Tavistock was the name of 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 ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

between 1330 and 1974. Until

1885 Events January–March * January 3– 4 – Sino-French War – Battle of Núi Bop: French troops under General Oscar de Négrier defeat a numerically superior Qing Chinese force, in northern Vietnam. * January 4 – ...

it was a

parliamentary borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

, consisting solely of the town of

Tavistock Tavistock ( ) is an ancient stannary and market town within West Devon, England. It is situated on the River Tavy from which its name derives. At the 2011 census the three electoral wards (North, South and South West) had a population of 13,028 ...

; it returned two

Members 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 ...

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 ...

until

1868 Events January–March * January 2 – British Expedition to Abyssinia: Robert Napier leads an expedition to free captive British officials and missionaries. * January 3 – The 15-year-old Mutsuhito, Emperor Meiji of Jap ...

, when its representation was reduced to one member. From 1885, the name was transferred to a single-member

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 ...

covering a much larger area. (Between 1885 and 1918, the constituency had the alternative name of West Devon.) The constituency was abolished for the February 1974 general election, when it was largely replaced by the new

West Devon West Devon is a local government district and borough in Devon, England. Towns and villages in the district include Chagford, Okehampton, Princetown and Tavistock, where the council is based. The district was formed on 1 April 1974, under the ...

constituency.

Boundaries

1885–1918: The Municipal Boroughs of Devonport and Plymouth, and the Sessional Divisions of Hatherleigh, Holsworthy, Lifton, Midland Roborough, and Tavistock. 1918–1950: The Urban Districts of Holsworthy, Ivybridge, and Tavistock, the Rural Districts of Broadwoodwidger, Plympton St Mary, and Tavistock, and part of the Rural District of Holsworthy. 1950–1974: The Urban Districts of Holsworthy and Tavistock, the Rural Districts of Broadwoodwidger, Holsworthy, and Tavistock, and part of the Rural District of Plympton St Mary. In 1965 Tavistock was one of the largest seats in England, in terms of land area. It included the towns of

Plympton Plympton is a suburb of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England. It is in origin an ancient stannary town. It was an important trading centre for locally mined tin, and a seaport before the River Plym silted up and trade moved down river to Plym ...

and

Plymstock Plymstock is a commuter suburb of Plymouth and former civil parish in the English county of Devon. Geography Situated on the east bank of the River Plym, Plymstock is geographically and historically part of the South Hams. It comprises the vil ...

(effectively eastern suburbs 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 ...

). It also included a great deal of rural land, including two-thirds of

Dartmoor Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers . The granite which forms the uplands dates from the Carboniferous ...

Members of Parliament

MPs 1295–1640

MPs 1640–1868

MPs 1868–1974

Elections

Elections in the 1830s

Fortescue chose to sit for where he had also been elected, causing a by-election. John Russell was also elected for and opted to sit there, causing a by-election. William Russell resigned, causing a by-election.

Elections in the 1840s

Rundle resigned by accepting the office of

Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds Appointment to the position of Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds is a procedural device to allow Members of Parliament to resignation from the British House of Commons, resign from the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. S ...

, causing a by-election.

Elections in the 1850s

Trelawny

resigned Resignation is the formal act of leaving or quitting one's office or position. A resignation can occur when a person holding a position gained by election or appointment steps down, but leaving a position upon the expiration of a term, or choos ...

to seek re-election after voting against the

disestablishment The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular stat ...

of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

when he had promised his constituents he would vote for it. On petition, Carter was unseated in 1853 and Phillimore was declared elected in his place. Byng

in order to contest a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

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 ...

, causing a by-election.

Elections in the 1860s

''Seat reduced to one member''

Elections in the 1870s

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

John Spear Sir John Ward Spear (1848 – 27 April 1921) was a British Liberal Unionist and later Conservative politician. He was elected at the 1900 general election as Member of Parliament (MP) for the Tavistock division of Devon, with a majority of on ...

*Liberal: Oliver BrettWestern Times 13 Mar 1914

Elections in the 1920s

Elections in the 1930s

Elections in the 1940s

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 from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected; *Conservative:

Colin Patrick Colin Mark Patrick (21 October 1893 – 7 January 1942) was a British Conservative Party politician. He was elected at the 1931 general election as Member of Parliament (MP) for the Tavistock division of Devon, and held the seat until his death ...

*Liberal: Frank Milton *Labour: J Finnigan

Elections in the 1950s

Elections in the 1960s

Elections in the 1970s

References

*Robert Beatson,
A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament
' (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807) *D Brunton & D H Pennington, ''Members of the Long Parliament'' (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954) *
Cobbett's Parliamentary history of England, from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the year 1803
' (London: Thomas Hansard, 1808) * ''The Constitutional Year Book for 1913'' (London: National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associations, 1913) *F W S Craig, ''British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885'' (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989) * F W S Craig, ''British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949'' (Glasgow: Political Reference Publications, 1969) * Michael Crick, ''Michael Heseltine: A Biography'', Hamish Hamilton, 1997, . * Maija Jansson (ed.),
Proceedings in Parliament, 1614 (House of Commons)
' (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1988) * J E Neale, ''The Elizabethan House of Commons'' (London: Jonathan Cape, 1949) * J Holladay Philbin, ''Parliamentary Representation 1832 - England and Wales'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965) *Henry Stooks Smith, ''The Parliaments of England from 1715 to 1847'' (2nd edition, edited by FWS Craig - Chichester: Parliamentary Reference Publications, 1973) * *{{Rayment-hc, t, 1, date=March 2012 Parliamentary constituencies in Devon (historic) Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1974 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1295 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1330 Tavistock