Hornchurch (UK Parliament constituency)

Hornchurch was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. At the 2010 general election parts formed the new seats of Hornchurch and Upminster; and Dagenham and Rainham.

Hornchurch
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
Outline map
Boundary of Hornchurch in Greater London for the 2005 general election
CountyGreater London
19452010
SeatsOne
Created fromRomford
Replaced by
During its existence contributed to new seat(s) of:Upminster

Boundaries

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1945–1974: The Urban District of Hornchurch.

1974–1983: The London Borough of Havering wards of Elm Park, Hacton, Hylands, Rainham, St Andrew's, and South Hornchurch.

1983–2010: The London Borough of Havering wards of Airfield, Elm Park, Hacton, Hylands, Rainham, St Andrew's, and South Hornchurch.[1][2]

History

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Hornchurch in Essex, showing boundaries used from 1945 to 1950.

The seat established in 1945 covered the Hornchurch Urban District, which had been enlarged in the 1930s to include the civil parishes of Cranham, Great Warley, Rainham, Upminster and Wennington in addition to the parish of Hornchurch, which included the neighbourhoods of Ardleigh Green, Elm Park, Emerson Park, South Hornchurch and Harold Wood. The population of the urban district in 1939 was 81,486. The most populous Hornchurch North West ward was very near to the town of Romford. The area became part of the London Borough of Havering in Greater London in 1965.

In 1974 the seat was redrawn, transferring Cranham, Emerson Park, Great Warley, Harold Wood and Upminster to the new Upminster constituency. The constituency shared boundaries with the Hornchurch electoral division for election of councillors to the Greater London Council at elections in 1973, 1977 and 1981. The electoral wards in Havering were redrawn in 1978, with the constituency defined in reference to the new wards from 1983. The new Airfield ward reflected the building of the Airfield Estate housing development on land that had been RAF Hornchurch.

The constituency was abolished for the 2010 election. The areas of the constituency covered by the Elm Park, South Hornchurch, and Rainham and Wennington wards in the London Borough of Havering were merged with Dagenham to form a cross-borough Dagenham and Rainham constituency. Hacton and St Andrews wards in Hornchurch merged with Upminster to form Hornchurch and Upminster. Hylands ward in Hornchurch merged with Romford. Prior to the change in boundaries the new seats were predicted to be marginal Labour and safe Conservative respectively if they followed the voting patterns of the previous Dagenham, Upminster and Romford constituencies.[3]

Constituency profile

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The south of the constituency was the industrialised Hornchurch Marshes, which included the eastern part of the Ford Dagenham plant. The adjacent Rainham Marshes had been seen as a site for building large entertainment centres and was viewed as a potential site for the European Disneyland project, although it was considered much less suitable than the current position near Paris. There had been plans to build a casino but permission was not granted.

Hornchurch is a predominantly suburban and residential area. The constituency was a marginal seat due to Rainham and Elm Park's working class voters and because the wealthiest Emerson Park area of Hornchurch did not form part of the constituency after 1974.

Members of Parliament

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The Conservative Robin Squire was elected to Parliament as the member for Hornchurch on 3 May 1979, in one of the most surprising results of that election. Labour-held Hornchurch had not been a marginal seat and Squire had not expected to win it. However, he gained the seat from Alan Lee Williams with a majority of just 769 on a "freak" swing of 8.5% to his party. During the Thatcher years (1979 to 1990) Squire was considered to be a prominent "wet", opposed to the Conservative government's economic and employment policies. After Mrs Thatcher left office in 1990, Squire's political position strengthened and he held junior ministerial posts until the fall of the Major government in 1997. Squire was defending a majority of 9,165 – his personal popularity plus his prominence as a Minister led him to believe that he would hold the seat, but he lost to Labour's John Cryer with a 16% swing and a Labour majority of 5,680. Squire stood against Cryer again in the 2001 general election but was again defeated by a significant majority.

