Oxford (UK Parliament constituency)

Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
County	Oxfordshire
Major settlements	Oxford
1295–1983
Number of members	1295–1885: Two 1885–1983: One
Replaced by	Oxford East and Oxford West and Abingdon[1]

Oxford was a parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom. It comprised the city of Oxford in the county of Oxfordshire, and elected two Members of Parliament from its creation in 1295 until 1885 when its representation was reduced to one member.

In 1983, Oxford was split into two separate constituencies: Oxford West and Abingdon and Oxford East.

Members of Parliament

1295-1640

Parliament	First member	Second member
1379	Edmund Kenyan [2]	Thomas Somerset [3]
1380 (Nov)	Edmund Kenyan [2]
1381	Edmund Kenyan [2]
1382 (May)	Edmund Kenyan [2]
1385	Edmund Kenyan [2]
1386	Edmund Kenyan	Thomas Houkyn[4]
1388 (Feb)	John Hickes	Thomas Somerset[4]
1388 (Sep)	John Shawe	Thomas Baret[4]
1390 (Jan)	Richard Garston	Alan Lekensfeld[4]
1390 (Nov)	Edmund Kenyan	Adam de la River[4]
1391	Edmund Kenyan	John Ottworth[4]
1393	Richard Garston	John Merston[4]
1394	Edmund Kenyan	John Forster[4]
1395	John Ludlow	Adam de la River[4]
1397 (Jan)	Walter Benham	Adam de la River[4]
1397 (Sep)	John Ottworth	Adam de la River[4]
1399	John Spicer	John Burbridge[4]
1401	Thomas Forsthull	Adam de la River[4]
1402	Walter Benham	John Spicer[4]
1404 (Jan)	Thomas Coventre	John Spicer[4]
1404 (Oct)	John Merston	Michael Salisbury[4]
1406	John Ottworth	Thomas Cowley[4]
1407	Thomas Coventre	Hugh Benet[4]
1410	Thomas Coventre	Hugh Benet[4]
1411
1413 (Feb)
1413 (May)	Thomas Coventre	Hugh Benet[4]
1414 (Apr)	John Shawe II	Walter Colet[4]
1414 (Nov)	Thomas Coventre	John Merston[4]
1415
1416 (Mar)	Thomas Coventre	William Brampton[4]
1416 (Oct)
1417	Thomas Coventre	Hugh Benet[4]
1419	Thomas Coventre	William Brampton[4]
1420	Thomas Coventre	William Offord[4]
1421 (May)	Thomas Coventre	William Brampton[4]
1421 (Dec)	John Quarane	William Offord[4]
1491	Robert Caxton[5]
1510-1523	No names known[6]
1529	John Latton	William Fleming[6]
1536	?John Latton	?William Fleming[6]
1539	Thomas Denton	Richard Gunter[6]
1542	?
1545	?
1547	Ralph Flaxney	Edward Frere[6]
1553 (Mar)	Christopher Edmonds	Edward Glynton[6]
1553 (Oct)	John Wayte	Thomas Williams[6]
1554 (Apr)	Thomas Mallinson	Edward Glynton[6]
1554 (Nov)	John Wayte	William Tylcock[6]
1555	John Wayte	William Pantre[6]
1558	John Barton	Richard Williams[6]
1559 (Jan)	Thomas Wood	Roger Taylor[7]
1562 (Dec)	William Page	Thomas Wood[7]
1571	Edward Knollys	William Frere[7]
1572 (Apr)	Edward Knollys, died and replaced 1576 by Francis Knollys	William Owen, died and replaced Jan 1581 by Edward Norris[7]
1584 (Oct)	Francis Knollys	William Noble[7]
1586 (Sep)	Francis Knollys	George Calfield[7]
1588 (Oct)	Francis Knollys	George Calfield[7]
1593	Sir Edmund Carey	George Calfield[7]
1597 (Aug)	Anthony Bacon	George Calfield[7]
1601 (Sep)	Sir Francis Leigh	George Calfield[7]
1604	Francis Leigh	Thomas Wentworth
1614	Sir John Astley	Thomas Wentworth
1621-1622	Sir John Brooke	Thomas Wentworth
1624	John Whistler	Thomas Wentworth
1625	John Whistler	Thomas Wentworth
1626	John Whistler	Thomas Wentworth
1628	John Whistler	Thomas Wentworth
1629–1640	No Parliaments convened

