South Devon (UK Parliament constituency)

South Devon
South Devon
Former County constituency; for the House of Commons
County	Devon
1832–1885
Seats	Two
Created from	Devon
Replaced by	Totnes; Tavistock

South Devon, formerly known as the Southern Division of Devon, was parliamentary constituency in the county of Devon in England. From 1832 to 1885 it returned two Knights of the Shire to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the bloc vote system.

Boundaries

In 1832 the county of Devon, in south western England, was divided for Parliamentary purposes between this constituency and North Devon. In 1868 the Devon county constituencies were re-arranged into North, South and East Devon divisions. Each of these divisions returned two members of Parliament.

In 1885 the three constituencies were again redrawn, so that Devon was represented by eight single member County constituencies (there were also three borough constituencies, two of which returned two members and the third one member). The county was split between the new smaller constituencies of Ashburton (alternatively the Mid Division), Barnstaple (the North-Western Division), Honiton (the Eastern Division), South Molton (the Northern Division), Tavistock (the Western Division), Tiverton (the North-Eastern Division), Torquay and Totnes (the Southern Division). The constituencies in this redistribution are normally referred to by the distinctive place name rather than the alternative compass point designation, so the South Devon division is considered to have been abolished in 1885.

Members of Parliament

Election			First member	First party	Second member	Second party
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" rowspan="2"\|	style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" \|	1832	Lord John Russell	Liberal	John Crocker Bulteel	Liberal
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" rowspan="5"\|	1835	Sir John Yarde-Buller, Bt	Lord John Russell	Liberal	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" \|	May 1835 by-election		Montague Parker of Whiteway House	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" \|	1841		Lord Courtenay	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" \|	1849 by-election		Sir Ralph Lopes, Bt	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" rowspan="2"\|	1854 by-election		Sir Lawrence Palk, Bt	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" rowspan="2"\|	1858 by-election	Samuel Trehawke Kekewich	Sir Lawrence Palk, Bt	Conservative	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" rowspan="3"\|	1868	Samuel Trehawke Kekewich	Sir Massey Lopes, Bt	Conservative	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" \|	1873 by-election	John Carpenter Garnier			Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" \|	1884 by-election	John Tremayne			Conservative
		1885	Constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1850s

General Election 1852: South Devon^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	John Yarde-Buller	Unopposed
	Conservative	Ralph Lopes	Unopposed
Registered electors			9,569
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Lopes' death caused a by-election.

By-election, 14 February 1854: South Devon^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Lawrence Palk	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

General Election 1857: South Devon^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	John Yarde-Buller	Unopposed
	Conservative	Lawrence Palk	Unopposed
Registered electors			9,625
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Buller was elevated to the peerage, becoming 1st Baron Churston and causing a by-election.

By-election, 6 August 1858: South Devon^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Samuel Trehawke Kekewich	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

General Election 1859: South Devon^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Samuel Trehawke Kekewich	Unopposed
	Conservative	Lawrence Palk	Unopposed
Registered electors			9,466
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1860s

General Election 1865: South Devon^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Samuel Trehawke Kekewich	Unopposed
	Conservative	Lawrence Palk	Unopposed
Registered electors			9,592
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

General Election 1868: South Devon^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Massey Lopes	3,234	35.3	N/A
	Conservative	Samuel Trehawke Kekewich	3,233	35.3	N/A
	Liberal	John Russell	2,694	29.4	N/A
Majority			539	5.9	N/A
Turnout			5,928 (est)	73.7 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			8,047
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1870s

Kekewich's death caused a by-election.

By-election, 17 Jun 1873: South Devon^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Carpenter Garnier	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

General Election 1874: South Devon^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	John Carpenter Garnier	Unopposed
	Conservative	Massey Lopes	Unopposed
Registered electors			8,350
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Lopes was appointed a Civil Lord of the Admiralty, requiring a by-election.

By-election, 19 Mar 1874: South Devon^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Massey Lopes	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1880: South Devon^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	John Carpenter Garnier	Unopposed
	Conservative	Massey Lopes	Unopposed
Registered electors			7,982
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Garnier resigned, causing a by-election.

By-election, 14 Aug 1884: South Devon^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Tremayne	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. pp. 378–379. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.

Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)
British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press 1977)
Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume I 1832-1885, edited by M. Stenton (The Harvester Press 1976)
Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "D" (part 2)

[craig1832-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. pp. 378–379. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.

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