Farnham (UK Parliament constituency)

Farnham was a constituency covering the south-westernmost and various western parts of Surrey for the House of Commons of the UK Parliament, 1918—1983. Its main successor was South West Surrey. The seat was formed with north-eastern territory including Woking from Chertsey in 1918 and shed the Woking area to form its own seat in 1950. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP). During its 65-year span its voters elected three Conservatives successively.

Farnham
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1918–1983
Number of members	one
Replaced by	Woking formed from part of Farnham: 1950 Chertsey gained Bagshot R.D.: 1950 South West Surrey (remaining parts in 1983) Guildford (Seale and Tongham returned to)[1]
Created from	South Western Division of Surrey (also known as Guildford) (western and south-western parts of) (and later additions from) Chertsey (southern parts of)

Boundaries

The constituency took its name from the town of Farnham and included other towns and a large agricultural and forested hills area with significant sandy heathland rising up to the north. The boundaries were altered at each redistribution of parliamentary seats, reflecting the increase in population of the area and thus the splitting of Western Surrey (or Guildford) into South West Surrey or Guildford and North West Surrey, followed by South West Surrey, most of Surrey Heath, and Guildford covering this part of Surrey, the arrangement by 1983.[2]

1918–1950

The constituency was created by the Representation of the People Act 1918 as one of seven county constituencies within Surrey.[3]

The rural district of Farnham (based on the Hundred before it); in the Guildford Rural District — the civil parish Pirbright; and the Farnham, Frimley (including Camberley), Windlesham,[n 1][4] and Woking urban districts.

1950–1983

Rural Surrey had ten county constituencies in 1950 — Farnham was defined as comprising:[5][n 2]

• The borough of Godalming;
• the urban districts of Farnham and Haslemere;
• the parish of Seale in the rural district of Guildford (including Tongham)
• Parishes in the rural district of Hambledon: Chiddingfold, Dockenfield, Elstead, Frensham, Peper Harow, Thursley, Tilford and Witley.

To enable the above, Godalming and Haslemere were transferred from Guildford — Woking, Windlesham and Pirbright were transferred to the new seat of Woking.

The constituency was unaltered at the redistribution of 1974 which coincided with a major local government consolidation, the main local authority approximating to the seat becoming Waverley (district).[n 3][2]

Type for returning officer and election expenses

The seat was a county constituency.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1918	Sir Arthur Samuel	Conservative
	1937 by-election	Sir Godfrey Nicholson	Conservative
	1966	Maurice Macmillan	Conservative
	1983	constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1910s

General election 1918: Farnham[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Unionist	Arthur Samuel	7,558	52.5
	Labour	John Hayes	3,534	24.6
	Independent Unionist	John Henry Harris	3,289	22.9
Majority			4,024	27.9
Turnout			14,381	44.0
Registered electors			32,720
	Unionist win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Farnham[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Arthur Samuel	14,557	73.3	+20.8
	Labour	Thomas Humphrey Marshall	5,312	26.7	+2.1
Majority			9,245	46.6	+18.7
Turnout			19,869	56.8	+12.8
Registered electors			34,980
	Unionist hold		Swing	+9.4

General election 1923: Farnham[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Arthur Samuel	12,534	59.6	−13.7
	Liberal	Christopher a’Beckett Williams	4,979	23.7	New
	Labour	Anne Corner	3,520	16.7	−10.0
Majority			7,555	35.9	−10.7
Turnout			21,033	59.6	+2.8
Registered electors			35,314
	Unionist hold		Swing	−1.9

General election 1924: Farnham[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Arthur Samuel	18,272	79.8	+20.2
	Labour	Anne Corner	4,613	20.2	+3.5
Majority			13,659	59.6	+23.7
Turnout			22,885	63.1	+3.5
Registered electors			36,255
	Unionist hold		Swing	+8.4

General election 1929: Farnham[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Arthur Samuel	21,050	59.8	−20.0
	Liberal	John William Todd	9,268	26.3	New
	Labour	Francis Palmer	4,866	13.8	−6.4
Majority			11,782	33.6	−26.0
Turnout			35,184	66.9	+3.8
Registered electors			52,597
	Unionist hold		Swing	−6.8

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Farnham[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Arthur Samuel	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Conservative hold

1935 United Kingdom general election: Farnham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Arthur Samuel	28,211	78.5	N/A
	Labour	Donald M. Fraser	7,725	21.5	New
Majority			20,486	57.0	N/A
Turnout			35,936
	Conservative hold		Swing