ElectionMember[4]Party
1945Geoffrey BingLabour
1955Godfrey LagdenConservative
1966Alan Lee WilliamsLabour
1970John LoveridgeConservative
Feb 1974Alan Lee WilliamsLabour
1979Robin SquireConservative
1997John CryerLabour
2005James BrokenshireConservative
2010constituency abolished: see Hornchurch and Upminster, Dagenham and Rainham & Romford

Elections

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Elections in the 1940s

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General election 1945: Hornchurch
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
LabourGeoffrey Bing 26,856 56.0
ConservativeJohn Theadore de Horne Vaizey15,10031.5
LiberalNorman Clarke Jones5,80712.1
IndependentViolet Van der Elst2320.5
Majority11,75624.5
Turnout47,99572.3
Labour win (new seat)

Elections in the 1950s

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General election 1950: Hornchurch
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
LabourGeoffrey Bing 28,463 46.1 −9.9
ConservativeJames Wentworth−Day26,69643.2+11.7
LiberalNancy Seear6,65310.8−1.3
Majority1,7672.9-21.6
Turnout61,81285.7+13.4
Labour holdSwing−10.8
General election 1951: Hornchurch
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
LabourGeoffrey Bing 30,101 47.4 +1.3
ConservativeJames Wentworth−Day28,97645.6+2.4
LiberalNancy Seear4,7717.0−3.8
Majority1,1251.8-1.1
Turnout63,84886.3+0.6
Labour holdSwing−0.5
General election 1955: Hornchurch
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
ConservativeGodfrey Lagden 29,205 46.2 +0.6
LabourGeoffrey Bing27,83344.1−3.3
LiberalDonald S. Paterson6,1179.7+2.7
Majority1,3722.1N/A
Turnout63,15582.0−4.3
Conservative gain from LabourSwing+2.0
General election 1959: Hornchurch
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
ConservativeGodfrey Lagden 34,852 47.5 +1.3
LabourJo Richardson27,53037.5−6.6
LiberalLyndon H. Jones11,05615.1+5.4
Majority7,32210.0+7.8
Turnout73,43883.9+1.9
Conservative holdSwing+4.0

Elections in the 1960s

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General election 1964: Hornchurch
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
ConservativeGodfrey Lagden 30,933 41.6 −5.9
LabourTrevor Williams30,69941.3+3.8
LiberalRalph Taylor12,72517.1+2.0
Majority2340.3-9.7
Turnout74,35781.9−2.0
Conservative holdSwing−4.9
General election 1966: Hornchurch
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
LabourAlan Lee Williams 38,406 52.1 +10.8
ConservativeGodfrey Lagden35,37347.9+6.3
Majority3,0334.2N/A
Turnout73,77981.1−0.8
Labour gain from ConservativeSwing+2.3

Elections in the 1970s

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General election 1970: Hornchurch
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
ConservativeJohn Loveridge 36,124 49.7 +1.8
LabourAlan Lee Williams30,29441.7−10.4
LiberalBryan G. Sell6,2278.6New
Majority5,8308.0N/A
Turnout72,64572.8−8.3
Conservative gain from LabourSwing+6.1

Note: This constituency underwent boundary changes after the 1970 election, so was notionally a Labour seat.

General election February 1974: Hornchurch
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
LabourAlan Lee Williams 21,763 45.0 −3.7
ConservativeJ. Jackson15,56732.2−7.5
LiberalB. McCarthy10,39121.5+12.9
PEOPLEB. Percy−Davis6191.3New
Majority6,19612.8+4.8
Turnout48,34080.8+8.0
Labour holdSwing+1.8
General election October 1974: Hornchurch
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
LabourAlan Lee Williams 21,336 48.5 +3.5
ConservativeRobin Squire14,53533.1+0.9
LiberalB.G. McCarthy7,28416.6−4.9
PEOPLEB. Percy−Davis7971.8+0.5
Majority6,80115.5+2.7
Turnout43,95272.7−8.1
Labour holdSwing+1.3
General election 1979: Hornchurch
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
ConservativeRobin Squire 21,340 44.9 +11.8
LabourAlan Lee Williams20,57143.3−5.2
LiberalChristopher Lewcock[5]4,6579.8−6.8
National FrontAlfred Harris[5]9942.1New
Majority7691.6N/A
Turnout47,56278.1+5.4
Conservative gain from LabourSwing+8.5

