East Norfolk (UK Parliament constituency)

East Norfolk was a constituency in the county of Norfolk that returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom until 1868. A namesake was created in 1885 with representation of one member. That seat was abolished in 1950.

East Norfolk
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
Context of 1832-1868. Extract from 1837 result: the north-eastern 'doubly' blue land.
County	Norfolk
1885–1950
Number of members	One
Replaced by	North Norfolk, South Norfolk, Central Norfolk and Great Yarmouth
Created from	North Norfolk and South Norfolk
1832–1868
Number of members	Two
Replaced by	North Norfolk and South Norfolk
Created from	Norfolk

History

The constituency was first created by the Great Reform Act for the 1832 general election, and abolished for the 1868 general election. In that period the Parliamentary County of Norfolk was split into two divisions – Eastern Norfolk and Western Norfolk, each returning two members.

Further to the Reform Act of 1867, Norfolk was reorganised into the North, South and West divisions, with each of the three divisions again returning two members. The Eastern division was replaced by the bulk of the North and South Divisions.

Under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, the three two-member county divisions were replaced with six single-member divisions. The second version of this constituency was one of the single-member seats. It was abolished under the Representation of the People Act 1948, which came into effect for the 1950 general election.

Boundaries and boundary changes

1832–1868: The Hundreds of Blofield, Clavering, Depwade, Diss, Earsham, North Erpingham, South Erpingham, Eynesford, East Flegg, West Flegg, Forehoe, Happing, Henstead, Humbleyard, Loddon, Taversham, Tunstead and Walsham.[1]

1885–1918: The Sessional Divisions of Blofield and Walsham, East and West Flegg, Taversham and Tunstead, and Happing, the part of the Borough of Great Yarmouth in the county of Norfolk, and part of the Sessional Division of South Erpingham.[2]

As Great Yarmouth formed a separate Parliamentary Borough, only non-resident freeholders of the Borough were entitled to vote in this constituency.

1918–1950: The Urban District of North Walsham, and the Rural Districts of Blofield, East and West Flegg, Loddon and Clavering, St Faith's, and Smallburgh.[3]

The division was expanded to the south, with the addition of eastern parts of the Southern Division of Norfolk (Loddon and Clavering Rural District). Also gained small area to the west from the Northern Division.

On its abolition, the contents of the seat were distributed as follows: North Walsham and the Rural District of Smallburgh to North Norfolk; area to the north and east of Norwich, mostly comprising the (former) Rural District of St Faiths, to the new County Constituency of Central Norfolk; most of the (combined) Rural District of Blofield and Flegg to the new County Constituency of Yarmouth; and the Rural District of Loddon and Clavering (renamed Loddon) back to South Norfolk.

Members of Parliament

1832–1868

Election	1st Member		1st Party	2nd Member		2nd Party
1832		William Windham	Whig[4][5]		Hon. George Keppel	Whig[6][7][8][4]
1835		Edmond Wodehouse	Conservative[4]		Horatio Walpole	Conservative[4]
1837					Henry Negus Burroughes	Conservative[4]
1855		Sir Henry Stracey, Bt	Conservative
1857		Charles Ash Windham	Whig[9]		Sir Edward Buxton, Bt	Whig[10][11][12]
1858					Hon. Wenman Coke	Whig[13][14][15]
1859		Edward Howes	Conservative			Liberal
1865					Clare Sewell Read	Conservative
1868	abolished

1885–1950

Year		Member	Party
1885		re-created but reduced to one member
	1885	Sir Edward Birkbeck	Conservative
	1892	Sir Robert Price	Liberal
	1918	Michael Falcon	Unionist
	1923	Hugh Seely	Liberal
	1924	Reginald Neville	Unionist
	1929	William Lygon	Liberal
	1931		Liberal National
	1939	Frank Medlicott	Liberal National
	1950	constituency abolished

Elections

Decades:

