Mid Surrey (UK Parliament constituency) explained

Mid Surrey
Parliament:	uk
Year:	1868
Abolished:	1885
Type:	County
Elects Howmany:	Two
Region:	England
County:	Surrey

Mid Surrey was a county constituency in Surrey, England: 1868 - 1885. It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the UK Parliament elected by the bloc vote system.

History

The constituency was created under the Second Reform Act for the 1868 general election, and abolished by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 for the 1885 general election.

Political historyThe seat elected a brief series of Conservatives.

Successor seatsThe 1885 Act took from 2 to 16 the metropolitan seats in the north-east of the county - that is the zone north-east of Wimbledon and Croydon coming from 1889 into the newly formed County of London. It also founded six single-member county constituencies (seats) to cover the rump bulk of the county, commonly referred to at the time as the non-metropolitan county. The Act thus abolished the West, Mid and East Surrey divisions double seat-areas that comprised the county. As Surrey was now split into single-representative areas this met a Chartist objective, discouraging the frequent collusion between candidates or parties which had beset multi-member constituencies (specifically plurality-at-large voting, for which "bloc(k) vote" in Britain was the term used). These six distinctly county (non-metropolitan) divisions the Act numbered, named (and detailed as summarised in outline below):^[1]

1. The North-Western or Chertsey Division (usually recorded as Chertsey, Surrey N.W. or North-West) - included Woking and Egham
2. The South-Western or Guildford Division (as style shown above) - included Godalming, Farnham and surrounds
3. The South-Eastern or Reigate Division (as style shown above) - included Dorking sessional division save for two parishes in No. 4.
4. The Mid or Epsom Division (as style shown above) - included Kingston's southern and eastern sessional division components
5. The Kingston Division (invariably Kingston or Kingston-upon-Thames) - included Richmond
6. The North-Eastern or Wimbledon Division (as style shown above) - included sessional division of Croydon except its core and north in the Metropolis; plus Caterham, Chelsham, Farley, Warlingham.

Boundaries

1868–1885: The Hundreds of Kingston, Reigate and so much of that of Wallington as lay to the west of the parishes of Croydon and Sanderstead, and so much of the Hundred of Brixton as lay to the west of the parishes of Streatham, Clapham and Lambeth.^[2]

Members of Parliament

Election	1st Member		1st Party	Main home	2nd Member		2nd Party	Main home
1868			Conservative	Wimbledon House, High Street, Wimbledon and Rousdon, Devon		William Brodrick	Conservative	Peper Harow House, Peper Harow
1870 by-election						Richard Baggallay	Conservative	55 Queen's Gate, South Kensington
1875 by-election						Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bt.	Conservative	Burford Lodge (in part since renamed Burford Bridge Hotel), Dorking
1884 by-election		Sir John Whittaker Ellis, Bt.	Conservative	Petersham Place, Byfleet
1885	constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1870s

Brodrick succeeded to the peerage, becoming Viscount Midleton and causing a by-election.

Baggallay was appointed Solicitor-General for England and Wales, requiring a by-election.

Baggallay was appointed a Judge of The Court of Appeal, and resigned.

Elections in the 1880s

Peek's resignation caused a by-election.

Notes and References

1. Web site: The public general acts. Proprietors of the Law Journal Reports.
2. Web site: Representation of the People Act 1867.. 2017-07-27.