Lowestoft (UK Parliament constituency)

Lowestoft was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Lowestoft in Suffolk. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system. It was more often won by the Conservative Party than not, although its representatives include two from the Liberal Party and one from the Labour Party.

History

The constituency was created for the 1885 general election, and abolished for the 1983 general election.

Boundaries

Throughout its existence, the Lowestoft constituency covered the North-Eastern corner of Suffolk and, although encompassing some rural areas, drew the majority of its voters from the towns of Lowestoft, a resort and fishing port, and Beccles; it also included the smaller towns of Bungay and Southwold, with its brewing interests.

Southwold is now in the Suffolk Coastal constituency.

The constituency established in 1885, which was formally named The Northern or Lowestoft Division of Suffolk (and was sometimes referred to simply as "Suffolk North"), also included the town of Halesworth and the rural areas in between. In the boundary changes of 1918, when the constituency became simply the "Lowestoft Division of Suffolk" or Suffolk, Lowestoft, Halesworth was transferred to the neighbouring Eye division; the constituency was now defined as consisting of the boroughs of Lowestoft, Beccles and Southwold, the Bungay and Oulton Broad Urban Districts (the latter of which was a suburb of Lowestoft itself), the Mutford and Lothingland and Wangford Rural Districts and eight parishes in Blything Rural District.

At the 1950 general election, Halesworth was once more placed in the revised Lowestoft County Constituency, but it otherwise underwent only minor changes to reflect local government reorganisation. It was now defined as consisting of Lowestoft, Beccles and Southwold boroughs, Bungay and Halesworth Urban Districts and Lothingland and Wainford Rural Districts. These boundaries were not altered in the boundary review implemented in 1974.

The constituency was revised in 1983 and renamed Waveney, as its new boundaries were now identical with those of the local government district of that name. The new constituency was very similar to the old Lowestoft one except that about 10,000 voters had been transferred to Norfolk by a movement of the county boundaries.

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

Elections in the 1890s

Elections in the 1900s

Beauchamp

Elections in the 1910s

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;

• Liberal: Sir Edward Beauchamp
• Unionist:

• denotes candidate who was endorsed by the Coalition Government.

Elections in the 1920s

Elections in the 1930s

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 from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected;

• Conservative: Pierse Loftus
• Labour: Rev A D Belden
• Liberal:

Elections in the 1940s

Elections in the 1950s

Elections in the 1960s

Elections in the 1970s

References

• Robert Waller, The Almanac of British Politics (1st edition, London: Croom Helm, 1983)
• Frederic A Youngs, jr, Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol I (London: Royal Historical Society, 1979)
• The Constitutional Year Book, 1913
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "L" (part 4)

Coordinates: 52°27′N 1°41′E / 52.45°N 1.68°E / 52.45; 1.68