Catalogue

Title details

SN:	5319
Title:	British Local Election Database, 1889-2003
Persistent identifier:	10.5255/UKDA-SN-5319-1
Depositor(s):	Rallings, C.S., University of Plymouth. School of Sociology, Politics and Law
Principal investigator(s):	Rallings, C.S., University of Plymouth. School of Sociology, Politics and Law Thrasher, M.A.M., University of Plymouth. School of Sociology, Politics and Law Ware, L., University of Plymouth. Social Research and Regeneration Unit
Sponsor(s):	Arts and Humanities Research Board Economic and Social Research Council
Grant number:	RES-023-25-0001; RF/AN2626/APN13667
Other acknowledgements:	Material on Scottish Local Election Results was provided by Professor David Denver from the Department of Politics and International Relations at Lancaster University.

Subject Categories

Abstract

This project has established a unique database of local elections results in Great Britain. The database contains data for the period of the twentieth century before wholesale local government reorganisation in 1973. It also links the existing English, Welsh and Scottish local election databases. Until now, these results had never been collated together, let alone transformed into machine-readable form.

Main Topics: The part of the database comprising the twentieth century before wholesale local government reorganisation in 1973 was funded by the AHRB and contains ca.50,000 election results. These cover mainly urban areas, including English, Welsh and Scottish county boroughs between 1911 and 1972 and all London area contests in the period 1889-1971. In detail these are: County Borough Council, first year: 1911, last year: 1972, number of cases: 35678 County Council, first year: 1958, last year: 1970, number of cases: 5270 Greater London Council: first year: 1964, last year: 1970, number of cases: 96 London Borough Council: first year: 1900, last year: 1971, number of cases: 7361 London County Council: first year: 1889, last year: 1961, number of cases: 1214 The second part of the database which updates and links the existing English, Welsh and Scottish local election databases was funded by the ESRC and contains in excess of 150,000 individual local election results. In detail these are: County Council: first year: 1973, last year: 2001, number of cases: 27663 District Council: first year: 1973, last year: 2003, number of cases: 87066 Greater London Council: first year: 1973, last year: 1981, number of cases: 276 London Borough Council: first year: 1974, last year: 2002, number of cases: 5827 Metropolitan Borough Council: first year: 1973, last year: 2003, number of cases: 18995 Metropolitan County Council: first year: 1973, last year: 1981, number of cases: 1641 Unitary Authority: first year: 1974, last year: 2003, number of cases: 9879

Coverage, universe, methodology

Time period:	01 January 1889 - 01 January 2003
Country:	England Scotland Wales
Spatial units:	Counties (Metropolitan) Greater London London Boroughs Unitary Authorities (England) Wards (Electoral)
Observation units:	Geographic Units
Kind of data:	Textual Alpha-numeric Numeric
Universe:	National Election Results for England, Wales and Scotland between 1889 and 2003
Time dimensions:	Cross-sectional (one-time) study
Sampling procedures:	No sampling (total universe)
Number of units:	ca.200,000
Method of data collection:	Compilation or synthesis of existing material
Weighting:	no weighting conducted
Data sources:	Published or unpublished census material, official election returns, newspaper reports, local authority election returns, ward level data from censuses, OPCS electorate figures, and the series of publications Scottish Local Election Results by J. Bochel and D. Denver and additional materials for the Scottish data.

Keywords

BRITISH POLITICAL PARTIES	CENSUS DATA	CENSUS RECORDS
CENSUS REPORTS	CONSTITUENCIES	ELECTION DATA
ELECTION RESULTS	ELECTION TURNOUT	ELECTORAL RECORDS
ENGLAND	LOCAL GOVERNMENT	LOCAL GOVERNMENT CANDIDATES
METROPOLITAN AREAS	NEWSPAPERS	SCOTLAND
VOTING	WALES

Administrative and access information

Date of release:
First edition:	28 June 2006
Copyright:	Copyright Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher, University of Plymouth
Access conditions:	The depositor has specified that registration is required and standard conditions of use apply. The depositor may be informed about usage. See terms and conditions of access for further information.
Please note:	Some of these data previously appeared in the UKDA catalogue under study numbers SN 2362, 2576, 3180 and 3301.
Availability:	UK Data Service
Contact:	Get in touch

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