West Derbyshire (UK Parliament constituency)

West Derbyshire
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of West Derbyshire in Derbyshire for the 2005 general election.
Location of Derbyshire within England.
County	Derbyshire
Major settlements	Bakewell, Matlock, Wirksworth
1885–2010
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Derbyshire Dales
Created from	North Derbyshire

West Derbyshire was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. From 1885 until it was replaced by the Derbyshire Dales constituency in the 2010 General Election, it elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post voting system. It was a safe Conservative seat for most of its existence.

Boundaries

The only really safe Conservative seat in Derbyshire, consisting mostly of rural villages and tourist towns like Bakewell and Matlock; Labour's only strengths were in Wirksworth and Masson, not enough to end the long-standing Conservative representation of this seat.

Boundary review

Following their review of parliamentary representation in Derbyshire, the Boundary Commission for England created a new constituency of Derbyshire Dales based on the existing West Derbyshire constituency.

History

Historically associated with the Cavendish family, the seat and its predecessors were usually represented by one of the future Dukes of Devonshire or their relatives from 1580 until the Second World War. When the Cavendish family left the Liberals over Irish Home Rule the seat stayed loyal to them as they sat first as Liberal Unionists then as Conservatives. In 1918 the hold on the constituency was briefly broken by Charles Frederick White standing for the Liberals, but the seat was regained in 1923. In a by-election in 1944, White's son, also called Charles Frederick White resigned as the official Labour nominee in order to stand against the wartime party truce. He defeated the Conservative candidate, William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington, and subsequently took the Labour whip in the Commons, holding the seat in the 1945 general election for Labour. The Conservatives regained the seat in the 1950 general election and have held it ever since. The closest they have come to losing was in the 1986 by-election when they held it by only 100 votes in a period of heavy unpopularity for the government of Margaret Thatcher.

Members of Parliament

Election	Member^[1]	Party
1885	Lord Edward Cavendish	Liberal
1886	Lord Edward Cavendish	Liberal Unionist
1891 by-election	Victor Christian William Cavendish	Liberal Unionist
1908 by-election	Earl of Kerry	Liberal Unionist
1918	Charles Frederick White	Liberal
1923	Marquess of Hartington	Conservative
1938 by-election	Henry Philip Hunloke	Conservative
1944 by-election	Charles Frederick White (Jr)	Independent Labour
1945	Charles Frederick White (Jr)	Labour
1950	Edward Wakefield	Conservative
1962 by-election	Aidan Crawley	Conservative
1967 by-election	James Scott-Hopkins	Conservative
1979	Matthew Parris	Conservative
1986 by-election	Patrick McLoughlin	Conservative
2010	Constituency abolished: see Derbyshire Dales

Elections

Elections in the 1910s

Charles White

General Election 1918 Electorate 29,323
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Frederick White	10,752
	Unionist	Lt-Col. Earl of Kerry	8,592
Majority			2,160
Turnout
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing

endorsed by the Coalition Government.

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1922
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Frederick White	13,060	50.2	-5.4
	Unionist	Marquess of Hartington	12,973	49.8	+5.4
Majority			87	0.4	-10.8
Turnout			26,033	86.1
	Liberal hold		Swing	-5.4

General Election 1923: Derbyshire West ^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Marquess of Hartington	13,419	50.9	+1.1
	Liberal	William Christopher Mallison	12,966	49.1	-1.1
Majority			453	1.8	2.2
Turnout				84.9	-1.2
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+1.1

General Election 1924
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Marquess of Hartington	15,324	56.9
	Liberal	William Christopher Mallison	11,612	43.1
Majority			3,712	13.8
Turnout				84.8
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1929: Derbyshire West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Marquess of Hartington	16,760	49.7	-7.2
	Liberal	William Christopher Mallison	13,277	39.4	-3.7
	Labour	William Wilkinson	3,660	10.9	n/a
Majority			3,483	10.3	-3.5
Turnout				83.2	-1.6
	Unionist hold		Swing	-1.8