1640-1885

Year		First member	First party		Second member	Second party
April 1640		Viscount Andover[8]	Royalist		John Whistler	Royalist
1640 (Nov)		John Smith	Royalist
1644	Smith and Whistler disabled from sitting - both seats vacant
1645		John Nixon			John Doyley
December 1648	Nixon and Doyley excluded in Pride's Purge - both seats vacant
1653	Oxford was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament
1654		Bulstrode Whitelocke[9]		Oxford had only one seat in the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate
1654		Richard Croke
1656		Richard Croke
January 1659					Major Unton Croke	Parliamentarian
May 1659		Not represented in the restored Rump
April 1660		The Viscount Falkland			James Huxley
1661		Richard Croke			Brome Whorwood
1679		William Wright
1685		Hon. Henry Bertie			Sir George Pudsey
1689					Sir Edward Norreys
1695		Thomas Rowney
1701					Francis Norreys
1706					Sir John Walter
March 1722		Thomas Rowney, junior
October 1722					Francis Knollys
1734					Matthew Skinner
1739					James Herbert
1740					Philip Herbert
1749					The Viscount Wenman
1754					Hon. Robert Lee
1759		Sir Thomas Stapleton
1768		George Nares			Lieutenant-Colonel the Hon. William Harcourt
1771		Lord Robert Spencer
1774					Captain the Hon. Peregrine Bertie
June 1790		Francis Burton
December 1790					Arthur Annesley
1796					Henry Peters
1802					John Atkyns-Wright
1807					John Ingram Lockhart
1812		John Atkyns-Wright
1818					Frederick St John
1820		Charles Wetherell			John Ingram Lockhart
1826		James Haughton Langston	Whig
1830					William Hughes Hughes
1832					Thomas Stonor[10]	Whig
1833					William Hughes Hughes	Whig
1835		Donald Maclean	Conservative			Conservative
1837					William Erle	Whig
1841					James Haughton Langston	Whig
1847		(Sir) William Page Wood	Whig
1853		Edward Cardwell	Peelite
March 1857		Charles Neate[11][12]	Whig
July 1857		Edward Cardwell	Peelite
1859			Liberal			Liberal
1863					Charles Neate	Liberal
1868					(Sir) William Vernon Harcourt	Liberal
1874		Alexander William Hall	Conservative
April 1880		Joseph William Chitty	Liberal
May 1880					Alexander William Hall[13]	Conservative
1881				Writ suspended - seat vacant
September 1881	Writ suspended - seat vacant[14]
1885	Representation reduced to one member

1885-1983

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Alexander William Hall	Conservative
	1892	Sir George Tomkyns Chesney	Conservative
	1895	Arthur Annesley	Conservative
	1917 by-election	John Arthur Ransome Marriott	Coalition Conservative
	1922	Frank Gray	Liberal
	1924 by-election	Robert Croft Bourne	Unionist
	1938 by-election	Quintin Hogg	Conservative
	1950 by-election	Lawrence Turner	Conservative
	1959	Montague Woodhouse	Conservative
	1966	Evan Luard	Labour
	1970	Montague Woodhouse	Conservative
	Oct 1974	Evan Luard	Labour
	1979	John Patten	Conservative
	1983	constituency abolished: see Oxford East & Oxford West and Abingdon

Elections

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1918: Oxford ^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	John Arthur Ransome Marriott	9,805	70.7
	Liberal	Capt. George Herbert Higgins	4,057	29.3
Majority			5,748	41.4
Turnout				55.2
	Unionist hold		Swing

• endorsed by the Coalition Government.

