Bournemouth (UK Parliament constituency)

Bournemouth is a former United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency. The seat was created in 1918 and existed until it was abolished and split into two new seats in 1950. During the constituency's existence it was the most south-westerly seat in Hampshire (although the county boundary between Dorset and Hampshire was redrawn in 1974 so the town was transferred to Dorset).

Bournemouth
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
1918–1950
Replaced by	Bournemouth East and Christchurch and Bournemouth West
Created from	Christchurch

Boundaries

Before 1918 the County Borough of Bournemouth formed part of the then parliamentary borough of Christchurch. Under the Representation of the People Act 1918 Bournemouth gained its own constituency, with the same boundaries as the then county borough.

The seat was bordered to the west by the constituency of Dorset East, while to the north was New Forest and Christchurch. The rest of the constituency bordered the English Channel.

In the 1950 redistribution, the Representation of the People Act 1948 provided for the division of Bournemouth (with the addition of the neighbouring town of Christchurch) into Bournemouth East and Christchurch & Bournemouth West.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party	Notes
	1918	Henry Croft	National
	1921		Conservative	Resigned May 1940 on being raised to the peerage
	1940 by-election	Leonard Lyle	Conservative	Resigned October 1945 on being raised to the peerage
	1945 by-election	Brendan Bracken	Conservative
	1950	constituency abolished: see Bournemouth East and Christchurch & Bournemouth West

Elections

Elections in the 1910s

General election 1918: Bournemouth [1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	National	Henry Page Croft	14,048	66.3	n/a
	Labour	Frederick Jesse Hopkins	5,302	25.0	n/a
	Liberal	Thomas Dove Keighley	1,854	8.7	n/a
Majority			8,746	41.3	n/a
Turnout				64.1	n/a
	National win

Elections in the 1920s

C.B. Dallow

General election 1922: Bournemouth[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Henry Page Croft	15,690	52.3	N/A
	Liberal	Cyril Berkeley Dallow	10,181	33.9	+25.2
	Lloyd George Conservative	Harry Keen Hargreaves	4,134	13.8	N/A
Majority			5,509	18.4	N/A
Turnout			30,005	79.8	+15.7
Registered electors			37,598
	Unionist gain from National		Swing	N/A

General election 1923: Bournemouth[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Henry Page Croft	15,506	50.4	−1.9
	Liberal	Cyril Berkeley Dallow	9,256	30.1	−3.8
	Labour	Minnie Pallister	5,986	19.5	N/A
Majority			6,250	20.3	+1.9
Turnout			30,748	79.0	−0.8
Registered electors			38,913
	Unionist hold		Swing	+1.0

General election 1924: Bournemouth[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Henry Page Croft	20,620	72.7	+22.3
	Labour	Minnie Pallister	7,735	27.3	+7.8
Majority			12,885	45.4	+25.1
Turnout			28,355	69.1	−9.9
Registered electors			41,038
	Unionist hold		Swing	+7.25

General election 1929: Bournemouth [5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Henry Page Croft	25,945	52.2	−20.5
	Liberal	Arthur Mortimer	15,890	31.9	N/A
	Labour	Maurice Spencer	7,900	15.9	−11.4
Majority			10,055	20.3	−25.1
Turnout			49,735	74.4	+5.3
Registered electors			66,812
	Unionist hold		Swing	−26.2

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Bournemouth[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Henry Page Croft	39,859	80.03
	Labour	JH Collingbourne	9,943	19.97	n/a
Majority			29,916	60.07
Turnout				70.28
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1935: Bournemouth[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Henry Page Croft	32,645	71.08
	Labour	Maurice Solomon Davidson	13,279	28.92
Majority			19,366	42.17
Turnout				62.62
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1940s

1940 Bournemouth by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Leonard Lyle	Unopposed
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1945: Bournemouth[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Leonard Lyle	34,544	55.45
	Liberal	Basil Wigoder	14,232	22.85
	Labour	Robert Spence Watson Pollard	13,522	21.71
Majority			20,312	32.60
Turnout				71.32
	Conservative hold		Swing

1945 Bournemouth by-election[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Brendan Bracken	22,980	46.85	-8.60
	Labour	Edward Shackleton	16,526	33.69	+11.98
	Liberal	Basil Wigoder	9,548	19.46	-3.39
Majority			6,454	13.16	-19.44
Turnout			49,054	56.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

See also

• List of former United Kingdom Parliamentary constituencies

References

1. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
2. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
3. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
4. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
5. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
6. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
7. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
8. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
9. https://web.archive.org/web/20120206224812/http://by-elections.co.uk/45.html

• Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press, revised edition 1977)
• Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume III 1919-1945, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (Harvester Press 1979)
• Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume IV 1945-1979, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (Harvester Press 1981)
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 4)