Plymouth, Sutton was, from 1918 until 2010, 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 (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.

History

Plymouth Sutton covered parts of the city of

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

, in

South West England South West England, or the South West of England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of the counties of Bristol, Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities and ...

, and was first contested at the 1918 general election. In a by-election in 1919, it became the second constituency in the UK (and the first in Great Britain) to elect a female MP:

Nancy Astor Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor, Viscountess Astor, (19 May 1879 – 2 May 1964) was an American-born British politician who was the first woman seated as a Member of Parliament (MP), serving from 1919 to 1945. Astor's first husband was America ...

became the first woman to take a seat in the House of Commons (the first female MP was the

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Gri ...

member

Constance Markievicz Constance Georgine Markievicz ( pl, Markiewicz ; ' Gore-Booth; 4 February 1868 – 15 July 1927), also known as Countess Markievicz and Madame Markievicz, was an Irish politician, revolutionary, nationalist, suffragist, socialist, and the fir ...

, who did not take her seat). Three of its MPs have been members of the

Astor family The Astor family achieved prominence in business, society, and politics in the United States and the United Kingdom during the 19th and 20th centuries. With ancestral roots in the Italian Alps region of Italy by way of Germany, the Astors settle ...

. A more recent prominent MP was the flamboyant Conservative

Alan Clark Alan Kenneth Mackenzie Clark (13 April 1928 – 5 September 1999) was a British Conservative Member of Parliament (MP), author and diarist. He served as a junior minister in Margaret Thatcher's governments at the Departments of Employment, Tra ...

, who represented Plymouth Sutton from 1974 until 1992.

Abolition

Following the

Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies The Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies was undertaken between 2000 and 2007 by the four boundary commissions for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland for the UK Parliament. The changes for England, Wales and Northern I ...

by the

Boundary Commission for England The boundary commissions in the United Kingdom are non-departmental public bodies responsible for determining the boundaries of constituencies for elections to the House of Commons. There are four boundary commissions: * Boundary Commission for E ...

, constituencies in Plymouth were reorganised, with both Plymouth Sutton and Plymouth Devonport being replaced by new constituencies of Plymouth Sutton and Devonport and Plymouth Moor View from

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

. The vast majority of the Plymouth Sutton constituency became part of the new Plymouth Sutton and Devonport constituency.

Boundaries

1918–1950: The County Borough of Plymouth wards of Charles, Compton, Friary, Laira, St Andrew, Sutton, and Vintry. 1950–1955: The County Borough of Plymouth wards of Charles, Compton, Crownhill, Drake, Friary, Laira, Mutley, St Andrew, Sutton, Valletort, and Vintry, and the parish of Bickleigh in the Rural District of Plympton St Mary. 1955–1974: The County Borough of Plymouth wards of Charles, Compton, Crownhill, Efford, Friary, Mount Gould, Peverell, Sutton, Tamerton, and Trelawney. 1974–1983: The County Borough of Plymouth wards of Crownhill, Efford, Mount Gould, Plympton Erle, Plympton St Mary, Plymstock Dunstone, Plymstock Radford, and Sutton. 1983–1997: The City of Plymouth wards of Efford, Eggbuckland, Mount Gould, Plympton Erle, Plympton St Mary, Plymstock Dunstone, and Plymstock Radford. 1997–2010: The City of Plymouth wards of Compton, Drake, Efford, Mount Gould, St Peter, Stoke, Sutton, and Trelawny. The 1997 boundary changes were highly favourable to

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

in this constituency: what had been a safe Conservative seat became a

marginal seat A marginal seat or swing seat is a constituency held with a small majority in a legislative election, generally one conducted under a single-winner voting system. In Canada, they may be known as target ridings. The opposite is a safe seat. The ...

. As such the seat from 1997 until 2010 was closer in its wards to the defunct marginal seat of

Plymouth Drake Plymouth Drake was a borough constituency in the city of Plymouth, in Devon. It elected one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom by the first past the post system of election. History The first D ...

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 1910s

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:

*Labour:

Lucy Middleton Lucy Annie Middleton (née Cox; 9 May 1894 – 20 November 1983) was a Labour politician in the United Kingdom. Personal life In 1936, she married James Middleton, General Secretary of the Labour Party.List of parliamentary constituencies in Devon

Notes and references

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Plymouth Sutton (Uk Parliament Constituency) Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1918 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 2010 Parliamentary constituencies in Devon (historic) Politics of Plymouth, Devon