Melton (UK Parliament constituency)

Melton
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
County	Leicestershire
Major settlements	Melton Mowbray
1885–1983
Seats	One
Created from	North Leicestershire
Replaced by	Rutland & Melton, Loughborough and Bosworth [1]

Melton was a county constituency centred on the town of Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

The constituency was created for the 1885 general election, when the former two-seat Northern Division of Leicestershire was replaced by two new single-seat county divisions: Melton and Loughborough. It was abolished for the 1983 general election, when it was succeeded by the Rutland and Melton constituency.

Boundaries

1885–1918: The Sessional Divisions of Belvoir and Melton Mowbray, and parts of the Sessional Divisions of Leicester and Loughborough.

1918–1950: The Urban Districts of Melton Mowbray, Quorndon, and Thurmaston, and the Rural Districts of Barrow-upon-Soar, Belvoir, Billesdon, and Melton Mowbray.

1950–1974: The Urban District of Melton Mowbray, and the Rural Districts of Barrow-upon-Soar, Billesdon, and Melton and Belvoir.

1974–1983: The Urban District of Melton Mowbray, and the Rural Districts of Barrow-upon-Soar, and Melton and Belvoir.

As its name suggested, the main settlement in the constituency was Melton Mowbray.

Members of Parliament

Year		Member	Party
	1885	Lord John Manners	Conservative
	1888	Marquess of Granby	Conservative
	1895	Lord Edward Manners	Conservative
	1900	Lord Cecil Manners	Conservative
	1906	Henry Walker	Liberal
	1910	Sir Charles Yate	Conservative
	1924	Sir Lindsay Everard	Unionist
	1945	Sir Anthony Nutting	Conservative
	1956	Mervyn Pike	Conservative
	1974	Michael Latham	Conservative
1983		constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

Lord John

General election 1885: Melton ^{[2] [3]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Manners	5,150	57.1
	Liberal	Daniel Rowlinson Ratcliff	3,868	42.9
Majority			1,282	14.2
Turnout			9,018	88.5
Registered electors			10,190
	Conservative win (new seat)

General election 1886: Melton ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Manners	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

Manners was appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, requiring a by-election.

By-election, 13 Aug 1886: Melton ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Manners	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

Manners succeeded to the peerage, becoming Duke of Rutland, causing a by-election.

Granby

By-election, 21 Mar 1888: Melton ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Henry Manners	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1890s

General election 1892: Melton ^{[2] [3]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Henry Manners	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

Lord Edward

General election 1895: Melton ^{[2] [4] [3]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edward Manners	5,636	56.8	N/A
	Liberal	Arthur Wakerley	4,283	43.2	New
Majority			1,353	13.6	N/A
Turnout			9,919	83.4	N/A
Registered electors			11,894
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: Melton ^{[2] [4] [3]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Cecil Manners	5,585	51.8	−5.0
	Liberal	Arthur Wakerley	5,193	48.2	+5.0
Majority			392	3.6	−10.0
Turnout			10,778	80.0	−3.4
Registered electors			11,894
	Conservative hold		Swing	−5.0

General election 1906: Melton ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Henry de Rosenbach Walker	7,800	56.4	+8.2
	Conservative	Arthur Hazlerigg	6,033	43.6	−8.2
Majority			1,767	12.8	N/A
Turnout			13,833	87.5	+7.5
Registered electors			15,815
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+8.2

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: Melton ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Henry de Rosenbach Walker	7,748	50.4	−6.0
	Conservative	Charles Yate	7,625	49.6	+6.0
Majority			123	0.8	−12.0
Turnout			15,373	91.1	+3.6
	Liberal hold		Swing	−6.0

General election December 1910: Melton ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charles Yate	7,599	51.3	+1.7
	Liberal	Edward Dunne	7,227	48.7	−1.7
Majority			372	2.6	N/A
Turnout			14,826	87.9	−3.2
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+1.7

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;

• Unionist: Charles Yate
• Liberal: Arthur Richardson ^[5]

General election 1918: Melton ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Unionist	Charles Yate	Unopposed
	Unionist hold
Cindicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Melton ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Charles Yate	13,341	53.6	N/A
	Liberal	Arthur Richardson	11,550	46.4	New
Majority			1,791	7.2	N/A
Turnout			24,891	79.9	N/A
	Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1923: Melton ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Charles Yate	13,239	50.1	−3.5
	Liberal	Arthur Richardson	13,195	49.9	+3.5
Majority			44	0.2	−7.0
Turnout			26,434	80.9	+1.0
	Unionist hold		Swing	−3.5

General election 1924: Melton ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Lindsay Everard	17,090	58.9	+8.8
	Liberal	Arthur Richardson	11,934	41.1	−8.8
Majority			5,156	17.8	+17.6
Turnout			29,024	84.3	+3.4
	Unionist hold		Swing	+8.8