Elections in the 1920s

Frank Gray

General Election 1922: Oxford ^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Francis James Gray	12,489	59.0	+2.97
	Unionist	John Arthur Ransome Marriott	8,683	41.0	-29.7
Majority			3,806	18.0	59.4
Turnout				83.8
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing	+29.7

General Election 1923: Oxford ^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Francis James Gray	12,311	56.1	-2.9
	Unionist	Robert Croft Bourne	9,618	43.9	+2.9
Majority			2,693	12.2	-5.8
Turnout			21,929	83.5	-0.3
	Liberal hold		Swing	-2.9

CB Fry

Oxford by-election, 1924^[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Robert Croft Bourne	10,079	47.8	+3.9
	Liberal	Charles Burgess Fry	8,237	39.1	-17.0
	Labour	Kenneth Martin Lindsay	2,769	13.1	N/A
Majority			1,842	8.7%	N/A
Turnout			21,085	80.3
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+10.5

General Election 1924: Oxford ^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Robert Croft Bourne	12,196	57.3
	Liberal	Dr Robert Oswald Moon	6,836	32.1
	Labour	F Ludlow	2,260	10.6
Majority			5,360	25.2
Turnout				78.5
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1929: Oxford ^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Robert Croft Bourne	14,638	52.5	-4.8
	Liberal	Robert Oswald Moon	8,581	30.7	-1.4
	Labour	John Lyttelton Etty	4,694	16.8	+6.2
Majority			6,057	21.8	-3.4
Turnout				72.2	-6.3
	Unionist hold		Swing	-1.7

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931: Oxford ^[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Robert Croft Bourne	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Conservative hold		Swing	n/a

General Election 1935: Oxford ^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Robert Croft Bourne	16,306	62.8	N/A
	Labour	Patrick Chrestien Gordon Walker	9,661	37.2	N/A
Majority			6,645	25.6	N/A
Turnout			25,967	67.3	N/A
	Conservative hold		Swing

Oxford by-election, 1938^[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Quintin McGarel Hogg	15,797	56.1	-6.7
	Independent Progressive	Alexander Dunlop Lindsay	12,363	43.9	N/A
Majority			3,434	12.2	-13.4
Turnout			28,160	76.3	+9.0
	Conservative hold		Swing	-6.7

Elections in the 1940s

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 Autumn 1939, the following candidates had been selected;

• Conservative: Quintin Hogg
• Labour: Patrick Gordon Walker
• Liberal: Dr. William Brown

General Election 1945: Oxford ^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Capt. Quintin McGarel Hogg	14,314	45.3
	Labour	Francis Aungier Pakenham	11,451	36.2
	Liberal	Wing-Com. Anthony Norman	5,860	18.5
Majority			2,863	9.1
Turnout				66.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: Oxford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Quintin McGarel Hogg	27,508	46.85
	Labour	Lady Pakenham	23,902	40.71
	Liberal	Donald William Tweddle	6,807	11.59
	Communist	E Keeling	494	0.84
Majority			3,606	6.14
Turnout				84.89
	Conservative hold		Swing

