West Gloucestershire (UK Parliament constituency)

West Gloucestershire
West Gloucestershire
Former County constituency; for the House of Commons
	West Gloucestershire, showing boundaries used from 1983-1997
County	Gloucestershire
1950–1997
Seats	One
Created from	Forest of Dean and Stroud[1]
Replaced by	Forest of Dean, Tewkesbury
1832–1885
Seats	Two
Type of constituency	County constituency
Created from	Gloucestershire
Replaced by	Forest of Dean; Thornbury

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

It was first 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.

Its namesake, a seat of about half the physical size of the above, took up a north-west side of the Severn estuary similar to the Forest of Dean, and came into being 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

Context: 1832-1868. Extract from 1837 result: the western, striped areas straddling the Severn estuary.

1832–1885: The Hundreds of Berkeley, Thornbury, Langley and Swineshead, Grumbald's Ash, Pucklechurch, Lancaster Duchy, Botloe, St Briavel's, Westbury, and Bledisloe, and the parts of the Hundreds of Henbury and Barton Regis that are not included in the limits of the City of Bristol.[2]

The place of election was the small town of Dursley. This was where the hustings were put up 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 county's five parliamentary boroughs were all 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.[3]

Members of Parliament

MPs 1832–1885

Election	1st member[4]		1st party		2nd party
1832		Hon. Grantley Berkeley	Whig[5][6]	Hon. Augustus Moreton	Whig[5]
1835				Henry Somerset[7]	Conservative[5]
1836 by-election[8]				Robert Blagden Hale	Conservative[5]
1852		Robert Kingscote[9]	Whig[10][11]	Robert Blagden Hale	Conservative[5]
1857			Whig[10][11]	Sir John Rolt[12]	Conservative
1859			Liberal	Sir John Rolt[12]	Conservative
1867 by-election[13]				Edward Arthur Somerset	Conservative
1868				Samuel Marling	Liberal
1874				Hon. Randal Plunkett	Conservative
1880				Henry Moreton	Liberal
1885 by-election[14]		Benjamin St John Ackers	Conservative	Henry Moreton	Liberal
1885	constituency abolished

MPs 1950–1997

	Member[4]	Party
1950	M. 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[15][16]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Paul Marland	29,232	43.6	−2.5
	Labour	Diana Organ	24,274	36.2	+8.2
	Liberal Democrats	J. E. Boait	13,366	19.9	−6.0
	British Independent	A. Reeve	172	0.3	New
	Twenty First Century	C. R. Palmer	75	0.1	New
Majority			4,958	7.4	−10.7
Turnout			67,119	83.9	+2.5
Registered electors			80,007		+2.6
	Conservative hold		Swing	−5.4

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1987: West Gloucestershire[17]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Paul Marland	29,257	46.1	+0.3
	Labour	Peter Sandland-Nielsen	17,758	28.0	+3.3
	SDP	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		+5.0
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.9

General election 1983: West Gloucestershire[18]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Paul Marland	27,092	45.8	−2.1
	SDP	John Watkinson	17,440	29.5	+18.7
	Labour	M. J. Hodkinson	14,572	24.7	−16.1
Majority			9,652	16.3	+9.2
Turnout			59,104	79.6	−4.3
Registered electors			74,266		+5.0
	Conservative hold		Swing	+7.0

Elections in the 1970s

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	−6.6
	National Front	G. Storkey	270	0.5	New
Majority			4,174	7.1	N/A
Turnout			58,832	83.9	+3.7
Registered electors			70,104		+4.3
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+3.9

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	A. L. MacGregor	9,353	17.4	−3.8
Majority			409	0.8	−2.1
Turnout			53,906	80.2	−3.7
Registered electors			67,239		+0.8
	Labour hold		Swing	−1.1

General election February 1974: Gloucestershire West [19]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Charles Loughlin	22,765	40.7	−5.4
	Conservative	Paul Marland	21,141	37.8	−6.1
	Liberal	A. L. MacGregor	11,856	21.2	+11.2
	Independent	S. S. Hart	171	0.3	New
Majority			1,624	2.9	+0.7
Turnout			55,933	83.9	+6.7
Registered electors			66,706		+3.7
	Labour hold		Swing	+0.4

General election 1970: Gloucestershire West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Charles Loughlin	22,637	46.1	−5.7
	Conservative	Stanley H. A. F. Hopkins	21,530	43.9	+9.4
	Liberal	J. Alan Svendsen	4,932	10.0	−3.7
Majority			1,107	2.2	−15.1
Turnout			49,099	77.2	−0.8
Registered electors			63,599		+10.7
	Labour hold		Swing	−7.5

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1966: Gloucestershire West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Charles Loughlin	23,181	51.8	+1.9
	Conservative	Stanley H. A. F. Hopkins	15,476	34.5	+0.4
	Liberal	Kenneth G. Harvey	6,137	13.7	−2.3
Majority			7,705	17.3	+1.5
Turnout			44,794	78.0	−1.6
Registered electors			57,443		+1.8
	Labour hold		Swing	+0.7

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	15.8	+3.5
Turnout			44,911	79.6	−1.2
Registered electors			56,407		+4.1
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.7

