South Buckinghamshire (UK Parliament constituency)

South Buckinghamshire
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
County	Buckinghamshire
1950–1974
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Beaconsfield and Chesham & Amersham
Created from	Aylesbury and Eton & Slough

South Buckinghamshire was a parliamentary constituency in the county of Buckinghamshire, England. From 1950 to 1974, it returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first-past-the-post voting system.

History

The constituency was created in 1950 as part of the first general review of seats by a permanent Boundary Commission for England which had been established in 1944. Before 1950 the area had been split between the constituencies of Aylesbury and Eton & Slough.

The constituency existed until the February 1974 general election, when major boundary changes split the area between the new constituencies of Beaconsfield and Chesham & Amersham.

Boundaries

The Urban District of Beaconsfield, the Rural District of Eton (the civil parishes of Boveney, Burnham, Datchet, Denham, Dorney, Eton Wick, Farnham Royal, Fulmer, Gerrards Cross, Hedgerley, Hedgerley Dean, Hitcham, Horton, Iver, Langley Marish, Stoke Poges, Taplow, Upton-cum-Chalvey, Wexham, and Wraysbury), and in the Rural District of Amersham the civil parishes of Amersham, Chalfont St Giles, Chalfont St Peter, Chenies, Chesham Bois, Coleshill, Penn, and Seer Green.

South Buckinghamshire was a county constituency and a division of the administrative county of Buckinghamshire. It comprised part of southern Buckinghamshire, bordering Aylesbury to the north, Wycombe to the west and Eton and Slough to the south.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member [1]	Party
	1950	Ronald Bell	Conservative
	Feb 1974	constituency abolished

Elections

General Election 1950: South Buckinghamshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ronald McMillan Bell	26,865	58.6	N/A
	Labour	Cyril Alfred Dee	11,389	23.9	N/A
	Liberal	Bruce Henning Belfrage	7,559	16.5	N/A
Majority			15,476	33.7	N/A
Turnout			45,813	85.7	N/A
	Conservative win

General Election 1951: South Buckinghamshire[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ronald McMillan Bell	30,976	68.61
	Labour	Cyril Alfred Dee	14,170	31.39
Majority			16,806	37.23
Turnout				80.08
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1955: South Buckinghamshire[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ronald McMillan Bell	29,165	61.75
	Labour	William E. Robinson	11,184	23.68
	Liberal	Oswald Patrick O'Brien Brunner	6,885	14.58
Majority			17,981	38.07
Turnout				78.07
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1959: South Buckinghamshire[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ronald McMillan Bell	34,154	59.10
	Labour	Richard J Sankey	13,050	22.58
	Liberal	Ralph Kilner Brown	10,589	18.32
Majority			21,104	36.52
Turnout				79.75
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1964: South Buckinghamshire[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ronald McMillan Bell	33,905	52.75
	Liberal	Ralph Kilner Brown	16,151	25.13
	Labour	John Ryan	14,216	22.12
Majority			17,754	27.62
Turnout				78.89
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1966: South Buckinghamshire[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ronald McMillan Bell	33,997	51.24
	Labour	Frank Ernest Field	17,005	25.63
	Liberal	Harry T. Cowie	15,348	23.13
Majority			16,992	25.61
Turnout			66,350	80.20
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: South Buckinghamshire[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ronald McMillan Bell	40,039	58.7
	Labour	Keith Davison	16,465	24.1
	Liberal	Iain Meiklejohn Fowler	11,750	17.2
Majority			23,574	34.5
Turnout			68,254	72.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

1. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 6)
2. British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
3. British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
4. F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1973
5. F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1973
6. British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
7. British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig

Sources

• Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972, compiled and edited by F. W. S. Craig (Political Reference Publications, 1972)
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Research Services 1983).