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931: West Derbyshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edward Cavendish	unopposed
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1935: West Derbyshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edward Cavendish	unopposed
	Conservative hold		Swing

West Derbyshire by-election, 1938
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Henry Philip Hunloke	16,740	48.6
	Labour	Charles Frederick White	11,216	32.5
	Liberal	Milner Gray	6,515	18.9
Majority			5,524	16.1
Turnout				79.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

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: Henry Hunloke
Labour: Charles White
Liberal: James Ivor Waddington^[3]

Elections in the 1940s

West Derbyshire by-election, 1944
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Labour	Charles Frederick White	16,336	57.7
	Conservative	Marquess of Hartington	11,775	41.5
	Agriculturalist	Robert Goodall	233	0.8
Majority			4,561	16.2
Turnout				65.4
	Independent Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election 1945: West Derbyshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Charles Frederick White	18,331	48.8
	Conservative	William Traven Aitken	18,175	48.4
	Agriculturalist	Robert Goodall	1,068	2.8
Majority			156	0.4
Turnout				81.7
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: West Derbyshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edward Birkbeck Wakefield	20,015	51.9
	Labour	N. Gratton	13,478	35.0
	Liberal	George Frederick Strange	5,070	13.2
Majority			6,537	17.0
Turnout				87.5
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General Election 1951: West Derbyshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edward Birkbeck Wakefield	22,223	58.8
	Labour	Ronald Lewis	15,578	41.2
Majority			6,645	17.6
Turnout				84.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1955: West Derbyshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edward Birkbeck Wakefield	21,052	59.6
	Labour	Robert B. Stirling	14,296	40.4
Majority			6,756	19.1
Turnout				80.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1959: West Derbyshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edward Birkbeck Wakefield	22,034	61.3
	Labour	Albert E. Kitts	13,925	38.7
Majority			8,109	22.6
Turnout				82.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

West Derbyshire by-election, 1962
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Aidan Merivale Crawley	12,455	36.0	-25.3
	Liberal	Ronald Laurence Gardner-Thorpe	11,235	32.5	+32.5
	Labour	John Dilks	9,431	27.2	-11.5
	Independent	Raymond Gregory	1,433	4.1	+4.1
Majority			1,220
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1964: West Derbyshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Aidan Merivale Crawley	16,825	44.2
	Liberal	Ronald Laurence Gardner-Thorpe	11,559	30.4
	Labour	John Dilks	9,669	25.4
Majority			5,266	13.8
Turnout				85.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1966: West Derbyshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Aidan Merivale Crawley	18,383	49.6
	Labour	Phillip Whitehead	13,791	37.2
	Liberal	Mrs. Peggy Edwards	4,874	13.2
Majority			4,592	12.4
Turnout				83.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

West Derbyshire by-election, 1967
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Sidney Rawdon Scott-Hopkins	16,319	56.7
	Liberal	Michael Aza Pinney	5,696	19.8
	Labour	Robin Corbett	5,284	18.3
	Independent	Robert Goodall	1,496	5.2
Majority			10,623	36.9
Turnout			28,795	64.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: West Derbyshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Sidney Rawdon Scott-Hopkins	22,692	61.9
	Labour	Frederick C Inglis	13,976	38.1
Majority			8,716	23.8
Turnout				76.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election February 1974: West Derbyshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Sidney Rawdon Scott-Hopkins	19,941	48.7
	Liberal	Peter Worboys	11,481	28.0
	Labour	Frederick C Inglis	9,529	23.3
Majority			8,460	20.7
Turnout				61.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election October 1974: West Derbyshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Sidney Rawdon Scott-Hopkins	18,468	47.9
	Liberal	Peter Worboys	10,622	27.6
	Labour	D. A. Townsend	9,456	24.5
Majority			7,846	20.4
Turnout				57.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1979: West Derbyshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Matthew Francis Parris	21,478	52.6
	Liberal	Peter Worboys	11,261	27.6
	Labour	William Moore	8,134	19.9
Majority			10,217	25.0
Turnout				80.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1983: West Derbyshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Matthew Francis Parris	29,695	55.9
	Liberal	Vivian Bingham	14,370	27.0
	Labour	J. S. March	9,060	17.1
Majority			15,325	28.9
Turnout				77.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