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1959: Gloucestershire West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Charles Loughlin	21,634	49.4	−5.5
	Conservative	Olive K. L. Lloyd-Baker	16,223	37.1	−8.0
	Liberal	Eric John Radley	5,921	13.5	New
Majority			5,411	12.3	+2.5
Turnout			43,778	80.8	+2.2
Registered electors			54,202		+4.7
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.2

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	9.8	−6.0
Turnout			40,712	78.6	−3.7
Registered electors			51,772		+1.5
	Labour hold		Swing	−3.0

General election 1951: Gloucestershire West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	M. Philips Price	24,334	57.9	+3.1
	Conservative	Arthur Russell	17,665	42.1	+9.2
Majority			6,669	15.8	−6.1
Turnout			41,999	82.3	0.0
Registered electors			51,020		+1.0
	Labour hold		Swing	−3.0

General election 1950: Gloucestershire West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	M. Philips Price	22,765	54.8
	Conservative	Granger Boston	13,664	32.9
	Liberal	Basil Houldsworth	5,125	12.3
Majority			9,101	21.9
Turnout			41,554	82.3
Registered electors			50,513
	Labour win (new seat)

Elections in the 1880s

By-election, 12 Mar 1885: West Gloucestershire (1 seat vacant)[20]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Benjamin St John Ackers	4,837	52.2	+21.5
	Liberal	William Marling[21]	4,426	47.8	−21.6
Majority			411	4.4	N/A
Turnout			9,263	72.4	−9.5 (est)
Registered electors			12,802
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+21.6

Caused by Kingscote's appointment as Commissioner of Woods, Forests and Land Revenues.

General election 1880: West Gloucestershire (2 seats)[20]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Robert Kingscote	5,316	35.2	+2.3
	Liberal	Henry Reynolds-Moreton	5,164	34.2	+1.5
	Conservative	Randal Plunkett	4,640	30.7	−3.8
Majority			524	3.5	N/A
Turnout			9,956 (est)	81.9 (est)	+5.5
Registered electors			12,162
	Liberal hold		Swing	+2.1
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+1.7

Elections in the 1870s

General election 1874: West Gloucestershire (2 seats)[20]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Randal Plunkett	4,553	34.5	+3.6
	Liberal	Robert Kingscote	4,344	32.9	−2.1
	Liberal	Charles Berkeley[22]	4,317	32.7	−1.4
Turnout			8,884 (est)	76.4 (est)	−4.9
Registered electors			11,632
Majority			209	1.6	N/A
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+1.6
	Liberal hold		Swing	−2.0

Elections in the 1860s

General election 1868: West Gloucestershire (2 seats)[20]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Robert Kingscote	4,985	35.0	*N/A*
	Liberal	Samuel Marling	4,862	34.1	*N/A*
	Conservative	Edward Arthur Somerset	4,394	30.9	N/A
Majority			468	3.2	N/A
Turnout			9,318 (est)	81.3 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			11,463
	Liberal hold
	Liberal gain from Conservative

By-election, 25 July 1867: West Gloucestershire (1 seat)[20]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edward Arthur Somerset	3,649	50.7	*N/A*
	Liberal	Charles Berkeley	3,553	49.3	N/A
Majority			96	1.4	N/A
Turnout			7,202	76.9	N/A
Registered electors			9,368
	Conservative hold

Caused by Rolt's appointment as a judge of the Court of Appeal in Chancery

By-election, 15 November 1866: West Gloucestershire (1 seat)[20]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Rolt	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

Caused by Rolt's appointment as Attorney General for England and Wales.

General election 1865: West Gloucestershire (2 seats)[20]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	John Rolt	Unopposed
	Liberal	Robert Kingscote	Unopposed
Registered electors			9,368
	Conservative hold
	Liberal hold

Elections in the 1850s

By-election, 7 July 1859: West Gloucestershire[20]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Robert Kingscote	Unopposed
	Liberal hold

Appointment of Kingscote as a Groom in Waiting to Her Majesty Queen Victoria

General election 1859: West Gloucestershire (2 seats)[20]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	Robert Kingscote	Unopposed
	Conservative	John Rolt	Unopposed
Registered electors			9,167
	Liberal hold
	Conservative hold

General election 1857: West Gloucestershire (2 seats)[20]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Whig	Robert Kingscote	Unopposed
	Conservative	John Rolt	Unopposed
Registered electors			9,250
	Whig hold
	Conservative hold

General election 1852: West Gloucestershire (2 seats)[20]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Robert Kingscote	3,528	40.8	+17.5
	Conservative	Robert Blagden Hale	2,946	34.1	−12.5
	Whig	Grantley Berkeley	2,166	25.1	−5.0
Turnout			6,474 (est)	75.0 (est)	−12.8
Registered electors			8,635
Majority			582	6.7	N/A
	Whig hold		Swing	+11.9
Majority			780	9.0	−7.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	−12.5

