| Windsor | |
| Parliament: | uk |
| Year: | 1997 |
| Type: | County |
| Electorate: | 74,338 (2023) [1] |
| Party: | Conservative Party (UK) |
| Region: | England |
| Elects Howmany: | One |
| Year2: | 1918 |
| Abolished2: | 1974 |
| Type2: | County |
| Elects Howmany2: | One |
| Year3: | 1424 |
| Abolished3: | 1918 |
| Type3: | Borough |
| Elects Howmany3: | Two until 1868, then one |
Windsor (/ˈwɪnzə/) is a constituency in Berkshire, currently represented by Jack Rankin of the Conservative Party. It was re-created for the 1997 general election after it was abolished following the 1970 general election and replaced by the Windsor and Maidenhead constituency.
The constituency covers the town of Windsor and various portions of the surrounding area, in Berkshire.
The re-created constituency, from 1997, has continued a trend of large Conservative Party majorities. In local elections the major opposition party has been the Liberal Democrats, who have had councillors particularly in the town of Windsor itself. Affluent villages and small towns along the River Thames and around the Great Park have continued to contribute to large Conservative majorities, from Wraysbury to Ascot. The only ward with any substantial Labour support is in Colnbrook with Poyle, based in Slough.
Containing one of the least social welfare-dependent demographics and among the highest property prices, the seat has the third highest Conservative share of the vote in the country. At the 2010 election, only two areas voted more strongly towards the Conservative Party: Richmond (Yorks) foremost followed by Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire.[2]
Windsor has had parliamentary representation for centuries, formally known as the Parliamentry Borough of New Windsor, first sending a member in 1301, and continuously from 1424. It elected two members of parliament until 1868, when its representation was reduced to one MP. In 1918, the Parliamentary Borough was abolished and absorbed into the new county seat of Windsor, which also included large parts of the abolished Wokingham constituency.
In 1974, the constituency was abolished and replaced by Windsor and Maidenhead, although there were no changes to the boundaries. In 1997, the constituency was recreated when Windsor and Maidenhead was split into two separate seats.
The early political history of the area was strongly influenced by the monarch and members of his or her family. Windsor Castle has been an important royal residence throughout the history of the constituency.
The pre-1832 franchise of the borough was held by inhabitants paying scot and lot (a local tax). On 2 May 1689 the House of Commons had decided that the electorate should be limited to the members of Windsor Corporation. This was disputed after the next election, in 1690, when the Mayor submitted two returns of different members. The House of Commons reversed the decision of the previous Parliament and confirmed the scot and lot franchise.
There were 278 electors in 1712. Namier and Brooke estimated that, in 1754–1790, there were about 300 electors.
During part of the 18th century the Duke of Cumberland (son of King George II) and the Beauclerk family (descended from King Charles II) had political interests in the borough.
King George III became personally involved in the hotly contested 1780 general election. George encouraged local landowner Peniston Portlock Powney to stand by paying him £2,500 from the King's personal account. The King wished to defeat Admiral Keppel (later Viscount Keppel), an incumbent. The monarch went so far as to canvass tradesmen who dealt with the royal household. After this royal interference in the election, Keppel lost by a narrow 16 votes. Namier and Brooke suggest the Windsor electorate had an independent streak and were difficult to manage.
In 1832 a new property based franchise replaced the scot and lot qualification. Under the new system, there were 507 registered electors in 1832. The borough representatives before the Reform Act 1832 included soldiers and people connected with the Royal Household, such as Sir Richard Hussey Vivian (MP 1826–1831) and Sir Herbert Taylor (MP 1820–1823). The constituency also returned politicians prominent in national politics, like the Duke of Wellington's elder brother the Earl of Mornington in the 1780s and 1790s or the future Prime Minister Edward Stanley (subsequently the Earl of Derby) in the early 1830s).
The Ramsbottom family filled one seat from 1806 until 1845. The borough had been loyal to the King's Pittite/Tory ministers in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, but became more favourable to the Whig interest after John Ramsbottom (MP 1810–1845) was elected.
By the 1860s the monarch had ceased to interfere in local affairs. The borough fell under the patronage of Colonel R. Richardson-Gardner. Richardson-Gardner was a local landowner, who caused some animosity when following the 1868 general election he evicted tenants who did not support him at the polls. This was the last Parliamentary election the Conservatives lost in Windsor.
