St Ives (UK Parliament constituency)

St. Ives
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of St. Ives in Cornwall.
Location of Cornwall within England.
County	Cornwall
Electorate	66,696 (December 2010)[1]
Major settlements	St Ives
Current constituency
Created	1885
Member of parliament	Derek Thomas (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	Helston, St Ives and West Cornwall
1558–1885
Number of members	1558–1832: Two 1832–1885: One
Type of constituency	Borough constituency
Replaced by	St Ives, Penzance and Helston
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	South West England

St. Ives is a parliamentary constituency in west Cornwall; it includes the Isles of Scilly ^{[n 1]}. The constituency has been represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Derek Thomas, a Conservative MP.^{[n 2]}

History

St Ives has elected MPs to every Parliament since 1558, except for a brief period during the Protectorate. It was originally a mere parliamentary borough that returned two MPs until the Great Reform Act of 1832, when its representation was cut to a single member. In 1885 the borough was abolished, but the St Ives name was transferred to the surrounding county constituency.

St Ives borough

The borough established under Queen Mary consisted of the parish of St Ives in western Cornwall, a seaport and market town in which the main economic interests were fishing and the export of ores mined nearby. In 1831, the population of the borough was 4,776, and contained 1,002 houses.

The franchise was initially restricted to the town corporation, but after a judgment in a disputed election in 1702 the right to vote was given to all inhabitants paying scot and lot; in the early 19th century this amounted to a little over 300 voters. This was a wide franchise for the period, and its reasonable size meant that St Ives was one of the few Cornish boroughs that could claim not to be rotten.

Elections were usually contested and although local wealthiest families were able to exercise considerable influence on the outcome, none was entirely predominant; the result could rarely be taken for granted and it was necessary to court the voters assiduously. From the 17th century, three vied for control - the Hobart family,^{[n 3]} the Praeds (at the time of Treventhoe manor), and the Dukes of Bolton^{[n 4]} - and by the mid 18th century the Stephens family had considerable sway. In 1751, however, John Stephens, who had previously allied himself with the Earl of Buckinghamshire and managed the borough's elections on the Earl's behalf, "struck out on his own account" (for his own interests) and secured the election of his son. Later in the decade Stephens and the Earl once more began to work together, but were unable to prevent Humphrey Mackworth Praed from establishing sufficient influence to sway one of the two seats.

But by 1761 the alliances had shifted again, Buckinghamshire and Praed on one side nominating candidates against Stephens and the Duke of Bolton on the other. The by-election in 1763, when Buckinghamshire's brother-in-law Charles Hotham was re-elected after being appointed to a position in the Royal Household, cost the Earl £1,175 even though his candidate was eventually returned unopposed - the expenditure included payments of 7 guineas to each of 124 people.^{[n 5]}

There was a further bitterly contested election in 1774: allegations of bribery were investigated by a House of Commons committee, whose proceedings are recounted at length by the contemporary historian of electoral abuses, Thomas Oldfield.^{[n 6]} Samuel Stephens, defeated by 7 votes, accused William Praed and Adam Drummond (the Duke of Bolton's candidate) of benefiting from several types of corruption. Humphrey Mackworth Praed, William's father, was said to have lent large sums to voters on the understanding that repayment would not be demanded if they voted for Praed and Drummond; but counsel for Praed and Drummond adduced evidence that Stephens had also resorted to bribery. However, it was alleged that many of Stephens' supporters had been prevented from voting, by rating them as not liable for scot and lot and so not eligible to vote; this was a frequent abuse in such boroughs. His side, as petitioners, failed to bring any evidence of criminal misconduct by the parish overseers so the committee decided they had no jurisdiction to interfere. In the end, the committee upheld Drummond's election but declared that neither Stephens nor Praed had been properly elected, and a writ was issued for a by-election to fill the second seat.

