East Essex (UK Parliament constituency)

East Essex
Former County constituency
for the House of Commons
County Essex
1868–1885
Number of members Two
Replaced by Saffron Walden (east part of), Maldon, Harwich, Colchester, South East Essex
Created from North Essex (6 hundreds of)
South Essex (took Dengie hundred away from)

East Essex was a county constituency in the county of Essex, which returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the bloc vote system.

Notes on status

Its county constituency (CC) status at the time determined its sub-category of eligible male electorate — see parliamentary franchise in the United Kingdom 1885–1918. Today the CC versus borough constituency distinction is trivial as it increases permitted election expenses marginally and changes the rank of the returning officer at the count of votes.

Creation, boundaries and extinguishment

It was created by the Reform Act 1867 for the 1868 general election as one of three compass-point divisions of Essex, complementing the borough seats; as the south division shed approximately half of its one half of the county to other seats and the north county seat was abolished - divided among newly-created East Essex and West Essex dual-member constituencies.

It was defined as North East Essex at first.[1] The place for "holding of courts for election of members" from 1867 became Braintree under the 1867 Act.[1] Its composition was the ancient hundreds (chief places mentioned):-

  • Hinckford (Foxearth and Halstead to Braintree)
  • Lexden (extends from Dedham to Colchester to Coggeshall)
  • Tendring (Brightlingsea to Clacton to Harwich)
  • Witham (Witham)
  • Winstree (Witley) (equivalent to a half-hundred)
  • Thurstable (Tollesbury to Great Totham) (equivalent to a half-hundred)
  • Dengie (Maldon to Burnham and Tillingham)


Under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 it was abolished for the 1885 general election, when it was divided into new and revised single-member constituencies.[2]

Members of Parliament

Election1st Member1st Party2nd Member2nd Party
1868 James Round Conservative Samuel Ruggles-Brise Conservative
1883 by-election Charles Hedley Strutt Conservative
1885 constituency abolished

Election results

General Election 1868: East Essex[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative James Round 2,861 28.5 N/A
Conservative Samuel Ruggles-Brise 2,816 28.1 N/A
Liberal Thomas Western 2,224 22.2 N/A
Liberal Thomas Abdy 2,134 21.3 N/A
Majority 592 5.9 N/A
Turnout 5,018 (est) 76.4 (est) N/A
Registered electors 6,564
Conservative win (new seat)
Conservative win (new seat)
General Election 1874: East Essex[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative James Round Unopposed
Conservative Samuel Ruggles-Brise Unopposed
Registered electors 6,453
Conservative hold
Conservative hold
General Election 1880: East Essex[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative James Round 2,691 35.3 N/A
Conservative Samuel Ruggles-Brise 2,561 33.6 N/A
Liberal Charles Page Wood[4] 2,369 31.1 N/A
Majority 192 2.5 N/A
Turnout 5,060 (est) 79.3 (est) N/A
Registered electors 6,380
Conservative hold Swing N/A
Conservative hold Swing N/A

Brise's resignation caused a by-election.

By-election, 25 Aug 1883: East Essex[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Charles Hedley Strutt Unopposed
Conservative hold

References

  • Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "E" (part 2)
  • Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1977]. British parliamentary election results 1832–1885 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 385. ISBN 0-900178-26-4.
Specific
  1. 1 2 "Representation of the People Act 1867, Schedule D at scanned page 26 of 36 of the Act" (PDF). Retrieved 2017-07-27.
  2. ↑ Redistribution of Seats Act 1885. https://archive.org/stream/publicgeneralac01walegoog#page/n155/mode/2up
  3. 1 2 3 4 Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (e-book)|format= requires |url= (help) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. p. 383. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.
  4. ↑ "East Essex Division". East Anglian Daily Times. 15 March 1880. p. 2. Retrieved 20 December 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive. (Subscription required (help)).


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