West Derbyshire (UK Parliament constituency)

West Derbyshire was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. From 1885, until it was replaced by the Derbyshire Dales constituency in the 2010 general election, it elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post voting system. It was a safe Conservative seat for most of its existence.

West Derbyshire
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of West Derbyshire in Derbyshire for the 2005 general election
Location of Derbyshire within England
County	Derbyshire
Major settlements	Bakewell, Matlock, Wirksworth
1885–2010
Seats	One
Created from	North Derbyshire
Replaced by	Derbyshire Dales

Boundaries

This was the only really safe Conservative seat in Derbyshire, consisting mostly of rural villages and tourist towns like Bakewell and Matlock; Labour's only strengths were in Wirksworth and Masson, not enough to end the long-standing Conservative representation of this seat.

Boundary review

Following their review of parliamentary representation in Derbyshire, the Boundary Commission for England created a new constituency of Derbyshire Dales based on the existing West Derbyshire constituency.

History

Historically associated with the Cavendish family, the seat and its predecessors were usually represented by one of the future Dukes of Devonshire or their relatives from 1580 until the Second World War. When the Cavendish family left the Liberals over Irish Home Rule the seat stayed loyal to them as they sat first as Liberal Unionists then as Conservatives. In 1918 the hold on the constituency was briefly broken by Charles Frederick White standing for the Liberals, but the seat was regained in 1923. In a by-election in 1944, White's son, also called Charles Frederick White resigned as the official Labour nominee in order to stand against the wartime party truce. He defeated the Conservative candidate, William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington, and subsequently took the Labour whip in the Commons, holding the seat in the 1945 general election for Labour. The Conservatives regained the seat in the 1950 general election and held it with mostly safe majorities thereafter, with Liberal-affiliated candidates being their main challengers from 1974 onwards, with the closest they came to losing being in the 1986 by-election when they held it by only 100 votes in a period of heavy unpopularity for the government of Margaret Thatcher. The seat changed its name (with minor boundary changes) to Derbyshire Dales in 2010.

Members of Parliament

	Year	Member[1]	Whip
	1885	Lord Edward Cavendish	Liberal
	1886		Liberal Unionist
	1891	Victor Cavendish	Liberal Unionist
	1908	Earl of Kerry	Liberal Unionist
	1918	Charles White	Liberal
	1923	Marquess of Hartington	Unionist
	1938	Henry Hunloke	Conservative
	1944	Charles White Jr.	Independent Labour
	1945		Labour
	1950	Edward Wakefield	Conservative
	1962	Aidan Crawley	Conservative
	1967	James Scott-Hopkins	Conservative
	1979	Matthew Parris	Conservative
	1986	Patrick McLoughlin	Conservative
	2010	constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1885: West Derbyshire ^[2][3][4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Edward Cavendish	5,020	54.8
	Conservative	Frederic Charles Arkwright	4,138	45.2
Majority			882	9.6
Turnout			9,158	88.8
Registered electors			10,310
	Liberal win (new seat)

General election 1886: West Derbyshire ^[2][3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Edward Cavendish	Unopposed
	Liberal Unionist gain from Liberal

Elections in the 1890s

1891 West Derbyshire by-election^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Victor Cavendish	Unopposed
	Liberal Unionist hold

General election 1892: West Derbyshire ^[3][5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Victor Cavendish	5,961	68.3	N/A
	Liberal	Hugh MacDermot	2,768	31.7	New
Majority			3,193	36.6	N/A
Turnout			8,729	73.0	N/A
Registered electors			11,956
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1895: West Derbyshire ^[3][6][5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Victor Cavendish	Unopposed
	Liberal Unionist hold

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: West Derbyshire ^[3][6][5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Victor Cavendish	Unopposed
	Liberal Unionist hold

1900 West Derbyshire by-election^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Victor Cavendish	Unopposed
	Liberal Unionist hold

General election 1906: West Derbyshire ^[3][5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Victor Cavendish	5,283	52.8	N/A
	Liberal	Edward Hinmers	4,724	47.2	New
Majority			559	5.6	N/A
Turnout			10,007	87.5	N/A
Registered electors			11,443
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

1908 West Derbyshire by-election^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice	Unopposed
	Liberal Unionist hold

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: West Derbyshire ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice	5,974	54.8	+2.0
	Liberal	Edward Hinmers	4,925	45.2	−2.0
Majority			1,049	9.6	+4.0
Turnout			10,899	91.1	+3.6
Registered electors			11,962
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	+2.0

White

General election December 1910: West Derbyshire ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice	5,624	55.2	+0.4
	Liberal	Charles White	4,564	44.8	−0.4
Majority			1,060	10.4	+0.8
Turnout			10,188	85.2	−5.9
Registered electors			11,962
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	+0.4

