Tonbridge (UK Parliament constituency)

Tonbridge
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1918–February 1974
Number of members	one
Replaced by	Tonbridge and Malling

Tonbridge was a parliamentary constituency in Kent, centred on the town of Tonbridge. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

The constituency was created for the 1918 general election, replacing the previous Tunbridge constituency. It was abolished for the February 1974 general election, when it was replaced by the new Tonbridge and Malling constituency.

Boundaries

The Municipal Borough of Royal Tunbridge Wells, the Urban Districts of Southborough and Tonbridge, and the Rural District of Tonbridge.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party	Notes
	1918	Herbert Spender-Clay	Conservative	Died 1937
	1937 by-election	Sir Adrian Baillie, Bt	Conservative
	1945	Gerald Williams	Conservative	Resigned 1956
	1956 by-election	Richard Hornby	Conservative
Feb 1974		constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1918: Tonbridge^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Lt-Col. Herbert Henry Spender-Clay	14,622	68.1	n/a
	Labour	John Palmer	5,006	23.3	n/a
	Liberal	Capt. Thomas Fowell Buxton	1,851	8.6	n/a
Majority			9,616	44.8	n/a
Turnout				57.4	n/a
	Unionist win

• endorsed by the Coalition Government

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1922: Tonbridge^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Herbert Henry Spender-Clay	14,797	53.0
	Labour	Joseph Thomas Davies	7,665	27.4
	Liberal	Albert Charles Crane	5,472	19.6
Majority			7,132	25.6
Turnout				72.5
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1923: Tonbridge ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Herbert Henry Spender-Clay	13,910	49.8	-3.2
	Liberal	Albert Charles Crane	7,433	26.6	+7.0
	Labour	Joseph Thomas Davis	6,610	23.6	-3.8
Majority			6,477	23.2	-2.4
Turnout				70.6	-1.9
	Unionist hold		Swing	-5.1

General Election 1924: Tonbridge^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Herbert Henry Spender-Clay	17,392	58.2
	Labour	W F Toynbee	6,564	22.0	+1.6
	Liberal	J M Tucker	5,898	19.8
Majority
Turnout				74.3
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1929: Tonbridge^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Herbert Henry Spender-Clay	19,018	49.8	-8.4
	Liberal	Gordon Alchin	10,025	26.2	+6.4
	Labour	W F Toynbee	9,149	24.0	+2.0
Majority			8,993	23.6	-12.6
Turnout				72.3	-2.0
	Unionist hold		Swing	-7.4

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931: Tonbridge^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Rt Hon. Herbert Henry Spender-Clay	30,602	78.8
	Labour	Mrs Constance Elizabeth M Borrett	8,208	21.1
Majority			22,394	57.7
Turnout			38,810	69.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1935: Tonbridge^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Rt Hon. Herbert Henry Spender-Clay	23,460	61.3
	Labour	F M Landau	9,405	24.6
	Liberal	Ladislaus Herbert Richard Pope-Hennessy	5,403	14.1
Majority			14,055	36.7
Turnout				68.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

Tonbridge by-election, 1937^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Sir Adrian William Maxwell Baillie	18,802	56.9
	Labour	H Smith	8,147	24.7
	Liberal	Richard Borlase Matthews	6,073	18.4
Majority			10,655	32.2
Turnout				58.2
	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: Sir Adrian William Maxwell Baillie
• Liberal: Richard Borlase Matthews^[9]
• British Union: E J Crawford

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Tonbridge^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Lt-Cmdr. Gerald Wellington Williams	23,081	49.9
	Labour	Vera Dart	16,590	35.8
	Liberal	John Metcalfe	5,351	11.6
	Independent Conservative	Dr. E F St John Lyburn	1,249	2.7
Majority			6,491	14.0
Turnout				73.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: Tonbridge^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Gerald Wellington Williams	27,893	51.9
	Labour	Brian Ralph Clapham	19,525	36.3
	Liberal	Leslie Albert Willard	5,634	10.5
	Independent Conservative	Dr E F St. John Lyburn	739	1.4
Majority			8,368	15.6
Turnout			53,791	83.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1951: Tonbridge^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Gerald Wellington Williams	31,377	59.8
	Labour	A Bernard Bagnari	21,109	40.2
Majority			10,268	19.6
Turnout			52,486	80.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Tonbridge^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Gerald Wellington Williams	29,521	60.4
	Labour	Robert L Fagg	19,325	39.6
Majority			10,196	20.8
Turnout			48,846	75.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

Tonbridge by-election, 1956^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Richard Phipps Hornby	20,515	52.0
	Labour	Robert L Fagg	18,913	48.0
Majority			1,602	4.0
Turnout			39,428
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1959: Tonbridge^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Richard Phipps Hornby	31,687	59.9
	Labour	Kenneth W May	21,181	40.1
Majority			10,506	19.9
Turnout			52,868	78.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1964: Tonbridge^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Richard Phipps Hornby	27,802	49.2
	Labour	Donald Savage	19,037	33.7
	Liberal	Edward Babbs	9,682	17.1
Majority			8,765	15.5
Turnout			56,521	78.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1966: Tonbridge^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Richard Phipps Hornby	26,896	46.7
	Labour	Eric William Wolff	20,068	34.9
	Liberal	Colin Bloy	10,586	18.4
Majority			6,828	11.9
Turnout			57,550	77.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: Tonbridge^[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Richard Phipps Hornby	31,890	53.2
	Labour	Maureen Morfydd Colquhoun	17,897	29.9
	Liberal	Harry E Hill	10,167	17.0
Majority			13,993	23.3
Turnout			59,954	72.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

1. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
2. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
3. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
4. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
5. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
6. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
7. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
8. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
9. The Liberal Magazine, 1939
10. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
11. British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
12. British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
13. British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
14. F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1973
15. F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1973
16. F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1973
17. British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
18. British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "T" (part 2)