Epsom (UK Parliament constituency)

Epsom
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Location of Surrey within England.
County	Surrey
Major settlements	Epsom, Ewell and Ashtead
1885–1974
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Epsom and Ewell
Created from	East Surrey

Epsom was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. From its creation in 1885 until its abolition in 1974, it was always held by the Conservative Party.

History

The constituency was established for the 1885 general election from part of the East Surrey constituency. It was abolished for the February 1974 general election and largely replaced by the new Epsom and Ewell constituency.

Boundaries

1885-1918: The Sessional Divisions of Epsom and Kingston (except the part of the civil parish of Kingston not included in the Municipal Borough of Kingston-on-Thames), and the civil parishes of Effingham and Mickleham.

1918-1950: The Urban Districts of Epsom, Leatherhead, and Sutton, and the Rural District of Epsom.

1950-1974: The Municipal Borough of Epsom and Ewell, and the Urban District of Leatherhead.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member[1]	Party
	1885	constituency created
	1885	George Cubitt	Conservative
	1892	Thomas Bucknill	Conservative
	1899 by-election	William Keswick	Conservative
	1912 by-election	Henry Keswick	Conservative
	1918	George Blades	Conservative
	1928 by-election	Sir Archibald Southby	Conservative
	1947 by-election	Malcolm McCorquodale	Conservative
	1955	Peter Rawlinson	Conservative
	Feb 1974	constituency abolished. See Epsom and Ewell

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1885: Epsom ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	George Cubitt	4,621		n/a
	Liberal	R Harris	2,368		n/a
Majority			2,253		n/a
Turnout					n/a
	Conservative win (new seat)

General Election 1886: Epsom ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	George Cubitt	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Conservative hold		Swing	n/a

Elections in the 1890s

General Election 1892: Epsom ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Sir Thomas Townsend Bucknill	5,123		n/a
	Liberal	Hon. Thomas Allnutt Brassey	2,720		n/a
Majority			2,403		n/a
Turnout					n/a
	Conservative hold		Swing	n/a

General Election 1895: Epsom ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Sir Thomas Townsend Bucknill	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Conservative hold		Swing	n/a

William Keswick

Epsom by-election, 1899^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	William Keswick	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Conservative hold		Swing	n/a

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1900: Epsom ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	William Keswick	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Conservative hold		Swing	n/a

Aston

General Election 1906: Epsom ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	William Keswick	7,313		n/a
	Liberal	Alfred Withall Aston	6,221		n/a
Majority			1,092		n/a
Turnout					n/a
	Conservative hold		Swing	n/a

Elections in the 1910s

Sir Albert Rollit

General Election January 1910: Epsom ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	William Keswick	10,919
	Liberal	Sir Albert Kaye Rollit	5,232
Majority
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election December 1910: Epsom ^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	William Keswick	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Conservative hold		Swing	n/a

Henry Keswick

Epsom by-election, 1912^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Henry Keswick	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Conservative hold		Swing	n/a

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;

• Unionist: Henry Keswick

General Election 1918: Epsom ^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	George Rowland Blades
	Labour	Sgt. James Chuter Ede
Majority
Turnout
	Unionist hold		Swing

• endorsed by the Coalition Government

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1922: Epsom ^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Sir George Rowland Blades
	Labour	Dr Somerville Hastings
Majority
Turnout
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1923: Epsom ^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Sir George Rowland Blades	14,230	71.0
	Labour	John Eric Langdon-Davies	5,807	29.0
Majority			8,423	42.0
Turnout				55.6
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1924: Epsom^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Sir George Rowland Blades	20,017	79.5
	Labour	Philip Butler	5,149	20.5
Majority			14,868	59.0
Turnout				67.1
	Unionist hold		Swing

Epsom by-election, 1928^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Archibald Richard James Southby	13,364	60.3	-19.2
	Liberal	Samuel Parnell Kerr	5,095	23.0	n/a
	Labour	Miss Helen Mary Keynes	3,719	16.8	-3.7
Majority			8,269	37.2	-21.8
Turnout				51.2	-5.9
	Unionist hold		Swing	n/a

