Horncastle (UK Parliament constituency)

Horncastle
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1885–1983
Number of members	one
Replaced by	East Lindsey & Gainsborough and Horncastle
Created from	Mid Lincolnshire

Horncastle was a county constituency in Lincolnshire which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. MPs were elected by the first past the post system of voting.

The constituency was created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, and first used for the 1885 general election. It was abolished for the 1983 general election.

Boundaries

1885-1918: The Sessional Division of Spilsby, and parts of the Sessional Divisions of Alford and Horncastle.

1918-1950: The Urban Districts of Alford, Horncastle, Skegness, and Woodhall Spa, and the Rural Districts of Horncastle, Sibsey, and Spilsby.

1950-1983: The Urban Districts of Alford, Horncastle, Mablethorpe and Sutton, Skegness, and Woodhall Spa, and the Rural Districts of Horncastle and Spilsby.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Edward Stanhope	Conservative
	1894 by-election	Lord Willoughby de Eresby	Conservative
	1911 by-election	Archibald Weigall	Conservative
	1920 by-election	Stafford Hotchkin	Coalition Conservative
	1922	Samuel Pattinson	Liberal
	1924	Henry Haslam	Conservative
	1945	Sir John Maitland	Conservative
	1966	Peter Tapsell	Conservative
	1983	constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1880s

E. Stanhope

General Election 1885: Horncastle[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rt Hon. Edward Stanhope	4,824	54.9	n/a
	Liberal	Thomas Threlfall	3,959	45.1	n/a
Majority			865	9.8	n/a
Turnout				88.4	n/a
	Conservative win (new seat)

General Election 1886: Horncastle[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rt Hon. Edward Stanhope	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Conservative hold		Swing	n/a

Horncastle by-election, 1886[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rt Hon. Edward Stanhope	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Conservative hold		Swing	n/a

Elections in the 1890s

General Election 1892: Horncastle[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rt Hon. Edward Stanhope	4,438	54.5	n/a
	Liberal	F Otter	3,700	45.5	n/a
Majority			738	9.0	n/a
Turnout				85.2	n/a
	Conservative hold		Swing	n/a

Lord Willoughby

Horncastle by-election, 1894[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Lord Willoughby de Eresby	4,582	55.0	+0.5
	Liberal			45.0	-0.5
Majority				10.0	+1.0
Turnout				87.4	+2.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.5

General Election 1895: Horncastle[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Lord Willoughby de Eresby
	Liberal
Majority
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1900: Horncastle[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Lord Willoughby de Eresby	4,302	59.2
	Liberal	T Wallis	2,962	40.8
Majority			1,340	18.4
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1906: Horncastle[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Lord Willoughby de Eresby	4,250	50.9	-8.3
	Liberal	A Adams	4,100	49.1	+8.3
Majority			150	1.8	-16.6
Turnout				86.6
	Conservative hold		Swing	-8.3

Elections in the 1910s

General Election January 1910: Horncastle[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Lord Willoughby de Eresby	5,162	54.5	+3.6
	Liberal	Charles Augustus Vansittart Conybeare		45.5	-3.6
Majority				9.0	+7.2
Turnout				90.0	+3.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	+3.6

General Election December 1910
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Lord Willoughby de Eresby	4,705	52.9	-1.6
	Liberal	Frederick Caesar Linfield	4,181	47.1	+1.6
Majority			524	5.8
Turnout				86.0	-4.0
	Conservative hold		Swing	-1.6

Horncastle by-election, 1911
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Ernest George Archibald Weigall	4,955	50.5	-2.4
	Liberal	Frederick Caesar Linfield	4,848	49.5	+2.4
Majority			107	1.0	-4.8
Turnout				90.7	+4.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	-2.4

William Weigall

General Election 1918
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Lt-Col. William Ernest George Archibald Weigall	8,826
	Liberal	Samuel Pattinson	7,433
Majority
Turnout
	Unionist hold		Swing

• endorsed by the Coalition Government.