Despite (or perhaps because of) his methods, Richardson-Gardner was elected to Parliament in 1874.
Successive Conservative MPs, before the First World War, had considerable influence in the constituency; especially when they subscribed generously to local institutions such as a hospital.
The county division created in 1918 combined the town of Windsor, with territory to its west, south and east which had formerly been in the Wokingham division. The incumbent MP for Wokingham up to 1918, Ernest Gardner, was the first representative of the expanded Windsor constituency. The Conservative Party retained the seat continuously until its temporary abolition in 1974, as it has since its recreation in 1997.
The parliamentary borough of New Windsor was based upon the easternmost town in Berkshire in South East England, which grew up around Windsor Castle and the narrowly defined electorate could also vote for the county representatives. The north boundary of the constituency was on the River Thames, which was then the border between Buckinghamshire which had a seat of the same name and Berkshire, likewise the rest of the borough adjoined the Berkshire county constituency.
The boundaries of the parliamentary borough were extended by the Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1868 (31 & 32 Vict., c. 46)[3] to include the villages of Clewer and Eton (the latter then being in Buckinghamshire, north of the Thames).[4]
Between 1885 and 1918 the seat to the north of the Thames was the Wycombe division of Buckinghamshire and the other neighbouring constituency was the Wokingham division of Berkshire.
The parliamentary borough was abolished by the Representation of the People Act 1918 and replaced by a county division named Windsor. The constituency comprised the local government areas (as they existed in 1918):
The new constituency comprised the bulk of the abolished Wokingham division, including Maidenhead and rural areas surrounding Windsor and Maidenhead, but excluding the Municipal Borough of Wokingham itself, and incorporating the abolished Borough, with the exception of Eton, which was added to the Wycombe division of Buckinghamshire.
The constituency was reduced in size by the Representation of the People Act 1948, comprising:
The Rural District of Easthampstead (which incorporated Bracknell) and the part of the Rural District of Wokingham were transferred to the re-established constituency of Wokingham.
For the February 1974 general election, the constituency was abolished and renamed Windsor and Maidenhead, with no changes to its boundaries; this area plus Eton, which was transferred from Buckinghamshire, became the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead established under the Local Government Act 1972.
For the 1997 general election, in order to effect an increase in Berkshire's representation from 7 to 8 MPs in accordance with the Fourth Periodic Review of Westminster Constituencies, the Windsor and Maidenhead constituency was abolished and two separate constituencies of Maidenhead and Windsor were created. The composition of the new constituency was:-
The majority of the electorate in the abolished constituency was included in Maidenhead, whilst Windsor was joined by Eton and Bray. It also included a ward of Slough Borough Council north of the Thames, which was transferred from the Borough Constituency of Slough, and was extended southwards to include a part of the abolished constituency of East Berkshire, including Ascot and Sunningdale.
In 1998 there was a small re-alignment of county boundaries in the north east corner of Berkshire. This transferred to the Borough of Slough a small polling district from Surrey and another from Buckinghamshire to form Colnbrook and Poyle. This new ward (since renamed Colnbrook with Poyle) was added to the Windsor constituency and was effective from the 2001 general election.[7]
Further to the Fifth Periodic Review, the composition of the constituency is:-
The constituency gained the northern part of the constituency of Bracknell, including Binfield. Bray was transferred to Maidenhead and the Foxborough ward of the Borough of Slough returned to the Borough Constituency thereof.
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 seat will be expanded by adding two Borough of Slough wards from the Slough constituency and the communities of Englefield Green and Virginia Water from the Surrey constituency of Runnymede and Weybridge, thus creating a cross-county boundary seat. To compensate, the Bracknell Forest wards will be transferred out, mainly to Maidenhead, with the remainder (Warfield Harvest Ride ward) to Bracknell.
1 Following a local government boundary review which came into effect in May 2023,[10] [11] the parts in the Borough of Slough will now comprise the following wards from the 2024 general election:
As there were sometimes significant gaps between Parliaments held in this period, the dates of first assembly and dissolution are given. Where the name of the member has not yet been ascertained or (in the 16th century) is not recorded in a surviving document, the entry unknown is entered in the table.
