Rutland and Stamford (UK Parliament constituency)

Rutland and Stamford
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
County	Lincolnshire and Rutland
1918–1983
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Rutland & Melton Stamford & Spalding
Created from	Rutland and Stamford

Rutland and Stamford was a county constituency comprising the area centred on the town of Stamford in Lincolnshire, and the county of Rutland. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, using the first-past-the-post voting system.

The constituency was created for the 1918 general election, and abolished for the 1983 general election. It was succeeded by the Rutland and Melton and Stamford and Spalding constituencies.

Members of Parliament

	Member	Party^[1]
1918	Claud Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby	Conservative
1922	Charles Harvey Dixon	Conservative
1923 by-election	Neville Woodford Smith-Carington	Conservative
1933 by-election	Lord Willoughby de Eresby	Conservative
1950	Sir Roger Conant	Conservative
1959	Kenneth Lewis	Conservative
1983	Constituency abolished. See Rutland & Melton and Stamford & Spalding

In 1983 Rutland became part of the Rutland and Melton constituency along with Melton borough and part of Harborough district in Leicestershire.

Elections

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1918: Rutland and Stamford^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Hon. Claud Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby	8,838	53.6	n/a
	Labour	Fleming Eccles	7,639	46.4	n/a
Majority			1,199	7.2	n/a
Turnout				61.8	n/a
	Unionist win

endorsed by the Coalition Government.

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1922: Rutland and Stamford^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Charles Harvey Dixon	10,278	46.8
	Labour	Fleming Eccles	7,236	32.9
	Agriculture	E Clark	4,471	20.3	n/a
Majority			3,042	13.9
Turnout				81.2
	Unionist hold		Swing

Rutland and Stamford by-election, 1923^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Neville Woodford Smith-Carington	11,196	57.1
	Labour	Arthur Sells	8,406	42.9
Majority			2,790	14.2
Turnout				71.5
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1923: Rutland and Stamford^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Neville Woodford Smith-Carington	10,803	51.4
	Liberal	Frank Stapledon Hiley	5,203	24.8
	Labour	Arthur Sells	5,005	23.8
Majority			5,600	26.6
Turnout				76.7
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1924: Rutland and Stamford^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Neville Woodford Smith-Carington	13,286	66.7
	Labour	H F Wheeler	6,633	33.3
Majority			6,653	33.4
Turnout
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1929: Rutland and Stamford^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Neville Woodford Smith-Carington	12,607	47.4
	Labour	Henry James Jones	7,403	27.9
	Liberal	Harry Payne	6,561	24.7
Majority			5,204	19.5
Turnout				76.7
	Unionist hold		Swing

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931: Rutland and Stamford^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Neville Woodford Smith-Carington	19,086	71.9
	Labour	F E Church	7,446	28.1
Majority			11,640	43.8
Turnout				75.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

Rutland and Stamford by-election, 1933
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gilbert James Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, Lord Willoughby de Eresby	14,605	53.3
	Labour	Arnold William Gray	12,818	46.7
Majority			1,787	6.6
Turnout				77.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1935: Rutland and Stamford^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gilbert James Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, Lord Willoughby de Eresby	16,799	59.9
	Labour	Arnold William Gray	11,238	40.1
Majority
Turnout				78.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1939/40

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected;

Conservative: Gilbert James Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, Lord Willoughby de Eresby
Labour: Arnold William Gray^[10]

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Rutland and Stamford^[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gilbert James Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, Lord Willoughby de Eresby	15,359	53.7
	Labour	Arnold William Gray	13,223	46.3
Majority			2,136	7.4
Turnout				72.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: Rutland and Stamford^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Roger John Edward Conant	16,498	49.6
	Labour	Thomas George Bradley	13,712	41.3
	Liberal	Cyril Valentine	3,024	9.1
Majority			2,786	8.3
Turnout				83.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1951: Rutland and Stamford^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Roger John Edward Conant	17,850	54.1
	Labour	Thomas George Bradley	15,127	45.9
Majority			2,723	8.2
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Rutland and Stamford^[14]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sir Roger John Edward Conant	17,675	54.3
	Labour	Thomas George Bradley	14,856	45.7
Majority			2,819	3.7
Turnout			32,531	79.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1959: Rutland and Stamford^[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Kenneth Lewis	19,078	57.4
	Labour	Christopher S B Attlee	14,137	42.6
Majority			4,941	14.9
Turnout			33,215
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1964: Rutland and Stamford^[16]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Kenneth Lewis	18,720	55.5	-
	Labour	A Victor Butler	14,990	44.5	-
Majority			3,730	11.0	-
Turnout				79.3	-
	Conservative hold		Swing	-

General Election 1966: Rutland and Stamford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Kenneth Lewis	17,991	53.4	-
	Labour	A Victor Butler	15,704	46.6	-
Majority			2,287	6.8	-
Turnout			33,695	-	-
	Conservative hold		Swing	-

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: Rutland and Stamford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Kenneth Lewis	22,803	60.1	-
	Labour	Henry Toch	15,136	39.9	-
Majority			7,667	20.2	-
Turnout			37,939	75.0	-
	Conservative hold		Swing	-

General Election February 1974: Rutland and Stamford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Kenneth Lewis	21,088	47.25	-
	Labour	A.J. Byrne	12,203	27.34	-
	Liberal	David Howie	11,336	25.40	-
Majority			8,885	19.91	-
Turnout				82.40	-
	Conservative hold		Swing	-

General Election October 1974: Rutland and Stamford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Kenneth Lewis	19,101	46.2	-
	Labour	Malcolm R.C. Withers	12,111	29.3	-
	Liberal	David Howie	10,113	24.5	-
Majority			6,990	16.9	-
Turnout			41,325	72.0	-
	Conservative hold		Swing	-

General Election 1979: Rutland and Stamford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Kenneth Lewis	26,198	56.48	-
	Labour	Malcolm R.C. Withers	11,383	24.54	-
	Liberal	P. Blaine	8,801	18.98	-
Majority			14,815	31.94	-
Turnout				78.08	-
	Conservative hold		Swing	-

References

↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "R" (part 2)
↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
↑ Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939
↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
↑ British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
↑ British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
↑ British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
↑ F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1973
↑ F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1973