Elections in the 1980s

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General election 1983: Hornchurch[6]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
ConservativeRobin Squire 21,393 47.0 +2.1
LabourAlan Williams12,20926.9−16.4
SDPJohn Martin11,25124.7+14.9
National FrontA.M. Joyce4021.2New
EcologyMichael Crowson2190.5New
Majority9,18420.1+18.5
Turnout45,47473.7−4.4
Conservative holdSwing+9.3
General election 1987: Hornchurch[7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
ConservativeRobin Squire 24,039 51.2 +4.2
LabourAlan Williams13,34528.4+1.5
LiberalMark Long9,60920.4−4.3
Majority10,69422.8+2.7
Turnout44,71275.3+1.6
Conservative holdSwing+1.4

Elections in the 1990s

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General election 1992: Hornchurch[8][9]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
ConservativeRobin Squire 25,817 53.5 +2.3
LabourLeonie Cooper16,65234.5+6.1
Liberal DemocratsBarry J. Oddy5,36611.1–9.3
Independent Ind SDTerrence F. Matthews4530.9New
Majority9,16519.0–3.8
Turnout48,28879.8+4.5
Conservative holdSwing–1.9
General election 1997: Hornchurch[10][11]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
LabourJohn Cryer 22,066 50.2 +15.7
ConservativeRobin Squire16,38637.3–16.2
Liberal DemocratsRabi Martins3,4467.8–3.3
ReferendumRory E.B. Khilkoff-Bouldi1,5953.6New
IndependentJenny Trueman2590.6New
ProLife AllianceJoseph Sowerby1890.4New
Majority5,68012.9N/A
Turnout43,94172.8–7.0
Labour gain from ConservativeSwing+16.2

Elections in the 2000s

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General election 2001: Hornchurch[12]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
LabourJohn Cryer 16,514 46.4 –3.8
ConservativeRobin Squire15,03242.3+5.0
Liberal DemocratsSarah E. Lea2,9288.2+0.4
UKIPLawrence Webb8932.5New
National LiberalDavid Durant1900.5New
Majority1,4824.1-8.8
Turnout35,55758.3–14.5
Labour holdSwing–4.4
General election 2005: Hornchurch[13]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
ConservativeJames Brokenshire 16,355 42.8 +0.5
LabourJohn Cryer15,87541.6–4.8
Liberal DemocratsNathaniel Green2,8947.6–0.6
BNPIan Moore1,3133.4New
UKIPLaurence Webb1,0332.7+0.2
ResidentsMalvin P. Brown3951.0New
National LiberalGraham K. Williamson3040.8+0.3
Majority4801.2N/A
Turnout38,16963.5+5.2
Conservative gain from LabourSwing+2.6

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 1983" (PDF). legislation.gov.uk. 16 March 1983. Retrieved 28 July 2023.
  2. ^ "The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 1995" (PDF). legislation.gov.uk. 28 June 1995. Retrieved 28 July 2023.
  3. ^ "Review of parliamentary constituencies in the North London Boroughs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 January 2007. Retrieved 13 January 2008.
  4. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "H" (part 4)
  5. ^ a b Election Expenses. Parliament of the United Kingdom. 1980. p. 14. ISBN 0102374805.
  6. ^ "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  7. ^ "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  8. ^ "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  9. ^ "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
  10. ^ "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  11. ^ "Politics Resources". Election 1997. Politics Resources. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
  12. ^ "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  13. ^ "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

51°31′44″N 0°12′04″E / 51.529°N 0.201°E / 51.529; 0.201