| East Dorset | |
| Type: | County |
| Parliament: | uk |
| Year: | 1885 |
| Abolished: | 1950 |
| Elects Howmany: | One |
| Previous: | Dorset, Wareham and Poole |
| Next: | Poole and North Dorset |
East Dorset is a former United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency. It was formally known as the Eastern Division of Dorset. It was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was represented by one Knight of the Shire.
Before 1885 the historic county of Dorset, in south-west England, was an undivided three-seat county constituency - see the article on the Dorset constituency. In 1885 the county was divided for Parliamentary purposes into four single-member county constituencies: this constituency, North Dorset, South Dorset and West Dorset (no borough constituencies were created in Dorset in the 1885 redistribution). Each of these divisions comprised roughly a quarter of the area of the county and returned one Member of Parliament.
In the 1918 redistribution, the four Dorset constituencies were retained, but their boundaries were redrawn. East Dorset was reduced in area to about half its former size, with the northern part of the pre-1918 seat being transferred to North Dorset and the southern part to South Dorset.
In the 1950 redistribution, this constituency disappeared. A new borough constituency of Poole was created. Wimborne Minster Urban District and the part of Wimborne and Cranborne Rural District previously in the abolished seat were transferred to the redrawn North Dorset.
1885–1918: The Municipal Borough of Poole, the Sessional Division of Wimborne, and part of the Sessional Division of Wareham.
1918–1950: The Municipal Borough of Poole, the Urban District of Wimborne Minster, the Rural District of Poole, and part of the Rural District of Wimborne and Cranborne.
| Election | Member | Party | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1885 | Pascoe Glyn | Liberal | Younger son of Lord Wolverton | |
| 1886 | George Hawkesworth Bond | Conservative | Died in 1891 | |
| 1891 by-election | Hon. Humphrey Sturt | Conservative | Succeeded as 2nd Baron Alington in 1904 | |
| 1900 | ||||
| 1904 by-election | Charles Henry Lyell | Liberal | MP for Edinburgh South from April 1910 | |
| January 1910 | Hon. Frederick Guest | Liberal | Unseated on petition in May 1910 | |
| June 1910 by-election | Henry Guest | Liberal | MP for Pembroke & Haverfordwest from Dec 1910 | |
| December 1910 | Frederick Guest | Liberal | Liberal Chief Whip 1917–1921, Secretary of State for Air 1921–1922 | |
| 1918 | Coalition Liberal | |||
| 1921 by-election | ||||
| 1922 | Gordon Hall Caine | Independent Conservative | Took Conservative Whip January 1923 | |
| 1923 | Conservative | |||
| 1929 | Alec Ewart Glassey | Liberal | ||
| 1931 | Gordon Hall Caine | Conservative | ||
| 1945 | Mervyn Wheatley | Conservative | ||
| 1950 | constituency abolished | |||
Bond's death caused a by-election.
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 from 1914 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected;
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;