The cost of electioneering in St Ives seems eventually to have led to Buckinghamshire and Bolton withdrawing, and by 1784 Praed was considered unchallenged as patron. Nevertheless, Stephens' influence was not extinguished, and it was recorded that the patrons at the time of the Reform Act were Samuel Stephens of Tregarron and Sir Christopher Hawkins of Trewithan (who had purchased the manor of Mr Praed).

The Reform Act extended the boundaries of the constituency, bringing in the neighbouring parishes of Lelant and Towednack; nevertheless, the borough lost one of its two seats. There were 584 qualified voters at the first reformed election, that of 1832.

Even with a further extension of the franchise in 1868, the electorate never passed 1,500, and had fallen to barely 1,000 by the next Reform Act, under which the borough was abolished that year.

St Ives county constituency

1885-1918

Division of counties into single-member constituencies was effected in 1885: Cornwall having six. The westernmost of these, in which St Ives stood, was formally The Western or St Ives Division of Cornwall but was most often referred to simply as St Ives or as West Cornwall.

This area included Penzance, Paul, Ludgvan and St Just, and stretched not only from Land's End to St Erth but also included the Isles of Scilly. This duchy seat was abnormally low in owner-occupiers, with many "nonconformist" Christians^[2] and the Conservatives were consequently very weak. However, local sentiment was strongly against Irish Home Rule or independence, seen as a particular threat to the livelihood of the fishermen and other maritime employees who made up much of the electorate, and St Ives therefore became a Liberal Unionist stronghold from 1886.^{[n 7]}

1918-1983

After the boundary revisions introduced at the general election of 1918, which brought in most of the villages on the Lizard Peninsula (though not Helston), the constituency was simply called Cornwall, St Ives. It underwent further boundary changes in 1950, bringing Helston into the constituency, and in 1983, when it was extended to include all of the Penwith local government district.

The character of the constituency was little changed any of these revisions, but party loyalties may have been disrupted by the 1918 changes. Labour put up a candidate for the first time in 1918, and took more than a third of the vote; at the next election, with Labour withdrawing and the Irish issue no longer able to help Cory, a Conservative was elected for the first time. For the next decade St Ives was a Conservative-Liberal marginal, changing hands four times in the 1920s. However, the formal split of National Liberals from the Liberals offered a popular compromise which suited the voters, so much so as to be a safe seat, and later for Conservatives when the National Liberals finally merged with them in the 1960s, until the formation of the Liberal Democrats re-invigorated the competition in the 1990s. Andrew George captured the seat after the retirement of the sitting Conservative MP in 1997, and took over half the vote in both 2001 and 2005.

Prominent members

1885-date

Walter Runciman held the most senior positions in Education, Agriculture and Trade taking together the period from 1908 until 1916 during the Asquith ministry. He was later re-appointed as the most senior minister in Trade from 1931 to 1937 in the all-party National Coalition Government.

Sir John Nott also held the most senior position in the Trade department before becoming Secretary of State for Defence, including during the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands and the ensuing Falklands War. His assertion that he was cutting the defence budget before the war was not capricious and he offered his resignation to Margaret Thatcher, however she kept him for the duration of the conflict and he stood down in 1983.

Usual late count in modern elections

At general elections, the constituency is usually one of the last to declare a result - the delay in bringing the ballot boxes over from the Isles of Scilly means that counting does not begin until the following day.^[3] In the 2015 general election it was the last constituency in the United Kingdom to declare, because the ballot boxes were flown in from the Isles of Scilly only on the first scheduled flight the following morning, having been kept in police cells overnight on St Mary's,^[4] with the declaration taking place at 15:30 on Friday afternoon.^[5] However, in 1987 and 1992 the constituency did count during the night rather than the next day. The seat was declared at about 1:30 am in 1987 and about 3:45 am in 1992.

Boundaries

1885-1918: The Boroughs of Penzance and St Ives, the Sessional Division of West Penwith (including the Isles of Scilly), and the civil parishes of St Erth and Uny-Lelant.

