South East Durham

South East Durham
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
1885–1918
Seats	one
Created from	South Durham
Replaced by	Seaham, Sedgefield

South East Durham was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election between 1885 and 1918.

History

Creation

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

Boundaries

• The Sessional Divisions of Castle Eden (exclusive of any part of the parish of Shadforth), Darlington, Seaham Harbour (part), Stockton-on-Tees, and West Hartlepool; and
• the Municipal Boroughs of Darlington, Hartlepool, and Stockton-on-Tees. ^[1]

See map on Vision of Britain website. ^[2]

NB: 1) Boundary Commission proposed name was "North Tees".

2) Included only non-resident freeholders in the parliamentary boroughs of Darlington, Stockton-on-Tees and The Hartlepools.

Abolition

The seat was abolished for the 1918 general election, when its contents were distributed as follows:

• northern areas, now part of the Rural District of Easington to the new constituency of Seaham; and
• southern areas, now part of the Rural Districts of Darlington, Hartlepool, Sedgefield and Stockton (including Billingham) to the new constituency of Sedgefield.

Members of Parliament

Year		Member	Party
	1885	Henry Havelock-Allan	Liberal
	1886		Liberal Unionist
	1892	Joseph Richardson	Liberal
	1895	Henry Havelock-Allan	Liberal Unionist
	1898 by-election	Joseph Richardson	Liberal
	1900	Frederick Lambton	Liberal Unionist
	Jan. 1910	Evan Hayward	Liberal
1918		constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1885: South East Durham ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Henry Havelock-Allan	5,603	53.6
	Conservative	George Elliot	4,854	46.4
Majority			749	7.2
Turnout			10,457	79.4
Registered electors			13,176
	Liberal win (new seat)

General election 1886: South East Durham ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Henry Havelock-Allan	4,984	55.2	+8.8
	Liberal	Hugh Fenwick Boyd	4,045	44.8	−8.8
Majority			939	10.4	N/A
Turnout			9,029	68.5	−10.9
Registered electors			13,176
	Liberal Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+8.8

Elections in the 1890s

Richardson

General election 1892: South East Durham ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Joseph Richardson	5,560	50.7	+5.9
	Liberal Unionist	Henry Havelock-Allan	5,396	49.3	−5.9
Majority			164	1.4	N/A
Turnout			10,956	77.2	+8.7
Registered electors			14,199
	Liberal gain from Liberal Unionist		Swing	+5.9

Havelock-Allan

General election 1895: South East Durham ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Henry Havelock-Allan	5,978	50.5	+1.2
	Liberal	Joseph Richardson	5,864	49.5	−1.2
Majority			114	1.0	N/A
Turnout			11,842	80.5	+3.3
Registered electors			14,702
	Liberal Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+1.2

1898 South East Durham by-election ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Joseph Richardson	6,286	51.1	+1.6
	Liberal Unionist	Frederick Lambton	6,011	48.9	−1.6
Majority			275	2.2	N/A
Turnout			12,297	82.8	+2.3
Registered electors			14,853
	Liberal gain from Liberal Unionist		Swing	+1.6

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: South East Durham ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Frederick Lambton	6,198	52.9	+2.4
	Liberal	Joseph Richardson	5,524	47.1	−2.4
Majority			674	5.8	+4.8
Turnout			11,722	79.1	−1.4
Registered electors			14,819
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	+2.4

General election 1906: South East Durham ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Frederick Lambton	Unopposed
	Liberal Unionist hold

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: South East Durham ^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Evan Hayward	9,298	57.5	New
	Conservative	Frederick Lambton	6,860	42.5	N/A
Majority			2,438	15.0	N/A
Turnout			16,158	85.6	N/A
Registered electors			18,880
	Liberal gain from Liberal Unionist		Swing	N/A

General election December 1910: South East Durham ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Evan Hayward	8,203	53.9	−3.6
	Conservative	Rowland Burdon	7,021	46.1	+3.6
Majority			1,182	7.8	−7.2
Turnout			15,224	80.6	−5.0
Registered electors			18,880
	Liberal hold		Swing	−3.6

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: Evan Hayward
• Unionist: Rowland Burdon
• Labour:

See also

• History of parliamentary constituencies and boundaries in Durham

References

1. "Redistribution of Seats Act 1885". Proprietors of the Law Journal Reports. pp. 155–156.
2. "HMSO Boundary Commission Report 1885, Durham".
3. British Parliamentary Election Results, 1885-1918 FWS Craig
4. British Parliamentary Election Results, 1885-1918 FWS Craig
5. British Parliamentary Election Results, 1885-1918 FWS Craig
6. British Parliamentary Election Results, 1885-1918 FWS Craig
7. The Constitutional Year Book, 1904, published by Conservative Central Office, page 143 (167 in web page), Durham
8. British Parliamentary Election Results, 1885-1918 FWS Craig
9. British Parliamentary Election Results, 1885-1918 FWS Craig
10. British Parliamentary Election Results, 1885-1918 FWS Craig
11. British Parliamentary Election Results, 1885-1918 FWS Craig

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "D" (part 4)