Wells (UK Parliament constituency)

Wells
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Wells in Somerset.
Location of Somerset within England.
County	Somerset
Electorate	79,989 (December 2010)[1]
Current constituency
Created	1885
Member of parliament	James Heappey (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	Mid Somerset and East Somerset
1295–1868
Number of members	Two
Type of constituency	Borough constituency
Replaced by	Mid Somerset
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	South West England

Wells is a constituency^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by James Heappey of the Conservative Party.^{[n 2]}

History

The original two-member borough constituency was created in 1295, and abolished by the Reform Act 1867 with effect from the 1868 general election. Its revival saw a more comparable size of electorate across the country and across Somerset, with a large swathe of the county covered by this new seat, under the plans of the third Reform Act and the connected Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 which was enacted the following year.

Political history

The seat was largely Conservative-held during the 20th century and has not seen a Labour MP in its history. The only other party to have been represented is the Liberal Democrats or their predecessor, the Liberal Party, who achieved a marginal victory in 2010, see marginal seat.

Prominent frontbenchers

Sir William Hayter was chief government whip of the Commons under three Liberal Prime Ministers governing from the Lords, (Lord John) Russell, Aberdeen and Palmerston.

So too in this role was Lord Hylton from 1916 until 1922 alongside the Lord Colebrooke in the Conservative-Liberal National coalition.

Robert Sanders was Deputy Chief Whip in the House of Commons, 1918–1919, and Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, 1922-1924.

Robert Boscawen was a government whip (1988-1989).

David Heathcoat-Amory was Minister for Europe (1993-1994) and later a Shadow Cabinet member (1997-2001).

Boundaries

1885-1918: The Municipal Borough of Wells, and the Sessional Divisions of Axbridge and Wells (except the civil parish of Binegar).

1918-1950: The Municipal Boroughs of Glastonbury and Wells, the Urban Districts of Shepton Mallet and Street, the Rural Districts of Shepton Mallet, Wells, and Wincanton, and in the Rural District of Frome the civil parishes of Cloford, Marston Bigot, Nunney, Wanstrow, Whatley, and Witharn Friary.

1950-1983: The Municipal Boroughs of Glastonbury and Wells, the Urban Districts of Frome, Shepton Mallet, and Street, and the Rural Districts of Frome, Shepton Mallet, Wells, and Wincanton.

1983-2010: The District of Mendip wards of Ashwick, Avalon, Chilcompton and Ston Easton, Ebbor, Glastonbury St Benedict's, Glastonbury St Edmund's, Glastonbury St John's, Glastonbury St Mary's, Moor, Nedge, Pylcombe, Rodney, Sheppey, Shepton Mallet, Street North, Street South, Wells Central, Wells St Cuthbert's, and Wells St Thomas, and the District of Sedgemoor wards of Axbridge, Axe Vale, Berrow, Brent, Burnham North, Burnham South, Cheddar, Highbridge, Mark, Shipham, and Wedmore.

2010–present: The District of Mendip wards of Ashwick and Ston Easton, Avalon, Chilcompton, Glastonbury St Benedict’s, Glastonbury St Edmund’s, Glastonbury St John’s, Glastonbury St Mary’s, Knowle, Moor, Nedge, Pylcombe, Rodney and Priddy, St Cuthbert Out North and West, Shepton East, Shepton West, Street North, Street South, Street West, Wells Central, Wells St Cuthbert’s, and Wells St Thomas, and the District of Sedgemoor wards of Axbridge, Axe Vale, Berrow, Brent North, Burnham North, Burnham South, Cheddar and Shipham, Highbridge, Knoll, and Wedmore and Mark.

Constituency profile

Aside from energy, transportation, retail and distribution which are major sectors, agriculture and tourism are still important areas to this central and quite quintessential part of Somerset which includes the coastal resort of Burnham-on-Sea, the city of Wells with its cathedral, and notable natural landmarks such as the Cheddar Gorge and Glastonbury Tor. The site of the Glastonbury Festival also lies within this seat, causing a major influx of visitors in late June.

Workless claimants who were registered jobseekers were in November 2012 significantly lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 2.1% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian.^[2]

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 1920s

Arthur Hobhouse

General Election 1929: Wells

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Anthony Muirhead	13,026	43.6	-9.0
	Liberal	Arthur Hobhouse	12,382	41.4	+5.3
	Labour	R. D. Q. Davies	4,472	15.0	+3.7
Majority			644	2.2	-14.3
Turnout				82.5	+0.3
	Unionist hold		Swing	-7.2

General Election 1924: Wells

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Robert Sanders	12,642	52.6
	Liberal	Arthur Hobhouse	8,668	36.1
	Labour	Wilfred Thomas Young	2,726	11.3	+3.7
Majority
Turnout				82.2
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing

General Election 6 December 1923: Wells

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Arthur Hobhouse	10,818	48.2	+14.8
	Unionist	Robert Bruford	9,909	44.2	-3.5
	Labour	Charles Henry Whitlow	1,713	7.6	-11.3
Majority			909	4.0	18.3
Turnout				79.1	+1.3
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing	+9.1

General Election 1922: Wells

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Robert Bruford	10,210	47.7
	Liberal	Arthur Hobhouse	7,156	33.4
	Labour	Len Smith	4,048	18.9
Majority			3,054	14.2
Turnout				77.8
	Unionist hold		Swing

Election results 1885-1918

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1900: Wells ^[26][29][28]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Robert Edmund Dickinson	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

Silcock

General Election 1906: Wells ^[26][28]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Thomas Ball Silcock	5,146	51.9	N/A
	Conservative	Robert Edmund Dickinson	4,761	48.1	N/A
Majority			385	3.8	N/A
Turnout			9,907	84.5	N/A
Registered electors			11,725
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1910s

General Election January 1910: Wells ^[30][28]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	George Sandys	6,167	55.9	+7.8
	Liberal	Thomas Ball Silcock	4,871	44.1	−7.8
Majority			1,296	11.8	N/A
Turnout			11,038	87.3	+2.8
Registered electors			12,642
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+7.8

General Election December 1910: Wells ^[30][28]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	George Sandys	6,178	60.1	+4.2
	Liberal	Arthur Lane Wills	4,094	39.9	−4.2
Majority			2,084	20.2	+8.4
Turnout			10,272	81.3	−6.0
Registered electors			12,642
	Conservative hold		Swing	+4.2

General Election 1914/15:

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

• Unionist: George Sandys
• Liberal: Charles Conybeare

General Election 1918: Wells

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
C	Unionist	Harry Greer	9,786	55.8	−4.3
	Liberal	John Coleby Morland	6,935	39.6	−0.3
	National	G.C.S. Hodgson	804	4.6	N/A
Majority			2,851	16.2	−4.0
Turnout			17,525	65.0	−16.3
Registered electors			26,951
	Unionist hold		Swing	−2.0
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Election results 1832-1868

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Somerset

Notes and references

Notes

References

Sources

• Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
• D Brunton & D H Pennington, Members of the Long Parliament (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954)
• Cobbett's Parliamentary history of England, from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the year 1803 (London: Thomas Hansard, 1808)
• Henry Stooks Smith, The Parliaments of England from 1715 to 1847, Volume 2 (London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co, 1845)