West Gloucestershire (UK Parliament constituency)

West Gloucestershire
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
County	Gloucestershire
1950–1997
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Forest of Dean, Tewkesbury
Created from	Forest of Dean and Stroud^[1]
1832–1885
Number of members	Two
Type of constituency	County constituency
Created from	Gloucestershire

West Gloucestershire was a parliamentary constituency in Gloucestershire, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

It was created by the Great Reform Act for the 1832 general election as a 2-seat constituency (i.e. electing two Members of Parliament). It was abolished for the 1885 general election.

A new single-member West Gloucestershire constituency, covering a smaller area, was created for the 1950 general election. It was abolished for the 1997 general election.

History

The 1950 to 1997 single-member constituency was held by the Labour Party from its creation in 1950 until 1979 and then held by the Conservative Party until its abolition.

Boundaries

1832 to 1885

The constituency was the western division of the historic county of Gloucestershire, in South West England.

The place of election was the small town of Dursley. This was where the hustings were situated and electors voted (by spoken declaration in public, before the secret ballot was introduced in 1872).

The qualification to vote in county elections, in the period, was to be a 40 shilling freeholder.

The parliamentary borough constituencies of Cheltenham, Cirencester, Gloucester, Stroud, and Tewkesbury were all located in East Gloucestershire. Qualified freeholders from those boroughs could vote in the eastern county division. Bristol was a "county of itself", so its freeholders qualified to vote in the borough, not in a county division.

There were no electors qualified to vote in the western division, because they were freehold owners of land in a parliamentary borough.

1950 to 1997

1950–1983: The Rural Districts of East Dean, Lydney, Newent, and West Dean, and part of the Rural District of Gloucester.

1983–1997: The District of Forest of Dean, and the Borough of Tewkesbury wards of Brockworth Glebe, Brockworth Moorfield, Brockworth Westfield, Churchdown Brookfield, Churchdown Parton, Churchdown Pirton, De Winton, Haw Bridge, Highnam, Horsbere, and Innsworth.

The constituency in this period was a smaller part of the county of Gloucestershire than its nineteenth century namesake. It was centred on the Forest of Dean, and indeed the majority of the constituency at abolition formed the new Forest of Dean constituency. About a fifth of the constituency moved to Tewkesbury, with 735 constituents moving to Gloucester.^[2]

Members of Parliament

MPs 1832–1885

Election	1st Member^[3]		1st Party		2nd Party
1832		Hon. Grantley Berkeley	Whig	Hon. Augustus Moreton	Whig
1835				The Marquess of Worcester ^[4]	Conservative
1836 by-election ^[5]				Robert Blagden Hale	Conservative
1852		Robert Kingscote ^[6]	Whig	Robert Blagden Hale	Conservative
1857			Whig	Sir John Rolt ^[7]	Conservative
1859			Liberal	Sir John Rolt ^[7]	Conservative
1867 by-election ^[8]				Edward Arthur Somerset	Conservative
1868				Samuel Marling	Liberal
1874				Hon. Randal Plunkett	Conservative
1880				Lord Moreton	Liberal
1885 by-election ^[9]		Benjamin St John Ackers	Conservative	Lord Moreton	Liberal
1885	constituency abolished

MPs 1950–1997

	Member^[3]	Party
1950	Morgan Philips Price	Labour
1959	Charles Loughlin	Labour
Oct 1974	John Watkinson	Labour
1979	Paul Marland	Conservative
1997	constituency abolished: see Forest of Dean and Tewkesbury

Election results

Election in the 1990s

General Election 1992: Gloucestershire West^[10]^[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Paul Marland	29,232	43.6	-2.6
	Labour	Diana Organ	24,274	36.2	+8.2
	Liberal Democrat	JE Boait	13,366	19.9	-6.0
	British Independent	A Reeve	172	0.3	N/A
	Twenty First Century	CR Palmer	75	0.1	N/A
Majority			4,958	7.4	-10.7
Turnout			67,119	83.9	+2.5
Registered electors			80,007
	Conservative hold		Swing	-5.4

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: West Gloucestershire^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Paul Marland	29,257	46.1	+0.3
	Labour	Peter Sandland-Nielson	17,758	28.0	+3.3
	Social Democratic	John Watkinson	16,440	25.9	-3.6
Majority			11,499	18.1	+1.8
Turnout			63,455	81.4	+1.8
Registered electors			77,994
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.9

United Kingdom general election, 1983: West Gloucestershire^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Paul Marland	27,092	45.8	-2.1
	Social Democratic	John Watkinson	17,440	29.5	+18.7
	Labour	MJ Hodkinson	14,572	24.7	-16.2
Majority			9,652	16.3	+9.2
Turnout			59,104	79.6	-4.3
Registered electors			74,266
	Conservative hold		Swing	+7.0

Elections in the 1970s

United Kingdom general election, 1979: West Gloucestershire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Paul Marland	28,183	47.9	+7.0
	Labour	John Watkinson	24,009	40.8	-0.9
	Liberal	Margaret Joachim	6,370	10.8	-6.5
	National Front	G Storkey	270	0.5	N/A
Majority			4,174	7.1	+6.3
Turnout			58,832	83.9	+3.8
Registered electors			70,104
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+3.9

