Medway (UK Parliament constituency)

Medway
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Medway in Kent for the 2005 general election.
Location of Kent within England.
County	Kent
Major settlements	Rochester
1983–2010
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Rochester and Strood
Created from	Rochester & Chatham and Gravesend[1]
1885–1918
Number of members	One

Medway was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom between 1983 and 2010. A previous constituency of the same name existed from 1885 to 1918.

Boundaries

1885–1918

The Mid or Medway Division of Kent was created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885. It comprised a rural area consisting of the petty sessional divisions of Bearstead, Rochester and part of Malling PSD, but did not include the Medway Towns which were comprised in the parliamentary boroughs of Chatham and Rochester. It also surrounded, but did not include the town of Maidstone.^[2] The following parishes were included in the constituency:^[3]

Addington Allhallows Allington Aylesford Bearsted Bicknor Birling Boughton Malherbe Boughton Monchelsea Boxley Bredhurst Broomfield Burham Chalk Chatham (rural) Chart Sutton Cliffe Cobham Cooling Cuxton Denton Ditton East Barming East Farleigh East Malling East Sutton

Frindsbury (rural) Frinsted Gillingham (rural) Grange Halling Harrietsham Headcorn High Halstow Higham Hollingbourne Hoo Peninsula Hucking Ifield Ightham Isle of Grain Langley Leeds Lenham Leybourne Lidsing Linton Loose Luddesdown Meopham Mereworth Northfleet (rural)

Nursted Offham Otterden Ryarsh St Mary Hoo Shorne Snodland Stansted Stockbury Stoke Strood (rural) Sutton Valence Teston Thurnham Trottiscliffe Ulcombe Wateringbury West Barming West Farleigh West Malling West Peckham Wichling Wormshill Wouldham Wrotham

The Rochester constituency is an old one, going back to the 16th century, but it saw many changes in the 20th century. In 1918 it was split between Chatham, Gillingham and the "old", rural, Medway constituency. The Chatham seat became Rochester and Chatham in 1950, and then Medway in 1983.

1983–2010

The constituency was revived in 1983 by Parliament's acceptance of a Boundary Commission national review,^[4] and was defined as comprising thirteen wards of the then City of Rochester upon Medway: All Saints, Cuxton and Halling, Earl, Frindsbury, Frindsbury Extra, Hoo St. Werburgh, Rede Court, St. Margarets and Borstal, Temple Farm, Thames Side, Town, Troy Town and Warren Wood.^[4]

Boundaries were not changed at the next redistribution that followed the Fourth Review for the 1997 election.^[5]

Conveniently but somewhat confusingly 1998 Rochester upon Medway merged with the neighbouring Borough of Gillingham to form the larger unitary Borough of Medway.^[6] The Medway constituency covered only part of the unitary authority: some towns in the borough of Medway, such as Gillingham (Gillingham) or Chatham see (Chatham and Aylesford) had and retain their own constituency. Because of this, the name of the seat caused much confusion leading to its renaming in 2010.

Boundary review

Following the boundary review of parliamentary representation in Kent between 2000 and 2008, the Boundary Commission for England renamed the Medway seat to Rochester and Strood. This is because the Commission agreed that the term "Medway" is now primarily used for the larger unitary authority.^[7]

The constituency will consist of ten wards of the Borough of Medway: Cuxton and Halling, Peninsula, River, Rochester East, Rochester South and Horsted, Rochester West, Strood North, Strood Rural and Strood South.^[8]

Members of Parliament

MPs 1885–1918

Election		Member[9]	Party
	1885	John Stewart Gathorne-Hardy	Conservative
	1892	Charles Warde	Conservative

MPs 1983–2010

Election		Member[9]	Party
	1983	Dame Peggy Fenner	Conservative
	1997	Bob Marshall-Andrews	Labour
	2010	Constituency abolished: see Rochester and Strood

Elections

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1983: Medway[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Dame Peggy Fenner	22,507	48.9	N/A
	Labour	Robert Ernest Bean	13,851	30.1	N/A
	Social Democratic	Frederick Charles Winckless	9,658	20.1	N/A
Majority			8,656	18.8	N/A
Turnout			46,016	72.6	N/A
	Conservative win (new seat)

