- Maldon (UK Parliament constituency)
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Not to be confused with Malton (UK Parliament constituency).
Maldon County constituency for the House of Commons 
Boundary of Maldon in Essex for the 2010 general election.
Location of Essex within England.County Essex Electorate 69,539 (December 2010)[1] Current constituency Created 2010 Member of Parliament John Whittingdale (Conservative) Number of members One Created from Maldon and East Chelmsford 1885–1983 Type of constituency County constituency Replaced by Colchester South and Maldon and Rochford Created from East Essex, Maldon 1332–1885 Number of members two to 1868, one from 1868 to 1885 Type of constituency Borough constituency Replaced by Maldon Overlaps European Parliament constituency East of England Maldon is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. This seat is a successor to the Maldon and East Chelmsford constituency which existed from 1997 to 2010.
There was previously a constituency called Maldon between 1332 and 1983.
Contents
The new constituency
Boundaries
Following their review of parliamentary representation in Essex, the Boundary Commission for England created a number of radically altered and new constituencies to allow for the increasing population. The majority of the former Maldon and East Chelmsford constituency formed the basis of this new Maldon seat. Additionally, the areas around South Woodham Ferrers came in from the former Rayleigh constituency and Margaretting is added from the former West Chelmsford constituency.
Other wards from the previous Maldon and East Chelmsford formed parts of the new Witham and Chelmsford constituencies.
The electoral wards used in the redrawn Maldon constituency are;
- Althorne, Burnham-on-Crouch North, Burnham-on-Crouch South, Heybridge East, Heybridge West, Maldon, Essex East, Maldon North, Maldon South, Maldon West, Mayland, Purleigh, Southminster and Tillingham from Maldon district
- Bicknacre and East and West Hanningfield, Little Baddow, Danbury and Sandon, Rettendon and Runwell, South Hanningfield, Stock and Margaretting, South Woodham Ferrers–Chetwood and Collingwood, and South Woodham Ferrers–Elmwood and Woodville from Chelmsford district
The historic constituency (1332-1983)
Maldon Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons 1332–1885 Number of members two (1295-1868); one (1868-1885) Essex, Maldon Former County constituency for the House of Commons 1885–1983 Number of members one Maldon was originally a Parliamentary borough in Essex, first represented in the House of Commons in 1332; it elected two MPs until 1868, and one from 1868 until 1885. In that year the borough was abolished but the name was transferred to a county division of Essex, which continued with some boundary changes until 1983.
Maldon borough (1332-1885)
Boundaries and franchise before the Reform Act
Until the Great Reform Act of 1832, the borough consisted of the three parishes of the town of Maldon, Essex, a small market town and port on the coast of Essex.
Maldon had been a municipal as well as Parliamentary borough, its first charter dating from the reign of Henry II, and at one period the Corporation had the sole right to elect the town's MPs. From 1701 at the latest, however, the right to vote was exercised by the freemen of the town, whether or not resident within the borough; and, unusually, honorary freemen and those acquiring the freedom by purchase were also entitled to vote in Maldon. This had several consequences. The electorate in Maldon was much bigger than was usual in a town of that size - in the first half of the 18th century, the number of qualified voters generally about 800 (the majority of whom did not live in Maldon). It also meant that the town corporation, with the power to create freemen and therefore voters, was in a position to gerrymander elections if it so wished. This might, as was the case in some other boroughs, have ended in one interest gaining control of the corporation and turning Maldon into a pocket borough; in fact, however, Maldon instead stayed independent but venal, and gaining election there tended to be an expensive business. Sometimes it was not merely a case of bribing the voters: in 1690, it was recorded in the House of Commons journals that the wives and daughters of Maldon freemen were being bribed at election time as well.
One interest that was firmly established by the middle of the 18th century, however, was that of the government, which ensured that lucrative posts in the customs house were reserved for loyally-voting freemen, and also attempted to have government supporters – often strangers to the town – elected to vacancies on the corporation. It was generally taken for granted that the government candidates would normally be elected.
The Strutt ascendancy
However, in the 1750s the government's control of Maldon weakened, and a prominent local Tory, John Strutt, found he had enough influence with the voters to sway elections. He secured the election of several of his friends over the years and eventually, in 1774, was persuaded to stand himself, which he did successfully.