General election 1929: Melton ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Lindsay Everard	18,707	47.4	−11.5
	Liberal	Guy Halford Dixon	14,144	35.9	−5.2
	Labour	A. E. Stubbs	6,569	16.7	New
Majority			4,563	11.5	−6.3
Turnout			32,851	83.2	−1.1
	Unionist hold		Swing	−3.2

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Melton ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Lindsay Everard	30,355	78.9	+31.5
	Labour	A. E. Stubbs	8,100	21.1	+4.4
Majority			22,255	57.8	+46.3
Turnout			38,455	76.4	−6.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

• Liberal candidate Guy Halford Dixon withdrew at the start of the campaign

General election 1935: Melton ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Lindsay Everard	26,325	67.4	−11.5
	Labour	A. E. Stubbs	12,724	32.6	+11.5
Majority			13,601	34.9	−22.9
Turnout			39,029	71.9	−4.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	−11.5

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: Lindsay Everard
• Labour: Clare Hollingworth ^[7]
• Liberal: J. T. Pepper ^[8]

Elections in the 1940s

General election 1945: Melton ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anthony Nutting	23,772	46.0	−21.4
	Labour	Archibald Crawford	18,379	35.6	+3.0
	Liberal	Brian Melton Butcher	9,510	18.4	New
Majority			5,393	10.4	−24.5
Turnout			51,661	76.7	+4.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	−12.2

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Melton ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anthony Nutting	26,177	51.01
	Labour	Archibald Crawford	19,621	38.24
	Liberal	Wilfrid Horace Kirby	5,518	10.75	New
Majority			6,556	12.77
Turnout			51,316	87.46
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1951: Melton ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anthony Nutting	28,689	56.26
	Labour	Kenneth Frank Urwin	22,308	43.74
Majority			6,381	12.52
Turnout			50,997	85.46
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1955: Melton ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anthony Nutting	30,074	60.92
	Labour	Kenneth Frank Urwin	19,294	39.08
Majority			10,780	21.84
Turnout			49,368	80.95
	Conservative hold		Swing

1956 Melton by-election ^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mervyn Pike	19,133	53.29	−7.63
	Labour	Edward John Masters	16,771	46.71	+7.63
Majority			2,362	6.58	−15.26
Turnout			35,904
	Conservative hold		Swing	−7.63

General election 1959: Melton ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mervyn Pike	34,997	61.21
	Labour	Charles W Shepherd	22,176	38.79
Majority			12,821	22.42
Turnout			57,173	81.40
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Melton ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mervyn Pike	32,842	51.47
	Labour	D. J. Williams	19,578	30.68
	Liberal	Garth V. J. Pratt	11,392	17.85	New
Majority			13,264	20.79
Turnout			65,684	82.57
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1966: Melton ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mervyn Pike	30,776	48.04
	Labour	John R. Frears	23,181	36.18
	Liberal	Garth V. J. Pratt	10,108	15.78
Majority			7,595	11.86
Turnout			64,065	80.47
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Melton ^{[9] [12]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mervyn Pike	38,782	56.08
	Labour	Kevin Wood	20,907	30.23
	Liberal	John B. Pick	9,465	13.69
Majority			17,785	25.85
Turnout			69,154	75.94
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election February 1974: Melton ^{[1] [13]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael Latham	32,239	47.44	−8.64
	Liberal	John Barclay Pick	19,490	28.68	+14.99
	Labour	Royston William Samuel Mayhew	16,228	23.88	−6.35
Majority			12,749	18.76	−7.09
Turnout			67,957	83.49	+7.55
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election October 1974: Melton ^{[1] [14]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael Latham	30,943	48.92	+1.48
	Labour	David John Knaggs	16,747	26.47	+2.59
	Liberal	John Barclay Pick	15,567	24.61	−4.07
Majority			14,196	22.45	+3.69
Turnout			63,257	77.03	−6.46
	Conservative hold		Swing	−0.56

General election 1979: Melton ^{[1] [15]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael Latham	40,242	58.56	+9.64
	Labour	Mel Read	15,882	23.11	−3.36
	Liberal	David John Farrer	12,596	18.33	−6.28
Majority			24,360	35.45	+13.00
Turnout			68,720	78.70	+1.67
	Conservative hold		Swing	+6.50

References

1. "'Melton', Feb 1974 - May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Archived from the original on 3 April 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
2. The Liberal Year Book, 1907
3. British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, FWS Craig
4. Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1901
5. Grantham Journal, 18 Apr 1914
6. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
7. Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939
8. The Liberal Magazine, 1939
9. British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
10. "1956 By Elections". 10 October 2012. Archived from the original on 10 October 2012.
11. F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1973
12. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1970". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 16 June 2015. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
13. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results February 1974". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 27 January 2015. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
14. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results October 1974". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 8 May 2015. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
15. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1979". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 5 March 2012. Retrieved 23 March 2016.

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "M" (part 2)