People Act 1832 (also known as the 1832 Reform Act, Great Reform Act or First Reform Act) was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom (indexed as 2 & 3 Will. IV c. 45) that introduced major changes to the electo ...

for the 1832 general election. It elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) by the bloc vote 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 operat ...

. It was split into the single-member seats of

Sunderland North Sunderland North was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1950 to 2010. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. History Sun ...

and Sunderland South for the 1950 general election.

Boundaries

1832-1918

Under the

Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832 The Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which defined the parliamentary divisions (constituencies) in England and Wales required by the Reform Act 1832. The boundaries were largely those recommen ...

, the contents of the borough were defined as the Parish of Sunderland and the several townships of Bishop Wearmouth, Bishop Wearmouth Panns, Monk Wearmouth, Monk Wearmouth Shore, and Southwick. ''See map on Vision of Britain website.'' ''Minor change in 1868 to include a small part of the Municipal Borough not in the Parliamentary Borough.''

1918-1950

* The County Borough of Sunderland * The Urban District of Southwick-on-Wear. ''Minor changes to align boundaries with those of local authorities.''

Members of Parliament

Election results

Elections in the 1830s

Barrington resigned, causing a by-election.

Elections in the 1840s

Thompson resigned by accepting the office of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds in order to contest a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election ( Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to ...

Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...

, causing a by-election. Grey succeeded to the peerage, becoming 3rd

Earl Grey Earl Grey is a title in the peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1806 for General Charles Grey, 1st Baron Grey. In 1801, he was given the title Baron Grey of Howick in the County of Northumberland, and in 1806 he was created Viscou ...

and causing a by-election. Barclay resigned by accepting the office of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds, causing a by-election.

Elections in the 1850s

Seymour was appointed

Recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

, requiring a by-election.

Elections in the 1860s

Fenwick was appointed a

Civil Lord of the Admiralty The Civil Lord of the Admiralty formally known as the Office of the Civil Lord of Admiralty also referred to as the Department of the Civil Lord of the Admiralty was a member of the Board of Admiralty who was responsible for managing the Royal N ...

, requiring a by-election.

Elections in the 1870s

Elections in the 1880s

Allan resigned, causing a by-election.

Elections in the 1890s

Elections in the 1900s

*some records describe Wilkie as Liberal-Labour

Elections in the 1910s

*stood as "Independent

Tariff Reform The Tariff Reform League (TRL) was a protectionist British pressure group formed in 1903 to protest against what they considered to be unfair foreign imports and to advocate Imperial Preference to protect British industry from foreign competitio ...

" but was supported by local Conservative Association Hamar Greenwood (Bain Collection)

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; *Liberal: Hamar Greenwood *Labour:

Frank Goldstone Sir Frank Walter Goldstone (7 December 1870 – 25 December 1955) was a British teacher, trade unionist and politician. Biography Goldstone was born in Bishopwearmouth, County Durham (now Sunderland) on 7 December 1870. The third son of a sta ...

*Unionist:

Elections in the 1920s

Elections in the 1930s

Elections in the 1940s

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:

Samuel Storey Samuel Storey (1841–1925) was a British politician born in County Durham. He became a Member of Parliament for Sunderland and the main founder of the '' Sunderland Echo'' newspaper. Early life Samuel Storey was born in Sherburn, near ...

*Liberal National:

Stephen Furness Stephen Furness may refer to: * Sir Stephen Furness, 1st Baronet (1872–1914), ship-owner and Member of Parliament for The Hartlepools 1910–1914 * Stephen Furness (Sunderland MP) (1902–1974), Member of Parliament for Sunderland 1935–1945 *Ste ...

*Labour:

Fred Peart Thomas Frederick Peart, Baron Peart, PC (30 April 1914 – 26 August 1988) was a British Labour politician who served in the Labour governments of the 1960s and 1970s and was a candidate for Deputy Leader of the Party. Early life and educatio ...

Fred Willey Frederick Thomas Willey (13 November 1910 – 13 December 1987) was a British Labour Party politician. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) representing a Sunderland constituency for 38 years, from 1945 to 1983. Early life Willey was educated ...

Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939

Notes and References

Notes References * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sunderland (Uk Parliament Constituency) Politics of the City of Sunderland Parliamentary constituencies in County Durham (historic) Parliamentary constituencies in Tyne and Wear (historic) Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1832 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1950