Stafford (UK Parliament constituency) explained

Stafford
Parliament:	uk
Year:	1983
Type:	County
Elects Howmany:	One
Previous:	Stafford & Stone and Newcastle-under-Lyme^[1]
Year2:	1918
Abolished2:	1950
Type2:	County
Elects Howmany2:	One
Next2:	Stafford & Stone
Year3:	1295
Abolished3:	1918
Type3:	Borough
Elects Howmany3:	1290–1885: Two 1885–1918: One
Electorate:	69,832 (December 2010)^[2]
Region:	England
Party:	Labour

Stafford is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Leigh Ingham from the Labour Party.

The seat since its resurrection in 1983 has proven to be somewhat of a bellwether being held always by the incumbent government although it currently has a significantly higher vote share for the Conservatives than the average constituency

Boundaries

1928-1885: The parliamentary borough.

1885-1918: The existing parliamentary borough, and so much of the municipal borough of Stafford as was not already included in the parliamentary borough.^[3]

1918–1950: The Municipal Borough of Stafford, the Rural District of Gnosall, the Rural District consisting of the civil parishes of Blymhill and Weston-under-Lizard, the Rural District of Stafford except the detached part of the civil parish of Colwich, and part of the Rural District of Cannock.

1983–1997: The Borough of Stafford wards of Baswich, Beaconside, Castletown, Church Eaton, Common, Coton, Doxey, Eccleshall, Forebridge, Gnosall, Highfields, Holmcroft, Littleworth, Manor, Milford, Parkside, Rowley, Seighford, Swynnerton, Tillington, Weeping Cross, and Woodseaves, and the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme wards of Loggerheads, Madeley, and Whitmore.

1997–2010: The Borough of Stafford wards of Baswich, Beaconside, Castletown, Common, Coton, Doxey, Forebridge, Haywood, Highfields, Holmcroft, Littleworth, Manor, Milford, Parkside, Rowley, Seighford, Tillington, and Weeping Cross, and the District of South Staffordshire wards of Acton Trussell, Bishopswood and Lapley, Penkridge North East, Penkridge South East, and Penkridge West.

2010–2024: The Borough of Stafford wards of Baswich, Castletown, Common, Coton, Doxey, Haywood and Hixon, Highfields and Western Downs, Holmcroft, Littleworth, Manor, Milford, Parkside, Rowley, Seighford, Tillington, and Weeping Cross, and the District of South Staffordshire wards of Penkridge North East and Acton Trussell, Penkridge South East, Penkridge West, and Wheaton Aston, Bishopswood and Lapley.

The constituency forms the southerly part of the borough of Stafford, including the eponymous town itself plus the Penkridge area.2024: Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, enacted by the Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023, from the 2024 United Kingdom general election, the constituency will be composed of the following (as they existed on 1 December 2020):

• The Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme wards of: Loggerheads; Maer & Whitmore.
• The Borough of Stafford wards of: Baswich; Common; Coton; Doxey & Castletown; Eccleshall; Forebridge; Gnosall & Woodseaves; Highfields & Western Downs; Holmcroft; Littleworth; Manor; Penkside; Rowley; Seighford & Church Eaton; Weeping Cross & Wildwood.^[4]

The constituency will undergo significant changes due to the re-organisation of seats within Staffordshire. The parts in the South Staffordshire District, including Penkridge, together with areas to the east of Stafford, will be included in the newly created constituency of Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge. To compensate, the boundaries will be extended to the north and west, to include Eccleshall, Gnosall and the two Newcastle-under-Lyme wards, currently part of the constituency of Stone (to be abolished).

Constituency profile

The town has historical significance, featuring the Elizabethan Ancient High House, a museum with changing exhibitions and Stafford Castle. In terms of industry and commerce, the physics and engineering niche of large power station transformers are produced in the seat whereas the area to the north is famous for fine china, the Staffordshire Potteries from the companies Aynsley, Burleigh, Doulton, Dudson, Heron Cross, Minton, Moorcroft, Twyford, and Wedgwood. The area is also well known for the Staffordshire Hoard, Alton Towers and has a Building Society based in the town.

Workless claimants, registered jobseekers, were in November 2012 significantly lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 2.7% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian.^[5]

History

Stafford, as a parliamentary borough, first existed between the Model Parliament in 1295 and 1950.

The current constituency was created for the 1983 general election.

Prominent membersThe town was represented in Parliament by leading playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan at the end of the 18th century.

