Epping
Former County constituency
for the House of Commons
CountyEssex
1885–1974 (1974)
SeatsOne
Created fromWest Essex
Replaced byChingford, Epping Forest and Harlow
During its existence contributed to new seat(s) of:Woodford and Chigwell

Epping was a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament from 1885 to 1974. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

History

Epping was one of eight single-member divisions of Essex (later classified as county constituencies) created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, replacing the three two member divisions of East, South and West Essex.

The seat underwent a significant loss of territory at the 1945 boundary review, with the majority of the electorate forming the new constituency of Woodford. It was abolished for the February 1974 general election when it was divided between the new seats of Chingford, Epping Forest and Harlow.

Its most prominent MP was Winston Churchill, who served as Prime Minister twice, the local MP for twenty-one years from 1924 to 1945, spanning the middle part of his long service as an MP. From 1945, he was the MP for Woodford.

In the 1955 and 1959 general elections, the celebrated cricket commentator and journalist John Arlott stood as the Liberal Party candidate.

Boundaries and boundary changes

1885–1918

  • The Sessional Divisions of Epping, Harlow, and Ongar; and
  • Part of the Sessional Division of Dunmow.[1]

Formed from part of the abolished West Division. See below for areas covered.

Epping in Essex, boundaries 1918-45

1918–1945

Gained Woodford from the abolished Walthamstow Division of Essex and Wanstead from the Romford Division. Lost eastern areas, including Chipping Ongar, to Chelmsford, and northern areas, including Great Dunmow and Hatfield Broad Oak, to Saffron Walden.

Epping in Essex, boundaries 1945-50

1945–1974

  • The Municipal Borough of Chingford;
  • The Urban Districts of Epping and Waltham Holy Cross; and
  • The Rural District of Epping.[2]
Epping in Essex 1955-74

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 in time for the 1945 election.[3] This was implemented by the Redistribution of Seats Order 1945 under which Epping was divided into two constituencies. As a consequence, the new Parliamentary Borough of Woodford was formed from the Municipal Borough of Wanstead and Woodford (created from amalgamating the two separate Urban Districts) and the Urban District of Chigwell (previously a parish in the Rural District of Epping which had also absorbed the former Urban Districts of Buckhurst Hill and Loughton).

Abolition

The seat was abolished in 1974 following the Second Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies. The Borough of Chingford had been absorbed into the London Borough of Waltham Forest on its creation within Greater London and now formed the basis for the new constituency of Chingford within that Borough; the Urban District of Harlow, which had been created out of the Rural District of Epping, together with neighbouring parishes (now part of the merged Rural District of Epping and Ongar), formed the new constituency of Harlow; and remaining parts were included in the new constituency of Epping Forest.

Areas covered

Area 1885 1918 1945 1955 1974
Great Dunmow, Hatfield Broad Oak Epping Saffron Walden (part)
Chipping Ongar Chelmsford (part) Chigwell Brentwood and Ongar (part)
Harlow Epping Epping Epping Harlow
Chingford Chingford
Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Epping Epping Forest
Loughton, Buckhurst Hill, Chigwell Woodford Chigwell
Woodford Walthamstow (part) Woodford1 Wanstead and Woodford
Wanstead Romford (part)

1Renamed Wanstead and Woodford, with minor boundary changes, for the 1964 general election (S.I. 1960/454).[2]

Members of Parliament

YearMemberPartyNotes
1885 Henry Selwin-Ibbetson Conservative
1892 Amelius Lockwood Conservative
1917 by-election Richard Colvin Unionist
1923 Leonard Lyle Unionist
1924 Rt Hon Winston Churchill Constitutionalist
1924 Conservative Prime Minister 1940-1945
1945 Leah Manning Labour
1950 Nigel Davies Conservative
1951 Graeme Finlay Conservative
1964 Stan Newens Labour
1970 Norman Tebbit Conservative
1974 constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1885: Epping [4][5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Henry Selwin-Ibbetson 4,668 61.5
Liberal Edmund Barnard 2,915 38.5
Majority 1,744 23.0
Turnout 7,574 82.0
Registered electors 9,239
Conservative win (new seat)
General election 1886: Epping [4][5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Henry Selwin-Ibbetson Unopposed
Conservative hold