In the meanwhile, however, a dramatic change had been wrought in the system. In 1763 one of the sitting MPs, Strutt's friend Bamber Gascoyne, was appointed to the Board of Trade and therefore had to be re-elected at Maldon. Gascoyne's opponent, John Huske, accused him of threatening that any freemen working in the customs house who did not vote for him would be dismissed (which, by this period, would have been an illegal threat). Although the Prime Minister, George Grenville, denied having authorised Gascoyne to make any such threat and Gascoyne denied having made it, it seems clear it was believed in Maldon and the corporation sided with Huske, creating enough new freemen to ensure Gascoyne was defeated. Both sides started actions for bribery, but Gascoyne had decided on more drastic action. He took out a writ against the Corporation, and the Courts ordered the ousting of the majority of members; eventually, in 1768, the Corporation was dissolved by judicial order.
For half a century the duties of returning officer were transferred to the High Sheriff of Essex. However, the Sheriff could not assume the Corporation's function of swearing in new freemen, and Strutt's influence was thus entirely secured against any possibility of new voters being created to outvote him. However, there was a problem: by the time of the general election of 1807 the number of remaining qualified voters had dwindled to 58, and the constituency was in imminent danger of quite literally dying out. Yet there were more than 800 new freemen who were only barred from voting because there was nobody to swear them in; finally a new charter was granted, in time to enfranchise them for the election of 1810.
Matters then returned to normal in Maldon for the remaining 22 years before the Reform Act. Strutt's son, Joseph Holden Strutt, retained much of the influence that his father had wielded, being generally considered to be able to nominate one of the two MPs or to choose to sit himself; as he exercised all government patronage in Maldon, he was well placed to secure the other seat as well. But when the voters proved uncooperative, they could easily enough be over-ruled: at the 1826 election, the Corporation secured the result it wanted by admitting another thousand new freemen in time for them to vote; 3,113 freemen voted, of whom only 251 were Maldon residents.
After the Reform Act
In the initial drafts of the Reform Bill, Maldon was to lose one of its two seats and although it was eventually spared this fate its population of 3,831 in 1831 left it very close to the borderline. The eventual Reform Act extended the borough by adding the neighbouring parish of Heybridge, increasing the population to 4,895; but with only 716 qualified voters under the new franchise its electorate was less than a quarter of what it had previously been. The constituency was a highly marginal one, victory rarely being secured by more than a handful of votes. In 1852, only 40 votes separated first place from fourth, and the second Tory's majority over his Whig opponent was only 6; after the losing candidates petitioned, alleging corruption, the election was declared void[2] and Maldon's right to representation was suspended while a Royal Commission investigated. However, no major scandal was uncovered and (unlike some other boroughs similarly investigated at the same period) its right to vote was reinstated and a writ for a new by-election which took place in 1854 was issued.[3]
Maldon county constituency (1885-1983)
The Second Reform Act, implemented in 1868, took seats from most of the smallest boroughs, and Maldon's representation was halved; but it was still too small, and at the election of 1885 the borough was abolished altogether. The county division into which the town was placed, however, was named after the town. (Officially, until 1918, it was the Eastern (or Maldon) Division of Essex; after that, simply the Maldon division.) As well as Maldon itself this contained the towns of Braintree, Halstead and Witham. Once again this constituency was a marginal one - almost the only rural county seat in the South East at this period not to be safely Conservative. The strength of the Liberal vote seems to have been partly based on the strength of Nonconformism in the Halstead area, but also on trade unionism among the agricultural labourers (which elsewhere in Essex was offset by a strongly Tory maritime vote which Maldon lacked).
Maldon in Essex, showing boundaries used from 1918 to 1945.
After 1918, boundary changes added Burnham on Crouch and the surrounding district, but the constituency was still a rural one, with 35% of the occupied male population employed in the agricultural sector at the time of the 1921 census. The Labour rather than the Liberals were now the Conservatives' main opponents. When the Liberal Party split in 1922, Maldon's Liberals split as well, and the constituency was the first where the Lloyd George Liberals set up a constituency association, though this was apparently without the sanction of the national party headquarters and the association is not recorded as having organised any activities. In 1923 no Liberal candidate stood at all, and Labour captured the seat for the first time. The Conservatives retook the seat in 1924, holding it until the 1940s, but it was won by Tom Driberg in a wartime by-election; yet his hold on the seat was rarely secure and he eventually moved to sit for a safer seat. Thereafter Maldon remained Conservative until its abolition, though at first by the narrowest of margins.
The Maldon constituency was abolished in the boundary changes which came into effect at the 1983 election, being divided between the new Colchester South and Maldon and Rochford constituencies.