General Election 1929: Epsom^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Archibald Richard James Southby	24,720	57.8	-2.5
	Liberal	Samuel Parnell Kerr	10,422	24.3	+1.3
	Labour	Stanley James Wells Morgan	7,662	17.9	+1.1
Majority			14,298	33.5	-3.7
Turnout				67.7	+16.5
	Unionist hold		Swing	-1.9

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931: Epsom ^[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Archibald Richard James Southby	44,076	85.34
	Labour	Stanley James Wells Morgan	7,571	14.66
Majority			36,505	70.68
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1935: Epsom ^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Archibald Richard James Southby	49,948	72.14
	Labour	Stanley James Wells Morgan	19,286	27.86
Majority			30,662	44.29
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing

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 and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected;

• Conservative: Sir Archibald Richard James Southby
• Labour: C Hackforth-Jones^[20]

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Epsom ^[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Sir Archibald Richard James Southby	27,081	49.91
	Labour	Edward Arthur Alexander Shackleton	20,533	37.84
	Liberal	James Morgan Fowler	6,643	12.24
Majority			6,548
Turnout				74.87
	Conservative hold		Swing

Epsom by-election, 1947^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Rt Hon. Malcolm Stewart McCorquodale	33,633	61.0	+11.1
	Labour	R Bishop	17,339	31.5	-6.3
	Liberal	David Arnold Scott Cairns	4,121	7.5	-4.7
Majority			16,447	33.0
Turnout			16,294
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: Epsom ^[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Rt Hon. Malcolm Stewart McCorquodale	33,103	60.73
	Labour	Frank Martin Hardie	15,256	27.99
	Liberal	N Geoffrey Hudson	6,153	11.29
Majority			17,847	32.74
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1951: Epsom ^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Rt Hon. Malcolm Stewart McCorquodale	36,333	68.66
	Labour	Frank Martin Hardie	16,584	31.34
Majority			19,749	37.32
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Epsom ^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Peter Anthony Grayson Rawlinson	36,779	71.44
	Labour	Arthur Bertram Spencer Soper	14,706	28.56
Majority			22,073	42.87
Turnout				77.56
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1959: Epsom ^[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Peter Anthony Grayson Rawlinson	35,484	62.88
	Labour	D Eric Heather	11,039	19.56
	Liberal	Robert William M Walsh	9,910	17.56
Majority			24,445	43.32
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1964: Epsom ^[27]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Rt Hon. Sir Peter Anthony Grayson Rawlinson	31,959	55.05
	Liberal	Robert William M Walsh	13,968	24.06
	Labour	Alan Lee Williams	12,131	20.89
Majority			17,991	30.99
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1966: Epsom ^[28]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Rt Hon. Sir Peter Anthony Grayson Rawlinson	31,434	54.59
	Labour	Cyril Carter	13,841	24.04
	Liberal	Robert William M Walsh	12,305	21.37
Majority			17,593	30.55
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: Epsom ^[29]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Rt Hon. Sir Peter Anthony Grayson Rawlinson	35,541	61.41
	Labour	E Guy Wilson	12,767	22.06
	Liberal	Peter Hasler Billenness	9,563	16.52
Majority			22,774	39.35
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Surrey

References

1. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "E" (part 2)
2. Liberal Yearbook 1907
3. Liberal Yearbook 1907
4. Liberal Yearbook 1907
5. Debrett's House of Commons, 1901
6. Debrett's House of Commons, 1901
7. Debrett's House of Commons, 1901
8. Liberal Yearbook 1907
9. Debrett's House of Commons, 1916
10. Debrett's House of Commons, 1916
11. Debrett's House of Commons, 1916
12. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
13. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
14. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
15. F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949
16. F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949
17. F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949
18. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
19. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
20. Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939
21. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
22. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
23. British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
24. British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
25. British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
26. F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1973
27. F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1973
28. British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
29. British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig

Coordinates: 51°20′N 0°16′W / 51.33°N 0.27°W