St Ives (UK Parliament constituency)

St. Ives
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of St. Ives in Cornwall.
Location of Cornwall within England.
County	Cornwall
Electorate	66,696 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created	1885 (1885)
Member of Parliament	Andrew George (Liberal Democrat)
Number of members	One
Created from	Helston, St Ives and West Cornwall
1558 (1558)–1885 (1885)
Number of members	1558–1832: Two 1832–1885: One
Type of constituency	Borough constituency
Replaced by	St Ives
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	South West England

Sketchmap of 2010 parliamentary constituencies in Cornwall - click to enlarge

St. Ives is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

History

St Ives has elected MPs to every Parliament since 1558, except for a brief period during the Protectorate. It was originally a parliamentary borough, and returned two MPs until the Great Reform Act of 1832, when its representation was cut to a single member. In 1885 the borough was abolished, but the St Ives name was transferred to the surrounding county constituency.

St Ives borough

The borough established under Queen Mary consisted of the parish of St Ives in western Cornwall, a seaport and market town in which the main economic interests were fishing and the export of ores mined nearby. In 1831, the population of the borough was 4,776, and contained 1,002 houses.

The franchise was initially restricted to the town corporation, but after a judgment in a disputed election in 1702, the right to vote was exercised by all inhabitants paying scot and lot; in the early 19th century this amounted to a little over 300 voters. This was a wide franchise for the period, and taken with the reasonable size of the town meant that St Ives was one of the few boroughs in Cornwall that could claim not to be a rotten borough.

Elections were usually contested, and although the local gentry were able to exercise considerable influence on the outcome, no one interest was entirely predominant; the result could rarely be taken for granted and it was necessary to court the voters assiduously. From the 17th century, there were at least three competing interests - those of the Hobart family (Earls of Buckinghamshire from 1746), the Praeds of Treventhoe, and the Dukes of Bolton (who owned one of the manors of St Ives) - and by the mid 18th century the Stephens family also had to be taken into account. In 1751, however, John Stephens, who had previously allied himself with the Earl of Buckinghamshire and managed the borough's elections on the Earl's behalf, struck out on his own account and secured the election of his son. Later in the decade Stephens and the Earl once more began to work together, but were unable to prevent Humphrey Mackworth Praed from establishing sufficient influence to secure a hold of one of the two seats.

But by 1761 the alliances had shifted again, Buckinghamshire and Praed on one side nominating candidates against Stephens and the Duke of Bolton on the other. The by-election in 1763, when Buckinghamshire's brother-in-law Charles Hotham was re-elected after being appointed to a position in the Royal Household, cost the Earl £1,175 even though his candidate was eventually returned unopposed - the expenditure included payments of 7 guineas to each of 124 people (all presumably qualified voters, ensuring that it would be futile for his opponents to put up a candidate).

There was a further bitterly-contested election in 1774: allegations of bribery were investigated by a House of Commons committee, whose proceedings are recounted at length by the contemporary historian of electoral abuses, Thomas Oldfield, in his Representative History of Great Britain and Ireland. Samuel Stephens, defeated by 7 votes, accused William Praed and Adam Drummond (the Duke of Bolton's candidate) of benefited from several types of corruption. Humphrey Mackworth Praed, the candidate's father, was said to have lent large sums to voters on the understanding that repayment would not be demanded provided they voted for Praed and Drummond; but the counsel for Praed and Drummond offered evidence that Stephens had also resorted to bribery. Furthermore, it was alleged that many of Stephens' supporters had been prevented from voting by rating them as not liable for the scot and lot and therefore not eligible to vote; this was a frequent abuse in scot and lot boroughs, but as the petitioners could not bring any evidence of criminal misconduct by the parish overseers the committee decided they had no jurisdiction to interfere at St Ives. In the end, the committee upheld Drummond's election but declared that neither Stephens nor Praed had been properly elected, and a writ was issued for a by-election to fill the second seat.

The cost of electioneering in St Ives seems eventually to have led to both Buckinghamshire and Bolton withdrawing, and by 1784 Praed was considered unchallenged as patron. Nevertheless, the Stephens influence was by no means entirely extinguished, and it was recorded that the patrons at the time of the Reform Act were Samuel Stephens of Tregarron and Sir Christopher Hawkins of Trewithan (who had purchased the manor from Mr Praed).

