Plymouth Drake (UK Parliament constituency)

Last updated

Plymouth Drake
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
PlymouthDrake1983Constituency.svg
Plymouth Drake in Devon, showing boundaries used from 1983 to 1997.
County Devon
1974 (1974)–1997
SeatsOne
Created from Plymouth Sutton and Plymouth Devonport
Replaced by Plymouth Sutton
1918–1950
SeatsOne
Created from Plymouth
Replaced by Plymouth Sutton and Plymouth Devonport

Plymouth Drake was a borough constituency in the city of Plymouth, in Devon. It elected one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom by the first past the post system of election.

Contents

History

The first Drake constituency was created for the 1918 general election, and abolished for the 1950 general election. For most of this time it was held by the Conservative Party. It was a Labour gain in the Attlee landslide of 1945, although it had been held by Labour once before, in the 1929–31 Parliament.

The second incarnation of the constituency was created for the February 1974 general election. For the whole of its 23-year existence it was represented by just one MP, Dame Janet Fookes of the Conservative Party. It was always a marginal seat during this period, but Dame Janet managed to survive many strong challenges at each general election she fought, including winning with a majority of just 34 in October 1974 – making Drake the most marginal Conservative seat at that election. She served as a Deputy Speaker of the House to Betty Boothroyd from 1992 until she retired from the Commons in 1997.

The constituency was abolished for the 1997 general election, with its wards being transferred to the redrawn constituency of Plymouth Sutton, which was gained by the Labour Party in the Blair landslide of that year. Most of the territory of Drake is now covered by the constituency of Plymouth Sutton and Devonport.

Boundaries

1918–1950: The County Borough of Plymouth wards of Drake, Mount Edgcumbe, Mutley, Pennycross, St Peter, Stoke, and Valletort.

1974–1983: The County Borough of Plymouth wards of Compton, Drake, Honicknowle, Pennycross, Tamerton, Trelawny, and Whitleigh.

1983–1997: The City of Plymouth wards of Compton, Drake, St Peter, Stoke, Sutton, and Trelawny.

In its 1918 and 1983 incarnations the constituency included Plymouth city centre, which was transferred in 1997 to Plymouth Sutton and in 2010 to Plymouth Sutton and Devonport.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1918–1950

ElectionMember [1] Party
1918 Arthur Benn Conservative
1929 James Moses Labour
1931 Frederick Guest Conservative
1937 by-election Henry Guest Conservative
1945 Hubert Medland Labour
1950 constituency abolished

MPs 1974–1997

ElectionMember [1] Party
Feb 1974 Janet Fookes Conservative
1997 constituency abolished: see Plymouth Sutton

Election results

Elections in the 1910s

Arthur Benn Arthur Shirley Benn.jpg
Arthur Benn
General election 1918: Plymouth Drake [2]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
C Unionist Arthur Benn 17,18873.4
Liberal Thomas Dobson 6,22526.6
Majority10,96346.8
Turnout 23,413
Unionist win (new seat)
Cindicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Plymouth Drake [2]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Unionist Arthur Benn 11,698 43.9 -29.5
Labour James Gorman 8,35931.4New
Liberal Samuel John Robins6,59424.7-1.9
Majority3,33912.5-34.3
Turnout 26,651
Unionist hold Swing
General election 1923: Plymouth Drake [2]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Unionist Arthur Benn 12,345 43.7 -0.2
Labour James Moses 11,84941.9+10.5
Liberal Edward Ernest Henry Atkin4,08214.4-10.3
Majority4961.8-10.7
Turnout 28,27677.9
Unionist hold Swing -5.3
General election 1924: Plymouth Drake [2]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Unionist Arthur Benn 14,669 48.1 +4.4
Labour James Moses 12,16139.9-2.0
Liberal Solomon Stephens3,64512.0-2.4
Majority2,5088.2+6.4
Turnout 30,475
Unionist hold Swing
General election 1929: Plymouth Drake [2]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour James Moses 16,684 44.3 +4.4
Unionist Arthur Benn 14,67339.0-9.1
Liberal Hugh MacDonald Pratt6,30916.7+4.7
Majority2,0115.3N/A
Turnout 37,66680.5
Labour gain from Unionist Swing

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Plymouth Drake [2]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Frederick Guest 25,063 66.4 +27.4
Labour James Moses 12,66933.6-10.7
Majority12,39432.8N/A
Turnout 37,73279.6-0.9
Conservative gain from Labour Swing
General election 1935: Plymouth Drake [2]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Frederick Guest 21,446 58.3 -8.1
Labour James Moses 15,36841.7+8.1
Majority6,07816.5-16.3
Turnout 36,81474.8-4.8
Conservative hold Swing
1937 Plymouth Drake by-election [2]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Henry Guest 15,778 58.82
Labour Geoffrey Garratt 11,04441.18
Majority4,73417.64
Turnout 26,822
Conservative 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 and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected;

General election 1945: Plymouth Drake [2]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Hubert Medland 15,070 50.9 +9.2
Conservative Henry Guest 12,87143.4-14.9
Common Wealth Edgar John Trout1,6815.7New
Majority2,1997.5N/A
Turnout 29,62271.6-3.2
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General election February 1974: Plymouth Drake
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Janet Fookes 18,417 42.82
Labour FK Taylor15,80636.75
Liberal ME Castle8,78420.42
Majority2,6116.07
Turnout 43,00778.04
Conservative win (new seat)
General election October 1974: Plymouth Drake
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Janet Fookes 17,287 41.26
Labour BW Fletcher17,25341.18
Liberal ME Castle7,35417.55
Majority340.08
Turnout 41,89475.41
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1979: Plymouth Drake
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Janet Fookes 21,759 50.60
Labour BW Fletcher17,51540.73
Liberal Anthony Puttick3,4528.03
National Front C Bradbury2790.65New
Majority4,2449.87
Turnout 43,00577.19
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1983: Plymouth Drake [4]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Janet Fookes 19,718 50.7
SDP Will Fitzgerald11,13328.6
Labour Sally Creswell7,92120.3
BNP C Bradbury1630.4New
Majority8,58522.1+12.2
Turnout 38,93574.3-2.9
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1987: Plymouth Drake [5]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Janet Fookes 16,195 41.3 -9.4
SDP David Astor13,07033.3+4.9
Labour David Jamieson 9,45124.1+3.8
Green Tracey Barber4931.3New
Majority3,1258.0-14.1
Turnout 39,20976.6+2.3
Conservative hold Swing -6.9

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1992: Plymouth Drake [6] [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Janet Fookes 17,075 43.7 +2.4
Labour Co-op Peter Telford15,06238.6+14.5
Liberal Democrats VA Cox5,89315.1−18.2
SDP DM Stanbury4761.2N/A
Green AE Harrison4411.1−0.2
Natural Law TJ Pringle950.2New
Majority2,0135.2−2.8
Turnout 39,04275.6−1.0
Conservative hold Swing

See also

Notes and references

  1. 1 2 Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "D" (part 3)
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
  3. ↑ Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939
  4. ↑ "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  5. ↑ "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  6. ↑ "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  7. ↑ "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2010.

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