St Augustine's (UK Parliament constituency)

St Augustine's
Former constituency for the House of Commons
1885–1918
Seats	one
Created from	East Kent
Replaced by	Canterbury, Dover, Hythe

St Augustine's was a parliamentary constituency in Kent. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

The constituency was created for the 1885 general election, and abolished for the 1918 general election.

Boundaries

The Sessional Divisions of Elham, Home and Wingham, the Municipal Boroughs of Canterbury, Deal, Dover, Folkestone and Hythe and the corporate town of Fordwich, Bekesbourne, Ringwold, Kingsdown and Walmer. ^[1]

History

In its 33-year existence this constituency only ever elected two Members of Parliament, both Conservatives; its first MP was the former Home Secretary, Aretas Akers-Douglas.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Aretas Akers-Douglas	Conservative
	1911	Ronald McNeill	Conservative
1918		constituency abolished

Election results

Decades:

1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1885: St Augustine's ^{[2] [3] [1]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Aretas Akers-Douglas	5,842	62.0
	Liberal	Alfred Simmons	3,582	38.0
Majority			2,260	24.0
Turnout			9,424	77.5
Registered electors			12,157
	Conservative win (new seat)

General election 1886: St Augustine's ^{[2] [3]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Aretas Akers-Douglas	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1890s

General election 1892: St Augustine's ^{[2] [3]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Aretas Akers-Douglas	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

General election 1895: St Augustine's ^{[2] [3] [4]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Aretas Akers-Douglas	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1900s

Akers-Douglas

General election 1900: St Augustine's ^{[2] [3] [4]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Aretas Akers-Douglas	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

General election 1906: St Augustine's ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Aretas Akers-Douglas	7,655	61.5	N/A
	Liberal	Charles Prescott	4,794	38.5	New
Majority			2,861	23.0	N/A
Turnout			12,449	78.6	N/A
Registered electors			15,841
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: St Augustine's ^{[2] [5]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Aretas Akers-Douglas	9,500	69.8	+8.3
	Liberal	Robert Turnbull Lang	4,114	30.2	−8.3
Majority			5,386	39.6	+16.6
Turnout			13,614	81.9	+3.3
Registered electors			16,614
	Conservative hold		Swing	+8.3

General election December 1910: St Augustine's ^{[2] [5]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Aretas Akers-Douglas	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

1911 St Augustine's by-election ^{[2] [5]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ronald McNeill	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

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: Ronald McNeill
• Liberal: Hubert Townsend

References

1. Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1886
2. British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, FWS Craig
3. The Liberal Year Book, 1907
4. Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1901
5. Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1916

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 1)