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New Forest (UK Parliament constituency)

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

New Forest
Former county constituency
for the House of Commons
Outline map
New Forest in Hampshire, showing boundaries used from 1983–1997
CountyHampshire
Major settlementsRingwood, Brockenhurst, Lyndhurst, Fordingbridge
1950–1997
SeatsOne
Created fromNew Forest and Christchurch
Replaced byNew Forest West, New Forest East
1885–1918
SeatsOne
Created fromSouth Hampshire
Replaced byNew Forest and Christchurch

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 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 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.

Boundaries

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1885–1918: The 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 Borough of Lymington, and the Rural Districts of New Forest, and Ringwood and Fordingbridge.

1955–1974: The 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.[1]

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

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MPs 1885–1918

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Election Member[2] Party
1885 Francis Compton Conservative
1892 John Douglas-Scott-Montagu Conservative
1905 by-election Henry Francis Compton Conservative
1906 Robert Hobart Liberal
Jan 1910 Walter Frank Perkins Conservative
1918 constituency abolished: see New Forest and Christchurch

MPs 1950–1997

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Event Member[2] Party Notes
1950 Oliver Crosthwaite-Eyre Conservative Resigned October 1968
1968 by-election Patrick McNair-Wilson Conservative
1997 constituency abolished; see New Forest East & New Forest West

Elections

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Elections in the 1880s

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General election 1885: New Forest [3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Francis Compton 4,281 54.9
Liberal Henry Mason Bompas[4] 3,511 45.1
Majority 770 9.8
Turnout 7,792 83.3
Registered electors 9,353
Conservative win (new seat)
General election 1886: New Forest [3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Francis Compton Unopposed
Conservative hold

Elections in the 1890s

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General election January 1892: New Forest [3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Douglas-Scott-Montagu 4,481 54.6 N/A
Liberal Joseph King 3,726 45.4 New
Majority 755 9.2 N/A
Turnout 8,207 81.0 N/A
Registered electors 10,126
Conservative hold Swing N/A
General election January 1895: New Forest [3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Douglas-Scott-Montagu Unopposed
Conservative hold

Elections in the 1900s

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General election 1900: New Forest[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Douglas-Scott-Montagu Unopposed
Conservative hold
1905 New Forest by-election[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Henry Francis Compton 4,539 51.1 N/A
Liberal Robert Hobart 4,340 48.9 New
Majority 199 2.2 N/A
Turnout 8,879 82.1 N/A
Registered electors 10,818
Conservative hold Swing N/A
General election January 1906: New Forest[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Robert Hobart 4,949 50.2 N/A
Conservative Henry Francis Compton 4,901 49.8 N/A
Majority 48 0.4 N/A
Turnout 9,850 89.3 N/A
Registered electors 11,030
Liberal gain from Conservative Swing N/A

Elections in the 1910s

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General election January 1910: New Forest[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Walter Frank Perkins 6,516 59.6 +9.8
Liberal Robert Hobart 4,423 40.4 −9.8
Majority 2,093 19.2 N/A
Turnout 10,939 90.3 +1.0
Registered electors 12,118
Conservative gain from Liberal Swing +9.8
General election December 1910: New Forest[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Walter Frank Perkins Unopposed
Conservative hold

Elections in the 1950s

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General election 1950: New Forest
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Oliver Crosthwaite-Eyre 28,427 55.97
Labour Aubrey W White 15,986 31.47
Liberal Howard Fry 6,380 12.56
Majority 12,441 24.50
Turnout 50,793 81.58
Conservative win (new seat)
General election 1951: New Forest
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Oliver Crosthwaite-Eyre 31,574 64.29
Labour Aubrey W White 17,537 35.71
Majority 8,717 28.58
Turnout 49,111 86.30
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1955: New Forest
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Oliver Crosthwaite-Eyre 27,027 68.75
Labour Hallam J Barnes 12,285 31.25
Majority 14,742 37.50
Turnout 39,312 73.17
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1959: New Forest
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Oliver Crosthwaite-Eyre 29,949 68.67
Labour Bob Mitchell 13,667 31.33
Majority 16,282 37.34
Turnout 43,616 73.98
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1960s

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General election 1964: New Forest
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Oliver Crosthwaite-Eyre 27,884 53.31
Labour C Bernard Kissen 12,924 24.71
Liberal George Nicholas D Locock 11,497 21.98 New
Majority 14,960 28.60
Turnout 52,305 75.84
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1966: New Forest
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Oliver Crosthwaite-Eyre 27,292 51.20
Labour Michael H Jones 14,260 26.75
Liberal George Nicholas D Locock 11,757 22.05
Majority 13,032 24.45
Turnout 53,309 74.16
Conservative hold Swing
1968 New Forest by-election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Patrick McNair-Wilson 28,025 66.27 +15.07
Liberal George Nicholas D Locock 8,430 19.93 −2.12
Labour Alan Reynard 5,836 13.80 −12.95
Majority 19,595 46.34 +21.89
Turnout 42,291
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1970s

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General election 1970: New Forest
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Patrick McNair-Wilson 36,041 60.13
Labour David Malcolm Offenbach 13,576 22.65
Liberal Peter Johnson 10,322 17.22
Majority 22,465 37.48
Turnout 59,939 71.85
Conservative hold Swing
General election February 1974: New Forest
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Patrick McNair-Wilson 30,567 48.92
Liberal A Hayes 19,185 30.70
Labour MVC Bailey 12,737 20.38
Majority 11,382 18.21
Turnout 62,489 80.70
Conservative hold Swing
General election October 1974: New Forest
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Patrick McNair-Wilson 28,778 49.65
Liberal A Hayes 15,355 26.49
Labour PJ Brushett 13,825 23.85
Majority 13,423 23.16
Turnout 57,958 74.20
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1979: New Forest
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Patrick McNair-Wilson 39,124 59.51
Liberal M Kyrle 13,674 20.80
Labour Alan Whitehead 12,950 19.70
Majority 25,450 38.71
Turnout 65,748 77.23
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1980s

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General election 1983: New Forest[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Patrick McNair-Wilson 34,157 66.37
Alliance Robin Harrison 13,232 25.71
Labour David James 4,075 7.92
Majority 20,925 40.66
Turnout 51,464 62.10
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1987: New Forest[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Patrick McNair-Wilson 37,188 64.67
Alliance Roger Karn 15,456 26.88
Labour James Hampton 4,856 8.45
Majority 21,732 37.79
Turnout 57,500 76.58
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1990s

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General election 1992: New Forest[7][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Patrick McNair-Wilson 37,986 62.4 −2.3
Liberal Democrats JK Vernon-Jackson 17,581 28.9 +2.0
Labour MJ Shutler 4,989 8.2 −0.2
Natural Law FA Carter 350 0.6 New
Majority 20,405 33.5 −4.3
Turnout 60,906 80.8 +4.2
Conservative hold Swing −2.1

See also

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Notes and references

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  1. ^ "The Parliamentary Constituencies (New Forest and Christchurch and Lymington) Order 1973", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 1973/607, retrieved 26 February 2023
  2. ^ a b Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "N" (part 1)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 by Craig
  4. ^ "Polling in The Boroughs". London Evening Standard. 28 November 1885. p. 3. Retrieved 4 December 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. ^ "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  6. ^ "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  7. ^ "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  8. ^ "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
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