General Election 1914–15:

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

• Unionist:Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice
• Liberal: Charles White

White

General election 1918: Derbyshire West^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles White	10,752	55.6	+10.8
C	Unionist	Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice	8,592	44.4	−10.8
Majority			2,160	11.2	N/A
Turnout			19,344	66.0	−19.2
Registered electors			29,323
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing	+10.8
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Derbyshire West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles White	13,060	50.2	−5.4
	Unionist	Edward Cavendish	12,973	49.8	+5.4
Majority			87	0.4	−10.8
Turnout			26,033	86.1	+20.1
Registered electors			30,231
	Liberal hold		Swing	−5.4

General election 1923: Derbyshire West ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Edward Cavendish	13,419	50.9	+1.1
	Liberal	William Christopher Mallison	12,966	49.1	−1.1
Majority			453	1.8	N/A
Turnout			26,385	84.9	−1.2
Registered electors			31,067
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+1.1

General election 1924: Derbyshire West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Edward Cavendish	15,324	56.9	+6.0
	Liberal	William Christopher Mallison	11,612	43.1	−6.0
Majority			3,712	13.8	+12.0
Turnout			26,936	84.8	−0.1
Registered electors			31,757
	Unionist hold		Swing	+6.0

General election 1929: Derbyshire West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Edward Cavendish	16,760	49.7	−7.2
	Liberal	William Christopher Mallison	13,277	39.4	−3.7
	Labour	William Wilkinson	3,660	10.9	New
Majority			3,483	10.3	−3.5
Turnout			33,697	83.2	−1.6
Registered electors			40,487
	Unionist hold		Swing	−1.8

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: West Derbyshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edward Cavendish	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Conservative hold

General election 1935: West Derbyshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edward Cavendish	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Conservative hold

1938 West Derbyshire by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Henry Hunloke	16,740	48.6	N/A
	Labour	Charles White	11,216	32.5	New
	Liberal	Milner Gray	6,515	18.9	New
Majority			5,524	16.1	N/A
Turnout			34,471	79.4	N/A
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

General Election 1939–40

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected;

• Conservative: Henry Hunloke
• Labour: Charles White
• Liberal: James Ivor Waddington^[10]

Elections in the 1940s

1944 West Derbyshire by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Labour	Charles White	16,336	57.7	N/A
	Conservative	Marquess of Hartington	11,775	41.5	N/A
	Agriculturalist	Robert Goodall	233	0.8	New
Majority			4,561	16.2	N/A
Turnout			28,344	65.4	N/A
	Independent Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

General election 1945: West Derbyshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Charles White	18,331	48.8	+16.3
	Conservative	William Aitken	18,175	48.4	−0.2
	Agriculturalist	Robert Goodall	1,068	2.8	N/A
Majority			156	0.4	N/A
Turnout			37,574	81.7	+2.3
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: West Derbyshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edward Wakefield	20,015	51.9	+3.5
	Labour	N. Gratton	13,478	35.0	−13.8
	Liberal	George Frederick Strange	5,070	13.2	New
Majority			6,537	16.9	N/A
Turnout			33,563	87.5	+5.8
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General election 1951: West Derbyshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edward Wakefield	22,223	58.8	+6.9
	Labour	Ronald Lewis	15,578	41.2	+6.2
Majority			6,645	17.6	+0.7
Turnout			37,801	84.4	−3.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1955: West Derbyshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edward Wakefield	21,052	59.6	+0.8
	Labour	Robert B. Stirling	14,296	40.4	−0.8
Majority			6,756	19.2	+1.6
Turnout			35,348	80.0	−4.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1959: West Derbyshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edward Wakefield	22,034	61.3	+1.7
	Labour	Albert E. Kitts	13,925	38.7	−1.7
Majority			8,109	22.6	+3.4
Turnout			35,959	82.0	+2.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

1962 West Derbyshire by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Aidan Crawley	12,455	36.0	−25.3
	Liberal	Ronald Gardner-Thorpe	11,235	32.5	New
	Labour	John Dilks	9,431	27.2	−11.5
	Independent	Raymond Gregory	1,433	4.1	New
Majority			1,220	3.5	−19.1
Turnout			34,554
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1964: West Derbyshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Aidan Crawley	16,825	44.2	−18.1
	Liberal	Ronald Gardner-Thorpe	11,559	30.4	N/A
	Labour	John Dilks	9,669	25.4	−13.3
Majority			5,266	13.8	−8.8
Turnout			38,053	85.8	+3.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1966: West Derbyshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Aidan Crawley	18,383	49.6	+5.4
	Labour	Phillip Whitehead	13,791	37.2	+11.8
	Liberal	Peggy Edwards	4,874	13.2	−17.2
Majority			4,592	12.4	−1.4
Turnout			37,048	83.4	−2.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