The Reform Act extended the boundaries of the constituency, bringing in the neighbouring parishes of Lelant and Towednack and increasing the population; nevertheless, the borough lost one of its two seats. There were 584 qualified voters at the first reformed election, that of 1832.

Even with a further extension of the franchise in 1868, the electorate never passed 1,500, and had fallen to barely 1,000 by the next Reform Act, under which the borough was abolished with effect from the general election of 1885.

St Ives county constituency

With the division of counties into new single-member constituencies effected in 1885, Cornwall had six county divisions. The westernmost of these, in which St Ives stood, was formally named The Western or St Ives Division of Cornwall; it was often referred to simply as St Ives or as West Cornwall.

This new constituency also included the towns of Penzance, Paul, Ludgvan and St Just, and stretched not only from Land's End to St Erth but also included the Isles of Scilly. It was a constituency abnormally low in owner-occupiers, with a strong non-conformist presence, and the Conservatives were consequently very weak. However, local sentiment was strongly against Irish Home Rule or independence, seen as a particular threat to the livelihood of the fishermen and other maritime employees who made up much of the electorate, and St Ives therefore became a Liberal Unionist stronghold from 1886. (Even though its MP from 1906, Sir Clifford Cory, was nominally a Liberal rather than a Unionist and standing against Liberal Unionist candidates, he opposed Home Rule and was careful to explain this to the voters at each election.)

After the boundary revisions introduced at the general election of 1918, which brought in most of the villages on the Lizard Peninsula (though not Helston), the constituency was simply called Cornwall, St Ives. It underwent further boundary changes in 1950, bringing Helston into the constituency, and in 1983, when it was again extended to include all those parts of the new Penwith local government district which had previously been excluded.

The character of the constituency was little changed any of these revisions, but party loyalties may have been disrupted by the 1918 changes. Labour put up a candidate for the first time in 1918, and took more than a third of the vote; at the next election, with Labour withdrawing and the Irish issue no longer able to help Cory, a Conservative was elected for the first time. For the next decade St Ives was a Conservative-Liberal marginal, and changed hands four times in the 1920s. However, the split of the National Liberals from the Liberals apparently offered a compromise which suited the voters, and St Ives was thereafter a safe seat for that party, and later for the Conservatives when the National Liberals finally merged with them in the 1960s, until the formation of the Liberal Democrats re-invigorated the competition in the 1990s. Andrew George captured the seat after the retirement of the sitting Conservative MP in 1997, and took over half the vote in both 2001 and 2005.

At general elections, the constituency is usually one of the last in Great Britain to declare a result; the delay in bringing the ballot boxes over from the Isles of Scilly means that counting does not begin until the following day.

Current boundaries

The St Ives constituency covers the south-west of Cornwall, taking in the most southerly (The Lizard) and westerly (Land's End) points of the English mainland, including parts of the former districts of Penwith and Kerrier. The main towns in the constituency are Penzance, St Ives and Helston. It also includes the Isles of Scilly, not shown on the map (and having only some 1,700 electors out of a total of 63,000).

Following the review of parliamentary representation in Cornwall by the Boundary Commission for England, which has increased the number of seats in the county from five to six at the 2010 general election, the St Ives seat has been subject to boundary changes. These changes have reduced its size slightly, with some wards being transferred to the new Camborne and Redruth constituency, including the town of Hayle.

As the Boundary Commission review was conducted before their abolition in 2009, the modified constituency is formed using wards from the former districts of Kerrier and Penwith:

• The Isles of Scilly;
• From the former district of Penwith: Goldsithney, Guval and Heamoor, Lelant and Carbis Bay, Ludgvan and Towednack, Madron and Zennor, Marazion and Perranuthnoe, Morvah, Pendeen and St Just, Penzance Central, Penzance East, Penzance Promenade, Penzance South, St Buryan, St Erth and St Hilary, St Ives North, St Ives South;
• From the former district of Kerrier: Breage and Crowan, Grade-Ruan and Landewednack, Helston North, Helston South, Meneage, Mullion, Porthleven and Sithney, St Keverne.

