Colchester (UK Parliament constituency)

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Colchester
Borough constituency

Colchester shown within Essex, and Essex shown within England
Created: 1295, 1997
MP: Bob Russell
Party: Liberal Democrats
Type: House of Commons
County: Essex
EP constituency: East of England

Colchester is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Contents

[edit] Boundaries

The seat has one of Britain's largest residential military populations, but the non-military vote in Colchester has been swinging in favour of the Liberal Democrats since 1997, when Bob Russell was elected with a small majority. Russell has increased both his total vote and precentage share in each of the succeeding elections.

[edit] Boundary review

Following their review of parliamentary representation in Essex, the Boundary Commission for England has created a modified Colchester constituency formed from the following electoral wards

  • Berechurch, Castle, Christ Church, Harbour, Highwoods, Lexden, Mile End, New Town, Prettygate, St Andrew’s, St Anne’s, St John’s, and Shrub End.

[edit] Members of Parliament

[edit] 1295-1640

  • 1571: Francis Harvey
  • 1584-1587: James Morice
  • 1584-1587: Francis Harvey
  • 1588-1589: Arthur Throckmorton
  • 1604-1611: Robert Barker
  • 1604-1611: Edward Alford
  • 1621-1622: Serjeant Towne
  • 1621-1622: Edward Alford
  • 1628-1629: Sir William Masham
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

[edit] 1640-1885

Year First member First party Second member Second party
April 1640 (Sir) Harbottle Grimston [1] Parliamentarian  ?
November 1640 Sir Thomas Barrington Parliamentarian
September 1644 Barrington died September 1644 - seat vacant
1645 John Sayer
December 1648 Grimston excluded in Pride's Purge - seat vacant Sayer not recorded as sitting after Pride's Purge
1653 Colchester was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament
1654 Colonel John Barkstead John Maidstone
1656 Henry Lawrence
January 1659 Abraham Johnson John Shaw
May 1659 Not represented in the restored Rump
April 1660 Sir Harbottle Grimston John Shaw
1679 Sir Walter Clarges
1681 Samuel Reynolds
1685 Sir Walter Clarges Nathaniel Lawrence
1689 Samuel Reynolds Isaac Rebow
1690 Edward Cary
1692 Sir Isaac Rebow
1694 Sir Thomas Cooke
1695 Sir John Morden
1698 Sir Thomas Cooke
May 1705 Edward Bullock
December 1705 Sir Thomas Webster [2]
1711 William Gore
1713 Sir Thomas Webster
1714 [3] William Gore Nicholas Corsellis
1715 Richard Du Cane Whig Sir Isaac Rebow Whig
1722 Sir Thomas Webster Whig Matthew Martin Whig
1727 Stamp Brooksbank Whig Samuel Tufnell Whig
1734 Isaac Lemyng Rebow Whig Matthew Martin Whig
1735 Jacob Houblon Tory
1741 John Olmius
1742 [4] Samuel Savill Charles Gray [5] Tory
1747 Richard Savage Nassau
1754 John Olmius
1755 Isaac Martin Rebow Whig
1761 Charles Gray Tory
1780 Sir Robert Smyth Radical Whig
1781 Christopher Potter [6]
1782 Captain Sir Edmund Affleck [7]
April 1784 Christopher Potter [8]
July 1784 Sir Robert Smyth Radical
1788 George Tierney Radical
1790 Robert Thornton Tory George Jackson Tory
1796 The Lord Muncaster Tory
1802 John Denison Tory
1806 William Tufnell Whig
1807 Richard Hart Davis Tory
1812 Hart Davis Tory
1817 Sir William Burroughs Tory
February 1818 James Beckford Wildman Tory
June 1818 Daniel Whittle Harvey [9] Radical
1820 Henry Baring Tory
1826 Daniel Whittle Harvey Radical Sir George Henry Smyth Tory
1830 Andrew Spottiswoode [10] Tory
1831 William Mayhew Whig
1832 Richard Sanderson Conservative
1835 Sir George Henry Smyth Conservative
1847 Joseph Alfred Hardcastle Whig
1850 Lord John Manners Conservative
1852 William Warwick Hawkins Conservative
February 1857 John Gurdon Rebow Whig
March 1857 Taverner John Miller Conservative
1859 Philip Oxenden Papillon Conservative
1865 John Gurdon Rebow Liberal
1867 Edward Kent Karslake Conservative
1868 William Brewer Liberal
1870 Alexander Learmonth Conservative
1874 Herbert Bulkeley Mackworth-Praed Conservative
1880 Richard Knight Causton Liberal William Willis Liberal
1885 Representation reduced to one member