United Kingdom general election, October 1974: West Gloucestershire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	John Watkinson	22,481	41.7	+1.0
	Conservative	Paul Marland	22,072	40.9	+3.1
	Liberal	AL MacGregor	9,353	17.4	-3.8
Majority			409	0.8	-2.1
Turnout			53,906	80.2	-3.7
Registered electors			67,239
	Labour hold		Swing	-1.1

United Kingdom general election, February 1974: Gloucestershire West ^[14]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Charles Loughlin	22,765	40.7	-5.3
	Conservative	Paul Marland	21,141	37.8	-6.2
	Liberal	AL MacGregor	11,856	21.2	+11.3
	Independent	SS Hart	171	0.3	-
Majority			1,624	2.9	+0.9
Turnout			55,933	83.9	+7.2
Registered electors			66,706
	Labour hold		Swing	+0.4

United Kingdom general election, 1970: Gloucestershire West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Charles Loughlin	22,637	46.1	-5.6
	Conservative	Stanley HAF Hopkins	21,530	43.9	+9.3
	Liberal	J Alan Svendsen	4,932	10.0	-3.7
Majority			1,107	2.3	-14.9
Turnout			49,099	77.2	-0.8
Registered electors			63,599
	Labour hold		Swing	-7.5

Elections in the 1960s

United Kingdom general election, 1966: Gloucestershire West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Charles Loughlin	23,181	51.8	+1.8
	Conservative	Stanley HAF Hopkins	15,476	34.5	+0.5
	Liberal	Kenneth G Harvey	6,137	13.7	-2.3
Majority			7,705	17.2	+1.3
Turnout			44,794	78.0	-1.6
Registered electors			57,443
	Labour hold		Swing	+0.7

United Kingdom general election, 1964: Gloucestershire West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Charles Loughlin	22,420	49.9	+0.5
	Conservative	Douglas St. P Barnard	15,300	34.1	-3.0
	Liberal	Richard A Cook	7,191	16.0	+2.5
Majority			7,120	15.9	+3.5
Turnout			44,911	79.6	-1.1
Registered electors			56,407
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.7

Elections in 1950s

United Kingdom general election, 1959: Gloucestershire West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Charles Loughlin	21,634	49.4	-5.5
	Conservative	Olive KL Lloyd-Baker	16,223	37.1	-8.0
	Liberal	Eric John Radley	5,921	13.5	N/A
Majority			5,411	12.4	+2.5
Turnout			43,778	80.8	+2.1
Registered electors			54,202
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.2

United Kingdom general election, 1955: Gloucestershire West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	M. Philips Price	22,366	54.9	-3.0
	Conservative	Bryan J. Y. Williams	18,346	45.1	+3.0
Majority			4,020	9.9	-6.0
Turnout			40,712	78.6	-3.7
Registered electors			51,772
	Labour hold		Swing	-3.0

United Kingdom general election, 1951: Gloucestershire West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	M. Philips Price	24,334	57.9	+3.2
	Conservative	Arthur Russell	17,665	42.1	+9.2
Majority			6,669	15.9	-6.0
Turnout			41,999	82.3	+0.1
Registered electors			51,020
	Labour hold		Swing	-3.0

United Kingdom general election, 1950: Gloucestershire West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	M. Philips Price	22,765	54.8	n/a
	Conservative	Granger F Boston	13,664	32.9	n/a
	Liberal	Basil Houldsworth	5,125	12.3	n/a
Majority			9,101	21.9	n/a
Turnout			41,554	82.3	n/a
Registered electors			50,513
	Labour win

Notes and references

↑ Craig, F.W.S., ed. (1972). Boundaries of parliamentary constituencies 1985-1972. Chichester, Sussex: Political Reference Publications. ISBN 0-900178-09-4.
↑ C. Rallings & M. Thrasher, The Media Guide to the New Parliamentary Constituencies, p.220 (Plymouth: LGC Elections Centre, 1995).
1 2 3 Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "G" (part 1)
↑ Succeeded as the 7th Duke of Beaufort, in November 1835.
↑ 2 January 1836 by-election.
↑ Joined the Liberal Party, when it was formally created following the 1859 general election. Appointed Commissioner of Woods, Forests and Land Revenues in 1885.
↑ Appointed Attorney General and knighted in 1866. Appointed Judge of the Court of Appeal in Chancery in 1867.
↑ 25 July 1867 by-election.
↑ 12 March 1885 by-election.
↑ "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
↑ "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 6 Dec 2010.
↑ "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
↑ "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
↑ Percentage change and swing for February 1974 is calculated relative to the BBC notional 1970 constituency result, not actual 1970 result. Notional 1970 results were rounded to the nearest hundred. Constituency data for 1974-83 including 1970 notionals, retrieved 18 July 2017

Sources

British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press 1977)
The Parliaments of England by Henry Stooks Smith (1st edition published in three volumes 1844-50), second edition edited (in one volume) by F.W.S. Craig (Political Reference Publications 1973))
Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume I 1832-1885, edited by M. Stenton (The Harvester Press 1976)

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