Members of Parliament

MPs for St Ives borough

MPs 1558–1629

Parliament of 1558	Thomas Randolph	William Chambre
Parliament of 1559	Robert Harrington	William Glasiour
Parliament of 1563-1567	John Harrington
Parliament of 1571	Thomas Clinton	John Newman
Parliament of 1572-1581	Thomas Randolph	Edward Williams
Parliament of 1584-1585	John James	Charles Blount
Parliament of 1586-1587	Thomas Colby	John Morley
Parliament of 1588-1589	Maurice Steward	Henry Hobart
Parliament of 1593	Noel Sotherton	Nicholas Saunders
Parliament of 1597-1598		Vincent Skinner
Parliament of 1601	Thomas St Aubyn	Thomas Barton
Parliament of 1604-1611	John Tregannon	William Brook
Addled Parliament (1614)	Sir Joseph Killigrew	Sir Anthony Maney also elected for Cirencester Thomas Tindall
Parliament of 1621-1622	Lord St John	Robert Bacon
Happy Parliament (1624-1625)	William Lake	Sir Francis Godolphin
Useless Parliament (1625)	Sir William Parkhurst
Parliament of 1625-1626	Edward Savage	Benjamin Tichborne also elected for Petersfield William Noy
Parliament of 1628-1629	John Payne	Francis Godolphin
No Parliament summoned 1629-1640

MPs 1640–1832

Year		First member	First party		Second member	Second party
April 1640		William Dell			Sir Henry Marten
November 1640		Lord Lisle	Parliamentarian		Francis Godolphin	Parliamentarian
1641 (?)		Edmund Waller	Royalist
July 1643	Waller disabled from sitting - seat vacant
1647		John Feilder	Recruiter
December 1648				Godolphin not recorded as sitting after Pride's Purge
1653	St Ives was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate
January 1659		John St Aubyn			Peter Silly
May 1659		John Feilder		One seat vacant
May 1660		James Praed			John St Aubyn
July 1660		Edward Nosworthy, senior
March 1661					James Praed
December 1661		John Basset
1662		Daniel O'Neill
1665		Edward Nosworthy, senior
1679					Edward Nosworthy, junior
1681		James Praed
1685		Charles Davenant	Tory		James St Amand
1689		James Praed			Walter Vincent
1690					William Harris
1695					John Michell
1698					Sir Charles Wyndham
January 1701					Benjamin Overton
December 1701					Sir John Hawles	Whig
1702					Richard Chaundler
1702					John Pitt
1705		Sir Bartholomew Gracedieu			John Borlase
1708		John Praed
1710					John Hopkins
1713		Sir William Pendarves
1715		Lord Harry Powlett	Whig		Sir John Hobart
1722		Henry Knollys
1727					Major-General Sir Robert Rich
1734		William Mackworth Praed
1741		John Bristow			Lieutenant-Colonel Gregory Beake
July 1747					Lord Hobart
December 1747					John Plumptre
1751					Samuel Stephens
1754		Hon. George Hobart			James Whitshed
1761		Humphrey Mackworth Praed			Colonel Charles Hotham
1768		Thomas Durrant			Adam Drummond
1774		William Praed
1775		Thomas Wynn
1778					Philip Dehany
1780		William Praed			Abel Smith
1784					Richard Barwell
1790					William Mills
1796					Sir Richard Glyn
1802					Jonathan Raine
1806		Samuel Stephens			Francis Horner	Whig
1807					Sir Walter Stirling, 1st Baronet
1812		William Pole-Tylney-Long-Wellesley	Tory
1818		Samuel Stephens
1820		Lyndon Evelyn	Tory		James Graham	Whig
1821					Sir Christopher Hawkins, Bt	Tory
1826		James Halse
1828					Charles Arbuthnot	Tory
1830		William Pole-Tylney-Long-Wellesley	Ultra Tory		James Morrison
1831		James Halse	Tory		Edward Bulwer-Lytton	Whig
1832	Representation reduced to one member

MPs 1832–1885

Election		Member	Party
	1832	James Halse	Conservative
	1838 by-election	William Tyringham Praed	Conservative
	1846 by-election	Lord William Powlett	Conservative
	1852	Robert Laffan	Conservative
	1857	Henry Paull	Conservative
	1868	Charles Magniac	Liberal
	1874	Edward Gershour Davenport	Conservative
	1874 by-election	Charles Tyringham Praed	Conservative
	1880	Sir Charles Reed	Liberal
	1881 by-election	Charles Campbell Ross	Conservative
	1885	Borough abolished; name transferred to county division

