Finchley (UK Parliament constituency)

Finchley
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
County 19181965 Middlesex
19651997 Greater London
19501997
Number of members One
Replaced by Finchley & Golders Green, Chipping Barnet
19181950
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

EventMemberParty
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 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)

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
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;

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

Parliament of the United Kingdom
New constituency UK Parliament constituency
19181997
Succeeded by
Finchley and Golders Green
UK Parliament constituency
19181997
Succeeded by
Chipping Barnet
Preceded by
Sidcup
Constituency represented by the Leader of the Opposition
1975–1979
Succeeded by
Cardiff South East
Preceded by
Cardiff South East
Constituency represented by the Prime Minister
1979–1990
Succeeded by
Huntingdon
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