Chatham was a

parliamentary constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

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 ...

which returned one

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprem ...

. It was created for the 1832 general election, when the borough of Chatham was enfranchised under the

Reform Act 1832 The Representation of the People Act 1832 (also known as the 1832 Reform Act, Great Reform Act or First Reform Act) was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom (indexed as 2 & 3 Will. IV c. 45) that introduced major changes to the electo ...

. It was abolished for the 1950 general election, when it was largely replaced by the new Rochester and Chatham constituency. This then became

Medway Medway is a unitary authority district and conurbation in Kent, South East England. It had a population of 278,016 in 2019. The unitary authority was formed in 1998 when Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with the Borough of Gillingham to ...

in 1983. When the boroughs of Rochester upon Medway and Gillingham merged to form the larger unitary Borough of

in 1998, the Parliamentary constituency of Medway only covered part of the new borough, so for the 2010 election it was renamed

Rochester and Strood Rochester and Strood is a constituency in Kent represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Kelly Tolhurst, a Conservative. Since 2022, she has served as Government Deputy Chief Whip and Treasurer of the Household. ...

Boundaries

1918–1950: The Borough of Rochester except part of St Peter's ward, and the Borough of Chatham wards of Luton and St John.

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 1830s

Maberly resigned on appointment as a Commissioner of Customs, causing a by-election.

Elections in the 1840s

Elections in the 1850s

The election was declared void on petition, due to bribery, causing a by-election.

Elections in the 1860s

Elections in the 1870s

Elliot resigned, causing a by-election.

Elections in the 1880s

Gorst was appointed

Solicitor General for England and Wales His Majesty's Solicitor General for England and Wales, known informally as the Solicitor General, is one of the law officers of the Crown in the government of the United Kingdom. They are the deputy of the Attorney General, whose duty is to ad ...

, requiring a by-election. Robert Collier

Elections in the 1890s

Elections in the 1900s

Elections in the 1910s

Elections in the 1920s

Elections in the 1930s

The sitting MP Sydney Frank Markham sought re-election as a National Labour candidate. However, the Conservatives refused to withdraw in his favour. As a result, he was forced to withdraw. Communist candidate Walter Hannington was also adopted but subsequently withdrew."General Election: List Of Nominations." Times ondon, England17 Oct. 1931: 6. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 18 July 2016.

Elections in the 1940s

References

{{Coord , 51, 22, N, 0, 32, E, region:GB, display=title Politics of Medway Parliamentary constituencies in Kent (historic) Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1832 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1950 Chatham, Kent