Electoral Registers: list of Divisions

The WYAS: Wakefield holds a set of electoral registers for the County Parliamentary Constituencies, these Constituencies are listed in the table below. Wakefield is the only Constituency that continues to deposit electoral registers each year.

The Borough Parliamentary Constituencies compiled their own electoral registers which were known as Burgess Rolls; we therefore do not hold records of places within the following Boroughs pre 1965:

• Barnsley
• Batley & Morley
• Bradford
• Dewsbury
• Halifax
• Huddersfield
• Leeds
• Rotherham
• Sheffield
• Wakefield

A list of Borough electoral registers available at other organisations is available here.

However, WYAS: Wakefield does hold a series of Borough Constituency electoral registers from 1965 to 1974 following reorganisation when these Constituencies were abolished and the whole of the the county of West Yorkshire was organised into one parliamentary electoral system. These former Boroughs from 1965 are also included in the list of divisions in the table below.

Following the Representation of the People Act c1948 some County Constituencies eg. Keighley became Borough Constituencies, meaning the series of electoral registers held by WYAS: Wakefield stops in 1949 but resumes again in 1965.

A note on electoral registers around the First and Second World Wars

There were no electoral registers compiled during either World War I or World War II, therefore registers did not exist between 1916-1917 and 1940-1944.

The County Constituency electoral registers held by WYAS: Wakefield usually record an 'A' by absent voters, signifying men who were away serving in the forces but were still eligible to vote at home. These County registers do not provide regimental details or service numbers like the official Absent Voters List. A separate Absent Voters List for the years 1937, 1938 and 1939 is available at WYAS: Wakefield (ref. WYAS934). See here for more information about Absent Voters.

Electoral Registers held by WYAS: Wakefield:

Includes County Parliamentary Constituencies of the West Riding from 1840 and West Yorkshire Constituencies from 1965-1974.

Click on the name of each Constituency to see what records we hold for that Division and the relevant document reference number. You may also find it helpful to check the Polling Districts within a Constituency to find out which Polling District a township appears in at certain dates; this will make it easier when searching through the electoral registers.

Constituency	Date	Polling Districts within this Constituency between these dates
Barkston Ash	1886-1983	1886-1920, 1921-1949, 1950-1974, 1975-1983
Barnsley	1886-1973	1886-1915, 1965-1973
Batley & Morley	1965-1983	1965-1983
Batley & Spen	1984-1985	1984-1985
Bradford	1965-1970	1965-1970
Bradford North	1971-1985	1971-1985
Bradford South	1971-1985	1971-1985
Bradford West	1971-1985	1971-1985
Brighouse & Spenborough	1965-1983	1965-1983
Calder Valley	1984-1985	1984-1985
Colne Valley	1886-1985	1886-1920, 1921-1949, 1950-1954, 1955-1974, 1975-1985
Dearne Valley	1949-1974	1949-1974
Dewsbury	1965-1985	1965-1985
Doncaster	1886-1973	1886-1920, 1921-1949, 1965-1973
Don Valley	1918-1974	1918-1949, 1950-1974
Elland	1886-1948	1886-1920, 1921-1948
Elmet	1984-1985	1984-1985
Goole	1949-1983	1949-1974, 1975-1983
Halifax	1965-1985	1965-1985
Hallamshire	1886-1915	1886-1915
Harrogate	1949-1974	1949-1974
Hemsworth	1918-2003	1918-1949, 1950-1974, 1975-2003
Holmfirth	1886-1915	1886-1915
Huddersfield	1965-1985	(see Huddersfield East and West - below)
Huddersfield East	1969-1983	1965-1985
Huddersfield West	1969-1983	1965-1985
Keighley	1886-1985	1886-1920, 1921-1948, 1965-1985
Leeds	1965-1969	1965-1969
Leeds East	1970-1985	1970-1983, 1984-1985
Leeds North-East	1970-1985	1970-1983, 1984-1985
Leeds North-West	1970-1985	1970-1983, 1984-1985
Leeds South	1970-1983	1970-1983
Leeds South-East	1970-1983	1970-1983
Leeds West	1970-1985	1970-1983, 1984-1985
Leeds Central	1984-1985	1984-1985
Morley	1886-1915	1886-1915
Morley & Leeds South	1984-1985	1984-1985
Normanton	1886-2003	1886-1920, 1921-1949, 1950-1974, 1975-1985, 1987-2003
Osgoldcross	1886-1915	1886-1915
Otley	1886-1915	1886-1915
Penistone	1918-1974	1918-1949, 1950-1974
Pontefract	1918-1970	1918-1938, 1939-1949, 1965-1970
Pontefract & Castleford	1971-2003	1971-1973, 1974-1978, 1979-1981, 1982-2003
Pudsey	1886-1985	1886-1915, 1965-1985
Pudsey & Otley	1918-1948	1918-1948
Ripon	1886-1983	1886-1920, 1921-1948, 1949-1974, 1975-1983
Rotherham	1886-1973	1886-1915, 1965-1973
Rother Valley	1918-1974	1918-1949, 1950-1974
Rothwell	1918-1948	1918-1948
Sheffield	1965-1970	Division 1 1965, 1967-1970; Division 2 1965, 1967-1970
Sheffield Attercliffe	1971-1973	1971-1973
Sheffield Brightside	1971-1973	1971-1973
Sheffield Hallam	1971-1973	1971-1973
Sheffield Heeley	1971-1973	1971-1973
Sheffield Hillsborough	1971-1973	1971-1973
Sheffield Park	1971-1973	1971-1973
Shipley	1886-1985	1886-1920, 1921-1974, 1975-1985
Skipton	1886-1982	1886-1920, 1921-1949, 1950-1974, 1975-1982
Sowerby	1886-1983	1886-1920, 1921-1949, 1950-1974, 1975-1983
Spen Valley	1886-1948	1886-1920, 1921-1948
Wakefield	1965-to present	1965-1972, 1973-1982, 1983-2001, 2002-to present
Wentworth	1918-1948	1919-1948
West Riding	1840-1865	Includes all places in West Riding excluding boroughs
West Riding East	1869-1885	1868-1870,1871-1885
West Riding North	1862-1885	1868-1870, 1871-1885
West Riding South	1862-1885	1868-1870, 1871-1885