South Gloucestershire
Former County constituency
for the House of Commons
Outline map
South Gloucestershire, showing boundaries used from 1974-1983
1950–1983
Seatsone
Created fromThornbury
Replaced byNorthavon, Bristol North West, Stroud[1]

South Gloucestershire,[2][3] also known as Gloucestershire South,[4] was a parliamentary constituency in Gloucestershire. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

The constituency was created for the 1950 general election, and abolished for the 1983 general election. It had three different sets of boundaries during its existence, and elected a new MP on each one of those occasions.

Boundaries

1950–1955: The Urban Districts of Kingswood and Mangotsfield, and the Rural Districts of Sodbury and Warmley.

1955–1974: The Rural Districts of Sodbury, Thornbury, and Warmley. Thornbury Rural District was added to the seat from the abolished Stroud and Thornbury constituency.[5]

1974–1983: The Rural Districts of Sodbury and Thornbury.[6] Warmley Rural District was transferred to the new Kingswood constituency.

Predecessor and successor constituencies

From 1885 to 1950 much of the area of the constituency was represented by the Thornbury constituency,[7] and from 1950 to 1955 by Stroud and Thornbury.[8]

When the constituency was abolished in 1983, 80.54% of it was transferred to the new constituency of Northavon, 14.75% to the redrawn Bristol North West and 4.70% to the redrawn Stroud.[1]

Members of Parliament

Election Member Party
1950 Anthony Crosland Labour
1955 Sir Frederick Corfield Conservative
Feb 1974 John Cope Conservative
1983 constituency abolished: see Northavon

Elections

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1979: South Gloucestershire
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Cope 35,627 51.2 +9.2
Labour MK Mullins 20,465 29.4 -5.8
Liberal George Conrad 12,850 18.5 -4.3
Ecology David Kerridge 695 1.0 New
Majority 15,162 21.8 +15.0
Turnout 69,637 82.1 +2.5
Registered electors 84,867 +6.9
Conservative hold Swing +7.4
General election October 1974: South Gloucestershire
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Cope 26,581 42.0 +0.2
Labour Oonagh McDonald 22,235 35.2 +3.2
Liberal DC Short 14,412 22.8 -3.4
Majority 4,346 6.8 -3.0
Turnout 63,228 79.6 -4.2
Registered electors 79,419 +0.8
Conservative hold Swing -1.5
General election February 1974: South Gloucestershire [9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Cope 27,602 41.8 -10.5
Labour Oonagh McDonald 21,143 32.0 -4.5
Liberal DC Short 17,276 26.2 +15.0
Majority 6,459 9.8 -6.1
Turnout 66,021 83.8 +5.6
Registered electors 78,766 +9.6
Conservative hold Swing -3.0
General election 1970: South Gloucestershire[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Frederick Corfield 35,045 50.9 +5.7
Labour Michael George Dalling 26,067 37.9 -5.0
Liberal Anthony Lambert 7,680 11.2 -0.7
Majority 8,978 13.0 +10.7
Turnout 68,792 78.6 -5.8
Registered electors 87,503 +18.2
Conservative hold Swing +5.4

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1966: South Gloucestershire[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Frederick Corfield 28,224 45.2 -0.6
Labour Michael Cocks 26,800 42.9 +3.5
Liberal Eric Cleaton Hart 7,421 11.9 -3.0
Majority 1,424 2.3 -4.1
Turnout 62,445 84.4 +0.2
Registered electors 74,023 +7.6
Conservative hold Swing -2.1
General election 1964: South Gloucestershire[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Frederick Corfield 26,504 45.8 -9.0
Labour Michael Cocks 22,790 39.4 -5.8
Liberal Brian S Sherriff 8,611 14.9 New
Majority 3,714 6.4 -3.2
Turnout 57,905 84.2 +0.5
Registered electors 68,781 +20.6
Conservative hold Swing -1.6

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1959: South Gloucestershire[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Frederick Corfield 26,168 54.8 +2.7
Labour Joseph Holland 21,567 45.2 -2.8
Majority 4,601 9.6 +4.9
Turnout 47,735 83.7 +2.0
Registered electors 57,026 +11.5
Conservative hold Swing +2.8
General election 1955: South Gloucestershire[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Frederick Corfield 21,760 52.1 +7.4
Labour Edward Bishop 20,034 47.4 -7.4
Majority 1,726 4.7 N/A
Turnout 41,794 81.7 -4.6
Registered electors 51,166 -12.2
Conservative gain from Labour Swing +7.4
General election 1951: South Gloucestershire[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Anthony Crosland 27,808 55.3 +6.5
Conservative Marjorie Hickling 22,470 44.7 +8.1
Majority 5,338 10.6 -4.0
Turnout 50,278 86.2 -0.6
Registered electors 58,296 +1.1
Labour hold Swing -0.8
General election 1950: South Gloucestershire[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Anthony Crosland 24,458 48.8
Conservative B. Davidson 18,320 36.6
Liberal Stafford Vaughan Stepney Howard 7,342 14.6
Majority 6,138 12.2
Turnout 50,120 86.9
Registered electors 57,689
Labour win (new seat)

References

  1. ^ a b "'Gloucestershire South', Feb 1974 - May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Archived from the original on 3 April 2016. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
  2. ^ "House of Commons debates: Members Sworn". Hansard. 870. 7 March 1974. Retrieved 10 May 2016. John Cope sworn in for "South Gloucestershire"
  3. ^ "List of Members Returned to Serve in Parliament at the General Election, 1959" (PDF). The London Gazette. 13 October 1959. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  4. ^ "Gloucestershire South 1950-1983". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  5. ^ REPRESENTATION OF THE PEOPLE (PARLIAMENTARY CONSTITUENCIES), Hansard, 16 December 1954
  6. ^ Hansard, 14 July 1969
  7. ^ "Boundary Map of Gloucestershire Thornbury PDivCon". Vision of Britain Through Time. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
  8. ^ "Boundary Map of Stroud and Thornbury CCon". Vision of Britain Through Time. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
  9. ^ Percentage change and swing for February 1974 is calculated relative to the BBC notional 1970 constituency result, not actual 1970 result. Notional 1970 results were rounded to the nearest hundred. Constituency data for 1974-83 including 1970 notionals, retrieved 18 July 2017
  10. ^ a b c d e British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
  11. ^ a b F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1973
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