MPs for St Ives county constituency

MPs since 1885

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Sir John St Aubyn	Liberal
	1886		Liberal Unionist
	1887 by-election	Thomas Bedford Bolitho	Liberal Unionist
	1900	Edward Hain	Liberal Unionist
	?		Liberal
	1906	Clifford John Cory	Liberal
	1922	John Anthony Hawke	Conservative
	1923	Clifford John Cory	Liberal
	1924	John Anthony Hawke	Conservative
	1928 by-election	Hilda Runciman	Liberal
	1929	Walter Runciman	Liberal
	1931		National Liberal
	1937 by-election	Alec Beechman	National Liberal
	1950	Greville Howard	National Liberal
	1966	John Nott	National Liberal
	1968		Conservative
	1983	David Harris	Conservative
	1997	Andrew George	Liberal Democrat

Elections

Elections 1966-2010

Election	Political result		Candidate		Party	Votes	%	±%
General Election 2010  Electorate: 66,944 Turnout: 45,921 (68.6%) +0.8		Liberal Democrat hold Majority: 1,719 (3.74%) Swing: 10.39% from Lib Dem to Con		Andrew George	Liberal Democrat	19,619	42.7	-9.1
				Derek Thomas	Conservative	17,900	39.0	+11.7
				Philippa Jocelyn Latimer	Labour	3,751	8.2	-4.4
				Mick Faulkner	UKIP	2,560	5.6	+0.5
				Tim Andrewes	Green	1,308	2.8	-1.1
				Jonathan Rogers	Cornish Democrats	396	0.9	N/A
				Simon John Reed	Mebyon Kernow	387	0.8	N/A
General Election 2005 Electorate: 74,716 Turnout: 50,417 (72.4%) +2.3		Liberal Democrat hold Majority: 11,609 (23.03%) 12.7 Swing: 1.3% from Con to Lib Dem		Andrew George	Liberal Democrat	25,577	50.7	-0.9
				Christian Mitchell	Conservative	13,968	27.7	-3.5
				Michael Dooley	Labour	6,583	13.1	-0.2
				Michael Faulkner	UKIP	2,551	5.1	+2.1
				Katrina Slack	Green	1,738	3.4	N/A
General Election 2001 Electorate: 74,256 Turnout: 49,266 (66.3%) -8.9		Liberal Democrat hold Majority: 10,053 (20.4%) 53.4 Swing: -3.6% from Lib Dem to Con		Andrew George	Liberal Democrat	25,413	51.6	+7.1
				Joanna Mary Richardson	Conservative	15,360	31.2	0
				William Morris	Labour	6,567	13.3	-1.9
				Michael Faulkner	UKIP	1,926	3.9	+2.9
General Election 1997 Electorate: 71,680 Turnout: 55,260 (75.2%)		Liberal Democrat gain from Conservative Majority: 7,170 (13.3%) Swing: 8.1% from Con to Lib Dem		Andrew George	Liberal Democrat	23,966	44.5
				William Rogers	Conservative	16,796	31.2
				Christopher Fagan	Labour	8,184	15.2
				P Garnier	UKIP	1,926	3.9
				G Stephens	Liberal	425	0.8
				K Lippiat	Independent	178	0.3
				W Hitchins	Independent	71	0.1
General Election 1992  Electorate: 71,152 Turnout: 57,132 (80.3%) +3.1		Conservative hold Majority: 1,645 (2.9%) -11.6		David Harris	Conservative	24,528	42.9	-5.4
				Andrew George	Liberal Democrat	22,883	40.1	+6.2
				Stephen Warren	Labour	9,144	16.0	-1.8
				Dr. Graham Stephens	Liberal	577	1.0	-32.8
General Election 1987  Electorate: 67,448 Turnout: 52069 (77.2%)		Conservative hold Majority: 7,555 (14.51%)		David Harris	Conservative	25,174	48.35
				Harold Carter	SDP–Liberal Alliance	17,619	33.84
				I Hope	Labour	9,275	17.81
General Election 1983 Electorate: 64,012 Turnout: 47,272 (73.85%)		Conservative hold Majority: 7,859 (16.63%)		David Harris	Conservative	24,297	51.4
				Harold Carter	SDP–Liberal Alliance	16,438	34.77
				Mary Crowley	Labour	5,310	11.23
				H Hoptrough	Green	439	0.93
				N Horner	Independent	219	0.46
Election	Political result		Candidate		Party	Votes	%	±%
General Election October 1974 Electorate: 51,440 Turnout: 37,916 (73.71%)		Conservative hold Majority: 5,868 (15.48%)		John Nott	Conservative	17,198	45.36
				Terence Tonkin	Liberal	11,330	29.88
				Bruce Tidy	Labour	9,388	24.76
General Election February 1974 Electorate: 51,092 Turnout: 40,561 (79.39%)		Conservative hold Majority: 5,425 (13.37%)		John Nott	Conservative	18,290	45.09
				Terence Tonkin	Liberal	12,865	31.72
				Bruce Tidy	Labour	9,231	20.06
				G T Taylor	Independent	177	0.44
General Election 1970 Electorate: 48,603 Turnout: 36,476 (75.05%)		Conservative hold Majority: 8,668 (23.76%)		John Nott	Conservative	18,581	50.94
				Maureen Castle	Labour	9,913	27.18
				Howard Fry	Liberal	7,981	21.88
General Election 1966 Electorate: 44,419 Turnout: 34,620 (77.94%)		Liberal National hold Majority: 3,599 (10.40%)		John Nott	Liberal National	14,312	41.34
				T F G Jones	Labour	10,713	30.95
				J C T Trewin	Liberal	9,593	27.71

