Final Middlesex constituencies (1955-74)

Finchley was a

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 (polity), state (a country, administrative region, ...

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; its best-known MP was

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

from 1979 to 1990. Although boundary changes meant that she never again attained her large majority of 1959, she was nonetheless returned by comfortable (9,000) majorities at general elections throughout her premiership. The seat was abolished in 1997 and split between the

Finchley and Golders Green Finchley and Golders Green is a constituency created in 1997 represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. The current MP is Mike Freer of the Conservative Party, who has held the seat since 2010. Boundaries 1997–2010: The Lond ...

and

Chipping Barnet Chipping Barnet or High Barnet is a suburban market town in north London, forming part of the London Borough of Barnet, England. It is a suburban development built around a 12th-century settlement, and is located north-northwest of Charing Cr ...

constituencies.

Boundaries

*1918–1945: The Urban Districts of Finchley and Friern Barnet. *1945–1950: The Municipal Borough of Finchley, part of the Municipal Borough of Hornsey, and part of the Urban District of Friern Barnet. *1950–1974: The Municipal Borough of Finchley, and the Urban District of Friern Barnet. *1974–1997: The London Borough of Barnet wards of East Finchley, Finchley, Friern Barnet, St Paul's, and Woodhouse. In 1918 the constituency was created as a county division of

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

, centred on the town of

Finchley Finchley () is a large district of north London, England, in the London Borough of Barnet. Finchley is on high ground, north of Charing Cross. Nearby districts include: Golders Green, Muswell Hill, Friern Barnet, Whetstone, Mill Hill and H ...

, which before 1918 had been located in the Hornsey constituency. In 1934 the Finchley district became a

Municipal Borough Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002. Broadly similar structures existed in S ...

. In 1945 there was an interim redistribution of parliamentary constituencies to split those with more than 100,000 electors, prior to the general redistribution of 1950. Middlesex was significantly affected by the interim changes. In 1950 the seat was re-classified as a borough constituency, with the boundaries reverting to those of 1918. In 1965 the area of the constituency changed counties from Middlesex to London. Specifically its areas joined with others to form the

London Borough of Barnet The London Borough of Barnet () is a suburban London boroughs, London borough in North London. The borough was formed in 1965 from parts of the ceremonial counties of Middlesex and Hertfordshire. It forms part of Outer London and is the largest ...

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness, the state of being great *Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality *Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film *Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record *Greater (song), "Greate ...

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 1910s

Elections in the 1920s

Elections in the 1930s

Liberal candidate Lady Domini Crosfield withdrew following the formation of the National Government. General Election 1939–40 Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940, but it was postponed after the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place from 1939, and by the end of that year the following candidates had been selected: *Conservative:

John Crowder Sir John Frederick Ellenborough Crowder (10 November 1891 — 9 July 1961) was a Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Fin ...

*Liberal:

Humphrey Razzall Leonard Humphrey Razzall, known as Humphrey Razzall (13 November 1912 – 26 October 1999), was a British Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party politician and solicitor. Background He was a son of Horace Razzall a Scarborough, North Yorkshire, Scarbor ...

*Labour: Cyril Lacey

Elections in the 1940s

Elections in the 1950s

Elections in the 1960s

Elections in the 1970s

Elections in the 1980s

Elections in the 1990s

Notes and references

Sources

* ''Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885–1972'', compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972) {{DEFAULTSORT:Finchley (Uk Parliament Constituency) Parliamentary constituencies in London (historic) Politics of the London Borough of Barnet Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1918 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1997 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom represented by a sitting Prime Minister Finchley