West Derbyshire by-election, 1986
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Patrick Allen McLoughlin	19,896	39.5
	Liberal	Christopher Walmsley	19,796	39.4
	Labour	William Moore	9,952	19.8
	Rainbow Dream Ticket	R. C. Sidwell	348	0.7
	Independent	Robert Goodall	289	0.6
Majority			100	0.1
Turnout				71.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1987: West Derbyshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Patrick Allen McLoughlin	31,224	53.1
	Liberal	Christopher Walmsley	20,697	35.2
	Labour	William Moore	6,875	11.7
Majority			10,527	17.9
Turnout				83.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1992: West Derbyshire^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Patrick Allen McLoughlin	32,879	54.3	+1.2
	Liberal Democrat	RD Fearn	14,110	23.3	−11.9
	Labour	Stephen J Clamp	13,528	22.4	+10.7
Majority			18,769	31.0	+13.1
Turnout			60,517	85.0	+1.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	+6.6

General Election 1997: West Derbyshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Patrick Allen McLoughlin	23,945	42.1
	Labour	Stephen J Clamp	19,060	33.5
	Liberal Democrat	Christopher Seeley	9,940	17.5
	Referendum	John Prendergast Gouriet	2,499	4.4
	Independent Green	Godfrey Meynell	593	1.0
	UKIP	H. Price	484	0.9
	Monster Raving Loony	"The Flying Brick" Delves	281	0.5
	Independent Back to Basics	Martin Kyslun	81	0.1
Majority			4,885
Turnout			56,883	78.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2001: West Derbyshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Patrick Allen McLoughlin	24,280	48.0	+5.9
	Labour	Stephen J Clamp	16,910	33.4	-0.1
	Liberal Democrat	Jeremy Beckett	7,922	15.7	-1.8
	UKIP	Stuart Bavester	672	1.3	+0.5
	Monster Raving Loony	"The Flying Brick" Delves	472	0.9	+0.4
	Independent	Robert Goodall	333	0.7	+0.5
Majority			7,370	14.6
Turnout			50,589	67.8	-10.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 2005: West Derbyshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Patrick Allen McLoughlin	24,378	47.7	-0.3
	Labour	David Menon	13,625	26.6	-6.8
	Liberal Democrat	Ray Dring	11,408	22.3	+6.6
	UKIP	Michael Cruddas	1,322	2.6	+1.3
	Monster Raving Loony	"The Flying Brick" Delves	405	0.8	-0.1
	Independent	Martin Kyslun	5	0.0	N/A
Majority			10,753	21.0
Turnout			51,143	69.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	+3.2

Notes and references

Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.

↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "D" (part 1)
↑ British parliamentary election results, 1918-1949 by FWS Craig
↑ Derby Daily Telegraph, 10 Jan 1938
↑ "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 2010-12-06.

Sources

Guardian Unlimited Politics (Election results from 1992 to the present)
http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/ (Election results from 1951 to the present)

Constituencies in the East Midlands (46)

Conservative (32)	Amber Valley Boston and Skegness Bosworth Broxtowe Charnwood Corby Daventry Derby North Derbyshire Dales Erewash Gainsborough Grantham and Stamford Harborough High Peak Kettering Lincoln Loughborough Louth and Horncastle Mid Derbyshire Newark Northampton North Northampton South North West Leicestershire Rushcliffe Rutland and Melton Sherwood Sleaford and North Hykeham South Derbyshire South Holland and The Deepings South Leicestershire South Northamptonshire Wellingborough

Labour (14)	Ashfield Bassetlaw Bolsover Chesterfield Derby South Gedling Leicester East Leicester South Leicester West Mansfield North East Derbyshire Nottingham East Nottingham North Nottingham South

East Midlands European constituency: Conservative (2) Labour (1) UKIP (2)

Coordinates: 53°06′N 1°39′W / 53.10°N 1.65°W / 53.10; -1.65

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