Talk:List of MPs elected in the 1945 United Kingdom general election

Old discussions

This page seems to be a bit wrong - it lists only 623 MPs compared to a total of 640 on the United Kingdom general election, 1945 page. Most of the party totals don't match. sjorford mmmmm 13:46, 22 November 2005 (UTC)

I think I have found the missing MPs: Acton, Brentford & Chiswick, Caernarvonshire, Finchley, King's Lynn, Lewisham East, Lewisham West, Liverpool West Toxteth, Louth, Norfolk East, Norfolk North, Norfolk South, Norfolk South West, Northampton, Rutland & Stamford, Spelthorne, and Uxbridge. I also changed 3 Labs to Con and 2 Cons to Lab. I'd be grateful if someone could check party totals again.

Mtiedemann 02:03, 23 November 2005 (UTC)

The total is right now, but some of the minor parties and independents still don't quite match. Here are the party totals from the two articles:

Party	This page	Summary	Difference
Labour	393	393	-
Conservative	188	197	-
Ulster Unionist	9
Common Wealth	1	1	-
Communist	2	2	-
Independent	10	8	2
Independent Conservative	2	2	-
Independent Labour	1	2	-1
Independent Labour Party	3	3	-
Independent Liberal	0	2	-2
Independent Progressive	0	1	-1
Independent Ulster Unionist	1		1
Irish Labour	1	0	1
Irish Nationalist	2	2	-
Liberal	12	12	-
Liberal National	1	0	1
National	2	2	-
National Independent	0	2	-2
National Liberal	12	11	1

I'm assuming the Ulster Unionists should be counted with the Conservatives. All the rest look like they need some more checking. sjorford (talk) 14:38, 23 November 2005 (UTC)

I have consulted The Times House of Commons 1945 that I have been using as a source. I list the numbers from its summary below. The Conservative figure is out but that is probably one of the Independent Conservatives who lost the Whip on selection issues and promptly rejoined. Independents are simply listed as 14...

Party	This page	Summary	Difference	The Times
Labour	393	393	-	393
Liberal	12	12	-	12
Independent Labour Party	3	3	-	3
Communist	2	2	-	2
Common Wealth	1	1	-	1
Irish Nationalist	2	2	-	2
Conservative	188	197	-	189
Ulster Unionist	9			9
National	2	2	-	2
Liberal National	1	0	1	13
National Liberal	12	11	1
Independent	10	8	2	14
Independent Conservative	2	2	-
Independent Labour	1	2	-1
Independent Liberal	0	2	-2
Independent Progressive	0	1	-1
Independent Ulster Unionist	1		1
Irish Labour	1	0	1
National Independent	0	2	-2

Obviously Liberal National and National Liberal should be the same. The mistake was probably mine - the party was normally shortened to L. Nat. but we refer to it generally as National Liberal. I will try and change it.

Looking in detail at the Independents may give some idea:

• John Boyd Orr, Combined Scottish Universities, Independent
• Eleanor Rathbone, Combined English Universities, Independent
• Kenneth Lindsay, Combined English Universities, Independent but formerly National Labour
• Ernest Graham-Little, London University, Independent
• Arthur Salter, Oxford University, Independent but cabinet minister in wartime national government
• Alan Herbert, Oxford University, Independent
• H Wilson Harris, Cambridge University, Independent
• William Kendall, Grantham, Independent
• James McKie, Galloway, Independent Conservative but rejoined Tories during the Parliament
• D L Lipson, Cheltenham, Independent Conservative
• James Little, Down, Independent Ulster Unionist but had been official UU until May 1945
• James Beattie, Belfast West, Irish Labour but listed in book simply as Labour, perhaps hinting another mistake somewhere
• W J Brown, Rugby, Independent but had formerly been a Labour MP
• Vernon Bartlett, Bridgwater, Independent but had been a Common Wealth MP and later joined Labour
• Denis Pritt, Hammersmith North, Independent Labour - had been expelled from Labour Party in 1940

So there are 15 here which could fall into the 'Independent' group. My hunch is that Beattie is counted as Labour, meaning there could be another mistake there, pushing one into the Conservatives...

Mtiedemann 01:08, 24 November 2005 (UTC)

I've been trying to get to the bottom of this for the List of British MPs not elected from a major party. Beattie should be independent Labour; he did not join the Irish Labour Party until later. But I've come to the conclusion that both lists contain errors and will try to check Craig for his list. Warofdreams talk 12:39, 12 December 2005 (UTC)

I have been through the whole list, found on Labour that shoud be Tory, and one Tory that should be Labour, which makes no difference to the totals...

Mtiedemann 02:40, 25 November 2005 (UTC)

I thought I'd look at the guide to the 1950 election which was obviously written with a little more time to consider the results of 1945. It turns out that The Times House of Commons 1950 is quite useful, concurring with the results on this page:

Party	This page	Summary	Difference	The Times 1945	The Times 1950
Labour	393	393	-	393	394
Liberal	12	12	-	12	12
Independent Labour Party	3	3	-	3	3
Communist	2	2	-	2	2
Common Wealth	1	1	-	1	1
Irish Nationalist	2	2	-	2	2
Conservative	188	197	-	189	188
Ulster Unionist	9			9	9
National	2	2	-	2	2
Liberal National	1	0	1	13	13
National Liberal	12	11	1
Independent	10	8	2	14	14
Independent Conservative	2	2	-
Independent Labour	1	2	-1
Independent Liberal	0	2	-2
Independent Progressive	0	1	-1
Independent Ulster Unionist	1		1
Irish Labour	1	0	1
National Independent	0	2	-2

So assuming that either Beattie or Pritt were counted as 'Labour', this source seems to imply that the information on this page is correct, as is United Kingdom general election, 1945, presumably leaving the only discrepancies among the Independents. Mtiedemann 16:33, 12 December 2005 (UTC)

Survivors

Just out of interest, I make it four survivors only from the MPs elected at the 1945 general election:

• Michael Foot (b. 1913)
• John Freeman (b. 1915)
• Ernest Millington (b. 1916)
• David Renton (b. 1908)

Millington was first elected at a byelection shortly before the general election. Foot was a defeated candidate at the 1935 election. There are no survivors who were elected at byelections to the 1945-1950 Parliament. Sam Blacketer 23:39, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Move discussion in progress

There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:List of MPs in the first United Kingdom Parliament which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 21:34, 2 December 2022 (UTC)