New Forest was a

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

in south-west

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

which 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) 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. ...

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 was first created under the Redistribution of Seats Act for the 1885 general election, and was abolished for the 1918 general election, when it was partially replaced by the

New Forest and Christchurch New Forest and Christchurch was a county constituency in Hampshire which elected one Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United ...

constituency. The seat was re-established for the 1950 general election and those thereafter, was significantly cut in size on the creation of the seat of

Romsey Romsey ( ) is a historic market town in the county of Hampshire, England. Romsey was home to the 17th-century philosopher and economist William Petty and the 19th-century British prime minister, Lord Palmerston, whose statue has stood in the t ...

in 1983 and was abolished for the 1997 general election, when the New Forest East and New Forest West seats were created using its remaining components. In the British TV series ''House of Cards'', this was the constituency represented by the main character,

Francis Urquhart Francis Ewan Urquhart is a fictional character created by British politician and author Michael Dobbs. Urquhart is the main character in Dobbs's ''House of Cards'' trilogy of novels and television series: ''House of Cards'' (1990), ''To Play t ...

Boundaries

1885–1918: The Municipal Borough of Romsey, the Sessional Divisions of Lymington and Ringwood, part of the Sessional Division of Romsey, and the civil parishes of Chilworth and North Shoreham. 1950–1955: The Municipal Borough of Lymington, and the Rural Districts of New Forest, and Ringwood and Fordingbridge. 1955–1974: The Municipal Borough of Lymington, the Rural District of Ringwood and Fordingbridge, and part of the Rural District of New Forest. 1974–1983: The Rural Districts of New Forest, and Ringwood and Fordingbridge. 1983–1997: The District of New Forest wards of Barton, Bashley, Becton, Boldre, Bransgore and Sopley, Brockenhurst, Copythorne South, Downlands, Fordingbridge, Forest North, Forest North West, Forest South, Forest West, Hordle, Lymington Town, Lyndhurst, Milford, Milton, Pennington, Ringwood North, Ringwood South, and Sway.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1885–1918

MPs 1950–1997

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

Elections in the 1890s

Elections in the 1900s

Elections in the 1910s

Elections in the 1950s

Elections in the 1960s

Elections in the 1970s

Elections in the 1980s

Elections in the 1990s

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:New Forest (Uk Parliament Constituency) Parliamentary constituencies in Hampshire (historic) Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1885 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1918 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1950 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1997 New Forest District