1918-1950: The Boroughs of Penzance and St Ives, the Urban Districts of Ludgvan, Madron, Paul, and St Just, the Rural District of West Penwith, the Isles of Scilly, and part of the Rural District of Helston.

1950-1983: The Boroughs of Helston, Penzance, and St Ives, the Urban District of St Just, the Isles of Scilly, and parts of the Rural Districts of Kerrier and West Penwith.

1983-2010: The District of Penwith, the District of Kerrier wards of Breage and Germoe, Crowan, Grade-Ruan and Landewednack, Helston North, Helston South, Meneage, Mullion, Porthleven, St Keverne and Wendron, and Sithney, and the Isles of Scilly.

2010–present: The District of Penwith wards of Goldsithney, Gulval and Heamoor, Lelant and Carbis Bay, Ludgvan and Towednack, Madron and Zennor, Marazion and Perranuthnoe, Morvah, Pendeen and St Just, Penzance Central, Penzance East, Penzance Promenade, Penzance South, St Buryan, St Erth and St Hilary, St Ives North, and St Ives South, the District of Kerrier wards of Breage and Crowan, Grade-Ruan and Landewednack, Helston North, Helston South, Meneage, Mullion, Porthleven and Sithney, and St Keverne, and the Isles of Scilly.

The St Ives constituency covers the southwest of Cornwall, taking in the most southerly and westerly points of England (both its mainland and if islands are included), taking in parts of the former Penwith and Kerrier Districts. The main towns in the constituency are Penzance, St Ives and Helston. It also includes the Isles of Scilly, not shown on the map (having 1,700 electors out of a total of 63,000). The seat includes the Tate St Ives, St Michael's Mount (also an island) and Land's End.

Following the Boundary Commission' Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, Parliament increased the number of seats in the county from five to six for the 2010 general election,^[6] thus St Ives saw a loss of wards to the new Camborne and Redruth seat, including the St Ives Bay town of Hayle.^[7]

Members of Parliament

1558–1629

Parliament of 1558	Thomas Randolph	William Chambers
Parliament of 1559	Robert Harrington	William Glasiour
Parliament of 1563-1567	John Harrington[n 8]
Parliament of 1571	Thomas Clinton	John Newman
Parliament of 1572-1581	Thomas Randolph	Edward Williams
Parliament of 1584-1585	John James	Charles Blount[n 9]
Parliament of 1586-1587	Thomas Colby	John Morley
Parliament of 1588-1589	Mark Steward	Henry Hobart
Parliament of 1593	Noel Sotherton	Nicholas Saunders
Parliament of 1597-1598		Vincent Skinner
Parliament of 1601	Thomas St Aubyn	Thomas Barton
Parliament of 1604-1611	John Tregannon	William Brook
Addled Parliament (1614)	Sir Joseph Killigrew	Sir Anthony Maney also elected for Cirencester Thomas Tindall
Parliament of 1621-1622	Lord St John	Robert Bacon
Happy Parliament (1624-1625)	William Lake	Sir Francis Godolphin
Useless Parliament (1625)	Sir William Parkhurst
Parliament of 1625-1626	Edward Savage	Benjamin Tichborne also elected for Petersfield William Noy
Parliament of 1628-1629	John Payne	Francis Godolphin
No Parliament summoned 1629-1640