The Roman numerals after some names are those used in The House of Commons 1509–1558 and The House of Commons 1558–1603 to distinguish a member from another politician of the same name.
| Elected | Assembled | Dissolved | First member | Second member |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1510 | 21 January 1510 | 23 February 1510 | William Pury | |
| 1512 | 4 February 1512 | 4 March 1514 | Thomas Rider | |
| 1515 | 5 February 1515 | 22 December 1515 | Thomas Rider | |
| 1523 | 15 April 1523 | 13 August 1523 | unknown | unknown[13] |
| 1529 | 3 November 1529 | 14 April 1536 | William Simonds | |
| 1536 | 8 June 1536 | 18 July 1536 | unknown | unknown |
| 1539 | 28 April 1539 | 24 July 1540 | unknown | unknown |
| 1542 | 16 January 1542 | 28 March 1544 | William Simonds | |
| 1545 | 23 November 1545 | 31 January 1547 | unknown | |
| 1547 | 4 November 1547 | 15 April 1552 | Edward Weldon[14] | |
| By January 1552 | Thomas Little | |||
| 1553 | 1 March 1553 | 31 March 1553 | Richard Amyce | |
| 1553 | 5 October 1553 | 5 December 1553 | Thomas Good | |
| 1554 | 2 April 1554 | 3 May 1554 | Thomas Butler II | |
| 1554 | 12 November 1554 | 16 January 1555 | William Norreys | |
| 1555 | 21 October 1555 | 9 December 1555 | William Norreys | |
| 14 January 1558 | 20 January 1558 | 17 November 1558 | William Norreys | |
| 5 January 1559 | 23 January 1559 | 8 May 1559 | Roger Amyce | |
| 1562 or 1563 | 11 January 1563 | 2 January 1567 | John Gresham | |
| 1571 | 2 April 1571 | 29 May 1571 | Humphrey Michell | |
| 12 April 1572 | 8 May 1572 | 19 April 1583 | Richard Gallys | |
| 1576 | Humphrey Michell | |||
| 16 November 1584 | 23 November 1584 | 14 September 1585 | John Croke III | |
| 28 September 1586 | 13 October 1586 | 23 March 1587 | George Woodward | |
| 10 October 1588 | 4 February 1589 | 29 March 1589 | Henry Neville[15] | Edward Hake |
| 26 October 1588 | Edward Neville I | |||
| 1593 | 18 February 1593 | 10 April 1593 | Edward Neville II | |
| 16 October 1597 | 24 October 1597 | 9 February 1598 | John Norreys | |
| 1 October 1601 | 27 October 1601 | 19 December 1601 | (Sir) John Norreys | |
| 1604 | 19 March 1604 | 9 February 1611 | Samuel Backhouse | Thomas Durdent died and replaced by Sir Francis Howard |
| 1614 | 5 April 1614 | 7 June 1614 | Thomas Woodward | |
| 1621 | 16 January 1621 | 8 February 1622 | Sir Robert Bennet | |
| 1624 | 12 February 1624 | 27 March 1625 | Thomas Woodward died and replaced by Sir William Hewitt | |
| 1625 | 17 May 1625 | 12 August 1625 | Humphrey Newbury | |
| 1626 | 6 February 1626 | 15 June 1626 | Humphrey Newbury | |
| 1628 | 17 March 1628 | 10 March 1629 | Thomas Hewett | |
| No parliament held | ||||
| 1640 | 13 April 1640 | 5 May 1640 | Sir Arthur Ingram | Sir Richard Harrison |
| 1640 | 3 November 1640 | 5 December 1648 | William Taylor Richard Winwood (1641) | |
| 6 December 1648 | 20 April 1653 | |||
| 1653 | 4 July 1653 | 12 December 1653 | unrepresented | unrepresented |
| 1654 | 3 September 1654 | 22 January 1655 | unrepresented | unrepresented |
| 1656 | 17 September 1656 | 4 February 1658 | unrepresented | unrepresented |
| 1659 | 27 January 1659 | 22 April 1659 | George Starkey | Christopher Whichcote |
| N/A | 7 May 1659 | 20 February 1660 | unknown | unknown |
| 21 February 1660 | 16 March 1660 | |||
| 3 April 1660 | 25 April 1660 | 29 December 1660 | Roger Palmer | |
| 9 April 1661 | 8 May 1661 | 24 January 1679 | Sir Richard Braham[16] | Thomas Higgons |
| 19 February 1677 | Sir Francis Winnington | |||
| 27 February 1679 | 6 March 1679 | 12 July 1679 | John Powney | |
| 5 April 1679 | Samuel Starkey | |||
| 29 August 1679 | 21 October 1680 | 18 January 1681 | John Carey | |
| 4 November 1680 | Richard Winwood | |||
| 1681 | 21 March 1681 | 28 March 1681 | Richard Winwood | |
| 28 March 1685 | 19 May 1685 | 2 June 1687 | Richard Graham | |
