South Somerset (UK Parliament constituency)

South Somerset
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1885–1918
Number of members	one

South Somerset was a county constituency in the county of Somerset, which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system.

It was created under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 for the 1885 general election, and abolished for the 1918 general election.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Viscount Kilcoursie	Liberal
	1892	Edward Strachey[1]	Liberal
	1911 by-election	Aubrey Herbert[2]	Conservative
	1918	constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1885: South Somerset[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Frederick Edward Gould Lambart, Viscount Kilcoursie	4,534	58.1	n/a
	Conservative	John Kenelm Digby Wingfield Digby	3,268	41.9	n/a
Majority			1,266	16.2	n/a
Turnout				83.5	n/a
	Liberal win (new seat)

South Somerset by-election, 1886[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Frederick Edward Gould Lambart, Rt Hon. Viscount Kilcoursie	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

General Election 1886: South Somerset[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Frederick Edward Gould Lambart, Rt Hon. Viscount Kilcoursie	3,739	51.6
	Conservative	Henry Machu Imbert-Terry	3,512	48.4
Majority			227	3.2
Turnout				77.6
	Liberal hold		Swing

Elections in the 1890s

Edward Strachey

General Election 1892: South Somerset[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Edward Strachey	4,330	52.5	+0.9
	Conservative	Henry Machu Imbert-Terry	3,925	47.5	-0.9
Majority			405	5.0	+1.8
Turnout				85.2	+7.6
	Liberal hold		Swing	+0.9

General Election 1895: South Somerset[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Edward Strachey	4,167	52.1
	Conservative	Henry Gribble Turner	3,827	47.9
Majority			340	4.2
Turnout				82.5
	Liberal hold		Swing

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1900: South Somerset[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Edward Strachey	4,349	54.2	+2.1
	Conservative	William James Peake Mason	3,671	45.8	-2.1
Majority			678	8.4	+4.2
Turnout				84.8	+2.3
	Liberal hold		Swing	+2.1

General Election 1906: South Somerset[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Edward Strachey	5,164	61.4
	Liberal Unionist	B Portman	3,247	38.6
Majority			1,917	22.8
Turnout				86.0
	Liberal hold		Swing

Elections in the 1910s

General Election January 1910: South Somerset[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Edward Strachey	4,955	52.7	-8.7
	Conservative	Hon. Aubrey Nigel Henry Molyneux Herbert	4,444	47.3	+8.7
Majority			511	5.4	-17.4
Turnout				92.5	+6.5
	Liberal hold		Swing	-8.7

Aubrey Herbert

General Election December 1910: South Somerset[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Edward Strachey	4,784	52.6
	Conservative	Hon. Aubrey Nigel Henry Molyneux Herbert	4,317	47.4
Majority				5.2
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

Henry Vivian

South Somerset by-election, 1911
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Hon. Aubrey Nigel Henry Molyneux Herbert	4,878	50.8
	Liberal	Henry Harvey Vivian	4,730	49.2
Majority			148	1.6
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1914/15:

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

• Unionist: Hon. Aubrey Nigel Henry Molyneux Herbert
• Liberal: Henry Harvey Vivian

References

1. The London Gazette: no. 28547. p. 7952. 3 November 1911.
2. "British by-election: Unionist returned". Dominion. 24 November 1911. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
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. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
11. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)