South Durham

South Durham
South Durham
Former county constituency ; for the House of Commons
	From 1832-1868 and this area was left intact until 1885. Extract from 1837 result: the longer 'doubly' orange area which has an east coast.
County	County Durham
1832–1885
Seats	Two
Created from	County Durham
Replaced by	Barnard Castle, Bishop Auckland and South East Durham

Last updated December 18, 2025

South Durham, formally the Southern Division of Durham and often referred to as Durham Southern, was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) by the bloc vote system of election.

History

The constituency was created by the Great Reform Act for the 1832 general election, when the former Durham constituency was split into the northern and southern divisions, each electing two members using the bloc vote system.^[1]

The seat was abolished by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 when the two divisions were replaced by eight single-member divisions. These were Barnard Castle, Bishop Auckland, Chester-le-Street, Houghton-le-Spring, Jarrow, Mid Durham, North West Durham and South East Durham.^[2] In addition there were seven County Durham borough constituencies.

Boundaries

1832–1885

The Wards of Darlington and Stockton, with a place of election at Darlington.^[1]

See map on Vision of Britain website.^[3]

From 1868, included non-resident 40 shilling freeholders in the parliamentary boroughs of Darlington, Stockton-on-Tees and The Hartlepools, which were created by the Reform Act 1867.

Members of Parliament

	First member	First party	Second member	Second party
1832	Joseph Pease	Whig ^[4]^[5]	John Bowes	Whig ^[4]
1841	Lord Harry Vane	Whig ^[6]^[7]^[8]^[4]	John Bowes	Whig ^[4]
1847			James Farrer	Conservative
1857			Henry Pease	Whig ^[7]^[8]
1859	James Farrer	Conservative	Henry Pease	Liberal
1865	Joseph Pease	Liberal	Charles Surtees	Conservative
1868			Frederick Beaumont	Liberal
1880			Hon. Frederick Lambton	Liberal
1885	Redistribution of Seats Act: constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1830s

General election 1832: South Durham^[9]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	Joseph Pease	2,273	35.9
	Whig	John Bowes	2,218	35.0
	Whig	Robert Duncombe Shafto	1,841	29.1
Majority			377	5.9
Turnout			3,994	92.1
Registered electors			4,336
	Whig win (new seat)
	Whig win (new seat)

General election 1835: South Durham^[9]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Whig	Joseph Pease	Unopposed
	Whig	John Bowes	Unopposed
Registered electors			4,454
	Whig hold
	Whig hold

General election 1837: South Durham^[9]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Whig	Joseph Pease	Unopposed
	Whig	John Bowes	Unopposed
Registered electors			4,980
	Whig hold
	Whig hold

Elections in the 1840s

General election 1841: South Durham^[9]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Harry Vane	2,547	37.6	*N/A*
	Whig	John Bowes	2,483	36.7	*N/A*
	Conservative	James Farrer	1,739	25.7	New
Majority			744	11.0	N/A
Turnout			4,074	84.5	N/A
Registered electors			4,820
	Whig hold		Swing	N/A
	Whig hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1847: South Durham^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Whig	Harry Vane	Unopposed
	Conservative	James Farrer	Unopposed
Registered electors			5,783
	Whig hold
	Conservative gain from Whig

Elections in the 1850s

General election 1852: South Durham^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Whig	Harry Vane	Unopposed
	Conservative	James Farrer	Unopposed
Registered electors			5,616
	Whig hold
	Conservative hold

General election 1857: South Durham^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Henry Pease	2,570	35.7	*N/A*
	Whig	Harry Vane	2,542	35.3	*N/A*
	Conservative	James Farrer	2,091	29.0	N/A
Majority			451	6.3	N/A
Turnout			4,647 (est)	83.5 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			5,565
	Whig hold		Swing	N/A
	Whig gain from Conservative		Swing	N/A

General election 1859: South Durham^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	Henry Pease	Unopposed
	Conservative	James Farrer	Unopposed
Registered electors			6,681
	Liberal hold
	Conservative gain from Liberal

Elections in the 1860s

General election 1865: South Durham^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Joseph Pease	3,401	35.7	*N/A*
	Conservative	Charles Surtees	3,211	33.7	*N/A*
	Liberal	Frederick Beaumont	2,925	30.7	N/A
Turnout			6,374 (est)	87.8 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			7,263
Majority			190	2.0	N/A
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A
Majority			286	3.0	N/A
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1868: South Durham^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Joseph Pease	4,319	28.3	−7.4
	Liberal	Frederick Beaumont	4,024	26.4	−4.3
	Conservative	Charles Surtees	3,714	24.3	+7.4
	Conservative	Gustavus Hamilton-Russell ^[10]	3,206	21.0	+4.1
Majority			310	2.1	N/A
Turnout			7,632 (est)	81.6 (est)	−6.2
Registered electors			9,352
	Liberal hold		Swing	−5.8
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	−5.9

