Barnet (UK Parliament constituency)

Barnet
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1945–February 1974
Number of members	one
Replaced by	Chipping Barnet and South Hertfordshire
Created from	St Albans

Barnet was a parliamentary constituency in what is now the London Borough of Barnet, which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

History

The constituency was created for the 1945 general election and abolished for the February 1974 general election.

Boundaries

1945-1950: The Urban Districts of Barnet (the civil parishes of Arkley, Chipping Barnet, Hadley, Rowley, South Mimms Urban, and Totteridge) and East Barnet (the civil parishes of Barnet Vale, East Barnet, and Monken Hadley), and the Rural District of Elstree (the civil parishes of Elstree, Ridge, and Shenley).

1950-1955: The Urban Districts of Barnet and East Barnet, and the Rural Districts of Elstree and Hatfield (the civil parishes of Bishops Hatfield, Essendon, Northaw, and North Mimms).

1955-1974: The Urban Districts of Barnet and East Barnet, and the Rural District of Elstree.

The constituency was created in 1945 when the number of parliamentary constituencies in Hertfordshire was increased from five to six. Previously the area had been part of the St Albans seat. This was one of the English constituencies divided as an emergency measure, before the general review of parliamentary constituencies due later in the decade, because its electorate exceeded 100,000 voters.

In 1965 the Barnet and East Barnet urban districts were transferred to Greater London, becoming part of the London Borough of Barnet, while Elstree Rural District remained part of Hertfordshire. This did not affect parliamentary boundaries for nine years, however.

When seats were next redistributed, with effect from the February 1974 general election, the Greater London parts of the old constituency moved to the new seat of Chipping Barnet. The Elstree Rural District was transferred to South Hertfordshire.^[1]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1945	Stephen Taylor	Labour
	1950	Reginald Maudling	Conservative
Feb 1974		constituency abolished

Elections

Election in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Barnet
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Stephen James Lake Taylor	17,764	45.15	N/A
	Conservative	Brig. A.E.J. Clarke	17,082	43.42	N/A
	Liberal	Jean Mary Henderson	4,495	11.43	N/A
Majority			682	1.73
Turnout			39,341	73.76
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: Barnet
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Reginald Maudling	32,953	53.31	+9.9
	Labour	Stephen James Lake Taylor	22,419	36.27	-8.9
	Liberal	William Herbert Jones	6,441	10.42	-1.0
Majority			10,534	17.04
Turnout			61,813	87.45
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+9.4

General Election 1951: Barnet
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Reginald Maudling	35,527	56.97
	Labour	Cyril Rawlett Fenton	22,375	35.88
	Liberal	William Herbert Jones	4,463	7.22
Majority			13,152	21.09
Turnout			62,365	85.89
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Barnet
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Reginald Maudling	30,299	60.76
	Labour	Sydney Hyam	19,570	39.24
Majority			10,729	21.52
Turnout			49,869
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1959: Barnet
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Reginald Maudling	33,136	62.67
	Labour	Reginald M Prideaux	19,737	37.33
Majority			13,399	25.34
Turnout			52,873
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1964: Barnet
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rt Hon. Reginald Maudling	25,537	48.43
	Labour	David H. P. Levy	17,024	32.28
	Liberal	Hugh Russell Tinker	10,172	19.29
Majority			8,513	16.15
Turnout			52,733
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1966: Barnet
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rt Hon. Reginald Maudling	24,833	47.1
	Labour	Geoffrey Hickman	19,347	36.7
	Liberal	Hugh Russell Tinker	8,539	16.2
Majority			5,486	10.4
Turnout			52,719
	Conservative hold		Swing

Election in the 1970s

R. Maudling

General Election 1970: Barnet
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rt Hon. Reginald Maudling	26,845	52.29
	Labour	Mrs. Joan E. M. Baker	18,166	35.38
	Liberal	John D. O. Henchley	6,329	12.33
Majority			8,679	16.91
Turnout			51,340
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

• Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 1)

1. The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 1970 (S.I. 1970 No. 1674)