Farnham (UK Parliament constituency)

Coordinates: 51°12′50″N 0°47′46″W / 51.214°N 0.796°W / 51.214; -0.796

Farnham
Former County constituency
for the House of Commons
1918–1983
Number of members one
Replaced by

Woking formed from part of Farnham: 1950

Chertsey gained Bagshot R.D.: 1950

South West Surrey (remaining parts in 1983)
Guildford (Seale and Tongham returned to)[1]
Created from South Western Division of Surrey (also known as Guildford) (western and south-western parts of) (and later additions from)
Chertsey (southern parts of)

Farnham was a constituency covering the south-westernmost and various western parts of Surrey for the House of Commons of the UK Parliament, 1918—1983. Its main successor was South West Surrey. The seat was formed with north-eastern territory including Woking from Chertsey in 1918 and shed the Woking area to form its own seat in 1950. In common with all 1918 and subsequently created seats it elected one Member of Parliament (MP). During its 65-year span its voters elected three Conservatives successively.

Boundaries

The constituency took its name from the town of Farnham and included other towns and a large agricultural and forested hills area with significant sandy heathland rising up to the north. The boundaries were altered at each redistribution of parliamentary seats, reflecting the increase in population of the area and thus the splitting of Western Surrey (or Guildford) into South West Surrey or Guildford and North West Surrey, followed by South West Surrey, most of Surrey Heath, and Guildford covering this part of Surrey, the arrangement by 1983.[2]

1918–1950

The constituency was created by the Representation of the People Act 1918 as one of seven county constituencies within Surrey.[3]

The rural district of Farnham (based on the Hundred before it); in the Guildford Rural District — the civil parish Pirbright; and the Farnham, Frimley (including Camberley), Windlesham,[n 1][4] and Woking urban districts.

1950–1983

Rural Surrey had ten county constituencies in 1950 — Farnham was defined as comprising:[5][n 2]

To enable the above, Godalming and Haslemere were transferred from Guildford — Woking, Windlesham and Pirbright were transferred to the new seat of Woking.

The constituency was unaltered at the redistribution of 1974 which coincided with a major local government consolidation, the main local authority approximating to the seat becoming Waverley (district).[n 3][2]

Type for returning officer and election expenses

The seat was a county constituency.

Members of Parliament

Election Member Party
1918 Sir Arthur Samuel Conservative
1937 Sir Godfrey Nicholson Conservative
1966 Maurice Macmillan Conservative
1983 constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1918: Farnham[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Coalition Unionist Arthur Samuel 7,558 52.5 N/A
Labour John Hayes 3,534 24.6 N/A
Independent Unionist John Henry Harris 3,289 22.9 N/A
Majority 4,024 27.9 N/A
Turnout 14,381 44.0 N/A
Registered electors 32,720
Unionist win (new seat)

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1922: Farnham[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Unionist Arthur Samuel 14,557 73.3 +20.8
Labour Thomas Humphrey Marshall 5,312 26.7 +2.1
Majority 9,245 46.6 +18.7
Turnout 19,869 56.8 +12.8
Registered electors 34,980
Unionist hold Swing +9.4
General Election 1923: Farnham[8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Unionist Arthur Samuel 12,534 59.6 −13.7
Liberal Christopher a’Beckett Williams 4,979 23.7 N/A
Labour Anne Elizabeth Corner 3,520 16.7 −10.0
Majority 7,555 35.9 −10.7
Turnout 21,033 59.6 +2.8
Registered electors 35,314
Unionist hold Swing −1.9
General Election 1924: Farnham[9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Unionist Arthur Samuel 18,272 79.8 +20.2
Labour Anne Elizabeth Corner 4,613 20.2 +3.5
Majority 13,659 59.6 +23.7
Turnout 22,885 63.1 +3.5
Registered electors 36,255
Unionist hold Swing +8.4
General Election 1929: Farnham[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Unionist Arthur Samuel 21,050 59.8 −19.9
Liberal John William Todd 9,268 26.3 N/A
Labour Francis Palmer 4,866 13.8 −6.4
Majority 11,782 33.6 −26.0
Turnout 35,184 66.9 +3.8
Registered electors 52,597
Unionist hold Swing −6.8

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931: Farnham[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Arthur Samuel Unopposed N/A N/A
Conservative hold
United Kingdom general election, 1935: Farnham
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Arthur Samuel 28,211 78.5 N/A
Labour D M Fraser 7,725 21.5 N/A
Majority 20,486 57.0 N/A
Conservative hold
Farnham by-election, 1937
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Godfrey Nicholson 20,580 66.7 -11.8
Labour Peter Pain 7,792 25.3 +3.8
Independent Conservative Linton Thorp 2,327 7.5 N/A
Independent Edward Miller 154 0.5 N/A
Majority 12,788 41.5 -15.5
Conservative hold

