Mid Kent (historic UK Parliament constituency)

Mid Kent was a parliamentary constituency in the county of Kent, which returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Mid Kent
Former county constituency
for the House of Commons
18681885
SeatsTwo
Created fromWest Kent
Replaced byMedway
Ashford
Tunbridge

It was created for the 1868 general election, and abolished for the 1885 general election, when the three two-member constituencies (East Kent, Mid Kent and West Kent) were replaced by several new single-member constituencies: Ashford, Dartford, Faversham, Isle of Thanet, Medway, St Augustines, Sevenoaks and Tunbridge.

A later single-member constituency called Mid Kent existed from 1983 to 1997.

Boundaries

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1868-1885: The Lathe of Aylesford, and the Lower Division of the Lathe of Scray.[1]

Members of Parliament

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Election 1st Member 1st Party 2nd Member 2nd Party
1868 William Hart Dyke Conservative William Amherst Conservative
1880 Sir Edmund Filmer, Bt Conservative
1884 by-election John Gathorne-Hardy Conservative
1885 constituency abolished

Election results

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Elections in the 1860s

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General election 1868: Mid Kent[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative William Hart Dyke 3,251 26.6
Conservative William Amherst 3,248 26.5
Liberal John William Nicholas Hervey 2,872 23.5
Liberal Sir Francis Head, 2nd Baronet 2,868 23.4
Majority 376 3.0
Turnout 6,120 (est) 70.2 (est)
Registered electors 8,723
Conservative win (new seat)
Conservative win (new seat)

Elections in the 1870s

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General election 1874: Mid Kent[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative William Hart Dyke 3,710 36.3 +9.7
Conservative William Amherst 3,542 34.7 +8.2
Liberal David Salomons 2,956 29.0 −17.9
Majority 586 5.7 +2.7
Turnout 6,582 (est) 73.9 (est) +3.7
Registered electors 8,905
Conservative hold Swing +9.3
Conservative hold Swing +8.6

Elections in the 1880s

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General election 1880: Mid Kent[2][3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative William Hart Dyke 4,056 28.6 −7.7
Conservative Edmund Filmer 3,783 26.7 −8.0
Liberal Edward Cazalet 3,318 23.4 +8.9
Liberal Howard Elphinstone 3,020 21.3 +6.8
Majority 465 3.3 −2.4
Turnout 7,089 (est) 80.9 (est) +7.0
Registered electors 8,763
Conservative hold Swing −8.3
Conservative hold Swing −7.4

Filmer's resignation caused a by-election.

By-election, 15 May 1884: Mid Kent[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Gathorne-Hardy Unopposed
Conservative hold

Dyke's appointment as Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland required a by-election.

By-election, 2 Jul 1885: Mid Kent[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative William Hart Dyke Unopposed
Conservative hold

References

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  1. ^ "Representation of the People Act 1867" (PDF). Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d e Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (e-book) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. p. 405. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.
  3. ^ "Mid Kent Election". The Daily News. 30 March 1880. p. 4. Retrieved 20 December 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.