1830s 1840s 1850s 1860s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s

Elections in the 1830s

General election 1832: East Norfolk[16][4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	William Windham	3,304	26.7
	Whig	George Keppel	3,261	26.3
	Tory	Nathaniel William Peach	2,960	23.9
	Tory	William Cholmondeley	2,852	23.0
Majority			301	2.4
Turnout			6,229	88.5
Registered electors			7,041
	Whig win (new seat)
	Whig win (new seat)

General election 1835: East Norfolk[16][4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Edmond Wodehouse	3,482	27.6	+3.7
	Conservative	Horatio Walpole	3,196	25.3	+2.3
	Whig	William Windham	3,076	24.4	−2.3
	Whig	Richard Hanbury Gurney	2,866	22.7	−3.6
Majority			120	1.0	N/A
Turnout			6,385	87.7	−0.8
Registered electors			7,281
	Conservative gain from Whig		Swing	+3.3
	Conservative gain from Whig		Swing	+2.6

General election 1837: East Norfolk[16][4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Edmond Wodehouse	3,654	27.3	−0.3
	Conservative	Henry Negus Burroughes	3,523	26.3	+1.0
	Whig	William Windham	3,237	24.2	−0.2
	Whig	Richard Hanbury Gurney	2,978	22.2	−0.5
Majority			286	2.1	+1.1
Turnout			6,759	81.0	−6.7
Registered electors			8,343
	Conservative hold		Swing	±0.0
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.7

Elections in the 1840s

General election 1841: East Norfolk[16][4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Edmond Wodehouse	3,495	42.1	+14.8
	Conservative	Henry Negus Burroughes	3,434	41.3	+15.0
	Whig	William ffolkes	1,378	16.6	−29.8
Majority			2,056	24.8	+22.7
Turnout			c. 4,843	c. 56.6	c. −24.4
Registered electors			8,556
	Conservative hold		Swing	+14.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	+15.0

General election 1847: East Norfolk[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Edmond Wodehouse	Unopposed
	Conservative	Henry Negus Burroughes	Unopposed
Registered electors			8,638
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1850s

General election 1852: East Norfolk[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Edmond Wodehouse	Unopposed
	Conservative	Henry Negus Burroughes	Unopposed
Registered electors			8,216
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Wodehouse resigned via accepting the office of Steward of the Manor of Hempholme, causing a by-election.

By-election, 17 July 1855: East Norfolk[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Henry Stracey	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

General election 1857: East Norfolk[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Whig	Charles Ash Windham	Unopposed
	Whig	Edward Buxton	Unopposed
Registered electors			7,755
	Whig gain from Conservative
	Whig gain from Conservative

Buxton's death caused a by-election.

By-election, 1 July 1858: East Norfolk[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Whig	Wenman Coke	2,933	51.9	N/A
	Conservative	Henry Stracey	2,720	48.1	N/A
Majority			213	3.8	N/A
Turnout			5,653	72.9	N/A
Registered electors			7,755
	Whig hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1859: East Norfolk[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Wenman Coke	Unopposed
	Conservative	Edward Howes	Unopposed
Registered electors			7,776
	Liberal hold
	Conservative gain from Liberal

Elections in the 1860s

General election 1865: East Norfolk[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Edward Howes	3,100	30.3	N/A
	Conservative	Clare Sewell Read	2,985	29.2	N/A
	Liberal	Thomas Proctor-Beauchamp	2,150	21.0	N/A
	Liberal	Wenman Coke	1,994	19.5	N/A
Majority			835	8.2	N/A
Turnout			5,115 (est)	64.4 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			7,939
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1885: East Norfolk[17][18][19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Edward Birkbeck	4,682	51.3	N/A
	Liberal	Philip Falk	4,440	48.7	N/A
Majority			242	2.6	N/A
Turnout			9,122	81.7	N/A
Registered electors			11,161
	Conservative win (new seat)