Elections in the 1890s

General election 1892: Epping [4][5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Amelius Lockwood 4,536 62.4 N/A
Liberal Spencer Barclay Heward 2,738 37.6 New
Majority 1,798 24.8 N/A
Turnout 7,274 76.8 N/A
Registered electors 9,476
Conservative hold Swing N/A
General election 1895: Epping [4][5][6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Amelius Lockwood Unopposed
Conservative hold

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: Epping [4][5][6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Amelius Lockwood Unopposed
Conservative hold
General election 1906: Epping [4][5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Amelius Lockwood 5,204 56.4 N/A
Liberal Spencer Barclay Howard 4,030 43.6 New
Majority 1,174 12.8 N/A
Turnout 9,234 81.2 N/A
Registered electors 11,374
Conservative hold Swing N/A

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: Epping [4][7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Amelius Lockwood 6,578 63.1 +6.7
Liberal Israel Alexander Symmons 3,845 36.9 −6.7
Majority 2,733 26.2 +13.4
Turnout 10,423 85.7 +4.5
Registered electors 12,164
Conservative hold Swing +6.7
General election December 1910: Epping [4][7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Amelius Lockwood 5,990 64.1 +1.0
Liberal Israel Alexander Symmons 3,361 35.9 −1.0
Majority 2,629 28.2 +2.0
Turnout 9,351 76.9 −8.8
Registered electors 12,164
Conservative hold Swing +1.0

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 July 1914, the following candidates had been selected:

This election was suspended by the Parliament and Registration Act 1916 (royal assent 27 January 1916), which was extended five times, due to the First World War. A general election was finally allowed in December 1918 after the war was over; but first, Amelius Lockwood was disqualified as an MP by being raised to the peerage in 1917, necessitating a by-election. The Liberals, in wartime coalition with the Conservatives and Unionists, did not oppose the Unionist candidate.

By-election, 1917: Epping [4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Richard Colvin Unopposed
Unionist hold
General election 1918: Epping[8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
C Unionist Richard Colvin 14,668 72.6 +8.5
Liberal Arthur Leonard Horner 4,164 20.6 −15.3
People's Progressive Coalition J. Conoley 1,367 6.8 New
Majority 10,504 52.0 +23.8
Turnout 20,199 52.4 −24.5
Registered electors 38,519
Unionist hold Swing +11.9
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Epping[8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Richard Colvin 15,300 59.9 −12.7
Liberal Gilbert Granville Sharp 10,228 40.1 +19.5
Majority 5,072 19.8 −32.8
Turnout 25,528 63.5 +11.1
Registered electors 40,209
Unionist hold Swing −16.1
General election 1923: Epping[8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Leonard Lyle 14,528 52.9 −7.0
Liberal Gilbert Granville Sharp 12,954 47.1 +7.0
Majority 1,574 5.8 −14.0
Turnout 27,482 66.4 +2.9
Registered electors 41,404
Unionist hold Swing −7.0

General election 1924: Epping[8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Constitutionalist Winston Churchill 19,843 58.9 New
Liberal Gilbert Granville Sharp 10,080 29.9 −17.2
Labour J R McPhie 3,768 11.2 New
Majority 9,763 29.0 N/A
Turnout 33,691 78.3 +11.9
Registered electors 43,055
Constitutionalist gain from Unionist Swing N/A

General election 1929: Epping[8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Winston Churchill 23,972 48.5 −10.4
Liberal Gilbert Granville Sharp 19,005 38.4 +8.5
Labour Walton Newbold 6,472 13.1 +1.9
Majority 4,967 10.1 −18.9
Turnout 49,449 75.2 −3.1
Registered electors 65,758
Unionist gain from Constitutionalist Swing −9.5