Elections in the 1920s

Horncastle by-election, 1920[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Stafford Vere Hotchkin	8,140	44.5
	Liberal	Samuel Pattinson	6,727	36.7
	Labour	William Holmes	3,443	18.8	n/a
Majority			1,413	7.8
	Unionist hold		Swing

• endorsed by the Coalition Government

General Election 1922: Horncastle [11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Samuel Pattinson	10,797	54.1	+17.4
	Unionist	Lord Fermoy	9,158	45.9	+1.4
Majority			1,639	8.2	16.0
Turnout			19,955
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing	+8.0

General Election 1923: Horncastle [12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Samuel Pattinson	10,954	54.5	+0.4
	Unionist	Sir John Philip Du Cane	9,135	45.5	-0.4
Majority			1,819	9.0	+0.8
Turnout			20,089
	Liberal hold		Swing	+0.4

General Election 1924: Horncastle
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Henry Cobden Haslam	10,912	52.8	+7.3
	Liberal	Samuel Pattinson	9,743	47.2	-7.3
Majority			1,169	5.6	14.6
Turnout			20,655	81.7
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+7.3

General Election 1929: Horncastle
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Henry Cobden Haslam	12,837	48.1	-4.7
	Liberal	Frederick Caesar Linfield	10,168	38.1	-9.1
	Labour	J. R. Sanderson	3,683	13.8	n/a
Majority			2,669	10.0	+4.4
Turnout			26,688
	Unionist hold		Swing	+2.2

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931: Horncastle
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Henry Cobden Haslam	18,100	67.3	+19.2
	Liberal	George Hery John Dutton	8,788	32.7	-5.4
Majority			9,312	34.6	+24.6
Turnout				70.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	+12.3

General Election 1935: Horncastle
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Dr Henry Cobden Haslam	17,594	68.79
	Labour	Frank J Knowles	7,982	31.21	n/a
Majority			9,612	37.58
Turnout				69.40
	Conservative hold		Swing	n/a

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1939/40

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940. 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: Henry Haslam
• Labour: Frank J Knowles

General Election 1945: Horncastle
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Francis Whitaker Maitland	14,019	53.10
	Labour	Sq-Ldr. George Holderness	7,055	26.72
	Liberal	Maj. Frank Emerson	5,329	20.18	n/a
Majority			6,964	26.38
Turnout				70.45
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: Horncastle
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Francis Whitaker Maitland	22,329	65.67
	Labour	Francis H Clark	11,671	34.33
Majority			10,658	31.35
Turnout				78.73
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1951: Horncastle
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Francis Whitaker Maitland	22,043	66.42
	Labour	Francis H Clark	11,143	33.58
Majority			10,900	32.85
Turnout				76.67
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Horncastle
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Francis Whitaker Maitland	20,392	66.83
	Labour	Wilfrid Pashby	10,122	33.17
Majority			10,270	33.66
Turnout				71.01
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1959: Horncastle
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Francis Whitaker Maitland	19,799	66.60
	Labour	Hugh W Peck	9,928	33.40
Majority			9,871	33.21
Turnout				70.34
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1964: Horncastle
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Francis Whitaker Maitland	15,854	49.59
	Labour	Robin Brumby	8,069	25.24
	Liberal	T Frank Smith	8,044	25.16
Majority			7,785	24.35
Turnout				74.73
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1966: Horncastle
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Hannay Bailey Tapsell	15,090	46.64
	Labour	Robert NH Sackur	9,715	30.02
	Liberal	T Frank Smith	7,552	23.34
Majority			5,375	16.61
Turnout				81.10
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: Horncastle
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Hannay Bailey Tapsell	19,299	55.35
	Labour	Eric A Skinns	8,860	25.41
	Liberal	Roger S Miller	6,707	19.24
Majority			10,439	29.94
Turnout				74.20
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election February 1974: Horncastle
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Hannay Bailey Tapsell	19,344	49.53
	Liberal	Roger S Miller	12,555	32.15
	Labour	AJR Berry	6,791	17.39
	Independent Democratic Alliance	EP Iszatt	367	0.94
Majority			6,789	17.38
Turnout				79.33
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election October 1974: Horncastle
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Hannay Bailey Tapsell	16,750	47.71
	Liberal	MJC Starky	11,506	32.78
	Labour	K Bratton	6,849	19.51
Majority			5,244	14.94
Turnout				70.74
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1979: Horncastle
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Hannay Bailey Tapsell	21,362	55.12
	Liberal	MJC Starky	10,833	27.95
	Labour	DP Collins	6,240	16.10
	National Front	M Hook	319	0.82
Majority			10,529	27.17
Turnout				75.21
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

1. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
2. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
3. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
4. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
5. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
6. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
7. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
8. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
9. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
10. The Times, 10 March 1920 & Cook and Ramsden, op cit, p271
11. The Liberal Year Book, 1931
12. The Liberal Year Book, 1931

• Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "H" (part 4)