Bromley (UK Parliament constituency)

Bromley
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
County	Kent
1918 (1918)–February 1974 (February 1974)
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Ravensbourne
Created from	Sevenoaks

Bromley is a former borough constituency 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. Its best-known MP was Harold Macmillan (Prime Minister 1957-1963).

Boundaries

This constituency covered the area based on the town of Bromley. It is part of the northern section of the historic county of Kent, which was included in Greater London after 1965.

The constituency, created in 1918, included the Municipal Borough of Bromley and the Urban Districts of Beckenham and Penge. There were some boundary changes in Kent in 1945, when an interim redistribution took place to divide constituencies with over 100,000 voters. This area was altered to include parts of the Municipal Boroughs of Beckenham and Bromley and the whole Penge Urban District.

From 1950 the constituency comprised the whole of the Municipal Borough of Bromley. The constituency was abolished in the redistribution which took effect in 1974. The London Borough of Bromley (a larger area than the previous Municipal Borough) was split into four seats.

History

This constituency consists largely of prosperous leafy suburbia and is one of the Conservative's strongest seats. The character of the area was one of prosperous small businesses, rather than commuting professionals.

Before 1918 this area was mostly the northern part of the Sevenoaks constituency. The first MP for this seat was Henry William Forster, the former member for Sevenoaks. In 1919 he was created the 1st Baron Forster and became Governor-General of Australia in 1920.

The next three MPs were first elected at by-elections (in 1919, 1930 and 1945 respectively). In 1945 the sitting member died between the day of the election and the declaration of the result, so the opportunity arose for one of the former Conservative ministers defeated in the general election to return to the House of Commons representing an extremely safe seat.

Future Prime Minister Harold Macmillan was the lucky beneficiary of the vacancy. He was the most famous MP for Bromley, serving from the 1945 by-election until his retirement in 1964, when he was succeeded by John Hunt. Hunt, on the left of the Conservative party, held the seat (renamed Ravensbourne in 1974) until 1997.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1918	Henry Forster	Coalition Conservative
	1919 by-election	Cuthbert James	Coalition Conservative
	1922		Conservative
	1930 by-election	Sir Edward Campbell	Conservative
	1945 by-election	Rt Hon Harold Macmillan	Conservative
	1964	John Hunt	Conservative
Feb 1974		constituency abolished: see Ravensbourne

Election results

Bromley by-election, 14 November 1945

Mr Harold McMillan, Conservative, 26,367 Mr A Bain, Labour, 20,810 Major J Sayer, Liberal, 5,990

References

• Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press, revised edition 1977)
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Research Services 1983)
• Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume III 1919-1945, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (Harvester Press 1979)
• Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume IV 1945-1979, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (Harvester Press 1981)
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 6)

See also

• List of former United Kingdom Parliamentary constituencies

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Saffron Walden	Constituency represented by the Chancellor of the Exchequer 1955–1957	Succeeded by Monmouth
Preceded by Warwick and Leamington	Constituency represented by the Prime Minister 1957–1963	Vacant Title next held by Kinross and West Perthshire