South Gloucestershire (UK Parliament constituency)

South Gloucestershire
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1950–1983
Number of members	one
Replaced by	Northavon, Bristol North West, Stroud[1]

South Gloucestershire,^[2][3] also known as Gloucestershire South,^[4] was a parliamentary constituency in Gloucestershire. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

The constituency was created for the 1950 general election, and abolished for the 1983 general election.

Boundaries

1950-1955: The Urban Districts of Kingswood and Mangotsfield, and the Rural Districts of Sodbury and Warmley.

1955-1974: The Rural Districts of Sodbury, Thornbury, and Warmley. Thornbury Rural District was added to the seat from the abolished Stroud and Thornbury constituency.^[5]

1974-1983: The Rural Districts of Sodbury and Thornbury.^[6] Warmley Rural District was transferred to the new Kingswood constituency.

Predecessor and successor constituencies

From 1885 to 1950 much of the area of the constituency was represented by the Thornbury constituency,^[7] and from 1950 to 1955 by Stroud and Thornbury.^[8]

When the constituency was abolished in 1983, 80.54% of it was transferred to a new constituency of Northavon, 14.75% to the pre-existing Bristol North West and 4.70% to the pre-existing Stroud.^[1]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1950	Anthony Crosland	Labour
	1955	Sir Frederick Corfield	Conservative
	Feb 1974	John Cope	Conservative
1983		constituency abolished: see Northavon

Elections

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: South Gloucestershire ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Charles Anthony Raven Crosland	24,458	48.80
	Conservative	B. Davidson	18,320	36.55	N/A
	Liberal	Stafford Vaughan Stepney Howard	7,342	14.65	N/A
Majority			6,138	12.25	N/A
Turnout				86.88	N/A
	Labour win

General Election 1951: South Gloucestershire ^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Charles Anthony Raven Crosland	27,808	55.31
	Conservative	Mrs. Marjorie Hickling	22,470	44.69
Majority			5,338	10.62
Turnout				86.25
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1955: South Gloucestershire ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Frederick Vernon Corfield	21,760	52.06
	Labour	Edward S.D. Bishop	20,034	47.94
Majority			1,726	4.13
Turnout				81.68
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General Election 1959: South Gloucestershire ^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Frederick Vernon Corfield	26,168	54.82
	Labour	Joseph Holland	21,567	45.18
Majority			4,601	9.64
Turnout				83.71
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1964: South Gloucestershire ^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Frederick Vernon Corfield	26,504	45.77
	Labour	Michael Francis Lovell Cocks	22,790	39.36
	Liberal	Brian S Sherriff	8,611	14.87
Majority			3,714	6.41
Turnout				84.19
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1966: South Gloucestershire ^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Frederick Vernon Corfield	28,224	45.20
	Labour	Michael Francis Lovell Cocks	26,800	42.92
	Liberal	Eric Cleaton Hart	7,421	11.88
Majority			1,424	2.28
Turnout				84.36
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: South Gloucestershire ^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Frederick Vernon Corfield	35,045	50.94
	Labour	Michael George Dalling	26,067	37.89
	Liberal	Anthony Lambert	7,680	11.16
Majority			8,978	13.05
Turnout				78.55
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election, February 1974: South Gloucestershire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	John Cope	27,602	41.81
	Labour	Oonagh McDonald	21,143	32.02
	Liberal	DC Short	17,276	26.17
Majority			6,459	9.78
Turnout				83.86
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election, October 1974: South Gloucestershire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	John Cope	26,581	42.04
	Labour	Oonagh McDonald	22,235	35.17
	Liberal	DC Short	14,412	26.17
Majority			4,346	6.87
Turnout				79.59
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1979: South Gloucestershire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	John Cope	35,627	51.16
	Labour	MK Mullins	20,465	29.39
	Liberal	G Conrad	12,850	18.45
	Ecology	D Kerridge	695	1.00
Majority			15,162	21.77
Turnout				82.05
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

1. "'Gloucestershire South', Feb 1974 - May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
2. "House of Commons debates: Members Sworn". Hansard. 870. 7 March 1974. Retrieved 10 May 2016. John Cope sworn in for "South Gloucestershire"
3. "List of Members Returned to Serve in Parliament at the General Election, 1959" (PDF). The London Gazette. 13 October 1959. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
4. "Gloucestershire South 1950-1983". Hansard. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
5. REPRESENTATION OF THE PEOPLE (PARLIAMENTARY CONSTITUENCIES), Hansard, 16 December 1954
6. Hansard, 14 July 1969
7. "Boundary Map of Gloucestershire Thornbury PDivCon". Vision of Britain Through Time. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
8. "Boundary Map of Stroud and Thornbury CCon". Vision of Britain Through Time. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
9. British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
10. British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
11. British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
12. F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1973
13. F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1973
14. British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
15. British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "G" (part 1)