Epsom was a

borough constituency In the United Kingdom (UK), each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one member to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons. Within the United Kingdom there are five bodies with members elected by ...

represented in 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. ...

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 suprema ...

. It elected 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 of ...

(MP) by the

first past the post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

system of election. From its creation in 1885 until its abolition in 1974, it was won by eight

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

s. The winner took less than 50% of the votes in its contested elections once, in 1945, receiving 49.9% of the vote in a three-party contest. Six elections, the last being a by-election in 1912, were uncontested.

History

Geographical history

;Creation and abolition The seat was established under the

Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 (48 & 49 Vict., c. 23) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was a piece of electoral reform legislation that redistributed the seats in the House of Commons, introducing the concept of equal ...

as the Mid or Epsom division of Surrey for the 1885 general election. The ''Mid'' designation was lesser used, since it could be misleading, as its extent until 1885 was a long strip to the east bounded by among other parishes: Lambeth, Streatham, Croydon, Burstow, Capel and Sutton. ;Scope The Act of 1885 set up the seat so as to comprise: *Epsom sessional division *all parts of Kingston (& Elmbridge) sessional division not within Kingston parish, nor municipal borough; which meant outlying parishes to the south-west, south and south-east *Effingham (parish) *Mickleham (parish) Thus the seat drew on Mid Surrey as to Tolworth, New Malden, Malden, Worcester Park, Surbiton, Hook, Coombe and Long Ditton in the Kingston Hundred and Sessional Division. It drew on West Surrey as to: Ashtead; Banstead; Great Bookham; Little Bookham; Cheam; Chessington; Cuddington; Epsom; Ewell; Fetcham; Headley; Leatherhead; Sutton; Walton on the Hill; Cobham; Thames Ditton; Esher; East Molesey; West Molesey; Stoke D'Abernon; and Walton on Thames. The

Representation of the People Act 1918 The Representation of the People Act 1918 was an Act of Parliament passed to reform the electoral system in Great Britain and Ireland. It is sometimes known as the Fourth Reform Act. The Act extended the franchise in parliamentary elections, also ...

cut the area down to its south-eastern third namely: *the borough of Epsom and Ewell *Leatherhead Urban District *Sutton Urban District The

Representation of the People Act 1948 The Representation of the People Act 1948 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that altered the law relating to parliamentary and local elections. It is noteworthy for abolishing plural voting for parliamentary elections, including ...

confirmed a 1945-implemented split-up of all seats of more than 100,000 electors, of Sutton and Cheam Urban District to create

Sutton and Cheam (UK Parliament constituency) Sutton and Cheam is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Paul Scully, a Conservative. Political history The area's voters produced a 32.6% swing to the Liberal Party in the 1972 by-election. ...

to the north-east. Removal of a broad western area to form

Esher Esher ( ) is a town in Surrey, England, to the east of the River Mole. Esher is an outlying suburb of London near the London-Surrey Border, and with Esher Commons at its southern end, the town marks one limit of the Greater London Built-Up Ar ...

ensued in 1950. As such it remained in the 1970 review-implementing Order. The 1983 reforms saw more than its renaming and technical abolition, the seat shed in the south the former Leatherhead Urban District to

Mole Valley Mole Valley is a local government district in Surrey, England. Its council is based in Dorking. The other town in the district is Leatherhead. The largest villages are Ashtead, Fetcham and Great Bookham, in the northern third of the district. ...

created that year. The seat was abolished for the February 1974 general election, replaced by

Epsom and Ewell Epsom and Ewell () is a local government district with borough status and unparished area in Surrey, England, covering the towns of Epsom and Ewell. The borough was formed as an urban district in 1894, and was known as Epsom until 1934. It was ...

except for its south which contributed to the new seat of

Boundaries

1885–1918: The Sessional Divisions of Epsom and Kingston (comprising most of Elmbridge) as excluding "the part of the civil parish of Kingston ndthe Municipal Borough of Kingston-on-Thames", and the (mainly rural) civil parishes of Effingham and Mickleham to the south-west and south respectively. 1918–1945: The Urban Districts of Epsom, Leatherhead, and Sutton, and the Rural District of Epsom. 1945–1974: The Municipal Borough of Epsom and Ewell, and the Urban District of Leatherhead.

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

Elections in the 1890s

Elections in the 1900s

Elections in the 1910s

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 July 1914, the following candidates had been selected; *Unionist: Henry Keswick

Elections in the 1920s

Elections in the 1930s

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 and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected; *Conservative: Archibald Southby *Labour: C Hackforth-JonesReport of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939. *Liberal: John Pickering Hughes

Elections in the 1940s

Elections in the 1950s

Elections in the 1960s

Elections in the 1970s

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Epsom And Ewell (Uk Parliament Constituency) Parliamentary constituencies in South East England (historic) Epsom and Ewell Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1885 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1974 Politics of Surrey Mole Valley