Mid Surrey (UK Parliament constituency)

Mid Surrey was a county constituency in Surrey, England 1868 — 1885. It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the UK Parliament elected by the bloc vote system.

Mid Surrey
Former County constituency
for the House of Commons
The two-member area in mid-to-dark green, the stark dark/light divide showing the preceding simpler east/west division of the county.
CountySurrey
1868–1885
SeatsTwo
Created fromEast Surrey
Replaced bylarge parts of Battersea
Wandsworth
Clapham
and approximately: Epsom or (Mid-Southern)
Kingston (or Mid-Northern)
major parts of Wimbledon

History

The constituency was created under the Second Reform Act for the 1868 general election, and abolished by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 for the 1885 general election.

Political history

The seat elected a brief series of Conservatives.

Successor seats

The 1885 Act took from 2 to 16 the metropolitan seats in the north-east of the county — that is the zone north-east of Wimbledon and Croydon coming from 1889 into the newly formed County of London. It also founded six single-member county constituencies (seats) to cover the rump bulk of the county, commonly referred to at the time as the non-metropolitan county. The Act thus abolished the West, Mid and East Surrey divisions double seat-areas that comprised the county. As Surrey was now split into single-representative areas this met a Chartist objective, discouraging the frequent collusion between candidates or parties which had beset multi-member constituencies (specifically plurality-at-large voting, for which "bloc(k) vote" in Britain was the term used). These six distinctly county (non-metropolitan) divisions the Act numbered, named (and detailed as summarised in outline below):[1]

  1. The North-Western or Chertsey Division (usually recorded as Chertsey, Surrey N.W. or North-West) - included Woking and Egham
  2. The South-Western or Guildford Division (as style shown above) - included Godalming, Farnham and surrounds
  3. The South-Eastern or Reigate Division (as style shown above) - included Dorking sessional division save for two parishes in No. 4.
  4. The Mid or Epsom Division (as style shown above) - included Kingston's southern and eastern sessional division components
  5. The Kingston Division (invariably Kingston or Kingston-upon-Thames) - included Richmond
  6. The North-Eastern or Wimbledon Division (as style shown above) - included sessional division of Croydon except its core and north in the Metropolis; plus Caterham, Chelsham, Farley, Warlingham.

Boundaries

1868–1885: The Hundreds of Kingston, Reigate and so much of that of Wallington as lay to the west of the parishes of Croydon and Sanderstead, and so much of the Hundred of Brixton as lay to the west of the parishes of Streatham, Clapham and Lambeth.[2]

Members of Parliament
Election1st Member1st PartyMain home2nd Member2nd PartyMain home
1868 Sir Henry Peek Conservative Wimbledon House, High Street, Wimbledon
and
Rousdon, Devon		 William Brodrick Conservative Peper Harow House, Peper Harow
1870 by-election Richard Baggallay Conservative 55 Queen's Gate, South Kensington
1875 by-election Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bt. Conservative Burford Lodge (in part since renamed Burford Bridge Hotel), Dorking
1884 by-election Sir John Whittaker Ellis, Bt. Conservative Petersham Place, Byfleet
1885 constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1860s
General election 1868: Mid Surrey[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Henry Peek 4,487 29.6
Conservative William Brodrick 4,412 29.1
Liberal Julian Goldsmid 3,152 20.8
Liberal Charles Henry Robarts[4] 3,090 20.4
Independent Liberal Thomas Marsh Nelson[5] 7 0.1
Majority 1,260 8.3
Turnout 7,574 (est) 71.7 (est)
Registered electors 10,565
Conservative win (new seat)
Conservative win (new seat)

Elections in the 1870s

Brodrick succeeded to the peerage, becoming Viscount Midleton and causing a by-election.

By-election, 17 Oct 1870: Mid Surrey[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Richard Baggallay Unopposed
Conservative hold
General election 1874: Mid Surrey[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Richard Baggallay Unopposed
Conservative Henry Peek Unopposed
Registered electors 14,645
Conservative hold
Conservative hold

Baggallay was appointed Solicitor-General for England and Wales, requiring a by-election.

By-election, 16 Mar 1874: Mid Surrey[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Richard Baggallay Unopposed
Conservative hold

Baggallay was appointed a Judge of The Court of Appeal, and resigned.

By-election, 24 Nov 1875: Mid Surrey[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Trevor Lawrence Unopposed
Conservative hold

Elections in the 1880s
General election 1880: Mid Surrey[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Henry Peek 8,475 30.0 N/A
Conservative Trevor Lawrence 8,303 29.4 N/A
Liberal Sydney Stern 5,770 20.4 New
Liberal Joseph Napier Higgins 5,727 20.3 New
Majority 2,533 9.0 N/A
Turnout 14,138 69.2 N/A
Registered electors 20,433
Conservative hold Swing N/A
Conservative hold Swing N/A

Peek's resignation caused a by-election.

By-election, 23 Jun 1884: Mid Surrey[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Whittaker Ellis 7,645 60.7 +1.3
Liberal Sydney Stern 4,949 39.3 −1.4
Majority 2,696 21.4 +12.4
Turnout 12,594 47.0 −22.2
Registered electors 26,804
Conservative hold Swing +1.4

References
  1. "The public general acts". Proprietors of the Law Journal Reports.
  2. "Representation of the People Act 1867" (PDF). Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  3. Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. p. 467. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.
  4. "Mid Surrey Election". Surrey Comet. 14 November 1868. p. 1. Retrieved 18 March 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. "Mr. Marsh Nelson at Kingston". Surrey Comet. 14 November 1868. p. 5. Retrieved 18 March 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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