| 11 January 1689 | 22 January 1689 | 6 February 1690 | Sir Christopher Wren | |
| 23 May 1689 | Sir Algernon May | |||
| 6 March 1690 | 20 March 1690 | 11 October 1695 | Baptist May | |
| 17 May 1690 | William Adderley[17] | |||
| 20 November 1693 | Sir William Scawen | |||
| 23 October 1695 | 22 November 1695 | 6 July 1698 | The 4th Viscount Fitzhardinge | |
| 21 August 1698 | 24 August 1698 | 19 December 1700 | Richard Topham | |
| 6 February 1701 | 11 November 1701 | Richard Topham | ||
| 30 December 1701 | 2 July 1702 | Richard Topham | ||
| 16 August 1702 | 20 August 1702 | 5 April 1705 | Richard Topham | |
| 8 May 1705 | 14 June 1705 | 1707 | Richard Topham | |
| Election | Member | Party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1868 | reduced to one member | |||
| Roger Eykyn | ||||
| 1874 | Robert Richardson-Gardner | |||
| 1890 by-election | Sir Francis Barry, Bt | |||
| 1906 | James Mason | |||
| 1918 | Ernest Gardner | |||
| 1922 | Sir Annesley Somerville | |||
| 1942 by-election | Sir Charles Mott-Radclyffe | |||
| 1970 | Alan Glyn | |||
| Feb 1974 | constituency abolished: see Windsor & Maidenhead | |||
| Election | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | constituency created from Windsor and Maidenhead & East Berkshire | ||
| Michael Trend | |||
| 2005 | Adam Afriyie | ||
| 2024 | Jack Rankin | ||
| 2019 notional result[51] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Vote | % | |
| 28,036 | 56.0 | ||
| 9,780 | 19.6 | ||
| 9,441 | 18.9 | ||
| 1,729 | 3.5 | ||
| Others | 884 | 1.1 | |
| 152 | 0.3 | ||
| Turnout | 50,031 | 67.3 | |
| Electorate | 74,338 | ||
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 and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected;
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;
The bloc vote electoral system was used in two seat elections and first past the post for single member by-elections and general elections from 1868. Each voter had up to as many votes as there were seats to be filled. Votes had to be cast by a spoken declaration, in public, at the hustings (until the secret ballot was introduced in 1872).
Note on percentage change calculations: Where there was only one candidate of a party in successive elections, for the same number of seats, change is calculated on the party percentage vote. Where there was more than one candidate, in one or both successive elections for the same number of seats, then change is calculated on the individual percentage vote.
Note on sources: The information for the election results given below is taken from Cruickshanks et al. 1690–1715, Sedgwick 1715–1754, Namier and Brooke 1754–1790, Stooks Smith 1790–1832 and from Craig thereafter. Where Stooks Smith gives additional information or differs from the other sources this is indicated in a note after the result. When a candidate is described as Non Partisan for an election this means that the sources used do not give a party label. This does not necessarily mean that the candidate did not regard himself as a member of a party or acted as such in Parliament. Craig's party labels have been varied to take account of the development of parties. Tory candidates are classified as Conservative from the 1835 United Kingdom general election. Whig and Radical candidates are classified separately until the formal establishment of the Liberal Party shortly after the 1859 United Kingdom general election.
| 1690s – 1700s – 1710s – 1720s – 1730s – 1740s – 1750s – 1760s – 1770s – 1780s –1790s – 1800s – 1810s – 1820s – 1830s – 1840s – 1850s – 1860s |
Note (1832): Stooks Smith classified Ramsbottom as a Radical candidate from this election. However as Stenton, editing a book composed of Parliamentary biographies published by a contemporary after the Reform Act 1832, described Ramsbottom as being 'of Whig principles' he continues to be classified as a Whig in this article.