Members of Parliament
MPs 1332–1640
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Parliament First member Second member 1386 Richard Bush John Glover [4] 1388 (Feb) John Dyer Henry Hales [4] 1388 (Sep) John Crakebon John Welles [4] 1390 (Jan) John Skinner I 1390 (Nov) 1391 John Welles I John Page [4] 1393 John Skinner I John Glover [4] 1394 1395 1397 (Jan) John Glover John Joce [4] 1397 (Sep) 1399 John Joce I John Crakebon [4] 1401 1402 John Page Thomas Paffe [4] 1404 (Jan) John Burgess Thomas Paffe [4] 1404 (Oct) 1406 John Flower Robert Painter [4] 1407 John Page John Hockham [4] 1410 ?William Wade [4] 1411 John Flower John Burgess [4] 1413 (Feb) 1413 (May) Richard Galon John Burgess [4] 1414 (Apr) 1414 (Nov) John Flower John Burgess [4] 1415 1416 (Mar) 1416 (Oct) 1417 Thomas Paffe Richard Sampson [4] 1419 Richard Galon William Bennett [4] 1420 John Burgess Richard Galon [4] 1421 (May) John Cooper II Richard Bawde [4] 1421 (Dec) William Burgh William Gore [4] 1510 Sir Richard FitzLewis Thomas Hintlesham [5] 1512 Thomas Cressener ? [5] 1515 John Strangman ? [5] 1523 John Bozom Thomas Wyburgh [5] 1529 Thomas Tey Edward Peyton [5] 1536 William Harris John Raymond [5] 1539 John Edmonds William Bonham [5] 1542 Edward Bury Henry Dowes [5] 1545 Clement Smith Nicholas Throckmorton [5] 1547 Sir Clement Smith Henry Dowes, died
and replaced by Jan 1552 by William Bassett [5]1553 (Mar) Sir Walter Mildmay Henry Fortesue [5] 1553 (Oct) ?Anthony Browne John Raymond [5] 1554 (Apr) Thomas Hungate Edmund Tyrrell [5] 1554 (Nov) Anthony Browne John Wiseman [5] 1555 Sir Henry Radclyffe Richard Weston [5] 1558 Edmund Tyrrell Roger Appleton, died
and replaced by Nov 1558 by Henry Golding [6]1559 Sir Humphrey Radcliffe Henry Golding [6] 1562/3 John Lathom Richard Argall [6] 1571 Peter Osborne. sat for Guildford,
repl. by George BlytheGabriel Croft [6] 1572 Thomas Gent Vincent Harris, died
and repl. Oct 1574 by Edward Sulyard [6]1584 Edward Lewknor William Wiseman [6] 1586 John Butler Edward Lewknor [6] 1588 John Butler William Vernon, sick
and replaced by Edward Lewknor [6]1593 Sir Thomas Mildmay, Bt Edward Lewknor [6] 1597 Thomas Harris William Wiseman [6] 1601 William Wiseman Richard Weston [6] 1604 Sir Edward Lewknor, died
and replaced by Sir Theophilus HowardWilliam Wiseman, died
and replaced by Sir John Sandys1604-1611 ?Sir John James 1614 Sir Edward Lewknor Sir Robert Rich 1621-1622 Sir Henry Mildmay Sir Julius Caesar 1624 Sir William Masham, Bt Sir Arthur Harris 1625 Sir William Masham, Bt Sir Henry Mildmay 1626 Sir William Masham, Bt Sir Thomas Cheek 1628-1629 Sir Henry Mildmay Sir Arthur Harris 1629–1640 No Parliaments summoned MPs 1640–1868
Year First member[7] First party Second member[7] Second party April 1640 Sir Henry Mildmay Parliamentarian John Porter November 1640 Sir John Clotworthy Parliamentarian January 1648 Clotworthy disabled from sitting January 1648,
but readmitted June 1648June 1648 Sir John Clotworthy Parliamentarian December 1648 Clotworthy excluded in Pride's Purge - seat vacant 1653 Maldon was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament 1654 Colonel Joachim Matthews Maldon had only one seat in the First and
Second Parliaments of the Protectorate1656 January 1659 Henry Mildmay May 1659 Colonel Sir Henry Mildmay One seat vacant April 1660 Tristram Conyers Henry Mildmay June 1660 Edward Herrys 1661 Sir John Tyrell Sir Richard Wiseman 1677 Sir William Wiseman, Bt March 1679 Sir John Bramston October 1679 Sir Thomas Darcy, Bt 1685 Sir John Bramston 1689 Charles Montagu 1693 Sir Eliab Harvey 1695 Irby Montagu 1699 John Bullock January 1701 William Fytche November 1701 John Comyns 1708 Sir Richard Child Thomas Richmond 1710 John Comyns [8] 1711 William Fytche 1712 Thomas Bramston [9] 1715 Samuel Tufnell 1722 Sir John Comyns 1727 Henry Parsons Thomas Bramston 1734 Martin Bladen 1740 Benjamin Keene 1741 Sir Thomas Drury, Bt Robert Colebrooke 1747 Sir Richard Lloyd, KC 1754 Colonel John Bullock 1761 Bamber Gascoyne Independent 1763 John Huske 1773 Charles Rainsford 1774 John Strutt Tory Hon. Richard Savage Nassau 1780 