Bromley is a former constituency for the

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of the

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. The most famous MP was

Harold Macmillan Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986) was a British Conservative statesman and politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. Caricatured as "Supermac", he ...

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, 1957 to 1963. Like all 20th century such seats for geographic zones it elected one

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(MP), under

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. It lay in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

until 1965 and

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thereafter.

Boundaries

1918–1945: The Borough of Bromley, and the Urban Districts of Beckenham and Penge. 1945–1950: Parts of the Boroughs of Bromley and Beckenham, and the Urban District of Penge. 1950–1974: The Borough of Bromley. The seat overspan the town of

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, char ...

. As with the rest of south-east London these areas were in the far northwest of the Historic County of

– and was in the last such parts to join London, joining

in April 1965. The seat was abolished in the redistribution which took effect in 1974. The London Borough of Bromley (a larger area than the previous Municipal Borough) was, as to Westminster representation, split into four seats.

History

This constituency consisted largely of prosperous leafy suburbia and was one of the Conservatives' strongest seats. The character of the area was one of prosperous small businesses, rather than commuting professionals. Before 1918 this area was mostly the northern part of the

Sevenoaks Sevenoaks is a town in Kent with a population of 29,506 situated south-east of London, England. Also classified as a civil parishes in England, civil parish, Sevenoaks is served by a commuter South Eastern Main Line, main line railway into Lon ...

constituency. The first MP for this seat was Henry William Forster, the former member for Sevenoaks. In 1919 he was created the 1st Baron Forster and became

Governor-General of Australia The governor-general of Australia is the representative of the monarch, currently King Charles III, in Australia.1919 Events January * January 1 ** The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (now Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia. ** HMY ''Iolaire'' sinks off the c ...

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and

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. Januar ...

respectively). In 1945 the sitting member died between the day of the election and the declaration of the result, so the opportunity arose for one of the Conservative former ministers defeated in the general election to return to the House of Commons representing an extremely safe seat. Future Prime Minister

was selected by the Conservative Party to fight the seat. He was perhaps the most famous MP for Bromley, serving from the 1945 by-election until his retirement in 1964, when he was succeeded by John Hunt. Hunt held the seat (renamed Ravensbourne in 1974) until 1997.

Members of Parliament

Election results

Elections in the 1910s

Henry Forster, 1st Baron Forster circa 1925

Elections in the 1920s

In the 1930s

In the 1940s

In the 1950s

In the 1960s

In the 1970s

References

* ''Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972'', compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972) * ''British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949'', compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press, revised edition 1977) * ''British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973'', compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Research Services 1983) * ''Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume III 1919-1945'', edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (Harvester Press 1979) * ''Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume IV 1945-1979'', edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (Harvester Press 1981) *