Political historyTaken together with the Stafford and Stone seat which existed during the 33-year gap mentioned above, since 1910 when the last Liberal served the seat, the Conservative party has had five members and the Labour party two (this total includes the present member). In summary:

• Labour saw a bellwether result in their 1945 landslide victory, but Conservative Hugh Fraser regained the seat at the next election in 1950 in the successor seat which he held until his death in 1984.
• Effects from the creation of the Stone constituency in 1997 made Stafford somewhat more marginal: sitting Stafford MP Bill Cash followed some of his electors into the Stone constituency, which he won, and after a 47-year lack of a member, Labour's David Kidney gained the constituency in his party's landslide victory in 1997. The defeated Conservative candidate in 1997 was David Cameron, who in the next election was elected as the MP for the safe seat of Witney, and became the Conservative Party leader in 2005, and Prime Minister in 2010.

Members of Parliament

Stafford parliamentary borough

MPs 1295–1640

• Constituency created (1295)^[6]

Parliament	First member	Second member
1295	William Reynor	John Beyton
1337	Hugh Snel^[7]
1353	Hugh Snel
1360	Hugh Snel
1362	Hugh Snel
1363	Hugh Snel
1365	Hugh Snel
1366	Hugh Snel
1368	Hugh Snel
1369	Hugh Snel
1371	Hugh Snel
1373	Hugh Snel
1376	Hugh Snel
1377	Hugh Snel (murdered 1380)
1386	Thomas Jockery	Richard Stanford^[8]
1388 (Feb)	John Newton	Nicholas Snell
1388 (Sep)	John Newton	Richard Stanford
1390 (Jan)	John Newton	John Snell
1390 (Nov)
1391	John Newton	Richard Stanford
1393	Henry Warrilewe	John Baxter
1394
1395	John Wylaston	John Baxter
1397 (Jan)	John Wylaston	John Clifton
1397 (Sep)
1399	John Wylaston	Richard Stanford
1401
1402	Richard Stanford	Thomas Barber
1404 (Jan)	Roger Coton	Adam Hewster
1404 (Oct)
1406	Thomas Jockery	John Huntingdon
1407	Thomas Jockery	John Huntingdon
1410
1411	Thomas Barber	Robert Whitgreve
1413 (Feb)
1413 (May)	Thomas Barber	Adam Edgeley
1414 (Apr)
1414 (Nov)	Sampson Erdeswyk	Robert Whitgreve
1415
1416 (Mar)	Henry Fenton	Robert Whitgreve
1416 (Oct)
1417
1419	John Harper	John Parker
1420	John Harper	Robert Whitgreve
1421 (May)	John Harper	Robert Whitgreve
1421 (Dec)	Adam Edgeley	Robert Whitgreve
1495	Humphrey Barber^[9]
1510–1523	No names known^[10]
1529	Thomas Stanford, died and replaced by 1553 by Sampson Erdeswick	John Bickley
1536	?
1539	?
1542	Walter Blount	William Stamford
1545	Henry Stafford^[11]	William Stamford
1547	Henry Stafford	Richard Forsett
1553 (Mar)	Edward Colbarne	Francis Smith
1553 (Oct)	Henry Stafford	?Sir Anthony Browne/Simon Lowe alias Fyfield
1554 (Apr)	John Giffard	Humphrey Swynnerton
1554 (Nov)	James Fowler	Matthew Cradock
1555	Henry Stafford	Thomas Harcourt
1558	Edward Stafford	James Fowler
1559 (Jan)	Edward Stafford	William Bowyer^[12]
1562–3	William Twyneho	Henry Goodere
1571	Walter Stafford	William Knollys
1572 (Apr)	Richard Broughton	Thomas Purslow
1584 (Nov)	John Stafford	Francis Cradock
1586	John Stafford	Francis Cradock
1588 (Oct)	Francis Cradock	Henry Bourchier
1593	Henry Bourchier	Francis Cradock
1597 (Oct)	Sir Edward Stafford	Henry Bourchier
1601 (Oct)	Sir Edward Stafford	William Essex
1604–1611		George Cradock^[13]	Thomas Hansard, 1808) http://www2.odl.ox.ac.uk/gsdl/cgi-bin/library?e=p-000-00---0modhis06--00-0-0-0prompt-10---4------0-1l--1-en-50---20-about---00001-001-1-1isoZz-8859Zz-1-0&a=d&cl=CL1
1614	Sir Walter Devereux^[14]	American Philosophical Society, 1988)	Thomas Gibbs
1621	Matthew Cradock	Richard Dyott
1624	Matthew Cradock	Richard Dyott
1625	Matthew Cradock	Sir Robert Hatton Sat for Sandwich replaced by Sir John Offley
1626	Sir John Offley	Bulstrode Whitlock
1628	Matthew Cradock	William Wingfield
1629–1640	No Parliaments convened

