Finchley (UK Parliament constituency)

Finchley
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
County	1918–1965 Middlesex 1965–1997 Greater London
1950–1997
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Finchley & Golders Green, Chipping Barnet
1918–1950
Number of members	One
Type of constituency	County constituency
Created from	Hornsey

Finchley within the parliamentary county of Middlesex, boundaries used 1918–45

Finchley within the parliamentary county of Middlesex, boundaries used 1945–50

Finchley was a 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; its best-known MP was Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990. Although boundary changes meant that she never again attained her large majority of 1959, and was re-elected by a 10-point margin in 1974, she was nonetheless returned by comfortable (9,000) majorities at General Elections throughout her premiership.

The seat was abolished in 1997 and split between the Finchley and Golders Green and Chipping Barnet constituencies.

Boundaries

1918-1945: The Urban Districts of Finchley and Friern Barnet.

1945-1950: The Municipal Borough of Finchley, part of the Municipal Borough of Hornsey, and part of the Urban District of Friern Barnet.

1950-1974: The Municipal Borough of Finchley, and the Urban District of Friern Barnet.

1974-1997: The London Borough of Barnet wards of East Finchley, Finchley, Friern Barnet, St Paul's, and Woodhouse.

In 1918 the constituency was created as a county division of Middlesex, centred on the town of Finchley, which before 1918 had been located in the Hornsey constituency. In 1934 the Finchley district became a Municipal Borough.

In 1945 there was an interim redistribution of parliamentary constituencies to split those with more than 100,000 electors, prior to the general redistribution of 1950. Middlesex was significantly affected by the interim changes.

In 1950 the seat was re-classified as a borough constituency, with the boundaries reverting to those of 1918.

In 1965 the area of the constituency was joined to other districts to form the London Borough of Barnet in Greater London.

Members of Parliament

Event		Member	Party
	1918	John Newman	Unionist
	1923	Atholl Robertson	Liberal
	1924	Sir Edward Cadogan	Unionist
	1935	John Crowder	Conservative
	1959	Margaret Thatcher	Conservative
	1992	Hartley Booth	Conservative
	1997	constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1918: Finchley
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Maj. John Robert Pretyman-Newman	11,849	68.9	n/a
	Labour	John Leslie	3,140	18.2	n/a
	Liberal	Walter Edwin Martin	2,221	12.9	n/a
Majority			8,709	50.7	n/a
Turnout				59.7	n/a
	Unionist win (new seat)

• endorsed by the Coalition Government

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1922: Finchley
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	John Robert Pretyman-Newman	11,883	53.2
	Liberal	Thomas Atholl Robertson	10,440	46.8
Majority			1,443	6.4
Turnout				72.4
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1923: Finchley
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Atholl Robertson	13,159	54.7	+7.9
	Unionist	John Robert Pretyman-Newman	10,883	45.3	-7.9
Majority			2,276	9.4	15.8
Turnout				76.0	+3.6
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing	+7.9

General Election 1924: Finchley
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Hon. Edward Cecil George Cadogan	15,277	58.3
	Liberal	Thomas Atholl Robertson	10,942	41.7
Majority			4,335	16.5
Turnout			26,219	79.5
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing

General Election 1929: Finchley
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Hon. Edward Cecil George Cadogan	18,920	48.8	-9.5
	Liberal	Thomas Atholl Robertson	14,065	36.2	-5.5
	Labour	J. George Stone	5,824	15.0	n/a
Majority			4,855	12.6	-4.0
Turnout			38,809	77.2	-2.3
	Unionist hold		Swing	-2.0

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931: Finchley
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Hon. Edward Cecil George Cadogan	34,286	84.19
	Labour	J. George Stone	6,440	15.81
Majority			27,846	68.37
Turnout				74.26
	Conservative hold		Swing

• Liberal candidate Domini Crosfield withdrew following the formation of the National Government

General Election 1935: Finchley
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Frederick Ellenborough Crowder	26,960	63.57
	Liberal	Thomas Atholl Robertson	8,920	21.03	n/a
	Labour	Cyril G Lacey	6,533	15.40
Majority			18,040	42.53
Turnout				70.24
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1939/40:

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940, but it was postponed after the outbreak of World War II. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected;