1937 Farnham by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Godfrey Nicholson	20,580	66.7	-11.8
	Labour	Peter Pain	7,792	25.3	+3.8
	Ind. Conservative	Linton Thorp	2,327	7.5	New
	Independent	Edward Miller	154	0.5	New
Majority			12,788	41.4	-15.6
Turnout			30,853
	Conservative hold		Swing

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 and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected;

• Conservative: Godfrey Nicholson
• Labour: C W Gittins[7]

Elections in the 1940s

General election 1945: Farnham[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Godfrey Nicholson	31,557	61.19
	Labour	Thomas W Gittins	20,013	38.81
Majority			11,544	22.38
Turnout			51,570	68.72
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Farnham[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Godfrey Nicholson	21,665	55.70
	Labour	Eric Charles Neate	12,972	33.35
	Liberal	F. P. Shannon	4,262	10.96	New
Majority			8,693	22.35
Turnout			38,899	83.11
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1951: Farnham[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Godfrey Nicholson	24,239	63.32
	Labour	Charles Leonard James	14,041	36.68
Majority			10,198	26.64
Turnout			38,280	80.44
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1955: Farnham[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Godfrey Nicholson	23,717	64.93
	Labour	John Stuart Paul Davey	12,811	35.07
Majority			10,906	29.86
Turnout			36,528	76.32
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1959: Farnham[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Godfrey Nicholson	23,538	59.03
	Labour	Joseph Greenwood Turner	9,800	24.58
	Liberal	Dennis William Saunders	6,538	16.40	New
Majority			13,738	34.45
Turnout			39,876	79.36
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Farnham[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Godfrey Nicholson	21,382	51.20
	Liberal	Dennis William Saunders	11,876	28.44
	Labour	Kenneth Frank Urwin	8,500	20.36
Majority			9,506	22.76
Turnout			41,758	78.71
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1966: Farnham[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Maurice Macmillan	21,028	48.84
	Liberal	Dennis William Saunders	12,036	27.96
	Labour	Leslie G R Pinchen	9,988	23.20
Majority			8,922	20.88
Turnout			43,052	80.00
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Farnham[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Maurice Macmillan	25,113	56.87
	Liberal	Piers Millar Odger Stonham	10,178	23.05
	Labour	Leslie G R Pinchen	8,870	20.09
Majority			14,935	33.82
Turnout			44,161	73.59
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election February 1974: Farnham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Maurice Macmillan	25,686	49.87
	Liberal	F Davies	19,224	37.32
	Labour	HC Hodge	6,347	12.32
	Independent	N Dane	251	0.49	New
Majority			6,462	12.55
Turnout			51,508	82.96
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election October 1974: Farnham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Maurice Macmillan	23,885	49.95
	Liberal	P Davies	15,626	32.68
	Labour	HC Hodge	8,305	17.37
Majority			8,259	17.27
Turnout			47,816	76.22
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1979: Farnham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Maurice Macmillan	30,127	58.32
	Liberal	P Raynes	13,658	26.44
	Labour	PW Davies	7,497	14.51
	Independent - Citizens Protest Vote	SL Bradford	204	0.39	New
	United Country Party	R Peel	170	0.33	New
Majority			16,469	31.88
Turnout			51,656	79.95
	Conservative hold		Swing

See also

 Surrey portal  Politics portal

Notes and references

References

1. "'Farnham', Feb 1974 - May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
2. Youngs, Frederic A, Jr. (1979). Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol.I: Southern England. London: Royal Historical Society. pp. 765–766. ISBN 0-901050-67-9.
3. Representation of the People Act 1918 c.64, Ninth Schedule, Redistribution of Seats
4. "Bagshot U.D. - units covering this place" Vision of Britain - University of Portsmouth and others. Accessed 2017-06-04
5. Representation of the People Act 1948 c.65, Schedule 1: Parliamentary Constituencies
6. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
7. Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939
8. British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
9. F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1973

Notes

1. As such including the later Bagshot Rural District, the contents of which were transferred to Chertsey in 1950
2. Constituencies in Great Britain were redrawn by the Representation of the People Act 1948 leading to seats contested at the 1950 general election.
3. Equally no changes were proposed to Farnham were proposed in the Boundary Commission for England's Third periodic review of Westminster seats

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "F"