General Election 1964: St Ives
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal National	Greville Howard	14,040	42.62
	Liberal	Gerald Whitmarsh	9,641	29.26
	Labour	T.F.G. Jones	9,265	28.12
Majority			4,399	13.35
Turnout			43,890	75.06
	Liberal National hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1959: St Ives
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal National	Greville Howard	15,700	47.92
	Labour	Duncan Longden	8,802	26.87
	Liberal	Gerald Whitmarsh	8,258	25.21
Majority			6,898	21.06
Turnout			44,010	74.44
	Liberal National hold		Swing

General Election 1955: St Ives
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal National	Greville Howard	17,063	52.00
	Labour	L Pawley	9,728	29.65
	Liberal	D A H Banks	6,020	18.35
Majority			7,335	22.36
Turnout			44,374
	Liberal National hold		Swing

General Election 1951: St Ives
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal National	Greville Howard	18,828	53.31
	Labour	A Maddison	11,216	31.76
	Liberal	J D G Kellock	5,273	14.93
Majority			7,612	21.55
Turnout			44,885	78.68
	Liberal National hold		Swing

General Election 1950: St Ives
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal National	Greville Howard	16,653	46.01
	Labour	Peter Shore	11,118	30.72
	Liberal	E F Allison	8,421	23.27
Majority			5,535	15.29
Turnout			44,342	81.62
	Liberal National hold		Swing

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1945: St Ives
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal National	Alec Beechman	14,256	47.3	-3.1
	Labour	H Brinton	8,190	27.2
	Liberal	E F Allison	7,692	25.5	-24.1
Majority			6,066	20.1	+19.3
Turnout			30,138	70.6	+4.5
	Liberal National hold		Swing

Elections in the 1930s

St Ives by-election, 1937
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal National	Alec Beechman	13,044	50.4
	Liberal	Isaac Foot	12,834	49.6
Majority			210	0.8
Turnout			25,878	66.1
	Liberal National hold		Swing

General Election 1935: St Ives
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal National	Walter Runciman,	unopposed

General Election 1931: St Ives
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal National	Walter Runciman,	unopposed

Election in the 1920s

General Election 1929: St Ives
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Walter Runciman	12,433	43.2	+0.6
	Conservative	Sir Andrew Caird	11,411	39.7	+0.3
	Labour	W E Arnold-Forster	4,920	17.1	-0.9
Majority			1,032	3.5	+0.3
Turnout			28,764	76.5	-0.9
	Liberal hold		Swing

St Ives by-election, 1928: St Ives
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Hilda Runciman	10,241	42.6	-4.4
	Conservative	Sir Andrew Caird	9,478	39.4	-13.6
	Labour	F J Hopkins	4,343	18.0
Majority			763	3.2
Turnout			24,062	77.4	+8.3
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election 1924: St Ives
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Anthony Hawke	11,159	53.0	+12.4
	Liberal	Sir Clifford Cory	9,912	47.0	+0.5
Majority			1,247	6.0
Turnout			21,071	69.1	-2.3
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing

