Richmond (Surrey) (UK Parliament constituency)

Richmond Richmond (Surrey) Richmond-upon-Thames, Richmond
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
County	1918–1965 Surrey 1965–1983 Greater London
Major settlements	Richmond Barnes, London Mortlake (including East Sheen)
1918–1983
Seats	One
Created from	Kingston
Replaced by	Richmond and Barnes

Richmond (1918–1983) was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Richmond. The seat mirrored for its first 47 years a small northern projection of Surrey (between Middlesex and the County of London). For the final 18 years its area, in local government, fell into the new county of Greater London.

Each winning candidate was a Unionist or from the allied Conservative Party.

Formally and informally on a local basis Richmond constituency; national publications usually added a reference to Surrey to distinguish Richmond (Yorks) (UK Parliament constituency) (1585–present).

History

The constituency was created by the Representation of the People Act 1918 for the 1918 general election. The area had been roughly the northern part of Kingston (also in Surrey).

From April 1965 the constituency formed part of Greater London. It was the eastern half of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. The Second Periodical Review of the Parliamentary Boundary Commission for England in 1969 formally made "a slight modification in the names to conform with our policy of using the London borough name as a prefix", so that the constituency was formally known as 'Richmond upon Thames, Richmond'. Due to its prolix this was never used in the popular press. No boundary changes were made. ^[1]

The seat was abolished for the 1983 general election; replaced by Richmond and Barnes which took in a small part of former Middlesex, the local government electoral ward of East Twickenham.

Single-member seat

Not based on an ancient borough or key town, it reflected the schema of the third Great Reform three decades before its creation, continued by the Fourth Reform Act, Lloyd George's Representation of the People Act 1918 by returning one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the UK Parliament, elected by first past the post.

Boundaries

In 1918 the seat was created as a borough constituency of Surrey. It was in the north-west corner of the much-reduced county (in the 1880s) and adjoined the south bank of the River Thames. It comprised the Municipal Borough of Richmond which included Kew and Petersham, as well as the Urban Districts of Barnes and Ham.

In 1932 the Barnes Urban District was upgraded to a municipal borough. In the following year most of Ham was incorporated in the Municipal Borough of Richmond. These were local government reconfigurations.

In the redistribution of parliamentary seats which took effect in 1950, this seat was little changed. It was defined in the Representation of the People Act 1948 as comprising the Municipal Boroughs of Barnes and Richmond. There were some minor boundary changes to the two Municipal Boroughs, which affected the parliamentary seat from 1964 (per S.I. 1960–465).

Incorporated in Greater London from 1965, the redistribution of parliamentary seats which took effect in 1974 did not change the constituency boundaries. It did however recast the definition of the boundaries, which set the constituency as comprising the following wards of the London Borough: Barnes, East Sheen, Ham, Petersham, Kew, Mortlake, Palewell, Richmond Hill and Richmond Town. The constituency shared boundaries with the Richmond electoral division for election of councillors to the Greater London Council at elections in 1973, 1977 and 1981.

Members of Parliament

Event		Member [2]	Party
	1918	Clifford Blackburn Edgar	Unionist
	1922	Harry Becker	Independent Unionist
	1923		Unionist
	1924	Sir Newton Moore	Unionist
	1932 by-election	Sir William Ray	Conservative
	1937 by-election	George Harvie-Watt	Conservative
	1959	Anthony Royle	Conservative
	1983	constituency abolished: see Richmond & Barnes

Elections

Elections in the 1910s

General election 1918: Richmond, Surrey ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Unionist	Clifford Blackburn Edgar	8,364	47.4
	Independent	Norah Dacre Fox	3,615	20.4
	Liberal	R. James Morrison	3,491	19.7
	Independent	W. Walter Crotch [4]	2,220	12.5
Majority			4,749	27.0
Turnout			17,690	53.8
	Unionist win (new seat)
Cindicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

Corbett Ashby

General election 1922: Richmond (Surrey) ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ind. Unionist	Harry Becker*	12,075	50.6	New
	Unionist	Clifford Blackburn Edgar	6,032	25.3	-22.1
	Liberal	Margery Corbett Ashby	5,765	24.1	+4.4
Majority			6,043	25.3	N/A
Turnout			23,872	68.8	+15.0
	Ind. Unionist gain from Unionist		Swing

• supported by Anti-Waste League

General election 1923: Richmond (Surrey) ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Harry Becker	13,112	63.0	+37.7
	Liberal	Margery Corbett Ashby	7,702	37.0	+12.9
Majority			5,410	26.0	N/A
Turnout			20,814	59.4	-9.4
	Unionist gain from Ind. Unionist		Swing

Moore

General election 1924: Richmond, Surrey ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Newton Moore	19,948	76.8	+13.8
	Labour	Herbert Parker	6,034	23.2	New
Majority			13,914	53.6	+27.6
Turnout			25,982	72.8	+13.4
	Unionist hold		Swing

