East Cheshire (UK Parliament constituency)

East Cheshire was a parliamentary constituency which returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Elections were held using the bloc vote system.

East Cheshire
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
County	Cheshire
1868–1885
Seats	Two
Created from	North Cheshire
Replaced by	Macclesfield

History

Under the Reform Act 1867,^[1] the Parliamentary County of Cheshire was divided into three 2-member constituencies. This was achieved by the creation of Mid Cheshire which comprised the Hundred of Bucklow from North Cheshire and the Hundred of Northwich from South Cheshire. Under the Boundary Act 1868,^[2] North Cheshire and South Cheshire were renamed East Cheshire and West Cheshire respectively.

Under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885,^[3] the three 2-member seats were abolished and re-divided into eight single-member constituencies: Altrincham, Crewe, Eddisbury, Hyde, Knutsford, Macclesfield, Northwich and Wirral.

Boundaries

1868–1885: The Hundred of Macclesfield.^[4][5]

Members of Parliament

Election[6][7]			First member	First party	Second member	Second Party
		1868	Edward Egerton	Conservative	William Legh	Conservative
		1869 by-election	William Cunliffe Brooks	Conservative
		1885	constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1860s

General election 1868: East Cheshire^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edward Egerton	Unopposed
	Conservative	William Legh	Unopposed
Registered electors			6,276
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Egerton's death caused a by-election.

By-election, 6 Oct 1869: East Cheshire^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Cunliffe Brooks	2,908	61.6	N/A
	Liberal	Edward Watkin	1,815	38.4	New
Majority			1,093	23.2	N/A
Turnout			4,723	75.3	N/A
Registered electors			6,276
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1870s

General election 1874: East Cheshire^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Cunliffe Brooks	Unopposed
	Conservative	William Legh	Unopposed
Registered electors			6,492
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1880s

10713

General election 1880: East Cheshire^[8][9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Cunliffe Brooks	3,424	32.0	N/A
	Conservative	William Legh	3,310	30.9	N/A
	Liberal	Gibbon Bayley-Worthington	2,032	19.0	New
	Liberal	Thomas Albert Bazley	1,947	18.2	New
Majority			1,278	11.9	N/A
Turnout			5,357 (est)	78.2 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			6,849
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

See also

• List of former United Kingdom Parliament constituencies
• History of parliamentary constituencies and boundaries in Cheshire