Notes

  1. ^ Succeeded to a baronetcy, April 1648
  2. ^ Webster and Rebow were re-elected in 1714, but on petition the result was reversed and Gore declared to have been duly elected instead, following a dispute over whether foreigners could be made freemen of the borough and thereby acquire voting rights
  3. ^ Webster was re-elected in 1710, but on petition the result was reversed and Gore and Corsellis declared to have been duly elected instead, following a further dispute over foreign freemen's voting rights
  4. ^ At the election of 1741, Olmius and Martin were returned as elected, but on petition their election was declared void and their opponents, Savill and Gray, declared elected in their place
  5. ^ At the election of 1754, Gray was re- elected, but on petition his election was declared void and his opponent, Rebow, declared elected in his place
  6. ^ On petition, Potter's election was declared void on the grounds of defective qualification and his opponent, Affleck, declared duly elected
  7. ^ Admiral from 1784
  8. ^ On petition, Potter was declared ineligible on the grounds of bankruptcy, and a writ for a new election was issued
  9. ^ Harvey was re-elected in 1820 but on petition his election was declared void on the grounds of defective qualification and a by-election was held
  10. ^ On petition, Spottiswoode's election was declared void and a by-election was held

[edit] 1885-1983

Year Member Party
1885 Henry John Trotter Conservative
1888 Lord Brooke, later Earl of Warwick Conservative
1892 Herbert Naylor-Leyland Conservative
1895 Sir Weetman Dickinson Pearson, later Viscount Cowdray Liberal
1910 Sir Laming Worthington-Evans Conservative
1929 Oswald Lewis Conservative
1945 Charles George Percy Smith, later Baron Delacourt-Smith Labour
1950 Cuthbert James McCall Alport, later Baron Alport Conservative
1961 Philip Antony Fyson Buck Conservative
1983 Constituency abolished: see Colchester North, Colchester South and Maldon

[edit] 1997-present

Year Member Party
1997 Constituency re-established
1997 Bob Russell Liberal Democrat

[edit] Election results

General Election 2005: Colchester
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrat Bob Russell 21,145 47.1 +4.5
Conservative Kevin Bentley 14,868 33.1 +3.2
Labour Laura Bruni 8,886 19.8 −5.2
Majority 6,277 14.0
Turnout 44,899 56.8 +0.7
Liberal Democrat hold Swing +0.6
General Election 2001: Colchester
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrat Bob Russell 18,627 42.6 +8.2
Conservative Kevin Bentley 13,074 29.9 -1.5
Labour Chris Fegan 10,925 25.0 -5.6
UK Independence Roger Lord 631 1.4 N/A
Grey Party Len Overy-Owen 479 1.1 N/A
Majority 5,553 12.7
Turnout 43,736 56.1 -13.5
Liberal Democrat hold Swing
General Election 1997: Colchester
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrat Bob Russell 17,886 34.4
Conservative Stephan Shakespeare 16,335 31.4
Labour R. Green 15,891 30.5
Referendum Party J. Hazell 1,776 3.4
Natural Law L. Basker 148 0.3
Majority 1,551 3.0
Turnout 69.2

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  • Robert Beatson, "A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament" (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807) [1]
  • D Brunton & D H Pennington, Members of the Long Parliament (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954)
  • Cobbett's Parliamentary history of England, from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the year 1803 (London: Thomas Hansard, 1808) [2]
  • F W S Craig, "British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885" (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989)
  • J E Neale, The Elizabethan House of Commons (London: Jonathan Cape, 1949)
  • Henry Stooks Smith, The Parliaments of England from 1715 to 1847 (2nd edition, edited by FWS Craig - Chichester: Parliamentary Reference Publications, 1973)
  • Victoria County History of Essex online at www.british-history.ac.uk
  • Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page
Constituencies in the East of England
Conservative

Billericay | Braintree | Brentwood and Ongar | Broxbourne | Bury St Edmunds | Castle Point | Central Suffolk and North Ipswich | Epping Forest | Harwich | Hemel Hempstead | Hertford and Stortford | Hertsmere | Hitchin and Harpenden | Huntingdon | Maldon and East Chelmsford | Mid Bedfordshire | Mid Norfolk | North Essex | North East Bedfordshire | North East Cambridgeshire | North East Hertfordshire | North West Cambridgeshire | North West Norfolk | Peterborough | Rayleigh | Rochford and Southend East | Saffron Walden | Southend West | South Cambridgeshire | South East Cambridgeshire | South Norfolk | South Suffolk | South West Bedfordshire | South West Hertfordshire | South West Norfolk | St Albans | Suffolk Coastal | Welwyn Hatfield | West Chelmsford | West Suffolk
Labour

Basildon | Bedford | Great Yarmouth | Harlow | Ipswich | Luton North | Luton South | Norwich North | Norwich South | Stevenage | Thurrock | Watford | Waveney
Liberal Democrat

Cambridge | Colchester | North Norfolk
East of England European constituency: Conservative (3) | UKIP (2) | Labour (1) | Liberal Democrats (1)
Languages