South East Essex (UK Parliament constituency)

South East Essex
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
1955–1983
Number of members	one
Replaced by	Castle Point and Rochford
1885–1950
Number of members	one
Replaced by	Billericay
Created from	South Essex

South East Essex (in its first incarnation formally the South Eastern division of Essex) was a parliamentary constituency in Essex in the East of England. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

The constituency was created for the 1885 general election, and abolished for the 1950 general election.

The constituency was re-established for the 1955 general election, and abolished again for the 1983 general election.

Boundaries

South East Essex, showing boundaries used from 1918-1945

South East Essex, showing boundaries used from 1945-1950

1918-1945: The Urban Districts of Grays Thurrock, Shoeburyness, and Tilbury, the Rural Districts of Orsett and Rochford, and part of the Rural District of Billericay.

1945-1950: The Urban Districts of Benfleet, Billericay, Canvey Island, and Rayleigh, and part of the County Borough of Southend-on-Sea.

1955-1974: The Urban Districts of Benfleet, Canvey Island, and Rayleigh, and the Rural District of Rochford.

1974-1983: The Urban Districts of Benfleet, Canvey Island, and Rayleigh.

South East Essex originally comprised a large area including modern day Thurrock district, Castle Point district, Rochford, Southend-on-Sea and the Winstree hundred. However, as the population of the area grew, so did its parliamentary representation.

In 1918, the redrawn constituency lost the Winstree hundred and Southend-on-Sea (except Shoeburyness), and gained Billericay.

In 1945, Shoeburyness was transferred to the redrawn Southend constituency, while Thurrock gained its own seat.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1885–1950

Election		Member	Party
1885		constituency created (South Essex divided)
	1885	William Makins	Conservative
	1886	Carne Rasch	Conservative
	1900	Edward Tufnell	Conservative
	1906	Rowland Whitehead	Liberal
	Jan. 1910	John Kirkwood	Conservative
	1912	Rupert Guinness	Unionist
	1918	Frank Hilder	Unionist
	1923	Philip Hoffman	Labour
	1924	Herbert William Looker	Unionist
	1929	John Oldfield	Labour
	1931	Victor Raikes	Conservative
	1945	Ray Gunter	Labour
1950		constituency abolished

MPs 1955–1983

Election		Member	Party
1955		constituency re-established
	1955	Bernard Braine	Conservative
1983		constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

William Wills

General Election 1885: South East Essex [1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Thomas Makins	3,707	51.4	n/a
	Liberal	William Henry Wills	3,500	48.6	n/a
Majority			207	2.8	n/a
Turnout				76.9	n/a
	Conservative win (new seat)

General Election 1886: South East Essex [2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Frederic Carne Rasch	3,758	56.3
	Liberal	William Henry Wills	2,916	43.7
Majority			842	12.6
Turnout				71.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1890s

General Election 1892: South East Essex [3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Frederic Carne Rasch	4,901	82.9
	Liberal	E W Brooks	4,359	47.1
Majority			542	5.8
Turnout				77.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1895: South East Essex [4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Frederic Carne Rasch	5,460	60.8
	Liberal	D. Milne Watson	3,520	39.2
Majority			1,940	21.6
Turnout				65.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1900: South East Essex [5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edward Tufnell	5,815	56.6
	Liberal	Rowland Edward Whitehead	4,461	43.4
Majority			1,354	13.2
Turnout				67.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1906 South East Essex[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Rowland Edward Whitehead	9,230	56.3	+12.9
	Conservative	John Robert Pretyman Newman	7,170	43.7	-12.9
Majority			2,060	12.6	25.8
Turnout				79.6	+11.9
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+12.9

Elections in the 1910s

General Election January 1910: South East Essex [7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Hendley Morrison Kirkwood	11,199	54.7
	Liberal	Rowland Edward Whitehead	9,288	45.3
Majority			1,911	9.4
Turnout				83.1
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing

General Election December 1910: South East Essex [8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Hendley Morrison Kirkwood	10,108	53.2
	Liberal	John Henry Burrows	8,891	46.8
Majority			1,217	6.4
Turnout				77.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

South East Essex by-election, 1912 [9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Rupert Edward Cecil Lee Guinness	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Unionist hold		Swing	n/a

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: Rupert Guinness
• Liberal:

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1923: Essex South East [10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Philip Christopher Hoffman	13,979	53.0
	Unionist	Frank Hilder	12,379	47.0
Majority			1,600	6.0
Turnout				58.1
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing

General Election 1929: Essex South East [11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Richard Anthony Oldfield	18,756	37.6
	Unionist	Herbert William Looker	18,130	36.3
	Liberal	George Thomas Veness	13,030	26.1	n/a
Majority			626	1.3
Turnout
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1955: Essex South East[12][13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Bernard Richard Braine	20,531	59.73	N/A
	Labour	Edward W Harby	13,841	40.27	N/A
Majority			6,690	19.46	N/A
Turnout			34,372	72.93	N/A
Registered electors			47,132
	Conservative win (new seat)

General Election 1959: Essex South East[14][15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Bernard Richard Braine	28,124	60.99	+1.26
	Labour	Reginald M Fryer	17,991	39.01	-1.26
Majority			10,133	21.97	+2.51
Turnout			46,115	76.46	+3.53
Registered electors			60,315
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.26

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1964: Essex South East[16][17]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Bernard Richard Braine	33,494	56.98	-4.01
	Labour	Anthony Pearson-Clarke	25,293	43.02	+4.01
Majority			8,201	13.95	-8.02
Turnout			58,787	75.02	-1.44
Registered electors			78,364
	Conservative hold		Swing	-4.01

General Election 1966: Essex South East[18][19]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Bernard Richard Braine	31,942	48.50	-8.48
	Labour	Derek W Edwards	26,208	39.80	-3.22
	Liberal	Joyce Arram	7,706	11.70	N/A
Majority			5,734	8.71	-5.24
Turnout			65,856	77.34	+2.32
Registered electors			85.151
	Conservative hold		Swing	-2.63

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: Essex South East[20][21]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Bernard Richard Braine	41,589	57.70	+9.20
	Labour	Derek W Edwards	23,684	32.86	-6.94
	Liberal	Christopher H Bohling	6,811	9.45	-2.25
Majority			17,905	24.84	+16.13
Turnout			72,084	71.86	-5.48
Registered electors			85,151
	Conservative hold		Swing	+8.07

General Election, February 1974: Essex South East[22][23]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Bernard Richard Braine	28,644	46.26	-11.44
	Labour	David Bryn Jones	19,379	31.30	-1.56
	Liberal	Frances Winifred Alexander	13,891	22.44	+12.99
Majority			9,265	14.96	-13.88
Turnout			61,914	82.09	+10.23
Registered electors			75,394
	Conservative hold		Swing	-4.94

General Election, October 1974: Essex South East[24][23]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Bernard Richard Braine	27,348	48.81	+2.54
	Labour	David Bryn Jones	18,638	33.26	+1.96
	Liberal	Anthony Frankland Crowley Morris	10,049	17.93	-4.50
Majority			8,710	15.54	+0.58
Turnout			56,035	73.74	-8.35
Registered electors			76,013
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.29

General Election 1979: Essex South East[25][23]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Bernard Richard Braine	40,497	63.96	+15.15
	Labour	Nigel John Murray Smith	15,965	25.21	-8.05
	Liberal	Francis Winifred Alexander	6,858	10.83	-7.10
Majority			24,532	38.74	+23.20
Turnout			63,320	76.89	+3.15
Registered electors			82,350
	Conservative hold		Swing	+11.60

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. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
11. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
12. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1955". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
14. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1959". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
16. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1964". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
18. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1966". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
20. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1970". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
22. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results February 1974". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
23. "'Essex South East', Feb 1974 - May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
24. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results October 1974". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
25. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1979". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 22 March 2016.