1640–1832

Year		First member[8]	First party		Second member[8]	Second party
April 1640		William Dell			Sir Henry Marten
November 1640		Lord Lisle[n 10]	Parliamentarian		Francis Godolphin	Parliamentarian
1641 (?)		Edmund Waller	Royalist
July 1643	Waller disabled from sitting - seat vacant
1647		John Feilder	Recruiter
December 1648				Godolphin not recorded as sitting after Pride's Purge
1653	St Ives was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate
January 1659		John St Aubyn			Peter Silly
May 1659		John Feilder		One seat vacant
May 1660[n 11]		James Praed			John St Aubyn
July 1660		Edward Nosworthy, senior
March 1661					James Praed
December 1661		John Basset
1662		Daniel O'Neill
1665		Edward Nosworthy, senior
1679					Edward Nosworthy, junior
1681		James Praed
1685		Charles Davenant	Tory		James St Amand
1689		James Praed			Walter Vincent
1690					William Harris
1695					John Michell
1698					Sir Charles Wyndham
January 1701					Benjamin Overton
December 1701					Sir John Hawles	Whig
1702					Richard Chaundler
1702					John Pitt
1705		Sir Bartholomew Gracedieu			John Borlase
1708		John Praed
1710					John Hopkins
1713		Sir William Pendarves
1715		Lord Harry Powlett	Whig		Sir John Hobart
1722		Henry Knollys
1727					Major-General Sir Robert Rich
1734		William Mackworth Praed
1741		John Bristow			Lieutenant-Colonel Gregory Beake
July 1747					Lord Hobart[n 12]
December 1747					John Plumptre
1751					Samuel Stephens
1754		Hon. George Hobart			James Whitshed
1761		Humphrey Mackworth Praed			Colonel Charles Hotham
1768		Thomas Durrant			Adam Drummond
1774		William Praed [n 13]
1775		Thomas Wynn[n 14]
1778					Philip Dehany
1780		William Praed			Abel Smith
1784					Richard Barwell
1790					William Mills
1796					Sir Richard Glyn
1802					Jonathan Raine
1806		Samuel Stephens			Francis Horner	Whig
1807					Sir Walter Stirling, 1st Baronet
1812		William Pole-Tylney-Long-Wellesley	Tory
1818		Samuel Stephens
1820		Lyndon Evelyn	Tory		James Graham	Whig
1821					Sir Christopher Hawkins, Bt	Tory
1826		James Halse
1828					Charles Arbuthnot	Tory
1830		William Pole-Tylney-Long-Wellesley	Ultra Tory		James Morrison
1831		James Halse	Tory		Edward Bulwer-Lytton	Whig
1832	Representation reduced to one member

1832–1885

Election		Member[8]	Party
	1832	James Halse	Conservative
	1838 by-election	William Tyringham Praed	Conservative
	1846 by-election	Lord William Powlett	Conservative
	1852	Robert Laffan	Conservative
	1857	Henry Paull	Conservative
	1868	Charles Magniac	Liberal
	1874	Edward Gershour Davenport	Conservative
	1874 by-election	Charles Tyringham Praed	Conservative
	1875 by-election	Charles Tyringham Praed	Conservative
	1880	Sir Charles Reed	Liberal
	1881 by-election	Charles Campbell Ross	Conservative
	1885	Borough abolished; name transferred to county division

Since 1885

Election		Member[8]	Party
	1885	Sir John St Aubyn	Liberal
	1886		Liberal Unionist
	1887 by-election	Thomas Bedford Bolitho	Liberal Unionist
	1900	Edward Hain	Liberal Unionist
	1904		Liberal
	1906	Clifford John Cory	Liberal
	1922	John Anthony Hawke	Conservative
	1923	Clifford John Cory	Liberal
	1924	John Anthony Hawke	Conservative
	1928 by-election	Hilda Runciman	Liberal
	1929	Walter Runciman	Liberal
	1931		National Liberal
	1937 by-election	Alec Beechman	National Liberal
	1950	Greville Howard	National Liberal
	1966	John Nott	National Liberal
	1968		Conservative
	1983	David Harris	Conservative
	1997	Andrew George	Liberal Democrat
	2015	Derek Thomas	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2017: St Ives^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Derek Thomas	22,120	43.2	+4.9
	Liberal Democrat	Andrew George	21,808	42.6	+9.4
	Labour	Christopher Drew	7,298	14.3	+4.9
Majority			312	0.6	-4.5
Turnout			51,226	75.9	+2.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	-2.3