General Election 1987: Medway[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Dame Peggy Fenner	23,889	51.0	+2.2
	Labour	Vernon Alan Hull	13,960	29.8	−0.3
	Social Democratic	Mrs. Jennifer Horne-Roberts	8,450	18.1	−2.0
	Green	Ms. June Vivien Rosser	504	1.1	N/A
Majority			9,929	21.2	+2.4
Turnout			46,803	73.0	+0.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1992: Medway[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Dame Peggy Fenner	25,924	52.3	+1.3
	Labour	Bob Marshall-Andrews	17,138	34.6	+4.8
	Liberal Democrat	Cyril Leonard Trice	4,751	9.6	−8.5
	Liberal	Mark Austin	1,480	3.0	N/A
	Natural Law	Paul Alexander Kember	234	0.5	N/A
Majority			8,786	17.7	−3.5
Turnout			49,527	80.2	+7.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	−1.7

General Election 1997: Medway[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bob Marshall-Andrews	21,858	48.9	+14.3
	Conservative	Dame Peggy Fenner	16,504	36.9	−15.4
	Liberal Democrat	Roger Douglas Clayton Roberts	4,555	10.2	+0.6
	Referendum	Joseph Main	1,420	3.2	N/A
	UKIP	Mrs. Susan Patricia Radlett	405	0.9	N/A
Majority			5,354	12.0
Turnout			44,742	72.3
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+14.9

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2001: Medway[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bob Marshall-Andrews	18,914	49.0	+0.1
	Conservative	Mark Reckless	15,134	39.2	+2.3
	Liberal Democrat	Geoffrey William Juby	3,604	9.3	−0.8
	UKIP	Nikki Sinclaire	958	2.5	+1.6
Majority			3,780	9.8
Turnout			38,610	59.5	−12.8
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 2005: Medway[14]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bob Marshall-Andrews	17,333	42.2	−6.8
	Conservative	Mark Reckless	17,120	41.7	+2.5
	Liberal Democrat	Geoffrey William Juby	5,152	12.5	+3.2
	UKIP	Robert Nigel Oakley	1,488	3.6	+1.1
Majority			213	0.5
Turnout			41,093	61.1	1.6
	Labour hold		Swing	−4.6

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Kent

Notes and references

1. "'Medway', June 1983 up to May 1997". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
2. "Boundary Commissioners' Map of Divisions of Kent". London Ancrestor. 1885. Retrieved 12 April 2009.
3. Youngs, Frederic A, Jr. (1979). Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol.I: Southern England. London: Royal Historical Society. p. 739. ISBN 0-901050-67-9.
4. Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 1983 (S.I. 1983/417)
5. "The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 1995 (S.I. 1995/1626)". Office of Public Sector Information. 1995. Retrieved 12 April 2009.
6. "The Kent (Borough of Gillingham and City of Rochester upon Medway) (Structural Change) Order 1996". Office of Public Sector Information. 1996. Retrieved 12 January 2009.
7. Fifth Periodical Report, Volume I: Report, Cm 7032-i (PDF). London: The Stationery Office. 2007. p. 347. ISBN 978-0-10-170322-2. Retrieved 13 April 2009.
8. Fifth Periodical Report, Volume 2: Appendices, Cm 7032-ii (PDF). London: The Stationery Office. 2007. p. 92. ISBN 978-0-10-170322-2. Retrieved 13 April 2009.
9. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "M" (part 2)
10. "UK General Election results June 1983". Political Science Resources. University of Keele. Retrieved 13 April 2009.
11. "UK General Election results June 1987". Political Science Resources. University of Keele. Retrieved 13 April 2009.
12. "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
13. "Medway". Political Science Resources. University of Keele. 3 November 2008. Retrieved 13 April 2009.
14. "UK General Election results May 2005". Political Science Resources. University of Keele. 11 March 2008. Retrieved 13 April 2009.

Coordinates: 51°26′N 0°30′E / 51.433°N 0.500°E