Eliab Harvey 1784 The Lord Waltham 1787 Sir Peter Parker, Bt 1790 Joseph Holden Strutt Tory Charles Callis Western Whig 1806 Benjamin Gaskell [10] Whig 1807 Charles Callis Western Whig 1812 Benjamin Gaskell Whig 1826 Hon. George Allanson Winn Tory Thomas Barrett Lennard Whig 1827 Hugh Dick Tory 1830 Quintin Dick Tory 1832 Conservative 1837 John Round Conservative 1847 David Waddington Conservative Thomas Barrett Lennard Whig 1852 [2] Charles du Cane Conservative Taverner John Miller Conservative 1854 George Peacocke Conservative John Bramley-Moore Conservative 1857 Thomas Western Whig 1859 Liberal George Peacocke [11] Conservative 1865 Ralph Anstruther Earle Conservative 1868 Representation reduced to one member MPs 1868–1983
Election Member[7] Party 1868 Edward Hammond Bentall Liberal 1874 George Sandford Conservative 1878 by-election George Courtauld Liberal 1885 Arthur George Kitching Liberal 1886 Charles Wing Gray Conservative 1892 Cyril Dodd, QC Liberal 1895 Hon. Charles Hedley Strutt Conservative 1906 Thomas Robert Bethell Liberal 1910 (January) Sir James Fortescue Flannery, Bt Conservative 1918 Coalition Conservative 1922 Lt Col Edward Ruggles-Brise MC Conservative 1923 Valentine George Crittall Labour 1924 Lt Col Edward Ruggles-Brise MC Conservative 1942 by-election Tom Driberg Independent 1945 Labour 1955 Brian Harrison Conservative 1974 (February) John Wakeham Conservative 1983 constituency abolished The re-formed Maldon seat was fought for the first time at the 2010 general election.
Election Member[7] Party 2010 John Whittingdale Conservative Elections
Elections in the 1910s
General Election, December 1910: Maldon Party Candidate Votes % ±% Conservative James Fortescue Flannery 5,386 53.4 Liberal Willoughby Jardine 4,693 46.6 Majority 693 6.8 Turnout Conservative hold Swing General Election, 1918: Maldon Party Candidate Votes % ±% Coalition Conservative Sir James Fortescue Flannery, Bt 8,136 51.1 Labour George Dallas 6,315 39.6 Liberal Ernest William Tanner 1,490 9.3 Majority 1,823 11.5 Turnout 15,943 56.7 Conservative hold Swing Elections in the 1920s
General Election, 1922: Maldon Party Candidate Votes % ±% Conservative Edward Ruggles-Brise 10,337 47.2 −3.9 Labour George Dallas 6,085 27.8 −11.8 Liberal J. Parish 5,470 25.0 +15.7 Majority 4,252 19.4 +7.9 Turnout 21,892 74.8 +18.1 Conservative hold Swing General Election, 1923: Maldon Party Candidate Votes % ±% Labour Valentine Crittall 10,329 50.1 +22.3 Conservative Edward Ruggles-Brise 10,280 49.9 +2.7 Majority 49 0.2 Turnout 21,892 69.6 −5.2 Labour gain from Conservative Swing General Election, 1924: Maldon Party Candidate Votes % ±% Conservative Edward Ruggles-Brise 13,209 52.3 +2.2 Labour Valentine Crittall 9,323 36.9 −13.0 Liberal H. R. G. Brooks 2,724 10.8 N/A Majority 3,886 15.4 Turnout 25,256 82.6 +13.0 Conservative gain from Labour Swing General Election, 1929: Maldon Party Candidate Votes % ±% Conservative Edward Ruggles-Brise 14,020 43.8 −8.5 Labour Herbert Evans 11,224 35.1 −1.8 Liberal H. A. May 6,748 21.1 +10.3 Majority 2,796 8.7 −6.7 Turnout 31,992 79.5 −3.1 Conservative hold Swing Elections in the 1930s
General Election, 1935: Maldon Party Candidate Votes % ±% Conservative Edward Ruggles-Brise 22,055 70.8 +27.1 Labour W. F. Toynbee 9,078 29.2 −5.9 Majority 12,977 41.6 +32.9 Turnout 31,133 74.7 −4.8 Conservative hold Swing General Election, 1935: Maldon Party Candidate Votes % ±% Conservative Sir Edward Ruggles-Brise, Bt 17,072 53.4 −17.4 Labour W. F. Toynbee 9,264 28.9 −0.3 Liberal Hilda Buckmaster 5,680 17.7 N/A Majority 7,808 24.5 −16.1 Turnout 32,016 73.8 −0.9 Conservative hold Swing Elections in the 1940s
Maldon by-election, 25 June 1942 Party Candidate Votes % ±% Independent Tom Driberg 12,219 61.3 Conservative R. J. Hunt 6,226 31.3 −22.1 National Independent and Agricultural R.B. Matthews 1,476 7.4 Majority 5,993 30.0 Turnout 19,921 44.4 −29.4 Independent gain from Conservative Swing Driberg was elected in 1942 as an Independent Labour candidate, but took the Labour Party whip in January 1945, and stood in the 1945 election as a Labour Party candidate.