General Election 2015: St Ives^{[10][11] [12]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Derek Thomas	18,491	38.3	−0.7
	Liberal Democrat	Andrew George	16,022	33.2	−9.6
	UKIP	Graham Calderwood	5,720	11.8	+6.3
	Labour	Cornelius Olivier	4,510	9.3	+1.2
	Green	Tim Andrewes	3,051	6.3	+3.5
	Mebyon Kernow	Rob Simmons	518	1.1	+0.2
Majority			2,469	5.1
Turnout			48,312	73.7	+5.1
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrat		Swing	+4.5

1974–2010

Election	Political result		Candidate		Party	Votes	%	±%
General Election 2010 [13][14] Electorate: 66,944 Turnout: 45,921 (68.6%) +0.8		Liberal Democrat hold Majority: 1,719 (3.74%) Swing: 10.39% from Lib Dem to Con		Andrew George	Liberal Democrat	19,619	42.7	-9.1
				Derek Thomas	Conservative	17,900	39.0	+11.7
				Philippa Latimer	Labour	3,751	8.2	-4.4
				Michael Faulkner	UKIP	2,560	5.6	+0.5
				Tim Andrewes	Green	1,308	2.8	-1.1
				Jonathan Rogers	Cornish Democrats	396	0.9	N/A
				Simon Reed	Mebyon Kernow	387	0.8	N/A
General Election 2005 Electorate: 74,716 Turnout: 50,417 (72.4%) +2.3		Liberal Democrat hold Majority: 11,609 (23.03%) 12.7 Swing: 1.3% from Con to Lib Dem		Andrew George	Liberal Democrat	25,577	50.7	-0.9
				Christian Mitchell	Conservative	13,968	27.7	-3.5
				Michael Dooley	Labour	6,583	13.1	-0.2
				Michael Faulkner	UKIP	2,551	5.1	+2.1
				Katrina Slack	Green	1,738	3.4	N/A
General Election 2001 Electorate: 74,256 Turnout: 49,266 (66.3%) -8.9		Liberal Democrat hold Majority: 10,053 (20.4%) 53.4 Swing: -3.6% from Lib Dem to Con		Andrew George	Liberal Democrat	25,413	51.6	+7.1
				Joanna Richardson	Conservative	15,360	31.2	0
				William Morris	Labour	6,567	13.3	-1.9
				Michael Faulkner	UKIP	1,926	3.9	+2.9
General Election 1997 Electorate: 71,680 Turnout: 55,260 (75.2%)		Liberal Democrat gain from Conservative Majority: 7,170 (13.3%) Swing: 8.1% from Con to Lib Dem		Andrew George	Liberal Democrat	23,966	44.5	+4.4
				William Rogers	Conservative	16,796	31.2	-11.7
				Christopher Fagan	Labour	8,184	15.2	-0.8
				Michael Faulkner	Referendum	3,714	6.9	N/A
				Patricia Garnier	UKIP	1,926	3.9	N/A
				Graham Stephens	Liberal	425	0.8	-0.2
				Kevin Lippiat	Independent	178	0.3	N/A
				William Hitchins	Independent	71	0.1	N/A
General Election 1992 [15] Electorate: 71,152 Turnout: 57,132 (80.3%) +3.1		Conservative hold Majority: 1,645 (2.9%) -11.6		David Harris	Conservative	24,528	42.9	-5.4
				Andrew George	Liberal Democrat	22,883	40.1	+6.2
				Stephen Warren	Labour	9,144	16.0	-1.8
				Graham Stephens	Liberal	577	1.0	-32.8
General Election 1987 [16] Electorate: 67,448 Turnout: 52069 (77.2%)		Conservative hold Majority: 7,555 (14.5%) -2.1		David Harris	Conservative	25,174	48.4	-3.0
				Hugh Carter	Social Democratic	17,619	33.8	-1.0
				Ian Hope	Labour	9,275	17.8	+6.6
General Election 1983 Electorate: 64,012 Turnout: 47,272 (73.9%)		Conservative hold Majority: 7,859 (16.6%)		David Harris	Conservative	24,297	51.4
				Hugh Carter	Social Democratic	16,438	34.8
				Mary Crowley	Labour	5,310	11.2
				Pedyr Prior	Mebyon Kernow	569	1.2
				H Hoptrough	Green	439	0.9
				N Horner	Independent	219	0.5
General Election 1979 Electorate: 53,715 Turnout: 41,376 (77.03%)		Conservative hold Majority: 13,716 (33.2%)		John Nott	Conservative	22,352	54.0
				R D Evans	Labour	8,636	20.9
				J Cotton	Liberal	8,299	20.1
				Colin Murley	Mebyon Kernow	1,662	4.0
				H Hoptrough	Green	427	1.0
General Election October 1974 Electorate: 51,440 Turnout: 37,916 (73.7%)		Conservative hold Majority: 5,868 (15.5%)		John Nott	Conservative	17,198	45.4
				Terence Tonkin	Liberal	11,330	29.9
				Bruce Tidy	Labour	9,388	24.8
General Election February 1974 Electorate: 51,092 Turnout: 40,561 (79.4%)		Conservative hold Majority: 5,425 (13.4%)		John Nott	Conservative	18,290	45.1
				Terence Tonkin	Liberal	12,865	31.7
				Bruce Tidy	Labour	9,231	20.1
				G T Taylor	Independent	177	0.4

