Sheffield Daily Telegraph – Tuesday 09 December 1884

Mexborough and Parliamentary Representation

It is considered that within a radius of six miles from either Mexborough or Swinton there is a sufficiently large population to justify the formation of a Parliamentary district, the inhabitants of which are bound together by a community of interest.

The estimated population and distance from Mexborough of the following places are as under:—Bolton-on-Dearne, 1,500, two miles; Hoyland and Elsecar, 10,000, six miles; Wombwell (with Jump), 10,000, four-and-a-half miles; Barnburgh, 500, three miles; Wath-on-Dearne, 6,500, two miles; Swinton and Mexborough, 15,000; Denaby, 5,500, one mile; Adwick, 270, one-and-a-half miles; Hickleton, 125, five miles; High Melton, 151, two miles; Conisborough, 2,800, three miles; Thrybergh, 207, three miles; Wentworth, 1,800, six miles.

Besides these places there are others with large and growing populations, such as Darfield and other villages, which are dependent on the mining industry, and lie within a moderate distance of either Mexborough or Swinton.