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
Boundary of Hornchurch in Greater London for the 2005 general election
CountyGreater London
1945–2010
Number of membersOne
Replaced byHornchurch and Upminster, Dagenham and Rainham
Created fromRomford

Boundaries

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.

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

The seat encompassed Hornchurch, Rainham, Elm Park and the village of Wennington. It bordered on the other London constituencies of Romford and Upminster and like them, was part of the London Borough of Havering.

History

The south of the constituency has been seen as a site for building large entertainment centres on Rainham's large marshland area, 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 have been plans to build a casino but permission is yet to be granted.

Hornchurch is a predominantly suburban and Conservative-voting area, but the seat is seen as a swing seat due to Rainham and Elm Park's working class voters and because the wealthiest Emerson Park area of Hornchurch does not form part of the constituency, instead forming part of Upminster constituency.

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.

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.[1]

Members of Parliament
ElectionMember [2] Party
1945 Geoffrey Bing Labour
1955 Godfrey Lagden Conservative
1966 Alan Lee Williams Labour
1970 John Loveridge Conservative
Feb 1974 Alan Lee Williams Labour
1979 Robin Squire Conservative
1997 John Cryer Labour
2005 James Brokenshire Conservative
2010 constituency abolished: see Hornchurch and Upminster, Dagenham and Rainham & Romford

Elections

Elections in the 1940s
General election 1945: Hornchurch
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Geoffrey Bing 26,856 56.0
Conservative John Theadore de Horne Vaizey 15,100 31.5
Liberal Norman Clarke Jones 5,807 12.1
Independent Violet Van der Elst 232 0.5
Majority 11,756 24.5
Turnout 47,995 72.3
Labour win (new seat)

Elections in the 1950s
General election 1950: Hornchurch
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Geoffrey Bing 28,463 46.1 −9.9
Conservative James Wentworth−Day 26,696 43.2 +11.7
Liberal Nancy Seear 6,653 10.8 −1.3
Majority 1,767 2.9 -21.6
Turnout 61,812 85.7 +13.4
Labour hold Swing −10.8
General election 1951: Hornchurch
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Geoffrey Bing 30,101 47.4 +1.3
Conservative James Wentworth−Day 28,976 45.6 +2.4
Liberal Nancy Seear 4,771 7.0 −3.8
Majority 1,125 1.8 -1.1
Turnout 63,848 86.3 +0.6
Labour hold Swing −0.5
General election 1955: Hornchurch
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Godfrey Lagden 29,205 46.2 +0.6
Labour Geoffrey Bing 27,833 44.1 −3.3
Liberal Donald S. Paterson 6,117 9.7 +2.7
Majority 1,372 2.1 N/A
Turnout 63,155 82.0 −4.3
Conservative gain from Labour Swing +2.0
General election 1959: Hornchurch
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Godfrey Lagden 34,852 47.5 +1.3
Labour Jo Richardson 27,530 37.5 −6.6
Liberal Lyndon H. Jones 11,056 15.1 +5.4
Majority 7,322 10.0 +7.8
Turnout 73,438 83.9 +1.9
Conservative hold Swing +4.0

Elections in the 1960s
General election 1964: Hornchurch
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Godfrey Lagden 30,933 41.6 −5.9
Labour Trevor Williams 30,699 41.3 +3.8
Liberal Ralph Taylor 12,725 17.1 +2.0
Majority 234 0.3 -9.7
Turnout 74,357 81.9 −2.0
Conservative hold Swing −4.9
General election 1966: Hornchurch
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Alan Lee Williams 38,406 52.1 +10.8
Conservative Godfrey Lagden 35,373 47.9 +6.3
Majority 3,033 4.2 N/A
Turnout 73,779 81.1 −0.8
Labour gain from Conservative Swing +2.3

Elections in the 1970s
General election 1970: Hornchurch
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Loveridge 36,124 49.7 +1.8
Labour Alan Lee Williams 30,294 41.7 −10.4
Liberal Bryan G. Sell 6,227 8.6 New
Majority 5,830 8.0 N/A
Turnout 72,645 72.8 −8.3
Conservative gain from Labour Swing +6.1

