Chelsea (UK Parliament constituency)

Chelsea was a borough constituency, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

The constituency was created by the Reform Act 1867 for the 1868 general election, when it returned two Members of Parliament (MPs), elected by the bloc vote system of election.

Under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, with effect from the 1885 general election, its representation was reduced to one MP, elected by the first past the post system.

Boundaries and boundary changes

Chelsea (after the local government changes in 1965) is a district of Inner London, comprising for administrative purposes the southern part of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Its southern boundary is on the north bank of the River Thames. It adjoins Westminster to the east, Fulham to the west and Kensington to the north.

Before 1868 the area was represented in Parliament as part of the county constituency of Middlesex.

With the expansion westwards of the urban area around Westminster, the former village of Chelsea had by 1868 developed into a suburb large enough to be made a Parliamentary borough and given two seats in the House of Commons.

In 1885, the constituency became a single member seat. The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 defined the seat as comprising the parish of St Luke, Chelsea.

In 1889, the historic county of Middlesex was divided for administrative purposes. Chelsea became part of the administrative county of London.

In the 1918 redistribution of Parliamentary seats, the Metropolitan Borough of Chelsea (created as a local government unit in 1900) was represented by one MP.

In the redistribution which took effect in 1950, the then Brompton ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Kensington was added to the existing area of the constituency.

In 1965, the London County Council area was absorbed by the new Greater London Council. The constituency was included in a new London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, although the Parliamentary boundaries were not altered immediately.

In the redistribution that took effect in 1974, the Kensington and Chelsea, Chelsea constituency consisted of the then Brompton, Cheyne, Church, Earls Court, Hans Town, North Stanley, Redcliffe, Royal Hospital and South Stanley wards of Kensington and Chelsea.

From the 1983 redistribution, Chelsea consisted of Abingdon, Brompton, Cheyne, Church, Courtfield, Earls Court, Hans Town, North Stanley, Redcliffe, Royal Hospital and South Stanley wards of Kensington and Chelsea.

98.5% of the constituency had been in the pre-1983 Chelsea and 1.5% had been part of Kensington.

In the 1997 redistribution, Chelsea ceased to exist as a constituency. The area was included in the Kensington and Chelsea constituency, which covers the central and southern portions of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, including the centres of both Kensington and Chelsea.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1868-1885

Election	1st Member		1st Party	2nd Member		2nd Party
1868		Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke, Bt.	Liberal		Sir Henry Ainslie Hoare, Bt.	Liberal
1874					William Gordon	Conservative
1880					Joseph Firth Bottomley Firth	Liberal
1885	Redistribution of Seats Act: representation reduced to one member

MPs 1885-1997

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke, Bt.	Liberal
	1886	Charles Algernon Whitmore	Conservative
	1906	Emslie John Horniman	Liberal
	Jan. 1910	Samuel Hoare	Conservative
	Oct 1944	William Sidney	Conservative
	1945	Allan Noble	Conservative
	1959	John Litchfield	Conservative
	1966	Sir Marcus Worsley	Conservative
	Oct. 1974	Nicholas Scott	Conservative
1997		''constituency abolished: see Kensington & Chelsea

Elections

• Appointment of Dilke as President of the Local Government Board

• Constituency reduced to one seat.
• Swing: For 1885-1910 the swing figure given is the Butler Swing, defined as the average of the Conservative % gain and Liberal % loss between two elections, with the percentages being calculated on the basis of the total number of votes (including those cast for candidates other than Conservative or Liberal). A positive figure is a swing to Conservative and a negative one to Liberal.

• Boundary change

• Note (1918): Counting of votes took place on 28 December 1918
• Swing: For 1922-1992 the swing figure given is the Butler Swing, defined as the average of the Conservative % gain and Labour % loss between two elections, with the percentages being calculated on the basis of the total number of votes (including those cast for candidates other than Conservative or Labour). A positive figure is a swing to Conservative and a negative one to Labour. No swing figure is given for elections where Conservative and Labour were not first and second in both of the pair of elections.

• Creation of Hoare as 1st Viscount Templewood

• Note 1 (1945): Changes and swing calculated from 1935 to 1945.
• Note 2 (1945): Counting of votes took place on 26 July 1945
• Boundary change

• Boundary change

• Minor boundary change affecting less than 5% of electors

• Constituency abolished 1997

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Greater London
• Duration of English, British and United Kingdom Parliaments from 1660

References

• Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume I 1832-1885, edited by M. Stenton (The Harvester Press 1976)
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (The Macmillan Press 1977)
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (The Macmillan Press 1974)
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (The Macmillan Press 1977)
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Research Services 1983)
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1974-1983, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Research Services 1984)
• Britain Votes 4: British Parliamentary Election Results 1983-1987, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Research Services 1988)
• Britain Votes 5: British Parliamentary Election Results 1988-1992, compiled and edited by Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher (Parliamentary Research Services/Dartmouth Publishing 1993)
• Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Political Reference Publications 1972)
• British Parliamentary Constituencies: A Statistical Compendium, by Ivor Crewe and Anthony Fox (Faber and Faber 1984)
• Historical list of MPs: C, part 3 at Leigh Rayment's peerage pages