Otley (UK Parliament constituency)

Otley
Former constituency for the House of Commons
1885–1918
Number of members	one
Replaced by	Keighley, Pudsey and Otley, Shipley and Skipton
Created from	Eastern West Riding of Yorkshire

Otley was a parliamentary constituency between 1885 and 1918 centred on the town of Otley, then in the West Riding of Yorkshire and now in West Yorkshire. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system.

History

The constituency was created when the two-member Eastern West Riding of Yorkshire was divided by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 for the 1885 general election in six new single-member constituencies. It was abolished for the 1918 general election, when it was largely replaced by the new Pudsey & Otley constituency.

Boundaries

The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 provided that the constituency was to consist of-

• the Sessional Division of Otley and
• the Parishes of Beamsley in Addingham, Beamsley in Skipton, Bingley and Micklethwaite, Hazlewood with Storris, Morton, and Nesfield with Langbar.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Sir Andrew Fairbairn	Liberal
	1886	John Barran	Liberal
	1895	Marmaduke D'Arcy Wyvill	Conservative
	1900	James Hastings Duncan	Liberal
1918		constituency abolished: see Pudsey & Otley

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

Frederick Fison

General Election 1885: Otley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Andrew Fairbairn			n/a
	Conservative	Frederick William Fison			n/a
Majority					n/a
Turnout					n/a
	Liberal win (new seat)

General Election 1886: Otley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Barran
	Liberal Unionist	Sir Andrew Fairbairn
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

Elections in the 1890s

General Election 1892: Otley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Barran
	Conservative
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

File:Marmaduke D'Arcy Wyvill.jpg

M.D. Wyvill

General Election 1895: Otley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Marmaduke D'Arcy Wyvill
	Liberal	Sir John Barran
Majority			48	0.6
Turnout
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing

Elections in the 1900s

File:1904 Hastings Duncan MP.jpg

Hastings Duncan

General Election 1900: Otley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	James Hastings Duncan	5,327	52.9
	Conservative	Marmaduke D'Arcy Wyvill	4,747	47.1
Majority			580	5.8
Turnout			11,397	78.2
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election 1906: Otley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	James Hastings Duncan	6,307
	Conservative	William Whittaker Thompson	4,658
Majority			1,649
Turnout			10,965
	Liberal hold		Swing

Elections in the 1910s

General Election January 1910: Otley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	James Hastings Duncan	6,911
	Conservative	William Whittaker Thompson	5,010
Majority			1,901
Turnout			11,921
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election December 1910: Otley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	James Hastings Duncan	6,151
	Conservative	William Whittaker Thompson	4,892
Majority			1259
Turnout			11,143
	Liberal hold		Swing

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: James Hastings Duncan
• Unionist:

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "O"