MPs 1640–1885

Election		First member	First party		Second member	Second party
April 1640		Ralph Sneyd
November 1640			Royalist			Royalist
October 1642				Weston disabled from sitting – seat vacant
May 1643	Sneyd disabled from sitting – seat vacant
1645		John Swinfen			Edward Leigh
December 1648	Swinfen and Leigh excluded in Pride's Purge – both seats vacant
1653	Stafford was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament
1654		John Bradshaw		Stafford had only one seat in the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate
1656		Martin Noel	<				-- party -->
January 1659					William Jessop
May 1659	Not represented in the restored Rump
April 1660		John Swinfen			Sir Charles Wolseley
1661		Robert Milward			William Chetwynd	<	-- party -->
1674		Walter Chetwynd	<				-- party -->
February 1679					Sir Thomas Armstrong	<	-- party -->
August 1679		Sir Thomas Wilbraham
1681		Edwin Skrymsher
1685		Walter Chetwynd			Rowland Okeover
1689		Philip Foley			John Chetwynd	<	-- party -->
1690		Jonathan Cope
1694		Thomas Foley	<				-- party -->
1695					Philip Foley
January 1701					John Chetwynd
November 1701					John Pershall
July 1702					John Chetwynd
December 1702					Walter Chetwynd^[15]
1711					Henry Vernon	<	-- party -->
1712		1st Viscount Chetwynd	<				-- party -->
1715					William Chetwynd
1722		Thomas Foley	<	-- party -->		John Dolphin
1724 by-election					Francis Elde^[16]
1725					1st Viscount Chetwynd	<	-- party -->
1727		Joseph Gascoigne Nightingale
1734		Hon. William Chetwynd 3rd Viscount Chetwynd from 1767	<	-- party -->		Thomas Foley
1738 by-election					2nd Viscount Chetwynd
1747					John Robins
1754					William Richard Chetwynd
1765 by-election					John Crewe	Whig
1768					Richard Whitworth	<	-- party -->
1770 by-election		William Neville Hart
1774		Hugo Meynell
1780		Edward Monckton	Tory^[17]		Richard Brinsley Sheridan	Whig
1806					Richard Mansel-Philipps	Tory
1812		Ralph Benson	Tory		Thomas Wilson
1818		Benjamin Benyon	Whig		Samuel Homfray
1820					Sir George Chetwynd	Whig
June 1826		Richard Ironmonger			Ralph Benson	Tory
December 1826 by-election		Thomas Beaumont	Whig
1830		John Campbell	Whig		Thomas Gisborne	Whig
1832		William Fawkener Chetwynd	Whig		Rees Howell Gronow	Whig
January 1835					Sir Francis Holyoake Goodricke	Conservative
May 1835				Writ suspended – seat left vacant^[18]
1837 by-election					Robert Farrand	Conservative
1841		Hon. Swynfen Carnegie	Conservative		Edward Manningham-Buller	Whig^[19] ^[20]
1847		David Urquhart	Conservative		Thomas Sidney	Conservative
1852		John Ayshford Wise	Whig^[21]		Arthur Otway	Whig^[22] ^[23]
1857					Viscount Ingestre	Conservative
1859			Liberal		Thomas Salt	Conservative
1860 by-election		Thomas Sidney	Liberal
1865		Michael Bass	Liberal		Walter Meller	Conservative
1868^[24]		Henry Pochin	Liberal
1869 by-election		Thomas Salt	Conservative		Hon. Reginald Talbot	Conservative
1874					Alexander Macdonald	Liberal-Labour
1880		Charles McLaren	Liberal
1881 by-election					Thomas Salt	Conservative
1885	Representation reduced to one member

MPs 1885–1918

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Charles McLaren	Liberal
	1886	Thomas Salt	Conservative
	1892	Charles Shaw	Liberal
	1910	Sir Walter Essex	Liberal
	1918	Parliamentary borough abolished. Name transferred to a county division

Stafford division of Staffordshire

MPs 1918–1950

Year		Member	Party
	1918	Hon. William Ormsby-Gore	Unionist
	1938	Peter Thorneycroft	Conservative
	1945	Stephen Swingler	Labour

Stafford county constituency

MPs since 1983

Election		Member	Party
	1983	Sir Hugh Fraser	Conservative
	1984 by-election	Bill Cash	Conservative
	1997	David Kidney	Labour
	2010	Jeremy Lefroy	Conservative
	2019	Theodora Clarke	Conservative
	2024	Leigh Ingham	Labour

Elections

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1980s

• Death of Sir Hugh Fraser 6 March 1984

Elections in the 1880s

• Caused by Macdonald's death.

Elections in the 1860s

• The 1868 election was declared void on petition "on account of corrupt practices",^[25] causing a by-election.

• Caused by Wise's resignation.

Elections in the 1840s

• Caused by Carnegie's appointment as a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury

Elections in the 1830s

• Caused by Goodricke's resignation, in 1835, to contest a by-election at . A writ for a by-election was denied for nearly two years.

• Farrand retired before the poll. The election was later declared void and no writ was issued before the 1835 general election.