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;

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Farnham[13]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Godfrey Nicholson 31,557 61.19
Labour TW Gittins 20,013 38.81
Majority 11,544 22.39
Turnout 51,570 68.72
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: Farnham[14]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Godfrey Nicholson 21,665 55.70
Labour Eric Charles Neate 12,972 33.35
Liberal F. P. Shannon 4,262 10.96
Majority 8,693 22.35
Turnout 38,899 83.11
Conservative hold Swing
General Election 1951: Farnham[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Godfrey Nicholson 24,239 63.32
Labour Charles Leonard James 14,041 36.68
Majority 10,198 26.64
Turnout 38,280 80.44
Conservative hold Swing
General Election 1955: Farnham[16]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Godfrey Nicholson 23,717 64.93
Labour John Stuart Paul Davey 12,811 35.07
Majority 10,906 29.86
Turnout 36,528 76.32
Conservative hold Swing
General Election 1959: Farnham[17]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Godfrey Nicholson 23,538 59.03
Labour Joseph Greenwood Turner 9,800 24.58
Liberal Dennis William Saunders 6,538 16.40 n/a
Majority 13,738 34.45
Turnout 39,876 79.36
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1964: Farnham[18]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Godfrey Nicholson 21,382 51.20
Liberal Dennis William Saunders 11,876 28.44
Labour Kenneth Frank Urwin 8,500 20.36
Majority 9,506 22.76
Turnout 41,758 78.71
Conservative hold Swing
General Election 1966: Farnham[19]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Maurice Macmillan 21,028 48.84
Liberal Dennis William Saunders 12,036 27.96
Labour Leslie G R Pinchen 9,988 23.20
Majority 8,922 20.89
Turnout 43,052 80.00
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: Farnham[20]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Maurice Macmillan 25,113 56.87
Liberal Piers Millar Odger Stonham 10,178 23.05
Labour Leslie G R Pinchen 8,870 20.09
Majority 8,992 33.82
Turnout 44,161 73.59
Conservative hold Swing
General Election February 1974: Farnham
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Maurice Macmillan 25,686 49.87
Liberal F Davies 19,224 37.32
Labour HC Hodge 6,347 12.32
Independent N Dane 251 0.49
Majority 6,462 12.55
Turnout 51,508 82.96
Conservative hold Swing
General Election October 1974: Farnham
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Maurice Macmillan 23,885 49.95
Liberal P Davies 15,626 32.68
Labour HC Hodge 8,305 17.37
Majority 8,259 17.27
Turnout 47,816 76.22
Conservative hold Swing
General Election 1979: Farnham
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Maurice Macmillan 30,127 58.32
Liberal P Raynes 13,658 26.44
Labour PW Davies 7,497 14.51
Independent - Citizens Protest Vote SL Bradford 204 0.39
United Country Party R Peel 170 0.33
Majority 16,469 31.88
Turnout 51,656 79.95
Conservative hold Swing

See also

Surrey portal Politics portal

Notes and references

References
  1. ↑ "'Farnham', Feb 1974 - May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
  2. 1 2 Youngs, Frederic A, Jr. (1979). Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol.I: Southern England. London: Royal Historical Society. pp. 765–766. ISBN 0-901050-67-9.
  3. ↑ Representation of the People Act 1918 c.64, Ninth Schedule, Redistribution of Seats
  4. ↑ "Bagshot U.D. - units covering this place" Vision of Britain - University of Portsmouth and others. Accessed 2017-06-04
  5. ↑ Representation of the People Act 1948 c.65, Schedule 1: Parliamentary Constituencies
  6. ↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
  7. ↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
  8. ↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
  9. ↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
  10. ↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
  11. ↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
  12. ↑ Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939
  13. ↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
  14. ↑ British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
  15. ↑ British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
  16. ↑ British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
  17. ↑ F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1973
  18. ↑ F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1973
  19. ↑ British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
  20. ↑ British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
Notes
  1. ↑ As such including the later Bagshot Rural District, the contents of which were transferred to Chertsey in 1950
  2. ↑ Constituencies in Great Britain were redrawn by the Representation of the People Act 1948 leading to seats contested at the 1950 general election.
  3. ↑ Equally no changes were proposed to Farnham were proposed in the Boundary Commission for England's Third periodic review of Westminster seats
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