General Election, 1945: Maldon Party Candidate Votes % ±% Labour Tom Driberg 22,480 60.4 −0.9 Conservative A. M. S. Stevenson 14,753 39.6 +6.3 Majority 7,727 20.8 −9.2 Turnout 37,233 74.5 +30.1 Labour hold Swing Elections in the 2010s
General Election 2010: Maldon[12] Party Candidate Votes % ±% Conservative John Whittingdale* 28,661 59.8 +3.5 Liberal Democrat Elfreda Tealby-Watson 9,254 19.3 +4.3 Labour Swatantra Nandanwar 6,070 12.7 -11.5 UKIP Jesse Pryke 2,446 5.1 +0.6 BNP Len Blaine 1,464 3.1 +3.1 Majority 19,407 (40.5%) Turnout 47,895 69.6 +6.7 Conservative hold Swing -0.4 - * Served as MP for the preceeding constituency of Maldon and East Chelmsford since 1997
See also
Notes and references
- ^ "Electorate Figures - Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. http://www.boundarycommissionforengland.org.uk/electoral-figures/electoral-figures.htm. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
- ^ a b "MALDON ELECTION". Hansard. 1853-03-18. http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1853/mar/18/maldon-election. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
- ^ "NEW WRIT FOR MALDON". Hansard. 1854-08-11. http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1854/aug/11/new-writ-for-maldon. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u "History of Parliament". History of Parliament Trust. http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1386-1421/constituencies/maldon. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "History of Parliament". History of Parliament Trust. http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/constituencies/maldon. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "History of Parliament". History of Parliament Trust. http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/constituencies/maldon. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
- ^ a b c d Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "M" (part 1)
- ^ Comyns was re-elected in 1715, but his election was declared void because he refused to take the oath that he met the property qualification to be elected
- ^ Bramston was initially declared re-elected in 1715, but on petition he was declared not to have been duly elected and his opponent, Tufnell, was seated in his place
- ^ On petition, Gaskell was adjudged not to have been duly elected, and his opponent, Western, was seated in his place
- ^ Peacocke changed his name to Sandford during the Parliament of 1865
- ^ Maldon 2010 Results, UKPollingReport
Sources
- Robert Beatson, A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807) [1]
- D Brunton & D H Pennington, Members of the Long Parliament (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954)
- John Cannon, Parliamentary Reform 1640-1832 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1972)
- Cobbett's Parliamentary history of England, from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the year 1803 (London: Thomas Hansard, 1808) [2]
- 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)
- Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd edition ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
- Michael Kinnear, The British Voter (London: BH Batsford, Ltd, 1968)
- J Holladay Philbin, Parliamentary Representation 1832 - England and Wales (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965)
- Edward Porritt and Annie G Porritt, The Unreformed House of Commons (Cambridge University Press, 1903)
- Lewis Namier, The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III (2nd edition - London: St Martin's Press, 1961)
- Lewis Namier & John Brooke, The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1754-1790 (London: HMSO, 1964)
- T H B Oldfield, The Representative History of Great Britain and Ireland (London: Baldwin, Cradock & Joy, 1816)
- Henry Pelling, Social Geography of British Elections 1885-1910 (London: Macmillan, 1967)
- Robert Waller, The Almanac of British Politics (1st edition, London: Croom Helm, 1983)
- Frederic A Youngs, jr, Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol I (London: Royal Historical Society, 1979)
Categories:- Parliamentary constituencies in Essex
- United Kingdom Parliamentary constituencies disestablished in 1983
- United Kingdom Parliamentary constituencies established in 1332
- United Kingdom Parliamentary constituencies established in 2010
- Politics of Maldon (district)
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