Epping (UK Parliament constituency)

Epping
Former County constituency
for the House of Commons
County	Essex
1885 (1885)–1974 (1974)
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Chingford, Epping Forest and Harlow
Created from	South Essex

Epping in Essex, showing boundaries used from 1918 to 1945.

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

The Epping constituency from 1955 - 1970 in Essex

Epping was a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 to 1974. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. The constituency was abolished for the February 1974 general election and divided between the seats of Chingford, Epping Forest and Harlow.

Its most prominent MP was Winston Churchill, who served as Prime Minister during the Second World War for the latter part of his tenure in the seat. In the 1955 and 1959 general elections, the celebrated cricket commentator and journalist John Arlott stood as the Liberal Party candidate.

Areas covered

Area	1918	1945	1950	1955	1974
Chingford	Epping	Epping	Epping	Epping	Chingford
Harlow					Harlow
Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois and Epping					Epping Forest
Loughton, Buckhurst Hill, and Chigwell			Woodford	Chigwell
Wanstead and Woodford		Woodford		Woodford	Wanstead and Woodford

Political Landscape

• Churchill 1950-1951: Under Churchill's leadership, who himself had won this seat all the time from 1924 to 1945, the Conservatives did very well in Epping, making it under most circumstances a safe seat. During this period, the national vote was equal between Labour and Conservatives, but the Conservatives would still get a 10%-11% majority in Epping.
• Eden 1955: Eden's leadership did little for Conservative chances in Epping, despite a national swing to the Conservatives, there was a swing to Labour in Epping (probably down to Liberal intervention). The national vote was equal between Labour and Conservatives, but the Conservatives would get a 4% majority in Epping.
• Macmillan 1959: Macmillan seemed to turn off potential Conservative voters in 1959, as a less than average swing to the Conservatives showed a 'natural' shift to the left in Epping. The national vote was equal between Labour and Conservatives, but the Conservatives would get a 2% majority in Epping.
• Wilson 1964-1970: Wilson's leadership saw a huge 'natural' shift to the left in Epping in 1964. The swing to Labour was on a par with the national results in 1966, but there was a 'natural' shift to the Conservatives in 1970 as a 'broken in' Heath revived Conservative chances and regained Epping. The national vote was equal between Labour and Conservatives in 1964, but Labour would get a 4% majority in Epping in 1964, increasing to 9% in 1966 as Labour's national share also increased, although the Conservatives reversed this to get a 3% lead in 1970 when they won the General Election by a similar margin. Norman Tebbit was elected that year.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Sir Henry Selwin-Ibbetson	Conservative
	1892	Amelius Lockwood	Conservative
	1917 by-election	Richard Colvin	Conservative
	1923	Sir Leonard Lyle	Conservative
	1924	Rt Hon Winston Churchill	Constitutionalist
	1924		Conservative
	1945	Leah Manning	Labour
	1950	Nigel Davies	Conservative
	1951	Graeme Finlay	Conservative
	1964	Stan Newens	Labour Co-operative
	1970	Norman Tebbit	Conservative
Feb 1974		constituency abolished: see Chingford, Epping Forest & Harlow

Election results

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: Epping
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Norman Tebbit	43,615	51.5	+12.5
	Labour	Stanley Newens	41,040	48.5	+0.1
Majority			2,575	3.0
Turnout			84,655	73.3	−9.1
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+6.2

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1966: Epping
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Stanley Newens	38,914	48.4	+4.0
	Conservative	E M Ogden	31,406	39.0	−1.3
	Liberal	D A McKie	10,162	12.6	−2.7
Majority			7,508	9.3
Turnout			80,482	82.4	−0.9
	Labour hold		Swing	+2.7

General Election 1964: Epping
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Stanley Newens	34,991	44.4	+5.9
	Conservative	Graeme Bell Finlay	31,753	40.3	−4.4
	Liberal	Nancy Seear	12,093	15.3	−1.6
Majority			3,238	4.1
Turnout			78,837	83.3	−1.0
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+5.2

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1959: Epping
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Graeme Bell Finlay	31,507	44.7	−1.8
	Labour	D F W Ford	27,114	38.4	−1.7
	Liberal	John Arlott	11,913	16.9	+3.5
Majority			4,393	6.2
Turnout			70,534	84.3	+2.0
	Conservative hold		Swing	−0.1

General Election 1955: Epping
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Graeme Bell Finlay	26,065	46.4	−8.4
	Labour	Leah Manning	22,542	40.2	−5.0
	Liberal	John Arlott	7,528	13.4	N/A
Majority			3,523	6.3
Turnout			56,135	82.3	−2.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	−1.7

General Election 1951: Epping
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Graeme Bell Finlay	27,392	54.8	+5.7
	Labour	Leah Manning	22,598	45.2	+4.0
Majority			4,794	9.6
Turnout			49,990	85.1	−1.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.9

General Election 1950: Epping
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Claude Nigel Byam Davies	24,292	49.1
	Labour	Leah Manning	20,385	41.2
	Liberal	P Lewis	4,755	9.6
Majority			3,907	7.9
Turnout			49,432	86.6
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Epping
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Mrs. Leah Manning	15,993	44.1	+19.3
	Conservative	A. R. Wise	15,006	41.3	-17.8
	Liberal	Sir Sydney Walter Robinson	5,134	14.6	-1.9
Majority			987	2.8
Turnout			36,313	71.4	+3.7
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+18.6

Sources

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "E" (part 2)

Preceded by Essex South	UK Parliament constituency Wanstead, Woodford 1885 – 1945	Succeeded by Woodford
	UK Parliament constituency Loughton, Buckhurst Hill, Chigwell 1885 – 1950	Succeeded by Woodford
	UK Parliament constituency Chingford 1885 – 1974	Succeeded by Chingford
	UK Parliament constituency Harlow 1885 – 1974	Succeeded by Harlow
	UK Parliament constituency Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Epping 1885 – 1974	Succeeded by Epping Forest

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Colne Valley	Constituency represented by the Chancellor of the Exchequer 1924–1929	Succeeded by Colne Valley
Preceded by Birmingham Edgbaston	Constituency represented by the Prime Minister 1940–1945	Succeeded by Limehouse