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: St Ives^[17] Electorate 48,063

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	John Nott	18,581	50.9	+9.6
	Labour	Maureen Castle	9,913	27.2	-3.8
	Liberal	Howard Levett Fry	7,981	21.9	-5.8
Majority			8,688	23.8
Turnout			36,476	75.1
	Conservative hold		Swing	+6.7

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1966: St Ives^[17] Electorate 44,419

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	National Liberal and Conservative	John Nott	14,312	41.3	-1.3
	Labour	Thomas F G Jones	10,713	31.0	+2.9
	Liberal	John C T Trewin	9,593	27.7	-0.4
Majority			3,599	10.4	-3.0
Turnout			34,620	77.9	+2.8
	National Liberal and Conservative hold		Swing	-2.1

General Election 1964: St Ives^[17][18] Electorate 43,890

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	National Liberal and Conservative	Greville Howard	14,040	42.6	-5.3
	Liberal	Gerald Edward Leaman Whitmarsh	9,641	29.3	+4.1
	Labour	Thomas F G Jones	9,265	28.1	+1.2
Majority			4,399	13.4	-7.7
Turnout			32,946	75.1	+0.7
	National Liberal and Conservative hold		Swing	-4.7

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1959: St Ives^[17][19] Electorate 44,010

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	National Liberal and Conservative	Greville Howard	15,700	47.9	-4.1
	Labour	Duncan Longden	8,802	26.9	-2.8
	Liberal	Gerald Edward Leaman Whitmarsh	8,258	25.2	+6.6
Majority			6,898	21.1	-1.4
Turnout			32,760	74.4	+0.5
	National Liberal and Conservative hold		Swing	-0.7

General Election 1955: St Ives^[17][20] Electorate 44,374

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	National Liberal and Conservative	Greville Howard	17,063	52.0	-1.3
	Labour	Leslie Statton Pawley	9,728	29.7	-2.1
	Liberal	Desmond Banks	6,020	18.6	+3.7
Majority			7,335	22.4	+0.8
Turnout			32,811	73.9	-4.8
	National Liberal and Conservative hold		Swing	+0.4

General Election 1951: St Ives^[17][21] Electorate 44,885

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative and National Liberal	Greville Howard	18,828	53.3	+7.3
	Labour Co-op	Arthur Maddison	11,216	31.8	+1.1
	Liberal	John Dennis Gilbert Kellock	5,273	14.9	-8.4
Majority			7,612	21.6	+6.3
Turnout			35,317	78.7	-2.9
	Conservative and National Liberal hold		Swing	+3.1