• Conservative: John Crowder
• Liberal: Humphrey Razzall
• Labour: Cyril Lacey

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Finchley
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Frederick Ellenborough Crowder	24,256	48.48	-15.09
	Labour	Cyril G Lacey	18,611	37.20	+21.8
	Liberal	David Goldblatt	7,164	14.32	-6.71
Majority			5,645	11.28
Turnout				74.17
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: Finchley
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Frederick Ellenborough Crowder	32,262	52.85	+4.37
	Labour	Mrs D. Pickles	19,683	32.25	-4.95
	Liberal	Sir Andrew McFadyean	9,094	14.90	+0.58
Majority			12,579	20.61
Turnout				84.91
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1951: Finchley
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Frederick Ellenborough Crowder	33,308	54.89	+2.04
	Labour	Jack Ashley	20,520	33.82	+1.57
	Liberal	Walter John Done	6,853	11.29	-3.61
Majority			12,788	21.07
Turnout				83.99
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Finchley
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sir John Frederick Ellenborough Crowder	30,233	54.56	-0.33
	Labour	Terry R. Lancaster	17,408	31.41	-2.41
	Liberal	Manuela Sykes	7,775	14.03	+2.74
Majority			12,825	23.14
Turnout				78.32
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1959: Finchley
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Margaret Hilda Thatcher	29,697	53.61	-0.95
	Labour	Eric Petro Deakins	13,437	24.26	-7.15
	Liberal	Henry Ivan Spence	12,701	22.14	+9.11
Majority			16,260	29.35
Turnout			55,835	80.78
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1964: Finchley
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Margaret Hilda Thatcher	24,591	46.58	−7.03
	Liberal	John Wentworth Pardoe	15,789	29.91	+5.65
	Labour	Alfred Eric Tomlinson	12,408	23.51	+1.37
Majority			8,802	16.67	−12.68
Turnout			52,788	78.18	-2.60
	Conservative hold		Swing	-5.44

General Election 1966: Finchley
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Margaret Hilda Thatcher	23,968	46.5	−0.1
	Labour	Yvonne Sieve	14,504	28.1	+4.6
	Liberal	Frank Davis	13,070	25.4	−4.6
Majority			9,464		−4.7
Turnout			51,542	75.33	−2.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	−2.4

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: Finchley
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Margaret Hilda Thatcher	25,480	53.8	+7.3
	Labour	Michael I. Freeman	14,295	30.2	+2.0
	Liberal	Graham Mitchell	7,614	16.1	−9.3
Majority			11,185	23.6
Turnout			47,389	65.6	−9.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	+2.6

General Election February 1974: Finchley
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rt Hon. Margaret Hilda Thatcher	18,180	43.7
	Labour	Martin John O'Connor	12,202	29.3
	Liberal	Laurence Steven Brass	11,221	27.0
Majority			5,978	14.4
Turnout			41,603	78.0
	Conservative hold		Swing	-3.1

General Election October 1974: Finchley
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rt Hon. Margaret Hilda Thatcher	16,498	44.0	+0.3
	Labour	Martin John O'Connor	12,587	33.6	+4.3
	Liberal	Laurence Steven Brass	7,384	19.7	−7.3
	National Front	Janet Godfrey	993	2.7	N/A
Majority			3,911	10.4	−4.0
Turnout			37,462	69.5	−8.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	−2.0

General Election 1979: Finchley
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rt Hon. Margaret Hilda Thatcher	20,918	52.5	+8.5
	Labour	Richard George May	13,040	32.7	−0.9
	Liberal	Anthony John Paterson	5,254	13.2	−6.5
	National Front	William Stokes Verity	534	1.3	−1.4
	Independent Democrat	Elizabeth Lloyd	86	0.2	N/A
Majority			7,878	19.8	+9.4
Turnout			39,832	72.5	+3
	Conservative hold		Swing	+4.7

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1983: Finchley
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rt Hon. Margaret Hilda Thatcher	19,616	51.1	−1.4
	Labour	Lawrence Gregory Spigel	10,302	26.8	−5.9
	Liberal	Margaret Jane Joachim	7,763	20.2	+7.0
	Ecology	Simone Joan Wilkinson	279	0.7	N/A
	Monster Raving Loony	Screaming Lord Sutch	235	0.6	N/A
	Ban Every Licensing Law Society	Antony Joseph Noonan	75	0.2	N/A
	Rail Not Motorway	Mary Helen Anscomb	42	0.1	N/A
	Law and Order in Gotham City	Antony Peter Whitehead	37	0.1	N/A
	Anti-Censorship	David Alec Webb	28	0.1	N/A
	Party of Associates with Licensees	Brian Clifford Wareham	27	0.1	N/A
	Belgrano Blood-Hunger	Benjamin Cunningham Wedmore	13	0.0	N/A
Majority			9,314	24.2	+4.4
Turnout			38,417	69.0	−2.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	+2.2

General Election 1987: Finchley
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rt Hon. Margaret Hilda Thatcher	21,603	53.9	+2.8
	Labour	John Roderick Mervyn Davies	12,690	31.7	+4.9
	Liberal	David Howarth	5,580	13.9	−7.3
	Gremloid Party	Lord Buckethead	131	0.3	N/A
	Gold Party	Michaelle Jane St Vincent	59	0.2	N/A
Majority			8,913	22.2	−2.0
Turnout			40,063	69.4	+0.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	−1.0

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1992: Finchley [1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Vernon Edward Hartley Booth	21,039	51.2	−2.7
	Labour	Miss Ann C. Marjoram	14,651	35.7	+4.0
	Liberal Democrat	Miss Hilary F. Leighter	4,568	11.1	−2.8
	Green	Ashley Gunstock	564	1.4	+1.4
	Monster Raving Loony	Miss Sally A. Johnson	130	0.3	+0.3
	Natural Law	James D. Macrae	129	0.3	+0.3
Majority			6,388	15.5	−6.7
Turnout			41,081	77.6	+8.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	−3.3

Notes and references

1. "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 6 Dec 2010.

Sources

• Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885–1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)