General election 1886: East Norfolk[17][18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Edward Birkbeck	4,578	53.4	+2.1
	Liberal	Henry Lee-Warner	4,000	46.6	-2.1
Majority			578	6.8	+4.2
Turnout			8,578	76.9	-4.8
Registered electors			11,161
	Conservative hold		Swing	-2.1

Elections in the 1890s

Price

General election 1892: East Norfolk[17][18][20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Robert Price	4,743	52.4	+5.8
	Conservative	Edward Birkbeck	4,303	47.6	-5.8
Majority			440	4.8	N/A
Turnout			9,046	92.2	+15.3
Registered electors			9,812
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+5.8

Haggard

General election 1895: East Norfolk[17][18][21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Robert Price	4,606	51.1	-1.3
	Conservative	H. Rider Haggard	4,408	48.9	+1.3
Majority			198	2.2	-2.6
Turnout			9,014	83.2	-9.0
Registered electors			10,839
	Liberal hold		Swing	-1.3

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: East Norfolk[17][18][21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Robert Price	4,563	55.0	+3.9
	Conservative	William Louis St. John Prioleau	3,733	45.0	-3.9
Majority			830	10.0	+7.8
Turnout			8,296	76.9	-6.3
Registered electors			10,791
	Liberal hold		Swing	+3.9

General election 1906: East Norfolk[17][18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Robert Price	5,631	62.1	+7.1
	Conservative	Raymond Boileau	3,435	37.9	-7.1
Majority			2,196	24.2	+14.2
Turnout			9,066	80.7	+3.8
Registered electors			11,237
	Liberal hold		Swing	+7.1

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: East Norfolk[17][22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Robert Price	5,592	56.3	-5.8
	Conservative	Cecil Fitch	4,348	43.7	+5.8
Majority			1,244	12.6	-11.6
Turnout				86.0	+5.3
Registered electors			11,560
	Liberal hold		Swing	-5.8

General election December 1910: East Norfolk[17][22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Robert Price	5,265	57.7	+1.4
	Conservative	Frank Meyer	3,865	42.3	-1.4
Majority			1,400	15.4	+2.8
Turnout				79.0	-7.0
Registered electors			11,560
	Liberal hold		Swing	+1.4

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 July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

• Liberal: Robert Price
• Unionist:

General election 1918: Norfolk East[23][24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
C	Unionist	Michael Falcon	7,030	44.9	+2.6
	Liberal	Fred Henderson	6,691	42.8	−14.9
	National Farmers Union	W. B. Taylor	1,926	12.3	N/A
Majority			339	2.1	N/A
Turnout			15,647	49.6	−29.4
Registered electors			31,578
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+8.8
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Norfolk East[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Michael Falcon	9,270	41.0	−3.9
	Liberal	Hugh Seely	8,962	39.7	−3.1
	Labour	George Edward Hewitt	4,361	19.3	N/A
Majority			308	1.3	−0.8
Turnout			22,593	70.2	+20.6
Registered electors			32,204
	Unionist hold		Swing	−0.4

General election 1923: Norfolk East[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Hugh Seely	11,807	49.6	+9.9
	Unionist	Michael Falcon	8,472	35.6	−5.4
	Labour	George Edward Hewitt	3,530	14.8	−4.5
Majority			3,335	14.0	N/A
Turnout			23,809	72.5	+2.3
Registered electors			32,845
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing	+7.7

General election 1924: Norfolk East[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Reginald Neville	11,283	44.6	+9.0
	Liberal	Hugh Seely	9,114	36.0	−13.6
	Labour	Reginald Barrington Bates	4,907	19.4	+4.6
Majority			2,169	8.6	N/A
Turnout			25,304	75.6	+3.1
Registered electors			33,470
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+11.3

General election 1929: Norfolk East[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	William Lygon	13,349	39.6	+3.6
	Unionist	Reginald Neville	12,434	37.0	−7.6
	Labour	Bill Holmes	7,856	23.4	+4.0
Majority			915	2.6	N/A
Turnout			33,639	77.6	+2.0
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing	+5.6

