East Hertfordshire (UK Parliament constituency)

East Hertfordshire was a parliamentary constituency in the county of Hertfordshire. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

History

The constituency was created for the 1955 general election, and abolished for the 1983 general election. As originally defined, it consisted of the urban districts of Cheshunt, Hoddesdon, Sawbridgeworth, Bishop's Stortford and Ware together with Ware Rural District, all of which had previously been included in the Hertford constituency), and the Braughing Rural District which had previously been split between Hertford and Hitchin.

Boundary changes implemented at the February 1974 election reduced the size of the constituency by moving the town of Ware (though not its rural district) into the new Hertford and Stevenage seat, but leaving the constituency otherwise unchanged.

On its abolition in 1983, most of the East Hertfordshire seat (including Bishop's Stortford and Sawbridgeworth) was amalgamated with the Hertford and Ware half of Hertford and Stevenage to form a Hertford and Stortford constituency, while Cheshunt and Hoddesdon were carved off to make the heart of the new Broxbourne seat.

The writer and TV playwright Dennis Potter stood as a candidate for the Labour Party in the constituency at the 1964 general election, but finished second to the Conservatives.

Members of Parliament

References

• Robert Waller, The Almanac of British Politics (1st edition, London: Croom Helm, 1983)
• Frederic A Youngs, jr, Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol I (London: Royal Historical Society, 1979)
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "H" (part 3)