General election 1929: Richmond, Surrey ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Newton Moore	23,148	58.7	-18.1
	Labour	Philip Butler	9,520	24.1	+0.9
	Liberal	William Henry Williamson	6,802	17.2	New
Majority			13,628	34.6	-19.0
Turnout			39,470	70.6	-2.2
	Unionist hold		Swing	-9.5

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Richmond (Surrey) ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Newton Moore	35,333	84.5	+25.8
	Labour	John Lamb Thomson	6,460	15.5	-8.6
Majority			28,873	69.0	+34.4
Turnout			41,793	72.0	+1.4
	Unionist hold		Swing	+17.2

1932 Richmond-upon-Thames by-election ^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Ray	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Conservative hold

General election 1935: Richmond (Surrey) ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Ray	30,433	73.5	-11.0
	Labour	Lewis Gassman	10,953	26.5	+11.0
Majority			19,480	47.0	-22.0
Turnout			41,386	69.8	-2.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

1937 Richmond-upon-Thames by-election ^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Harvie-Watt	20,546	72.7	-0.8
	Labour	George Rogers	7,709	27.3	+0.8
Majority			12,837	45.4	-1.6
Turnout			28,255	47.3	-22.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	-0.8

Election in the 1940s

General election 1945: Richmond (Surrey) ^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Harvie-Watt	24,085	52.8	-20.7
	Labour	David Stark Murray	15,760	34.5	+8.0
	Liberal	George Andrew Douglas Gordon	5,029	11.0	New
	Common Wealth	Douglas George Horace Frank	753	1.7	New
Majority			8,325	18.3	-28.7
Turnout			45,627	76.4	+6.6
	Conservative hold		Swing	-14.3

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Richmond (Surrey) ^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Harvie-Watt	30,907	57.4	+4.6
	Labour	Karl Thorold Westwood	17,238	32.1	-2.4
	Liberal	David Ennals	5,634	10.5	-0.5
Majority			13,669	25.3	+7.0
Turnout			53,779	86.2	+9.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	+3.5

General election 1951: Richmond (Surrey) ^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Harvie-Watt	30,743	58.7	+1.3
	Labour	Freda White	16,707	31.9	-0.2
	Liberal	David Ennals	4,933	9.4	-1.1
Majority			14,036	26.8	+1.5
Turnout			52,383	82.8	-3.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.7

General election 1955: Richmond (Surrey) ^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Harvie-Watt	27,628	58.1	-0.6
	Labour	John Stuart Barr	14,673	30.8	-1.1
	Liberal	Eva Mabel Haynes	5,266	11.1	+1.7
Majority			12,955	27.3	+0.5
Turnout			47,567	77.5	-5.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.2

General election 1959: Richmond (Surrey) ^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anthony Royle	27,161	57.2	-0.9
	Labour	Charles H Archibald	12,975	27.3	-3.5
	Liberal	John Baker	7,359	15.5	+4.4
Majority			14,186	29.9	+2.6
Turnout			47,495	79.4	+1.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.3

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Richmond (Surrey) ^[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anthony Royle	22,203	50.4	-6.8
	Labour	Alan Brownjohn	14,053	31.9	+4.6
	Liberal	John Baker	7,800	17.7	+2.2
Majority			8,150	18.5	-11.4
Turnout			44,055	76.5	-2.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	-5.7

General election 1966: Richmond (Surrey) ^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anthony Royle	21,831	49.5	-0.9
	Labour	David George Boulton	15,608	35.4	+3.5
	Liberal	Peter Miles Trelawney Sheldon-Williams	6,661	15.1	-2.6
Majority			6,223	14.1	-4.4
Turnout			44,100	79.4	+2.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	-2.2

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Richmond upon Thames, Richmond ^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anthony Royle	20,979	51.3	+1.8
	Labour	Antony R. Palmer	12,981	31.7	-3.7
	Liberal	Stanley Rundle	6,934	17.0	+1.9
Majority			7,998	19.6	+5.5
Turnout			40,894	71.7	-7.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	+2.7

General election February 1974: Richmond upon Thames, Richmond ^[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anthony Royle	19,534	44.3	-7.0
	Liberal	Stanley Rundle	15,707	35.6	+18.6
	Labour	Antony R. Palmer	8,322	18.8	-12.9
	National Front	Eric Ashley Russell	570	1.3	New
Majority			3,827	8.7	-10.9
Turnout			44,133	82.6	+10.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	-12.8

General election October 1974: Richmond upon Thames, Richmond ^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anthony Royle	17,450	43.2	-1.1
	Liberal	Alan John Watson	13,235	32.7	-2.9
	Labour	Bob Marshall-Andrews	8,714	21.6	+2.8
	National Front	Eric Ashley Russell	1,000	2.5	+1.2
Majority			4,215	10.5	+1.8
Turnout			40,399	75.1	-7.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.9

