Torquay (UK Parliament constituency)

Torquay
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1885–February 1974
Number of members	one
Replaced by	Torbay

Torquay was a county constituency in Devon, South West England, which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

It was created for the 1885 general election and abolished for the February 1974 general election. The area it represented became part of the Torbay constituency.

Boundaries

1885-1918: The Municipal Borough of Dartmouth, and the Sessional Division of Paignton.

1918-1950: The Municipal Boroughs of Dartmouth and Torquay, the Urban Districts of Brixham and Paignton, in the Rural District of Totnes the civil parishes of Churston Ferrers, Kingswear, Marldon, and Stoke Gabriel, and in the Rural District of Newton Abbot the civil parishes of Cockington and Stokeinteignhead.

1950-1974: The Municipal Borough of Torquay, the Urban Districts of Brixham and Paignton, and in the Rural District of Totnes the civil parishes of Churston Ferrers and Kingswear.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Lewis McIver	Liberal
	1886	Richard Mallock	Conservative
	1895	Arthur Philpotts	Conservative
	1900	Francis Layland-Barratt	Liberal
	Dec 1910	Charles Burn	Liberal Unionist
	1912		Conservative Party
	1918		Coalition Conservative
	1922		Conservative
	1923	Piers Thompson	Liberal
	1924	Charles Williams	Conservative
	1955 by-election	Frederic Bennett	Conservative
	Feb 1974	constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1885: Torquay[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Lewis McIver	3,509		n/a
	Conservative	Richard Mallock	3,161		n/a
Majority			348		n/a
Turnout					n/a
	Liberal win (new seat)

General Election 1886: Torquay[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Mallock	3,135
	Liberal	Lewis McIver	3,055
Majority			80
Turnout
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing

Elections in the 1890s

General Election 1892: Torquay[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Mallock	4,157
	Liberal	Sir Arthur Divett Hayter	3,763
Majority			394
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1895: Torquay[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Arthur Stephens Philpotts	4,205
	Liberal	Francis Layland-Barratt	4,030
Majority			175
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1900: Torquay[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Francis Layland-Barratt	4,020
	Conservative	James Reginald Lea Rankin	3,891
Majority			129
Turnout
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing

Layland-Barratt

General Election 1906: Torquay[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Francis Layland-Barratt	4,856
	Conservative	Henry Yarde Buller Lopes	4,396
Majority			460
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

Elections in the 1910s

General Election January 1910: Torquay[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Francis Layland-Barratt	5,104
	Conservative	Henry Yarde Buller Lopes	5,093
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election December 1910[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Charles Rosdew Burn	5,101	50.6	+0.7
	Liberal	Sir Francis Layland-Barratt	4,971	49.4	-0.7
Turnout			10,072	89.6	-1.1
Majority			30	1.2	1.4
	Liberal Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+0.7

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: Charles Rosdew Burn
• Liberal: Sir Thomas Devereux Pile^[9]

General Election 1918
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Col. Charles Rosdew Burn	14,068	66.2
	Labour	Maj. Alfred Edward Yates Trestrail	4,029	18.9
	Liberal	Capt. Russell Cooke	3,173	14.9
Majority			10,039	47.3
Turnout				65.3
	Unionist hold		Swing

• endorsed by the Coalition Government

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1922
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Charles Rosdew Burn	14,676	52.2	-14.0
	Liberal	Piers Gilchrist Thompson	13,425	47.8	+32.9
Majority			1,251	4.4	-42.9
Turnout				78.5	+13.2
	Unionist hold		Swing	-23.5

General Election 1923
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Piers Gilchrist Thompson	15,294	50.6	+2.8
	Unionist	Charles Williams	14,922	49.4	-2.8
Majority			372	1.2	5.6
Turnout				80.0	+1.5
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing	+2.8

General Election 1924
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Charles Williams	18,119	55.2	+5.8
	Liberal	Piers Gilchrist Thompson	11,958	36.4	-14.2
	Labour	Arthur Moyle	2,752	8.4	n/a
Majority			6,161	18.8	20.0
Turnout				84.4	+4.4
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+10.0

General Election 1929: Torquay
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Charles Williams	21,690	49.7	-5.5
	Liberal	Richard Thomas Dyke Acland	16,337	37.5	+1.1
	Labour	Hubert Moses Medland	5,576	12.8	+3.8
Majority			5,353	12.2	-6.6
Turnout				81.7
	Unionist hold		Swing	-3.3

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931: Torquay
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charles Williams	34,690	82.5
	Labour	Hubert Moses Medland	7,351	17.5
Majority			27,339	65.03
Turnout				74.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1935: Torquay
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charles Williams	27,008	63.6
	Liberal	Harry Samways	9,073	21.4
	Labour	F Scardifield	6,387	15.0
Majority			17,935	42.2
Turnout				71.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

Election 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: Charles Williams
• Liberal: Hugo Keene
• Labour: W W Blaylock

General Election 1945: Torquay
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charles Williams	25,479	48.9
	Labour	George Cornes	13,590	26.1
	Liberal	Lt. Samuel Gorley Putt	13,003	25.0
Majority			11,889	22.8
Turnout				71.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: Torquay
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charles Williams	29,153	53.56
	Labour	Robert Briscoe	14,287	26.25
	Liberal	Henry Stuart Townend	10,987	20.19
Majority			14,866	27.31
Turnout				82.83
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1951: Torquay
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charles Williams	31,441	59.16
	Labour	Robert Briscoe	14,801	27.85
	Liberal	Deryck Robert Endsleigh Abel	6,904	12.99
Majority			16,640	31.31
Turnout				79.97
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Torquay
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rt Hon. Charles Williams	29,777	60.36
	Labour	Robert Briscoe	12,547	25.43
	Liberal	Peter Joseph Bessell	7,012	14.21
Majority			17,230	34.92
Turnout				75.49
	Conservative hold		Swing

Torquay by-election, 1955[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Frederic Mackarness Bennett	20,964	51.0	-8.6
	Labour	William Hamling	10,383	25.3	-0.1
	Liberal	Peter Joseph Bessell	9,775	23.8	+9.6
Majority			10,581	25.7	-9.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1959: Torquay
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Frederic Mackarness Bennett	29,527	56.79
	Labour	WV Cooper	11,784	22.66
	Liberal	Thomas Oslaf Kellock	10,685	20.55
Majority			17,743	34.12
Turnout				76.91
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1964: Torquay
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sir Frederic Mackarness Bennett	28,801	52.38
	Liberal	Hugo Laurence Joseph Brunner	13,652	24.83
	Labour	Mrs. Thelma W Thompson	12,530	22.79
Majority			15,149	27.55
Turnout				75.04
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1966: Torquay
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sir Frederic Mackarness Bennett	28,693	49.44
	Labour	Raymond S Dash	16,594	28.59
	Liberal	Hugo Laurence Joseph Brunner	12,750	21.97
Majority			12,099	20.85
Turnout				77.40
	Conservative hold		Swing

Election in the 1970s

General Election 1970: Torquay
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sir Frederic Mackarness Bennett	33,996	55.63
	Labour	Paul ST Bryers	15,948	26.10
	Liberal	Keith P Jenkins	11,163	18.27
Majority			18,048	29.54
Turnout				73.72
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

1. The Liberal Year Book, 1908
2. The Liberal Year Book, 1908
3. The Liberal Year Book, 1908
4. Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1901
5. Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1901
6. The Liberal Year Book, 1908
7. Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1916
8. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918
9. Western Times 11 May 1914
10. British Parliamentary Elections Results 1950-1973 by FWS Craig

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "T" (part 2)
• Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.