What is "hallamshire"

Hallamshire (or Hallam) is the historical name for an area of South Yorkshire, England, in the current city of Sheffield.

The origin of the name is uncertain. The English Place-Name Society describe "Hallam" originating from a formation meaning "on the rocks". Alternative theories are that it is derived from halgh meaning an area of land at a border, Old Norse hallr meaning a slope or hill, or Old English heall meaning a hall or mansion.

The exact boundaries of this historic district are unknown, but it is thought to have covered the parishes of Sheffield, Ecclesfield, and Bradfield—an area roughly equivalent to those parts of the present-day borough of the City of Sheffield that lie to the west of the rivers Don and Sheaf that are within the boundaries of the ancient county of Yorkshire (later descriptions also include Brightside and the parish of Handsworth).

Hallamshire was a Parliamentary constituency covering the Hallamshire district of England. The constituency was created in 1885 and abolished in 1918. It should not be confused with Sheffield Hallam. The seat was a large geographical area which in the west included the moors of the Pennines (Howden Moors, Midhope Moors, Broom Read Moor, Bradfield Moor and Hallam Moor), but came down from the hills in the centre to include better farmland north of Sheffield around Ecclesfield. In the north-east it included part of the South Yorkshire coalfield and some mining villages. In the south, the residents of Sheffield who owned their freeholds could vote in this division.

For twenty years the Member of Parliament was the Sheffield cutler and steel manufacturer, Sir Frederick Mappin, who was able to unite the middle-class voters from Sheffield with the hill-farmers and the miners to vote for him as a Liberal. When he retired the local Liberal association selected a miner, John Wadsworth, who was President of the Yorkshire Miners Association in 1903 and sponsored by the Miners' Federation of Great Britain. With the other MFGB sponsored MPs, Wadsworth transferred to the Labour Party in 1909.