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

General election February 1974: Hornchurch
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Alan Lee Williams 21,763 45.0 −3.7
Conservative J. Jackson 15,567 32.2 −7.5
Liberal B. McCarthy 10,391 21.5 +12.9
PEOPLE B. Percy−Davis 619 1.3 New
Majority 6,196 12.8 +4.8
Turnout 48,340 80.8 +8.0
Labour hold Swing +1.8
General election October 1974: Hornchurch
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Alan Lee Williams 21,336 48.5 +3.5
Conservative Robin Squire 14,535 33.1 +0.9
Liberal B.G. McCarthy 7,284 16.6 −4.9
PEOPLE B. Percy−Davis 797 1.8 +0.5
Majority 6,801 15.5 +2.7
Turnout 43,952 72.7 −8.1
Labour hold Swing +1.3
General election 1979: Hornchurch
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Robin Squire 21,340 44.9 +11.8
Labour Alan Lee Williams 20,571 43.3 −5.2
Liberal C. Lewcock 4,657 9.8 −6.8
National Front A. Harris 994 2.1 New
Majority 769 1.6 N/A
Turnout 47,562 78.1 +5.4
Conservative gain from Labour Swing +8.5

Elections in the 1980s
General election 1983: Hornchurch[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Robin Squire 21,393 47.0 +2.1
Labour Alan Williams 12,209 26.9 −16.4
SDP J. Martin 11,251 24.7 +14.9
National Front A.M. Joyce 402 1.2 New
Ecology Michael Crowson 219 0.5 New
Majority 9,184 20.1 +18.5
Turnout 45,474 73.7 −4.4
Conservative hold Swing +9.3
General election 1987: Hornchurch[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Robin Squire 24,039 51.2 +4.2
Labour Alan Williams 13,345 28.4 +1.5
SDP Mark Long 9,609 20.4 −4.3
Majority 10,694 22.8 +2.7
Turnout 44,712 75.3 +1.6
Conservative hold Swing +1.4

Elections in the 1990s
General election 1992: Hornchurch[5][6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Robin Squire 25,817 53.5 +2.3
Labour Leonie Cooper 16,652 34.5 +6.1
Liberal Democrats Barry J. Oddy 5,366 11.1 –9.3
Independent Ind SD Terrence F. Matthews 453 0.9 New
Majority 9,165 19.0 –3.8
Turnout 48,288 79.8 +4.5
Conservative hold Swing –1.9
General election 1997: Hornchurch[7][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour John Cryer 22,066 50.2 +15.7
Conservative Robin Squire 16,386 37.3 –16.2
Liberal Democrats Rabi Martins 3,446 7.8 –3.3
Referendum Rory E.B. Khilkoff-Bouldi 1,595 3.6 New
Independent Jenny Trueman 259 0.6 New
ProLife Alliance Joseph Sowerby 189 0.4 New
Majority 5,680 12.9 N/A
Turnout 43,941 72.8 –7.0
Labour gain from Conservative Swing +16.0

Elections in the 2000s
General election 2001: Hornchurch[9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour John Cryer 16,514 46.4 –3.8
Conservative Robin Squire 15,032 42.3 +5.0
Liberal Democrats Sarah E. Lea 2,928 8.2 +0.4
UKIP Lawrence Webb 893 2.5 New
Third Way David Durant 190 0.5 New
Majority 1,482 4.1 -8.8
Turnout 35,557 58.3 –14.5
Labour hold Swing –4.4
General election 2005: Hornchurch[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative James Brokenshire 16,355 42.8 +0.5
Labour John Cryer 15,875 41.6 –4.8
Liberal Democrats Nathaniel Green 2,894 7.6 –0.6
BNP Ian Moore 1,313 3.4 New
UKIP Laurence Webb 1,033 2.7 +0.2
Residents Malvin P. Brown 395 1.0 New
Third Way Graham K. Williamson 304 0.8 +0.3
Majority 480 1.2 N/A
Turnout 38,169 63.5 +5.2
Conservative gain from Labour Swing +2.6

See also

Notes
  1. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 January 2007. Retrieved 13 January 2008.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "H" (part 4)
  3. "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  4. "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  5. "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  6. "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
  7. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  8. "Politics Resources". Election 1997. Politics Resources. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
  9. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  10. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

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