General Election 1950: St Ives^[17][22] Electorate 44,342

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative and National Liberal	Greville Howard	16,653	46.0	-1.3
	Labour	Peter Shore	11,118	30.7	+3.5
	Liberal	Eric Farquhar Allison	8,421	23.3	-2.2
Majority			5,535	15.3	-4.8
Turnout			36,192	81.6	+11.0
	Conservative and National Liberal hold		Swing

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1945: St Ives^[23] Electorate 42,706

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal National	Alec Beechman	14,256	47.3	-3.1
	Labour	Henry A Brinton	8,190	27.2	n/a
	Liberal	Eric Farquhar Allison	7,692	25.5	-24.1
Majority			6,066	20.1	+19.3
Turnout			30,138	70.6	+4.5
	Liberal National hold		Swing	n/a

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 from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected;

• Liberal National: Alec Beechman
• Liberal:
• Labour:

Elections in the 1930s

St Ives by-election, 1937^[23] Electorate 39,149

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal National	Alec Beechman	13,044	50.4	n/a
	Liberal	Isaac Foot	12,834	49.6	n/a
Majority			210	0.8	n/a
Turnout			25,878	66.1	n/a
	Liberal National hold		Swing	n/a

General Election 1935: St Ives^[23] Electorate 39,378

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal National	Walter Runciman	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal National hold		Swing	n/a

General Election 1931: St Ives^[23] Electorate 38,230

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal National	Walter Runciman	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal National hold		Swing	n/a

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1929: St Ives^[23] Electorate 37,593

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Walter Runciman	12,443	43.2	+0.6
	Unionist	Andrew Caird	11,411	39.7	+0.3
	Labour	William Edward Arnold-Forster	4,920	17.1	-0.9
Majority			1,032	3.5	+0.3
Turnout			28,764	76.5	-0.9
	Liberal hold		Swing	+0.2

St Ives by-election, 1928: St Ives^[23] Electorate 31,096

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Hilda Runciman	10,241	42.6	-4.4
	Unionist	Andrew Caird	9,478	39.4	-13.6
	Labour	Frederick Jesse Hopkins	4,343	18.0	n/a
Majority			763	3.2	9.2
Turnout			24,062	77.4	+8.3
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing	+4.6

General Election 1924: St Ives^[23] Electorate 30,512

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Anthony Hawke	11,159	53.0	+12.4
	Liberal	Clifford Cory	9,912	47.0	+0.5
Majority			1,247	6.0	11.9
Turnout			21,071	69.1	-2.3
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+6.0

General Election 1923: St Ives^[23] Electorate 29,877

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Clifford Cory	9,922	46.5	+0.0
	Unionist	Anthony Hawke	8,652	40.6	-12.9
	Labour	Albert Dunn	2,749	12.9	n/a
Majority			1,270	5.9	12.9
Turnout			21,323	71.4	+5.8
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing	+6.5

General Election 1922 : St Ives^[23] Electorate 29,561

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Anthony Hawke	10,388	53.5	n/a
	National Liberal	Clifford Cory	9,016	46.5	-12.1
Majority			1,372	7.0	27.2
Turnout			19,404	65.6	+13.9
	Unionist gain from National Liberal		Swing	n/a

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1918 St Ives^[23] Electorate 28,537

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Clifford Cory	8,659	58.6	+2.6
	Labour	Albert Dunn	6,659	38.4	n/a
	Independent Unionist	Thomas Francis Tregoy Mitchell	436	3.0	n/a
Majority			3,000	20.2	+8.2
Turnout			14,754	51.7	-29.0
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