Elections in the 1840s

General election 1847: West Gloucestershire (2 seats)[20]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Blagden Hale	4,240	46.6	*N/A*
	Whig	Grantley Berkeley	2,744	30.1	*N/A*
	Whig	Grenville Berkeley	2,123	23.3	N/A
Majority			1,496	16.5	N/A
Turnout			6,674 (est)	87.8 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			7,601
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A
	Whig hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1841: West Gloucestershire (2 seats)[20][5]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Whig	Grantley Berkeley	Unopposed
	Conservative	Robert Blagden Hale	Unopposed
Registered electors			7,875
	Whig hold
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1830s

General election 1837: West Gloucestershire (2 seats)[20][5]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Whig	Grantley Berkeley	Unopposed
	Conservative	Robert Blagden Hale	Unopposed
Registered electors			6,936
	Whig hold
	Conservative hold

By-election, 2 January 1836: West Gloucestershire[20][5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Blagden Hale	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

Succession of Henry Somerset to the Peerage as 7th Duke of Beaufort

General election 1835: West Gloucestershire (2 seats)[20][5]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Whig	Grantley Berkeley	Unopposed
	Conservative	Henry Somerset	Unopposed
Registered electors			6,473
	Whig hold
	Conservative gain from Whig

General election 1832: West Gloucestershire (2 seats)[20][5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	Grantley Berkeley	3,153	34.6
	Whig	Augustus Moreton	2,996	32.9
	Tory	Robert Somerset	2,962	32.5
Majority			34	0.4
Turnout			5,943	91.1
Registered electors			6,521
	Whig win (new seat)
	Whig win (new seat)

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.
"The statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. 2 & 3 William IV. Cap. LXIV. An Act to settle and describe the Divisions of Counties, and the Limits of Cities and Boroughs, in England and Wales, in so far as respects the Election of Members to serve in Parliament". London: His Majesty's statute and law printers. 1832. pp. 300–383. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
C. Rallings & M. Thrasher, The Media Guide to the New Parliamentary Constituencies, p. 220 (Plymouth: LGC Elections Centre, 1995).
Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "G" (part 1)
Stooks Smith, Henry. (1973) [1844-1850]. Craig, F. W. S. (ed.). The Parliaments of England (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. pp. 113–114. ISBN 0-900178-13-2. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
Dod, Charles Roger; Dod, Robert Phipps (1847). Dod's Parliamentary Companion, Volume 15. Dod's Parliamentary Companion. p. 130. Retrieved 3 August 2018 – via Google Books.
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.
"West Gloucestershire Election". Gloucester Journal. 24 July 1852. p. 3. Retrieved 3 August 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
"Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette". 8 July 1852. p. 3. Retrieved 3 August 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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 December 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
Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. p. 391. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.
"West Gloucestershire Election". Western Daily Press. 3 March 1885. p. 6. Retrieved 20 December 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
"Liberalism in the Forest: Meeting at Cinderford". Gloucester Journal. 29 August 1874. p. 7. Retrieved 30 December 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.

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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[1] Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1972). Boundaries of parliamentary constituencies 1985-1972. Chichester, Sussex: Political Reference Publications. ISBN 0-900178-09-4.

[2] "The statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. 2 & 3 William IV. Cap. LXIV. An Act to settle and describe the Divisions of Counties, and the Limits of Cities and Boroughs, in England and Wales, in so far as respects the Election of Members to serve in Parliament". London: His Majesty's statute and law printers. 1832. pp. 300–383. Retrieved 22 May 2020.

[3] C. Rallings & M. Thrasher, The Media Guide to the New Parliamentary Constituencies, p. 220 (Plymouth: LGC Elections Centre, 1995).

[rayment-4] Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "G" (part 1)

[stooks-smith-5] Stooks Smith, Henry. (1973) [1844-1850]. Craig, F. W. S. (ed.). The Parliaments of England (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. pp. 113–114. ISBN 0-900178-13-2. Retrieved 3 August 2018.

[6] Dod, Charles Roger; Dod, Robert Phipps (1847). Dod's Parliamentary Companion, Volume 15. Dod's Parliamentary Companion. p. 130. Retrieved 3 August 2018 – via Google Books.

[7] Succeeded as the 7th Duke of Beaufort, in November 1835.

[8] 2 January 1836 by-election.

[9] Joined the Liberal Party, when it was formally created following the 1859 general election. Appointed Commissioner of Woods, Forests and Land Revenues in 1885.

[10] "West Gloucestershire Election". Gloucester Journal. 24 July 1852. p. 3. Retrieved 3 August 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.

[11] "Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette". 8 July 1852. p. 3. Retrieved 3 August 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.

[12] Appointed Attorney General and knighted in 1866. Appointed Judge of the Court of Appeal in Chancery in 1867.

[13] 25 July 1867 by-election.

[14] 12 March 1885 by-election.

[electoralcalculus1992-15] "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.

[16] "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 6 December 2010.

[electoralcalculus1987-17] "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.

[electoralcalculus1983-18] "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.

[19] 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

[craig1832-20] Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. p. 391. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.

[21] "West Gloucestershire Election". Western Daily Press. 3 March 1885. p. 6. Retrieved 20 December 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.

[22] "Liberalism in the Forest: Meeting at Cinderford". Gloucester Journal. 29 August 1874. p. 7. Retrieved 30 December 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.