West Gloucestershire (UK Parliament constituency)

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

It was 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.

A new single-member West Gloucestershire constituency, covering a smaller area, was created for the 1950 general election. It was abolished for the 1997 general election.

History

1950 to 1997

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

The Hundreds of Berkeley, Thornbury, Langley and Swineshead, Grumbolds Ash, Pucklechurch, Lancaster Duchy, Botloe, St Briavels, Westbury, and Bildesloe, and the Hundreds of Henbury and Barton Regis except those parts in the City of Bristol.

The constituency was the western division of the historic county of Gloucestershire, in South West England.

The place of election was the small town of Dursley. This was where the hustings were situated 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 parliamentary borough constituencies of Cheltenham, Cirencester, Gloucester, Stroud, and Tewkesbury were all located 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

1950-1955: The Rural Districts of East Dean, Lydney, Newent, and West Dean, and in the Rural District of Gloucester the civil parishes of Ashleworth, Chaceley, Churchdown, Down Hatherley, Forthampton, Hasfield, Highnam, Longford, Longlevens, Maisemore, Minsterworth, Newnham, Norton, Sandhurst, Tirley, Twigworth, and Westbury-on-Severn.

1955-1974: The Rural Districts of East Dean, Lydney, Newent, and West Dean, and in the Rural District of Gloucester the civil parishes of Ashleworth, Chaceley, Churchdown, Down Hatherley, Forthampton, Hasfield, Highnam, Longford, Longlevens (except the parts included in the County Borough of Gloucester), Maisemore, Minsterworth, Newnham, Norton, Sandhurst, Tirley, Twigworth, and Westbury-on-Severn.

1974-1983: The Rural Districts of East Dean, Lydney, Newent, and West Dean, and in the Rural District of Gloucester the civil parishes of Ashleworth, Brockworth, Chaceley, Churchdown, Down Hatherley, Forthampton, Hasfield, Highnam, Hucclecote, Innsworth, Longford, Maisemore, Minsterworth, Newnham, Norton, Sandhurst, Tirley, Twigworth, and Westbury-on-Severn.

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.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1832–1885

Election	1st Member		1st Party	2nd Member		2nd Party
1832		Hon. Grantley Berkeley	Whig		Hon. Augustus Moreton	Whig
1835					The Marquess of Worcester	Conservative
1836 by-election					Robert Blagden Hale	Conservative
1852		Robert Kingscote	Whig
1857					Sir John Rolt	Conservative
1859			Liberal
1867 by-election					Edward Arthur Somerset	Conservative
1868					Samuel Marling	Liberal
1874					Hon. Randal Plunkett	Conservative
1880					Lord Moreton	Liberal
1885 by-election		Benjamin St John Ackers	Conservative
1885	constituency abolished

MPs 1950–1997

Election		Member	Party
	1950	Morgan 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

Elections

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1992: Gloucestershire West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Paul Marland	29,232	43.6	−2.7
	Labour	Mrs Diana Mary Organ	24,274	36.2	+8.4
	Liberal Democrat	Mrs JE Boait	13,366	19.9	−6.1
	British Independent	A Reeve	172	0.3	+0.3
	Twenty First Century	CR Palmer	75	0.1	+0.1
Majority			4,958	7.4	−11.1
Turnout			67,119	83.8	+2.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	−5.5

Elections in the 1980s

United Kingdom general election, 1987: Gloucestershire West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Paul Marland	29,257	46.2
	Labour	P.E. Sandland-Nielson	17,758	27.8
	Social Democratic	John Watkinson	16,440	26.0
Majority			11,679	18.4
Turnout				81.1

United Kingdom general election, 1983: Gloucestershire West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Paul Marland	27,092	45.8
	Social Democratic	John Watkinson	17,440	29.5
	Labour	MJ Hodkinson	14,572	24.7
Majority			9,652	16.3
Turnout				79.6

Elections in the 1970s

United Kingdom general election, 1979: Gloucestershire West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Paul Marland	28,183	47.9
	Labour	John Watkinson	24,009	40.8
	Liberal	Margaret Jane Joachim	6,370	10.8
	National Front	G Storkey	270	0.5
Majority			4,174	7.1
Turnout				83.9

United Kingdom general election, October 1974: Gloucestershire West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Watkinson	22,481	41.7
	Conservative	Paul Marland	22,072	41.0
	Liberal	AL MacGregor	9,353	17.3
Majority			409	0.8
Turnout				80.1

United Kingdom general election, February 1974: Gloucestershire West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Charles Loughlin	22,765	40.7
	Conservative	Paul Marland	21,141	37.8
	Liberal	AL MacGregor	11,856	21.2
	Independent	SS Hart	171	0.3
Majority			1,624	2.9
Turnout				83.9

United Kingdom general election, 1970: Gloucestershire West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Charles Loughlin	22,637	46.1
	Conservative	SHAF Hopkins	21,530	43.8
	Liberal	JA Svendsen	4,932	10.1
Majority			1,107	2.2
Turnout				77.0

Elections in the 1960s

United Kingdom general election, 1966: Gloucestershire West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Charles Loughlin	23,181	51.7
	Conservative	SHAF Hopkins	15,476	34.6
	Liberal	KG Harvey	6,137	13.7
Majority			7,705	17.2
Turnout				78.0

United Kingdom general election, 1964: Gloucestershire West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Charles Loughlin	22,420	49.9
	Conservative	D St. P Barnard	15,300	34.1
	Liberal	RA Cook	7,191	16.0
Majority			7,120	15.8
Turnout				79.6

Elections in 1950s

United Kingdom general election, 1959: Gloucestershire West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Charles Loughlin	21,634	49.4
	Conservative	OKL Lloyd-Baker	16,223	37.1
	Liberal	EJ Radley	5,921	15.3
Majority			5,411	12.4
Turnout				80.8

United Kingdom general election, 1951: Gloucestershire West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Morgan Philips Price	24,334	58.0
	Conservative	A Russell	17,665	42.0
Majority			6,679	15.9
Turnout				82.3

United Kingdom general election, 1950: Gloucestershire West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Morgan Philips Price	22,765	54.8
	Conservative	Granger F Boston	13,664	32.9
	Liberal	Harold Basil Houldsworth	5,125	12.3
Majority			9,101	21.9
Turnout				82.3

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Gloucestershire

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)

• 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)
• 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.
• 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.