• endorsed by the Coalition Government

General Election 1914/15: Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

• Liberal: Clifford Cory
• Unionist: Anthony Hawke

General Election December 1910: St Ives^[24] Electorate 9,411

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Clifford Cory	4,253	56.0	+0.6
	Liberal Unionist	Roland Edmund Lomax Vaughan-Williams	3,338	44.0	-0.6
Majority			915	12.0	+1.2
Turnout			7,591	80.7	-4.8
	Liberal hold		Swing	+0.6

General Election January 1910: St Ives^[24] Electorate 9,411

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Clifford Cory	4,458	55.4	-2.8
	Liberal Unionist	Cecil Levita	3,586	44.6	+2.8
Majority			872	10.8	-5.6
Turnout			8,044	85.5	+4.3
	Liberal hold		Swing	-2.8

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1906: St Ives^[24] Electorate 8,980

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Clifford Cory	4,244	58.2	n/a
	Liberal Unionist	Philip Pilditch	3,052	41.8	n/a
Majority			1,192	16.4
Turnout			7,296	81.2	n/a
	Liberal gain from Liberal Unionist		Swing	n/a

General Election 1900: St Ives^[24] Electorate 8,369

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Unionist	Edward Hain	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	n/a

Elections in the 1890s

General Election 1895: St Ives ^[24] Electorate 7,569

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Unionist	Thomas Bolitho	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	n/a

General Election 1892: St Ives ^[24] Electorate 7,130

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Unionist	Thomas Bolitho	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	n/a

Elections in the 1880s

St Ives by-election, 1887^[24] Electorate 7,637

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Unionist	Thomas Bolitho	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	n/a

General Election 1886: St Ives ^[24] Electorate 7,606

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Unionist	John St Aubyn	3,395	79.3	+23.0
	Liberal	S Barrow	888	20.7	-23.0
Majority			2,507	58.6	46.0
Turnout			4,283	56.3	-21.1
	Liberal Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+23.0

General Election 1885: St Ives ^[24] Electorate 7,606

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	John St Aubyn	3,313	56.3
	Conservative	Charles Campbell Ross	2,576	43.7
Majority			737	12.6
Turnout			5,889	77.4
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing

1832-1839

Election	Political result		Candidate		Party	Votes	%	±%
St Ives by-election, 1838 Electorate: 566 Turnout: 504		Conservative hold Majority: 8		William Tyringham Praed	Conservative	256
				F H Stephens	Conservative	248
General Election 1837 Electorate: 579 Turnout: 495		Conservative hold Majority: 49		James Halse	Conservative	272
				William Tyringham Praed	Conservative	223
General Election 1835		Conservative hold		James Halse	Conservative	unopposed
General Election 1832 Electorate: 584 Turnout: 509		Conservative hold Majority: 134		James Halse	Conservative	302
				William Tyringham Praed	Conservative	168
				H L Stephens	Conservative	39

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Cornwall

Notes

References

Sources

• F. W. S. Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1832 - 1885
• F. W. S. Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1885 - 1918
• Election results, 1950 - 2005
• Robert Beatson, A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807)
• 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)
• Michael Kinnear, The British Voter (London: BH Batsford, Ltd, 1968)
• Lewis Namier & John Brooke, The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1754-1790 (London: HMSO, 1964)
• J. E. Neale, The Elizabethan House of Commons (London: Jonathan Cape, 1949)
• T. H. B. Oldfield, The Representative History of Great Britain and Ireland (London: Baldwin, Cradock & Joy, 1816)
• Henry Pelling, Social Geography of British Elections 1885-1910 (London: Macmillan, 1967)
• J Holladay Philbin, Parliamentary Representation 1832 - England and Wales (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965)
• Edward Porritt and Annie G Porritt, The Unreformed House of Commons (Cambridge University Press, 1903)
• Willis, Browne (1750). Notitia Parliamentaria, Part II: A Series or Lists of the Representatives in the several Parliaments held from the Reformation 1541, to the Restoration 1660 ... London. p. 1. 
• Frederic A Youngs, jr, Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol I (London: Royal Historical Society, 1979)