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Norfolk East[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal National	William Lygon	25,945	79.8
	Labour	Bill Holmes	6,562	20.2
Majority			19,383	59.6
Turnout				71.7
	Liberal National hold		Swing

General election 1935: Norfolk East[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal National	William Lygon	23,108	68.8	-11.0
	Labour	Norman Reeve Tillett	10,461	31.2	+11.0
Majority			12,647	37.6	-22.0
Turnout				66.8	-4.9
	Liberal National hold		Swing	-11.0

1939 East Norfolk by-election[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal National	Frank Medlicott	18,257	62.9	−5.9
	Labour	Norman Reeve Tillett	10,785	37.1	+5.9
Majority			7,472	25.8	−11.8
Turnout			29,042	53.1	−13.7
	Liberal National hold		Swing	−5.9

General Election 1939/40

Until the parliament elected in 1935 was extended, another general election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties made preparations for an election to take place, and by the autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected;

• Liberal National: Frank Medlicott
• Labour: Norman Reeve Tillett[25]
• Independent Conservative: James F. Wright (Secretary, Norfolk Farmers Union)

Elections in the 1940s

General election 1945: Norfolk East[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal National	Frank Medlicott	23,307	55.8	−7.1
	Labour	Norman Reeve Tillett	18,467	44.2	+7.1
Majority			4,840	11.8	−14.2
Turnout			41,774	68.9	+15.8
	Liberal National hold		Swing	−7.1

References

1. "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 27 July 2017.
2. Great Britain, Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales. The public general acts. unknown library. Proprietors of the Law Journal Reports, 1884.
3. S., Craig, Fred W. (1972). Boundaries of parliamentary constituencies 1885–1972;. Chichester: Political Reference Publications. ISBN 0900178094. OCLC 539011.
4. Stooks Smith, Henry. (1973) [1844–1850]. Craig, F. W. S. (ed.). The Parliaments of England (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. pp. 221–222. ISBN 0-900178-13-2.
5. "Admiral Lukin". National Trust. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
6. Robbins, Alfred Farthing (1894). The Early Public Life of William Ewart Gladstone: Four Times Prime Minister. London: Methuen & Co. p. 179. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
7. Chichester, Henry Manners (1892). "Keppel, George Thomas" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. 31. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
8. Gash, Norman (2013). Politics in the Age of Peel: A Study in the Technique of Parliamentary Representation, 1830–1850. Faber & Faber. p. 250. ISBN 9780571302901. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
9. "Meetings of Liberal Electors St. Andrew's Hall". Norfolk News. 28 March 1857. p. 2. Retrieved 11 August 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
10. "Essex (South)". Bell's Weekly Messenger. 14 August 1847. p. 2. Retrieved 3 August 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
11. "Essex Standard". 13 August 1847. p. 3. Retrieved 3 August 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
12. Barrell, Helen (2016). Poison Panic: Arsenic Deaths in 1840s Essex. Barnsley: Pen and Sword Books. p. 76. ISBN 978-1-47385-207-5. Retrieved 3 August 2018 – via Google Books.
13. "Weston-super-Mare Gazette, and General Advertiser". 3 July 1858. pp. 2–3. Retrieved 11 August 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
14. "Notes of the Week". Westmorand Gazette. 3 July 1858. p. 4. Retrieved 11 August 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
15. "East Norfolk Election". Dorset County Chronicle. 1 July 1858. p. 11. Retrieved 11 August 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
16. Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885 (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.
17. British Parliamentary Election Results 1885–1918, FWS Craig
18. The Liberal Year Book, 1907
19. Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1886
20. Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1896
21. Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1901
22. Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1916
23. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, FWS Craig (1983). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
24. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench
25. Report of the Annual Conference 1939

• British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (The Macmillan Press 1977)