History of Cheltenham Labour Party

Creation and early days of the local party

In 1901 the Cheltenham and District Trade and Labour Council, which was formed 7 years earlier, held a meeting calling for the creation of a local Labour Party with the purpose of electing onto the Town Council direct representatives of Labour.

In March 1918, nearly 18 years later, over 80 people attended a meeting called by the Cheltenham and District Trade and Labour Council and passed a resolution that created a Labour Party here in Cheltenham.

By August 1918 the fledgling local party had adoped the constitution and rules of the national Labour Party and elected a Provisional Working Committee of 13 men and 5 women to organise the work of the new Cheltenham Labour Party.

The first Labour Candidate in Cheltenham

September 1928 saw Cheltenham Labour Party stand its first candidate, Florence Widdowson, in a Parliamentary by-election, caused by the death of the sitting MP.

The by-election came just 2 months after the Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act had received Royal Assent in July of that year giving women the equal right to vote with men at 21 for the first time.

Florence became a Labour MP in 1945 and the first woman to chair a parliamentary debate in the House of Commons.