See also

• 1984 Stafford by-election
• List of parliamentary constituencies in Staffordshire
• List of parliamentary constituencies in West Midlands (region)

Sources

• Book: Craig, F. W. S. . F. W. S. Craig . British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 . 1969 . 3rd . 1983 . Parliamentary Research Services . Chichester . 0-900178-06-X.
• Britain Votes/Europe Votes By-Election Supplement 1983–, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Research Services 1985)
• Robert Beatson, A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807) https://books.google.com/books?id=Gh2wKY2rkDUC&q=Return+of+Members+of+Parliament
• D Brunton & D H Pennington, Members of the Long Parliament (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954)
• Cobbett's Parliamentary history of England, from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the year 1803 (London: Thomas Hansard, 1808) http://www2.odl.ox.ac.uk/gsdl/cgi-bin/library?e=p-000-00---0modhis06--00-0-0-0prompt-10---4------0-1l--1-en-50---20-about---00001-001-1-1isoZz-8859Zz-1-0&a=d&cl=CL1
• Henry Stooks Smith, The Parliaments of England from 1715 to 1847, Volume 2 (London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co, 1845) The Parliaments of England: From 1st George I., to the Present Time
• The History of Parliament: the House of Commons - Stafford, Borough, 1386 to 1832

External links

• Stafford UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at MapIt UK
• Stafford UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) at MapIt UK

52.85°N -2.26°W

Notes and References

1. Web site: 'Stafford', June 1983 up to May 1997. ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. 14 March 2016.
2. Web site: Electorate Figures – Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 13 March 2011. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20101106204053/http://www.boundarycommissionforengland.org.uk/electoral-figures/electoral-figures.htm. 6 November 2010.
3. Book: . The Public General Acts of the United Kingdom passed in the forty-eighth and forty-ninth years of the reign of Queen Victoria . https://archive.org/details/publicgeneralac01walegoog/page/n113/mode/2up . London . Eyre and Spottiswoode . 111–198 . 1885 . Chap. 23. Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885 .
4. Web site: The Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023 . Schedule 1 Part 8 West Midlands region.
5. https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2010/nov/17/unemployment-and-employment-statistics-economics Unemployment claimants by constituency
6. Web site: Tamworth Parliamentary Borough 1275–1832. The Staffordshire Encyclopaedia. 25 October 2010.
7. Book: Wedgwood, Josiah C.. Parliamentary History of Staffordshire, Volume I. 1917. William Salt Archaeological Society. 74.
8. Web site: History of Parliament. 3 October 2011.
9. Book: Cavill. The English Parliaments of Henry VII 1485-1504.
10. Web site: History of Parliament. 3 October 2011.
11. http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/stafford-henry-1520-55-or-later STAFFORD, Henry (by 1520-55 or later), of Pickering, Yorks
12. Web site: History of Parliament. 3 October 2011.
13. Cobbett's Parliamentary history of England, from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the year 1803 (London
14. Maija Jansson (ed.), Proceedings in Parliament, 1614 (House of Commons) (Philadelphia
15. Chetwynd was initially declared re-elected in 1710, but on petition (in a dispute over the franchise), he was adjudged not have been duly elected and his opponent, Vernon, was seated in his place. (Robert Beatson, A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament (1807), Volume 1, p 177)
16. Elde's opponent, Chetwynd, petitioned against the 1724 result. Elde was "unanimously expelled the House for having offered to compromise the petition against his return", and Chetwynd was seated in his place. (Henry Stooks Smith, The Parliaments of England from 1715 to 1847, Volume 2 (London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co, 1845), p 45)
17. Book: Stooks Smith . Henry . The Parliaments of England, from 1st George I., to the Present Time. Vol II: Oxfordshire to Wales Inclusive . 1845 . Simpkin, Marshall, & Co. . London . 45–47 .
18. After Goodricke resigned to contest another constituency in May 1835, the House of Commons refused to issue a writ for a new election until February 1837, when the motion to issue a writ was passed by a single vote. (F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885, 2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989, p 283)
19. Book: Edward. Churton. Edward Churton. The Assembled Commons or Parliamentary Biographer: 1838. 1838. 42, 54.
20. Book: Mosse. Richard Bartholomew. The Parliamentary Guide: a concise history of the Members of both Houses, etc. 1838. 141, 147.
21. News: Staffordshire Advertiser . 24 July 1852 . 7 . British Newspaper Archive. subscription .
22. News: Preparations for the General Election . 14 July 2018 . . 3 July 1852 . 8.
23. News: Evening Mail . 2 July 1852 . 3 . British Newspaper Archive. subscription .
24. The 1868 election was declared void on petition and a new election was held – F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885. (F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885, 2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989, p 283)
25. News: Stafford Election Petition. Manchester Times. 15 May 1869. 3. British Newspaper Archive. subscription .

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Stafford (UK Parliament constituency)".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.