Central Norfolk (UK Parliament constituency)

Central Norfolk
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1950–February 1974
Number of members	one
Replaced by	North Norfolk, South Norfolk

Central Norfolk was a county constituency in the county of Norfolk. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

History

The constituency was created for the 1950 general election, and abolished for the February 1974 general election.

Boundaries

The Rural Districts of Forehoe and Henstead (the civil parishes of Barford, Barnham Broom, Bawburgh, Bixley, Bracon Ash, Bramerton, Caistor St Edmund, Colney, Costessey, Cringleford, Deopham, East Carleton, Easton, Flordon, Framingham Earl, Framingham Pigot, Great Melton, Hethersett, Hingham, Holverston, Keswick, Ketteringham, Kimberley, Kirby Bedon, Little Melton, Marlingford, Morley, Morley St Peter, Mulbarton, Newton Flotman, Poringland, Rockland St Mary, Runhall, Saxlingham Nethergate, Shotesham, Stoke Holy Cross, Surlingham, Swainsthorpe, Swardeston, Trowse with Newton, Wicklewood, Wramplingham, and Wreningham) and St Faiths and Aylsham (the civil parishes of Alderford, Attlebridge, Aylsham, Beeston St Andrew, Belaugh, Blickling, Booton, Brampton, Brandiston, Buxton with Lammas, Catton, Cawston, Coltishall, Crostwick, Drayton, Felthorpe, Foulsham, Frettenham, Great Witchingham, Guestwick, Hainford, Haveringland, Hellesdon, Hevingham, Heydon, Honingham, Horsford, Horsham St Faith and Newton St Faith, Horstead with Stanninghall, Little Witchingham, Marsham, Morton on the Hill, Oulton, Rackheath, Reepham, Ringland, Salhouse, Sall, Spixworth, Sprowston, Stratton Strawless, Swannington, Taverham, Themelthorpe, Tuttington, Weston Longville, Wood Dalling, and Wroxham), and in the Rural District of Blofield and Flegg the civil parishes of Great Plumstead, Little Plumstead, Postwick, and Thorpe-next-Norwich.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party	Notes
	1950	Frank Medlicott	National Liberal and Conservative
	1959	Richard Collard	Conservative and National Liberal	Died in office 1962
	1962 by-election	Ian Gilmour	Conservative
Feb 1974		constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: Norfolk Central [1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	Frank Medlicott	20,407	51.3	n/a
	Labour	G. W. Holderness	16,516	41.5	n/a
	Liberal	Philip Vincent Belloc Jebb	2,859	7.2	n/a
Majority			3,891	9.8	n/a
Turnout				84.3	n/a
	National Liberal win

General Election 1951: Norfolk Central [2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	Frank Medlicott	21,909
	Labour	John R Lambley	17,270
Majority			4,639
Turnout
	National Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Norfolk Central [3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	Sir Frank Medlicott	21,851
	Labour	Miss Elizabeth Littlejohn	16,288
Majority			5,563
Turnout
	National Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1959: Norfolk Central [4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Charles Marler Collard	21,918	50.4
	Labour	Frank H Stone	15,131	34.8
	Liberal	Geoffrey Maxwell Goode	6,465	14.8
Majority			6,787	15.6
Turnout			43,514
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

Central Norfolk by-election, 1962[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ian Hedworth John Little Gilmour	13,268	37.7	-12.7
	Labour	Geoffrey B L Bennett	13,048	37.0	+2.2
	Liberal	Geoffrey Maxwell Goode	7,915	22.5	+7.7
	Independent Liberal	Kenneth Coleman	909		n/a
	Independent	J Andrews	79		n/a
Majority			220	0.7	-14.9
Turnout			35,217	60.2	-19.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	-7.5

• anti-Common Market

General Election 1964: Norfolk Central [6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ian Hedworth John Little Gilmour	24,486	49.0
	Labour	Geoffrey B L Bennett	18 481	37.0
	Liberal	Geoffrey Maxwell Goode	6,961	14.0
Majority			6,005	12.0
Turnout			49,928
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1966: Norfolk Central [7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ian Hedworth John Little Gilmour	27,935	54.3
	Labour	Bryan Davies	23,529	45.7
Majority			4,406	8.6
Turnout			51,464	79.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: Norfolk Central [8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ian Hedworth John Little Gilmour	32,921	56.6
	Labour	Charles R Coyne	19,030	32.7
	Liberal	Royle Drew	6,172	10.6
Majority			13,891	23.9
Turnout			58,123
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

1. British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
2. The Times Guide to the House of Commons, 1951
3. The Times Guide to the House of Commons, 1955
4. The Times Guide to the House of Commons, 1959
5. 1962 By Election Results from the British Election Ephemera Archive, accessed via the Wayback machine, accessed on 26 July 2015
6. The Times Guide to the House of Commons, 1964
7. The Times Guide to the House of Commons, 1966
8. The Times Guide to the House of Commons, 1970

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "N" (part 2)