Elections in the 1930s

Comyns Carr

General election 1931: Epping
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Winston Churchill 35,956 63.8 +15.3
Liberal Arthur Comyns Carr 15,670 27.8 −10.6
Labour James Ranger 4,713 8.4 −4.7
Majority 20,286 36.0 +25.9
Turnout 56,339 77.3 +2.1
Conservative hold Swing

General election 1935: Epping
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Winston Churchill 34,849 59.0 −4.8
Liberal Gilbert Granville Sharp 14,430 24.4 −3.4
Labour James Ranger 9,758 16.5 +8.1
Majority 20,419 34.6 −1.4
Turnout 59,037 67.7 −9.6
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1940s

A 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:

The election was suspended by the Prolongation of Parliament Act 1940 (royal assent 6 November 1940), which was extended four times, due to the Second World War.

General election 1945: Epping
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Leah Manning 15,993 44.1 +19.3
Conservative Roy Wise 15,006 41.3 −17.8
Liberal Sydney Robinson 5,134 14.6 −1.9
Majority 987 2.8 N/A
Turnout 36,313 71.4 +3.7
Labour gain from Conservative Swing +18.6

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Epping
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Nigel Davies 24,292 49.1 +7.8
Labour Leah Manning 20,385 41.2 +3.9
Liberal Peter Edwin Lewis 4,755 9.6 −5.0
Majority 3,907 7.9 N/A
Turnout 49,432 86.6 +15.2
Conservative gain from Labour Swing
General election 1951: Epping
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Graeme Finlay 27,392 54.8 +5.7
Labour Leah Manning 22,598 45.2 +4.0
Majority 4,794 9.6 +1.7
Turnout 49,990 85.1 −1.5
Conservative hold Swing +0.9
General election 1955: Epping
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Graeme Finlay 26,065 46.4 −8.4
Labour Leah Manning 22,542 40.2 −5.0
Liberal John Arlott 7,528 13.4 New
Majority 3,523 6.2 −3.4
Turnout 56,135 82.3 −2.8
Conservative hold Swing −1.7
General election 1959: Epping
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Graeme Finlay 31,507 44.7 −1.7
Labour Co-op Donald F W Ford 27,114 38.4 −1.8
Liberal John Arlott 11,913 16.9 +3.5
Majority 4,393 6.2 0.0
Turnout 70,534 84.3 +2.0
Conservative hold Swing −0.1

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Epping
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Stan Newens 34,991 44.4 +6.0
Conservative Graeme Finlay 31,753 40.3 −4.4
Liberal Nancy Seear 12,093 15.3 −1.6
Majority 3,238 4.1 N/A
Turnout 78,837 83.3 −1.0
Labour gain from Conservative Swing +5.2
General election 1966: Epping
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Stan Newens 38,914 48.4 +4.0
Conservative E Michael Ogden 31,406 39.0 −1.3
Liberal Derek A McKie 10,162 12.6 −2.7
Majority 7,508 9.4 +5.3
Turnout 80,482 82.4 −0.9
Labour hold Swing +2.7

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Epping
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Norman Tebbit 43,615 51.5 +12.5
Labour Stan Newens 41,040 48.5 +0.1
Majority 2,575 3.0 N/A
Turnout 84,655 73.3 −9.1
Conservative gain from Labour Swing +6.2

References

  1. ↑ Great Britain, Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales. The public general acts. unknown library. Proprietors of the Law Journal Reports, 1884.
  2. 1 2 3 Craig, Fred W. S. (1972). Boundaries of parliamentary constituencies 1885-1972;. Chichester: Political Reference Publications. ISBN 0900178094. OCLC 539011.
  3. ↑ Gay, Oonagh (28 July 2010). "The Rules for the Redistribution of Seats- history and reform". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, FWS Craig
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 The Liberal Year Book, 1907
  6. 1 2 Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1901
  7. 1 2 Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1916
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
  9. ↑ Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939

Sources

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