Gravesend (UK Parliament constituency)

Gravesend
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1868–1983
Number of members	one
Replaced by	Gravesham and Medway[1]
Created from	West Kent

Gravesend was a county constituency centred on the town of Gravesend, Kent which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1868 until it was abolished for the 1983 general election.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1868	Sir Charles John Wingfield	Liberal
	1874	Bedford Clapperton Trevelyan Pim	Conservative
	1880	Thomas Bevan	Liberal
	1880 by-election	Sir Sydney Waterlow	Liberal
	1885	John Bazley White	Conservative
	1892	James Dampier Palmer	Conservative
	1898 by-election	John Ryder	Conservative
	1900	Sir Horatio Gilbert George Parker	Conservative
	1918	Sir Alexander Richardson	Conservative
	1923	George Alfred Isaacs	Labour
	1924	Sir Irving Albery	Conservative
	1945	Garry Allighan	Labour
	1947 by-election	Sir Richard Acland, Bt	Labour
	1955	Peter Kirk	Conservative
	1964	Albert Murray	Labour
	1970	Roger White	Conservative
	Feb 1974	John Ovenden	Labour
	1979	Tim Brinton	Conservative
1983		constituency abolished: see Gravesham

Election results

Elections in the 1910s

1918 general election: Gravesend Electorate 31,070
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Coalition Conservative	Sir Alexander Richardson	7,841	51.6
	Labour	James Butts	3,254	21.5
	Independent Conservative	Henry Edward Davies	1,817	12.0	N/A
	Liberal	Charles Edward Best	1,271	8.4
	National Party	Harry Hinkley	985	6.5	N/A
Majority			4,587	30.1
Turnout			15,168	48.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1920s

1922 general election: Gravesend
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Sir Alexander Richardson	8,166	40.6	−11.0
	Labour	George Alfred Isaacs	7,180	35.6	+14.1
	Independent Conservative	Henry Edward Davies	4,796	23.8	+15.4
Majority			986	5.0	−25.1
Turnout			20,142	63.0	+14.2
	Unionist hold		Swing	−12.6

1923 General Election: Gravesend
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Alfred Isaacs	9,776	43.4	+7.8
	Unionist	Sir Alexander Richardson	9,657	42.8	+2.2
	Liberal	Laurence Harry Duniam Jones	3,123	13.8	n/a
Majority			119	0.6	n/a
Turnout			22,556	68.8	+5.8
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+2.9

1924 general election: Gravesend
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Irving James Albery	15,410	58.4	+15.6
	Labour	George Alfred Isaacs	10,969	41.6	−1.8
Majority			4,441	16.8
Turnout			26,379	78.0	+9.2
	Unionist gain from Labour		Swing	+8.7

1929 general election: Gravesend
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Irving James Albery	14,644	46.1	−12.3
	Labour	William James Humphreys	12,871	40.6	−1.0
	Liberal	Frederick William Kershaw	4,220	13.3	N/A
Majority			1,773	5.5	−13.3
Turnout			31,735	71.8	−6.2
	Unionist hold		Swing	−5.7

Elections in the 1930s

1931 general election: Gravesend 46,124
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Irving James Albery	22,410	64.2	+18.1
	Labour	Ben Greene	12,488	35.8	−4.8
Majority			9,922	28.4	+22.9
Turnout			34,898	75.7	+3.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	+11.5

1935 general election: Gravesend Electorate 50,300
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Irving James Albery	20,438	56.1	−8.1
	Labour	Ben Greene	15,994	43.9	+8.1
Majority			4,444	12.2	−16.2
Turnout			36,432	72.4	−3.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	−8.1

Elections in the 1940s

1945 general election: Gravesend 55,160
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Garry Allighan	21,609	52.5	+8.6
	Conservative	Sir Irving James Albery	14,553	35.3	−20.8
	Liberal	Reginald E. Goodfellow	5,033	12.2	N/A
Majority			4,444	12.2	N/A
Turnout			41,195	74.5	+2.1
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	14.7

Gravesend by-election, 1947
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Sir Richard Acland	24,692	51.8	−0.7
	Conservative	Frank K. Taylor	23,017	48.2	+12.9
Majority			1,675	3.6	−13.6
Turnout			47,709
	Labour hold		Swing	−6.1

Elections in the 1950s

1950 general election: Gravesend Electorate 61,792
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Sir Richard Thomas Dyke Acland	28,297	53.07
	Conservative	John Gerrard Lowe	22,726	42.62
	Liberal	Mavis Doreen Ayliffe	2,298	4.31
Majority			5,571	10.45
Turnout				86.29
	Labour hold		Swing

1951 general election: Gravesend Electorate 63,393
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Sir Richard Thomas Dyke Acland	30,055	55.29
	Conservative	Charles P T Burke	24,300	44.71
Majority			5,755	10.59
Turnout				85.74
	Labour hold		Swing

1955 general election: Gravesend Electorate 59,099
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Michael Kirk	22,058	46.22
	Labour	C J Victor Mishcon	19,149	40.13
	Independent	Sir Richard Thomas Dyke Acland	6,514	13.65
Majority			2,909	6.10
Turnout			47,721	80.75
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

1959 general election: Gravesend Electorate 63,299
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Michael Kirk	27,124	52.08
	Labour	C J Victor Mishcon	24,962	47.92
Majority			2,162	4.15
Turnout			52,086	82.29
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

1964 general election: Gravesend Electorate 71,408
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Albert James Murray	26,074	45.41
	Conservative	Peter Michael Kirk	25,326	44.11
	Liberal	Jack Harris Barnett	6,015	10.48
Majority			748	1.30
Turnout			57,415	80.40
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

1966 general election: Gravesend Electorate 74,175
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Albert James Murray	30,276	49.75
	Conservative	Roger Lowrey White	25,484	41.88
	Liberal	Jack Harris Barnett	5,092	8.37
Majority			4,792	7.87
Turnout			60,852	82.04
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

1970 general election: Gravesend Electorate 84,111
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Roger Lowrey White	29,924	46.85
	Labour	Albert James Murray	28,711	44.95
	Liberal	Michael J Dunn	5,234	8.19
Majority			1,213	1.90
Turnout			63,869	75.93
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

February 1974 general election: Gravesend
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Ovenden	29,571	40.83
	Conservative	Roger White	27,989	38.65
	Liberal	DC Mumford	13,136	18.14
	National Front	JD Turner	1,726	2.38
Majority			1,582	2.18
Turnout				83.73
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

October 1974 general election: Gravesend
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Ovenden	29,569	43.09
	Conservative	Richard Francis Needham	27,264	39.73
	Liberal	L Cartier	10,244	14.93
	National Front	JD Turner	1,304	1.90
	More Prosperous Britain	T Keen	239	0.35
Majority			2,305	3.36
Turnout				78.63
	Labour hold		Swing

1979 general election: Gravesend
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Tim Brinton	37,592	51.95
	Labour	John Ovenden	28,246	39.04
	Liberal	IJA Goodwin	5,917	8.18
	National Front	GD Willden	603	0.83
Majority			9,346	12.92
Turnout				81.40
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

See also

• Gravesend by-election, 1947

References

1. "'Gravesend', Feb 1974 - May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 22 March 2016.

• Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "G" (part 2)