General Election 1923: St Ives
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Clifford Cory	9,922	46.5	0.0
	Conservative	John Anthony Hawke	8,652	40.6	-12.9
	Labour	A E Dunn	2,749	12.9
Majority			1,270	5.9
Turnout			21,323	71.4	+5.8
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election 1922: St Ives
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Anthony Hawke	10,388	53.5
	National Liberal	Sir Clifford Cory	9,016	46.5
Majority			1,372	7.0
Turnout			19,404	65.6	+13.9
	Conservative gain from National Liberal		Swing

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1918: St Ives
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Coalition Liberal	Sir Clifford Cory	8,659	58.6
	Labour	Albert Edward Dunn	5,659	38.4
	Independent Conservative	Thomas Francis Tregoy Mitchell	436	3.0
Majority			3,000	20.2
Turnout			14,754	51.7
	Coalition Liberal hold		Swing

General Election December 1910: St Ives
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Clifford Cory	4,253	56.0	+0.6
	Liberal Unionist	R E L V Williams	3,338	44.0	-0.6
Majority			915	12.0	+1.2
Turnout			7,591	80.7	-4.8
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election January 1910: St Ives
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Clifford Cory	4,458	55.4	-2.8
	Liberal Unionist	C B Levita	3,586	44.6	+2.8
Majority			872	10.8	-5.6
Turnout			8,044	85.5	+4.3
	Liberal hold		Swing

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1906: St Ives
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Clifford John Cory	4,244	58.2
	Liberal Unionist	P E Pilditch	3,052	41.8
Majority			1,192	16.4
Turnout			7,296	81.2
	Liberal gain from Liberal Unionist		Swing

General election of 1900

In the 1900 general election, Edward Hain, Liberal Unionist was elected unopposed.

Elections in the 1890s

General election of 1895

In the 1895 general election, Thomas Bedford Bolitho, Liberal Unionist was elected unopposed.

General election of 1892

In the 1892 general election, Thomas Bedford Bolitho, Liberal Unionist was elected unopposed.

Elections in the 1880s

St Ives By-Election 9 July 1887

In the 1887 St Ives by-election, Thomas Bedford Bolitho, Liberal Unionist was elected unopposed.

General Election 1886: St Ives
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Sir John St Aubyn	3,395	79.3
	Liberal	S Barrow	888	20.7
Majority			2,507	58.6
Turnout			4,283	56.3	-21.1
	Liberal Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing

General Election 1885: St Ives
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir John St Aubyn	3,313	56.3
	Conservative	Charles Campbell Ross	2,576	43.7
Majority			737	12.6
Turnout			5,889	77.4
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing

Elections in the 1830s

St Ives by-election, 1838
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Tory	William Tyringham Praed	256
	Tory	F H Stephens	248
Majority			8
Turnout			504
Registered electors			566
	Tory hold		Swing

General Election 1837: St Ives
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Tory	James Halse	272
	Tory	William Tyringham Praed	223
Majority			49
Turnout			495
Registered electors			579
	Tory hold		Swing

General Election 1835: St Ives
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Tory	James Halse
Registered electors			599
	Tory hold		Swing

General Election 1832: St Ives
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Tory	James Halse	302
	Tory	W M Praed	168
	Tory	H L Stephens	39
Majority			134
Turnout			509
Registered electors			584

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Cornwall

Sources

• F. W. S. Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1832 - 1885
• F. W. S. Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1885 - 1918
• Election results, 1950 - 2005
• Robert Beatson, A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807) [1]
• 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) [2]
• Michael Kinnear, The British Voter (London: BH Batsford, Ltd, 1968)
• Lewis Namier & John Brooke, The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1754-1790 (London: HMSO, 1964)
• J E Neale, The Elizabethan House of Commons (London: Jonathan Cape, 1949)
• T H B Oldfield, The Representative History of Great Britain and Ireland (London: Baldwin, Cradock & Joy, 1816)
• Henry Pelling, Social Geography of British Elections 1885-1910 (London: Macmillan, 1967)
• J Holladay Philbin, Parliamentary Representation 1832 - England and Wales (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965)
• Edward Porritt and Annie G Porritt, The Unreformed House of Commons (Cambridge University Press, 1903)
• Browne Willis, Notitia Parliamentaria (London, 1750) [3]
• Frederic A Youngs, jr, Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol I (London: Royal Historical Society, 1979)