General election 1979: Richmond upon Thames, Richmond ^[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anthony Royle	19,294	46.7	+3.5
	Liberal	Alan John Watson	16,764	40.5	+7.8
	Labour	Julian Filochowski	4,692	11.3	-10.3
	Independent	Jonathan King	315	0.8	New
	National Front	Patricia Murphy	244	0.6	-1.9
	Libertarian Party	*David Dean Wedgwood	34	0.1	New
Majority			2,530	6.2	-4.3
Turnout			41,343	81.4	+6.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	-2.0

• endorsed by the English National Party of Frank Hansford-Miller

See also

• List of parliamentary constituencies in London

References

1. "Boundary Commission for England", Second Periodical Report, Cmnd. 4084, p. 24.
2. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "R" (part 1)
3. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, ed. F. W. S. Craig, 3rd edition, Parliamentary Research Services, Chichester, 1983, p. 223; Debrett's House of Commons and Judicial Bench 1919, p/ .
4. ‘CROTCH, William Walter’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2016; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014 ; online edn, April 2014 accessed 19 Sept 2017
5. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, ed. F. W. S. Craig, 3rd edition, Parliamentary Research Services, Chichester, 1983, p. 223; Return of Election Expenses (HC 2 1924), p. 33.
6. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, ed. F. W. S. Craig, 3rd edition, Parliamentary Research Services, Chichester, 1983, p. 223; Return of Election Expenses (HC 151 1924), p. 33.
7. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, ed. F. W. S. Craig, 3rd edition, Parliamentary Research Services, Chichester, 1983, p. 223; Return of Election Expenses (HC 1 1926), p. 31.
8. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, ed. F. W. S. Craig, 3rd edition, Parliamentary Research Services, Chichester, 1983, p. 223; Return of Election Expenses (HC 114 1929–30), p. 33.
9. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, ed. F. W. S. Craig, 3rd edition, Parliamentary Research Services, Chichester, 1983, p. 223; Return of Election Expenses (HC 109 1931–32), p. 28.
10. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, ed. F. W. S. Craig, 3rd edition, Parliamentary Research Services, Chichester, 1983, p. 223.
11. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, ed. F. W. S. Craig, 3rd edition, Parliamentary Research Services, Chichester, 1983, p. 223; Return of Election Expenses (HC 150 1935–36), p. 29.
12. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, ed. F. W. S. Craig, 3rd edition, Parliamentary Research Services, Chichester, 1983, p. 223.
13. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, ed. F. W. S. Craig, 3rd edition, Parliamentary Research Services, Chichester, 1983, p. 223; Return of Election Expenses (HC 128 1945–46), p. 39.
14. British Parliamentary Election Results 1950–1973, ed. F. W. S. Craig, 2nd edition, Parliamentary Research Services, Chichester, 1983, p. 249; Return of Election Expenses (HC 146 1950), p. 37.
15. British Parliamentary Election Results 1950–1973, ed. F. W. S. Craig, 2nd edition, Parliamentary Research Services, Chichester, 1983, p. 249; Return of Election Expenses (HC 210 1951–52), p. 30.
16. British Parliamentary Election Results 1950–1973, ed. F. W. S. Craig, 2nd edition, Parliamentary Research Services, Chichester, 1983, p. 249; Return of Election Expenses (HC 141 1955–56), p. 30.
17. British Parliamentary Election Results 1950–1973, ed. F. W. S. Craig, 2nd edition, Parliamentary Research Services, Chichester, 1983, p. 249; Return of Election Expenses (HC 173 1959–60), p. 31.
18. British Parliamentary Election Results 1950–1973, ed. F. W. S. Craig, 2nd edition, Parliamentary Research Services, Chichester, 1983, p. 249; Return of Election Expenses (HC 220 1964–65), p. 33.
19. British Parliamentary Election Results 1950–1973, ed. F. W. S. Craig, 2nd edition, Parliamentary Research Services, Chichester, 1983, p. 249; Return of Election Expenses (HC 162 1966–67), p. 13.
20. British Parliamentary Election Results 1950–1973, ed. F. W. S. Craig, 2nd edition, Parliamentary Research Services, Chichester, 1983, p. 249; Return of Election Expenses (HC 305 1970–71), p. 14.
21. British Parliamentary Election Results 1974–1983, ed. F. W. S. Craig, Parliamentary Research Services, Chichester, 1984, p. 38; Return of Election Expenses (HC 69 1974–75), p. 16.
22. British Parliamentary Election Results 1974–1983, ed. F. W. S. Craig, Parliamentary Research Services, Chichester, 1984, p. 38; Return of Election Expenses (HC 478 1974–75), p. 15.
23. British Parliamentary Election Results 1974–1983, ed. F. W. S. Craig, Parliamentary Research Services, Chichester, 1984, p. 38; Return of Election Expenses (HC 374 1979–80), p. 19.

Sources

• 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 (The Macmillan Press 1977)