Elections in the 1870s

General election 1874: South Durham^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Joseph Pease	4,792	36.5	+8.2
	Liberal	Frederick Beaumont	4,461	33.9	+7.5
	Conservative	Charles Vane-Tempest	3,887	29.6	−15.7
Majority			574	4.3	+2.2
Turnout			8,514 (est)	83.8 (est)	+2.2
Registered electors			10,159
	Liberal hold		Swing	+8.0
	Liberal hold		Swing	+7.7

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1880: South Durham^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Joseph Pease	5,930	37.3	+0.8
	Liberal	Frederick Lambton	5,912	37.2	+3.3
	Conservative	Charles Surtees	4,044	25.5	−4.1
Majority			1,868	11.7	+7.4
Turnout			9,974 (est)	86.0 (est)	+2.2
Registered electors			11,592
	Liberal hold		Swing	+1.4
	Liberal hold		Swing	+2.7

References

1 2 "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. p. 304. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
↑ "Redistribution of Seats Act 1885". Proprietors of the Law Journal Reports. pp. 156–157.
↑ "HMSO Boundary Commission Report 1832 Durham County".
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Stooks Smith, Henry. (1973) [1844-1850]. Craig, F. W. S. (ed.). The Parliaments of England (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 98. ISBN 0-900178-13-2.
↑ Turnbull, Richard (2019). "Quarkers, Free Trade and Social Responsibility". In Burton, Nicholas; Turnbull, Richard (eds.). Quakers, Business and Corporate Responsibility: Lessons and Cases for Responsible Management. CSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland. p. 99. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-04034-5. ISBN 978-3-030-04033-8. LCCN 2018966594 . Retrieved 9 April 2019– via Google Books.
↑ "South Durham Election" . Newcastle Journal. 11 April 1857. p. 5. Retrieved 3 August 2018– via British Newspaper Archive.
1 2 "Evening Mail" . 24 April 1857. p. 5. Retrieved 3 August 2018– via British Newspaper Archive.
1 2 "(From the London Guardian)" . Staffordshire Advertiser. 11 April 1857. p. 6. Retrieved 3 August 2018– via British Newspaper Archive.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (e-book) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. p. 384. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.
↑ "South Durham Election" . Durham Chronicle. 20 November 1868. p. 5. Retrieved 10 February 2018– via British Newspaper Archive.

Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "D" (part 4)
Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)
British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press 1977)
The Parliaments of England by Henry Stooks Smith (1st edition published in three volumes 1844–50), second edition edited (in one volume) by F.W.S. Craig (Political Reference Publications 1973)
Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume I 1832-1885, edited by M. Stenton (The Harvester Press 1976)
Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume II 1886-1918, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (Harvester Press 1978)

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[:0-1] 1 2 "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. p. 304. Retrieved 27 July 2017.

[2] "Redistribution of Seats Act 1885". Proprietors of the Law Journal Reports. pp. 156–157.

[3] "HMSO Boundary Commission Report 1832 Durham County".

[stooks-smith-4] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Stooks Smith, Henry. (1973) [1844-1850]. Craig, F. W. S. (ed.). The Parliaments of England (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 98. ISBN 0-900178-13-2.

[5] Turnbull, Richard (2019). "Quarkers, Free Trade and Social Responsibility". In Burton, Nicholas; Turnbull, Richard (eds.). Quakers, Business and Corporate Responsibility: Lessons and Cases for Responsible Management. CSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland. p. 99. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-04034-5. ISBN 978-3-030-04033-8. LCCN 2018966594 . Retrieved 9 April 2019– via Google Books.

[6] "South Durham Election" . Newcastle Journal. 11 April 1857. p. 5. Retrieved 3 August 2018– via British Newspaper Archive.

[eveningmail1857-7] 1 2 "Evening Mail" . 24 April 1857. p. 5. Retrieved 3 August 2018– via British Newspaper Archive.

[staffs1857-8] 1 2 "(From the London Guardian)" . Staffordshire Advertiser. 11 April 1857. p. 6. Retrieved 3 August 2018– via British Newspaper Archive.

[craig1832-9] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (e-book) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. p. 384. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.

[10] "South Durham Election" . Durham Chronicle. 20 November 1868. p. 5. Retrieved 10 February 2018– via British Newspaper Archive.

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