1967 West Derbyshire by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Scott-Hopkins	16,319	56.7	+7.1
	Liberal	Michael Aza Pinney	5,696	19.8	+6.6
	Labour	Robin Corbett	5,284	18.3	−18.9
	Independent	Robert Goodall	1,496	5.2	New
Majority			10,623	36.9	+24.5
Turnout			28,795	64.5	−18.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	+13.0

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: West Derbyshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Scott-Hopkins	22,692	61.9	+12.3
	Labour	Fred Inglis	13,976	38.1	+0.9
Majority			8,716	23.8	+11.4
Turnout			36,668	76.7	−6.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election February 1974: West Derbyshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Scott-Hopkins	19,941	48.7	−13.2
	Liberal	Peter Worboys	11,481	28.0	New
	Labour	Fred Inglis	9,529	23.3	−14.8
Majority			8,460	20.7	−3.1
Turnout			40,951	61.8	−14.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election October 1974: West Derbyshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Scott-Hopkins	18,468	47.9	−0.8
	Liberal	Peter Worboys	10,622	27.6	−0.4
	Labour	David Townsend	9,456	24.5	+1.2
Majority			7,846	20.3	−0.4
Turnout			38,546	57.6	−4.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1979: West Derbyshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Matthew Parris	21,478	52.6	+4.7
	Liberal	Peter Worboys	11,261	27.6	0.0
	Labour	William Moore	8,134	19.9	−4.6
Majority			10,217	25.0	+4.7
Turnout			40,873	80.7	+23.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1983: West Derbyshire^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Matthew Parris	29,695	55.9	+3.3
	Liberal	Viv Bingham	14,370	27.0	−0.6
	Labour	John March	9,060	17.1	−2.8
Majority			15,325	28.9	+3.9
Turnout			53,125	77.4	−3.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

1986 West Derbyshire by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Patrick McLoughlin	19,896	39.5	−16.4
	Liberal	Christopher Walmsley	19,796	39.4	+12.4
	Labour	William Moore	9,952	19.8	+2.7
	Rainbow Dream Ticket	R. C. Sidwell	348	0.7	New
	Independent	Robert Goodall	289	0.6	New
Majority			100	0.1	−28.8
Turnout			50,281	71.9	−5.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1987: West Derbyshire^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Patrick McLoughlin	31,224	53.1	−2.8
	Liberal	Christopher Walmsley	20,697	35.2	+8.2
	Labour	William Moore	6,875	11.7	−5.4
Majority			10,527	17.9	−11.0
Turnout			58,796	83.1	+5.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1992: West Derbyshire^[13][14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Patrick McLoughlin	32,879	54.3	+1.2
	Liberal Democrats	RD Fearn	14,110	23.3	−11.9
	Labour	Stephen J Clamp	13,528	22.4	+10.7
Majority			18,769	31.0	+13.1
Turnout			60,517	85.0	+1.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	+6.6

General election 1997: West Derbyshire^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Patrick McLoughlin	23,945	42.1
	Labour	Stephen J Clamp	19,060	33.5
	Liberal Democrats	Christopher Seeley	9,940	17.5
	Referendum	John Gouriet	2,499	4.4	New
	Independent Green	Godfrey Meynell	593	1.0	New
	UKIP	Hugh Price	484	0.9	New
	Monster Raving Loony	"The Flying Brick" Delves	281	0.5	New
	Independent Back to Basics	Martin Kyslun	81	0.1	New
Majority			4,885	8.6
Turnout			56,883	78.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2001: West Derbyshire^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Patrick McLoughlin	24,280	48.0	+5.9
	Labour	Stephen J Clamp	16,910	33.4	−0.1
	Liberal Democrats	Jeremy Beckett	7,922	15.7	−1.8
	UKIP	Stuart Bavester	672	1.3	+0.4
	Monster Raving Loony	"The Flying Brick" Delves	472	0.9	+0.4
	Independent	Robert Goodall	333	0.7	New
Majority			7,370	14.6	+6.0
Turnout			50,589	67.8	−10.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 2005: West Derbyshire^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Patrick McLoughlin	24,378	47.7	−0.3
	Labour	David Menon	13,625	26.6	−6.8
	Liberal Democrats	Ray Dring	11,408	22.3	+6.6
	UKIP	Michael Cruddas	1,322	2.6	+1.3
	Monster Raving Loony	"The Flying Brick" Delves	405	0.8	−0.1
	Independent	Martin Kyslun	5	0.0	New
Majority			10,753	21.0	+6.4
Turnout			51,143	69.2	+1.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	+3.2

See also

• List of parliamentary constituencies in Derbyshire