Oxford by-election, 1950^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Henry Frederic Lawrence Turner	27,583	57.5
	Labour	Mr S K Lewis	20,385	42.5
Majority			7,198	15.0
Turnout			47,968
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1951: Oxford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Henry Frederic Lawrence Turner	32,367	56.00
	Labour	George H Elvin	25,427	44.00
Majority			6,940	12.01
Turnout				81.98
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Oxford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Henry Frederic Lawrence Turner	27,708	52.30
	Labour	George H Elvin	19,930	37.62
	Liberal	Ivor Roland Morgan Davies	5,336	10.07
Majority			7,778	14.68
Turnout				78.22
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1959: Oxford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Christopher Montague Woodhouse	26,798	50.95
	Labour	Leslie N Anderton	18,310	34.81
	Liberal	Ivor Roland Morgan Davies	7,491	14.24
Majority			8,488	16.14
Turnout				78.91
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1964: Oxford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Christopher Montague Woodhouse	22,212	42.89
	Labour	David Evan Trant Luard	20,783	40.13
	Liberal	Ivor Roland Morgan Davies	8,797	16.99
Majority			1,429	2.76
Turnout				77.29
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1966: Oxford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	David Evan Trant Luard	24,412	46.45
	Conservative	Christopher Montague Woodhouse	21,987	41.84
	Liberal	Alexander DC Peterson	6,152	11.71
Majority			2,425	4.61
Turnout				79.26
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: Oxford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Christopher Montague Woodhouse	24,873	46.96
	Labour	David Evan Trant Luard	22,989	43.40
	Liberal	Peter H Reeves	5,103	9.63
Majority			1,884	3.56
Turnout				74.54
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General Election, February 1974: Oxford ^[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Christopher Montague Woodhouse	23,967	39.81
	Labour	David Evan Trant Luard	23,146	38.44
	Liberal	MS Butler	13,094	21.75
Majority			821	1.36
Turnout			60,204	78.55

General Election, October 1974: Oxford^[27]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	David Evan Trant Luard	23,359	42.71
	Conservative	Christopher Montague Woodhouse	22,323	40.82
	Liberal	MS Butler	8,374	15.31
	National Front	Ian Hugh Myddleton Anderson	572	1.05
	Independent	B Smith	64	0.12
Majority			1,036	1.89
Turnout			54,691	70.78

General Election 1979: Oxford^[28]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	John Haggitt Charles Patten	27,459	45.3
	Labour	David Evan Trant Luard	25,962	42.83
	Liberal	Dermot Roaf	6,234	10.28
	Oxford Ecological Movement	Anthony Cheeke	887	1.46
	Independent	B Smith	72	0.12
Majority			1,497	2.47
Turnout			60,610	74.18

References

1. "'Oxford', Feb 1974 - May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
2. http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1386-1421/member/kenyan-edmund-1414
3. http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1386-1421/member/somerset-thomas
4. "History of Parliament". Retrieved 2011-09-28.
5. The English Parliaments of Henry VII. Retrieved 2012-03-17.
6. "History of Parliament". Retrieved 2011-09-28.
7. "History of Parliament". Retrieved 2011-09-28.
8. Andover was summoned to the Lords by writ of acceleration in his father's barony as Lord Howard of Charlton before the House of Commons had met
9. Whitelocke was returned for four different constituencies; he chose to sit for Buckinghamshire
10. Stonor's election was declared void on petition and a by-election was held
11. Neate's election was declared void on petition and a by-election was held
12. Neate was elected for Oxford in 1863 and sat until 1868: ODNB article by A. C. Howe, ‘Neate, Charles (1806–1879)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 accessed 28 Dec 2009
13. Hall's election was declared void, the writ was suspended and a Royal Commission appointed to investigate
14. Chitty's election in April 1880 had not been questioned, but when he was appointed a judge and therefore vacated his seat, no election was held to replace him
15. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949, Craig
16. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949, Craig
17. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949, Craig
18. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949, Craig
19. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949, Craig
20. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949, Craig
21. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949, Craig
22. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949, Craig
23. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949, Craig
24. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949, Craig
25. http://web.archive.org/web/20120325095636/http://www.by-elections.co.uk/50.html
26. http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge74a/i16.htm
27. http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge74b/i16.htm
28. http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge79/i16.htm

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "O"
• Election results, 1951–1979
• Robert Beatson, A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807)
• 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)
• F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989)
• Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
• Maija Jansson (ed.), Proceedings in Parliament, 1614 (House of Commons) (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1988)
• J. E. Neale, The Elizabethan House of Commons (London: Jonathan Cape, 1949)

Coordinates: 51°45′N 1°16′W / 51.75°N 1.26°W