Tunbridge (UK Parliament constituency)

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

Tunbridge was a parliamentary constituency in Kent, centred on the town of Tonbridge. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

It was created for the 1885 general election, and abolished for the 1918 general election, when it was replaced by the new Tonbridge constituency.

Boundaries

The Sessional Divisions of Tunbridge and Tunbridge Wells, and part of the Sessional Division of Malling.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Robert Norton	Conservative
	1892	Arthur Griffith-Boscawen	Conservative
	1906	Alfred Paget Hedges	Liberal
	1910	Herbert Henry Spender-Clay	Conservative
1918		constituency abolished: see Tonbridge

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

Frederick Verney

General Election 1885: Tunbridge[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Norton	4,533	51.8	n/a
	Liberal	Frederick William Verney	4,210	48.2	n/a
Majority			323	3.6	n/a
Turnout				81.7	n/a
	Conservative win (new seat)

General Election 1886: Tunbridge[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Norton	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Conservative hold		Swing	n/a

Elections in the 1890s

Frederick Pavy

General Election 1892: Tunbridge[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Arthur Sackville Trevor Griffith-Boscawen	4,821	55.4	n/a
	Liberal	Frederick William Pavy	3,888	44.6	n/a
Majority			933	10.8	n/a
Turnout				69.7	n/a
	Conservative hold		Swing	n/a

General Election 1895: Tunbridge[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Arthur Sackville Trevor Griffith-Boscawen
	Liberal
Majority
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1900s

Griffith-Boscawen

General Election 1900: Tunbridge[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Arthur Sackville Trevor Griffith-Boscawen
	Liberal
Majority
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing

Alfred Hedges

General Election 1906: Tunbridge[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Alfred Paget Hedges	7,170	54.9
	Conservative	Arthur Sackville Trevor Griffith-Boscawen	5,887	45.1
Majority			1,283	9.8
Turnout				84.2
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing

Elections in the 1910s

General Election January 1910: Tunbridge[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Herbert Henry Spender-Clay	9,240	60.5	+15.4
	Liberal	Alfred Paget Hedges	6,030	39.5	-15.4
Majority			3,210	21.0	30.8
Turnout				89.2	+5.0
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+15.4

General Election December 1910: Tunbridge[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Herbert Henry Spender-Clay	8,286	57.4
	Liberal	Alfred Paget Hedges	6,159	42.6
Majority			2,127	14.8
Turnout				84.4
	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: Herbert Henry Spender-Clay
• Liberal:

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)

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "T" (part 2)