| South Northamptonshire | |
| Parliament: | uk |
| Year: | 2010 |
| Type: | County |
| Elects Howmany: | One |
| Year2: | 1950 |
| Elects Howmany2: | One |
| Year3: | 1832 |
| Abolished3: | 1918 |
| Elects Howmany3: | 1832–1885: Two 1885–1918: One |
| Electorate: | 76,555 (2023)[1] |
| Region: | England |
| Towns: | Brackley, King's Sutton, Towcester |
South Northamptonshire is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Sarah Bool. As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.
This is a rural seat around Towcester and Brackley. There is a significant motorsport sector including the north half of Silverstone Circuit.[2] Incomes and house prices are above average for the UK.[3]
Before 2010, the constituency existed from 1832 to 1918, and from 1950 to 1974, however on different boundaries during each period. It elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) by the bloc vote system of election from 1832, until the representation was reduced in 1885 to one member elected by the first past the post system.
In the 19th century history of the seat the Cartwright family (with three members) lived in the stately home Aynhoe Park near Banbury.
This called for recreation in 2010 whereby most of the electoral wards were taken from the former version of the Daventry seat.
1832–1885: The Hundreds of Kings Sutton, Chipping Warden, Greens Norton, Cleley, Towcester, Fawsley, Wymersley, Spelhoe, Nobottle Grove, and Guilsborough.[4]
1885–1918: The Sessional Divisions of Brackley and Towcester, and part of the Sessional Division of Daventry. (The part of the Sessional Division of Daventry included in South Northamptonshire excluded the parishes of Ashby St. Ledgers, Barby, Claycoton Crick, Elkington, Kilsby, Lilboume, Long Buckley, Stanford, Watford, West Haddon, Winwick, and Yelvertoft, which were assigned to Mid Northamptonshire). [5]
1950–1974: The Boroughs of Daventry and Brackley, and the Rural Districts of Brackley, Daventry, Northampton, and Towcester.
2010–2021: The District of South Northamptonshire wards of Astwell, Blakesley, Blisworth, Brackley East, Brackley South, Brackley West, Chase, Cogenhoe, Collingtree, Cosgrove, Courteenhall, Deanshanger, Grafton, Kings Sutton, Kingthorn, Little Brook, Middleton Cheney, Salcey, Silverstone, Steane, Tove, Towcester Brook, Towcester Mill, Wardoun, Washington, Whittlewood, and Yardley, and the Borough of Northampton wards of East Hunsbury, Nene Valley, and West Hunsbury.
2021–2024: With effect from 1 April 2021, the Borough of Northampton and the District of South Northamptonshire were abolished and absorbed into the new unitary authority of West Northamptonshire.[6] From that date, the constituency comprised the District of West Northamptonshire wards of Brackley, Bugbrooke (part), Deanshanger, Duston West and St. Crispin (part), East Hunsbury and Shelfleys, Hackleton and Grange Park, Middleton Cheney, Nene Valley, Silverstone, Sixfields (part), and Towcester and Roade.
Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the composition of the constituency is as follows (as they existed on 1 April 2021):
The parts in the former Borough of Northampton were transferred to Northampton South. The constituency gained the part of the Irchester ward from Wellingborough and the remainder of the Bugbrooke ward from Daventry. A small part of Silverstone ward was transferred to Daventry.
Northamptonshire prior to 1832
| Election | 1st Member[8] | 1st Party | 2nd Member | 2nd Party | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1832 | Viscount Althorp | Whig[9] | William Ralph Cartwright | Tory | |||
| 1834 | Conservative | ||||||
| 1835 | Sir Charles Knightley, Bt | Conservative[10] | |||||
| 1846 by-election | Cpt. Richard Howard-Vyse | Conservative | |||||
| 1852 | Rainald Knightley | Conservative | |||||
| 1857 | Viscount Althorp | Whig[11] [12] | |||||
| 1858 by-election | Col. Henry Cartwright | Conservative | |||||
| 1868 | Fairfax Cartwright | Conservative | |||||
| 1881 by-election | Pickering Phipps | Conservative | |||||
| 1885 | Redistribution of Seats Act reduced to one member | ||||||
| Year | Member | Party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1885 | Sir Rainald Knightley | Conservative | ||
| 1892 | David Guthrie | Liberal | ||
| 1895 | Hon. Edward Douglas-Pennant | Conservative | ||
| 1900 | Hon. Edward FitzRoy | Conservative | ||
| 1906 | Archibald Grove | Liberal | ||
| 1910 | Hon. Edward FitzRoy | Conservative | ||
| 1917 | National Party | |||
| 1918 | Unionist | |||
| 1918 | Constituency abolished, but revived in 1950 | |||
Daventry and Kettering prior to 1950
| Election | Member | Party | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | Reginald Manningham-Buller | Conservative | Resigned 1962 on being raised to the peerage | |
| 1962 by-election | Arthur Jones | Conservative | ||
| February 1974 | Constituency abolished, but revived in 2010 | |||
Daventry prior to 2010
| Election | Member | Party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Andrea Leadsom | Conservative | ||
| 2024 | Sarah Bool | Conservative | ||
Cartwright'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 and by July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;
Cartwright resigned by accepting the office of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds, causing a by-election.
Spencer succeeded to the peerage, becoming 5th Earl Spencer and causing a by-election.