South Molton (UK Parliament constituency)

South Molton
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1885–1950
Number of members	one
Replaced by	Torrington

South Molton was a parliamentary constituency centred on the small town of South Molton in Devon, in the South West of England. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

The constituency was created for the 1885 general election, and abolished for the 1950 general election, when it was largely replaced by Torrington.

Boundaries

1885-1918: The Municipal Borough of South Molton, and the Sessional Divisions of Crediton, Great Torrington, and South Molton.

1918-1950: The Municipal Boroughs of Great Torrington, Okehampton, and South Molton, the Urban District of Crediton, and the Rural Districts of Crediton, Okehampton, South Molton, and Torrington.

Members of Parliament

George Lambert

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Viscount Lymington	Liberal
	1886		Liberal Unionist
	1891	George Lambert	Liberal
	1924	Cedric Drewe	Unionist
	1929	George Lambert	Liberal
	1931		Liberal National
	1945	George Lambert jnr.	National Liberal
	1950	constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1900s

General Election January 1906: South Molton^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	George Lambert	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

Elections in the 1910s

George Lambert

General Election January 1910: South Molton^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	George Lambert	4,419	56.5
	Liberal Unionist	John Thomas Woolrych Perowne	3,398	43.5
Majority			1,021	13.0
Turnout				89.9
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election December 1910: South Molton^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	George Lambert	4,224	56.8	+0.3
	Liberal Unionist	John Thomas Woolrych Perowne	3,217	43.2	-0.3
Majority				13.6	+0.6
Turnout				85.5	-4.4
	Liberal hold		Swing	+0.3

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 from 1914 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected;

• Liberal: George Lambert,
• Conservative:

George Lambert

General Election 1918: South Molton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Rt Hon. George Lambert	10,424	56.3
	Unionist	Herbert Weston Sheppard Sparkes	8,093	43.7
Majority			2,331	12.6
Turnout				65.8
	Liberal hold		Swing

• denotes candidate who was endorsed by the Coalition Government.

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1922: South Molton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Rt Hon. George Lambert	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

General Election 1923: South Molton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Rt Hon. George Lambert	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

General Election 1924:South Molton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Cedric Drewe	12,811	51.3	n/a
	Liberal	Rt Hon. George Lambert	12,157	48.7	n/a
Majority			654	2.6	n/a
Turnout				85.3	n/a
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing

General Election 1929: South Molton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Rt Hon. George Lambert	15,072	48.1	-0.6
	Unionist	Cedric Drewe	13,567	43.2	-8.1
	Labour	Rudolph Putnam Messel	2,731	8.7	n/a
Majority			1,505	4.9	7.5
Turnout				87.4	+2.1
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing	+3.8

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931: South Molton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal National	Rt Hon. George Lambert	25,700	88.0
	Labour	Rudolph Putnam Messel	3,499	12.0
Majority			22,201	76.0
Turnout			29,199	81.0
	Liberal National hold		Swing

General Election 1935: South Molton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal National	Rt Hon. George Lambert	20,767	78.7
	Labour	H F Chilcott	5,610	21.3
Majority			15,157	57.5
Turnout			26,377	72.9
	Liberal National hold		Swing

Elections in the 1940s

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 from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected;

• Liberal National: Rt Hon. George Lambert

General Election 1945: South Molton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal National	George Lambert	19,065	67.6
	Labour	C Lang	9,140	32.4
Majority			9,925	35.2
Turnout				71.9
	Liberal National hold		Swing

References

Notes

1. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
2. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
3. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)

Sources

• Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 4)