Barnet
Former County constituency
for the House of Commons
1945–February 1974
Seatsone
Created fromSt Albans
Replaced byChipping Barnet and South Hertfordshire
Barnet
First version of the seat. Result in 1945
Barnet
Third and final version of the seat. Result in 1959

Barnet was a parliamentary constituency in what is now the London Borough of Barnet, which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

History and boundaries

The House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1944 set up Boundaries Commissions to carry out periodic reviews of the distribution of parliamentary constituencies. It also authorised an initial review to subdivide abnormally large constituencies (those exceeding an electorate of 100,000) in time for the 1945 election.[1] This was implemented by the Redistribution of Seats Order 1945 under which Hertfordshire was allocated an additional seat. As a consequence, the new County Constituency of Barnet was formed from the St Albans constituency, comprising the Urban Districts of Barnet and East Barnet, and the Rural District of Elstree.[2]

For the 1950 general election, the Rural District of Hatfield was also added from St Albans, but from the 1955 general election, this was transferred back out to the Hertford constituency.[2]

In 1965 the Barnet and East Barnet urban districts were transferred to Greater London, becoming part of the London Borough of Barnet, while Elstree Rural District remained part of Hertfordshire. This did not affect parliamentary boundaries for nine years, however.

When seats were next redistributed, with effect from the February 1974 general election, the Greater London parts of the old constituency moved to the new Borough Constituency of Chipping Barnet. The Elstree Rural District was transferred to the new County Constituency of South Hertfordshire.[3]

Members of Parliament

ElectionMemberParty
1945 Stephen Taylor Labour
1950 Reginald Maudling Conservative
Feb 1974 constituency abolished

Elections

Election in the 1940s

General election 1945: Barnet
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Stephen Taylor 17,764 45.15
Conservative A.E.J. Clark 17,082 43.42
Liberal Jean Henderson 4,495 11.43
Majority 682 1.73
Turnout 39,341 73.76
Labour win (new seat)

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Barnet
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Reginald Maudling 32,953 53.31 +9.9
Labour Stephen Taylor 22,419 36.27 −8.8
Liberal William Herbert Jones 6,441 10.42 −1.0
Majority 10,534 17.04
Turnout 61,813 87.45
Conservative gain from Labour Swing +9.4
General election 1951: Barnet[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Reginald Maudling 35,527 56.97
Labour Co-op Cyril Rawlett Fenton 22,375 35.88
Liberal William Herbert Jones 4,463 7.22
Majority 13,152 21.09
Turnout 62,365 85.89
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1955: Barnet
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Reginald Maudling 30,299 60.76
Labour Sydney Hyam 19,570 39.24
Majority 10,729 21.52
Turnout 49,869
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1959: Barnet
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Reginald Maudling 33,136 62.67
Labour Reginald M Prideaux 19,737 37.33
Majority 13,399 25.34
Turnout 52,873
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Barnet
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Reginald Maudling 25,537 48.43
Labour David H. P. Levy 17,024 32.28
Liberal Hugh Russell Tinker 10,172 19.29 New
Majority 8,513 16.15
Turnout 52,733
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1966: Barnet
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Reginald Maudling 24,833 47.1 −1.3
Labour Geoffrey Hickman 19,347 36.7 +4.4
Liberal Hugh Russell Tinker 8,539 16.2 −3.1
Majority 5,486 10.4 −5.7
Turnout 52,719
Conservative hold Swing

Election in the 1970s

General election 1970: Barnet
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Reginald Maudling 26,845 52.29
Labour Joan E. M. Baker 18,166 35.38
Liberal John D. O. Henchley 6,329 12.33
Majority 8,679 16.91
Turnout 51,340
Conservative hold Swing

References and sources

References
  1. ↑ Gay, Oonagh (28 July 2010). "The Rules for the Redistribution of Seats- history and reform". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. 1 2 S., Craig, Fred W. (1972). Boundaries of parliamentary constituencies 1885-1972;. Chichester: Political Reference Publications. ISBN 0900178094. OCLC 539011.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ↑ The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 1970 (S.I. 1970 No. 1674)
  4. ↑ The Times' Guide to the House of Commons. 1951.
Sources
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