West Norfolk (UK Parliament constituency)

West Norfolk or Norfolk Western (formally the "Western division of Norfolk") was a county constituency in the county of Norfolk, which returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the bloc vote system.

West Norfolk
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
Context of 1832-1868. Extract from 1837 result: the northern 'doubly' blue land by the great bay (bight), the Wash.
1832–1885
Seats	two
Replaced by	Mid Norfolk North West Norfolk South West Norfolk

The constituency was created by the Reform Act 1832 for the 1832 general election, alongside Eastern Norfolk, as one of two Divisions of the Parliamentary County of Norfolk, each returning 2 MPs. It was abolished under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 for the 1885 general election.

Boundaries and boundary changes

1832–1868

• The Hundreds of Freebridge Marshland, Smithdon, Freebridge Lynn, Clackclose, Brothercross, Gallow, Holt, Launditch, South Greenhoe, Grimshoe, North Greenhoe, Wayland, Shropham, Gilt Cross and Mitford.^[1]

1868–1885

• The Hundreds of Wayland, Launditch, South Greenhoe, Gallow, Brothercross, Smithdon, Freebridge Lynn, Freebridge Marshland, Clackclose and Grimshoe.^[2]

Small parts of the division were transferred to the newly formed North and South Divisions of Norfolk. Also absorbed the disenfranchised Parliamentary Borough of Thetford.

On abolition in 1885, northern areas formed the new North-Western Division of Norfolk, southern areas formed the new South-Western Division and central areas were included in the new Mid Division.

Members of Parliament

Election	1st Member		1st Party	2nd Member		2nd Party
1832		Sir William Ffolkes, Bt	Whig[3][4]		Sir Jacob Astley, Bt	Whig[3]
1837		William Bagge	Conservative		William Chute	Conservative
1847					Hon. Edward Coke	Whig[5][6][7]
1852					George Bentinck	Conservative
1857		Brampton Gurdon	Whig[8][9]
1859			Liberal
1865		Sir William Bagge, Bt	Conservative		Hon. Thomas de Grey	Conservative
1871 by-election					George Bentinck	Conservative
1880 by-election		William Tyssen-Amherst	Conservative
1884 by-election					Clare Sewell Read	Conservative
1885	representation reduced to one member and constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1830s

General election 1832: West Norfolk^[10][3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	William ffolkes	Unopposed
	Whig	Jacob Astley	Unopposed
Registered electors			4,396
	Whig win (new seat)
	Whig win (new seat)

General election 1835: West Norfolk^[10][3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	William ffolkes	2,299	36.4
	Whig	Jacob Astley	2,134	33.8
	Conservative	William Bagge	1,880	29.8
Majority			254	4.0
Turnout			3,947	85.2
Registered electors			4,633
	Whig hold
	Whig hold

General election 1837: West Norfolk^[10][3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Bagge	3,178	27.4	+12.5
	Conservative	William Lyde Wiggett Chute	2,877	24.8	+9.9
	Whig	William ffolkes	2,838	24.5	−11.9
	Whig	Jacob Astley	2,713	23.4	−10.4
Majority			465	4.0	N/A
Majority			39	0.3	N/A
Turnout			5,898	81.3	−3.9
Registered electors			7,258
	Conservative gain from Whig		Swing	+11.8
	Conservative gain from Whig		Swing	+10.5

Elections in the 1840s

General election 1841: West Norfolk^[10][3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Bagge	Unopposed
	Conservative	William Lyde Wiggett Chute	Unopposed
Registered electors			7,559
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

11776

General election 1847: West Norfolk^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Bagge	3,113	26.4	N/A
	Whig	Edward Coke	3,052	25.9	New
	Whig	Anthony Hamond, Sr.	2,935	24.9	New
	Conservative	Henry L'Estrange Styleman Le Strange	2,676	22.7	N/A
Turnout			5,888 (est)	78.3 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			7,516
Majority			61	0.5	N/A
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A
Majority			376	3.2	N/A
	Whig gain from Conservative		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1850s

General election 1852: West Norfolk^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Bagge	3,421	40.1	+13.7
	Conservative	George Bentinck	3,143	36.8	+14.1
	Whig	Anthony Hamond, Sr.[11]	1,973	23.1	−27.7
Majority			1,170	13.7	N/A
Turnout			5,255 (est)	67.1 (est)	−11.2
Registered electors			7,827
	Conservative hold		Swing	+13.8
	Conservative gain from Whig		Swing	+14.0

General election 1857: West Norfolk^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Bentinck	Unopposed
	Whig	Brampton Gurdon	Unopposed
Registered electors			7,179
	Conservative hold
	Whig gain from Conservative

General election 1859: West Norfolk^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Bentinck	Unopposed
	Liberal	Brampton Gurdon	Unopposed
Registered electors			6,941
	Conservative hold
	Liberal hold

Elections in the 1860s

General election 1865: West Norfolk^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Bagge	2,710	28.4	N/A
	Conservative	Thomas de Grey	2,611	27.4	N/A
	Liberal	Willoughby Jones	2,133	22.4	N/A
	Liberal	Brampton Gurdon	2,088	21.9	N/A
Majority			622	6.5	N/A
Majority			478	5.0	N/A
Turnout			4,771 (est)	73.0 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			6,534
	Conservative hold
	Conservative gain from Liberal

General election 1868: West Norfolk^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Thomas de Grey	Unopposed
	Conservative	William Bagge	Unopposed
Registered electors			7,062
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1870s

Grey succeeded to the peerage, becoming Lord Walsingham.

By-election, 8 Feb 1871: West Norfolk^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Bentinck	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

General election 1874: West Norfolk^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Bentinck	Unopposed
	Conservative	William Bagge	Unopposed
Registered electors			6,647
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1880s

Bagge's death caused a by-election.

By-election, 8 Mar 1880: West Norfolk^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Tyssen-Amherst	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

General election 1880: West Norfolk^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Tyssen-Amherst	2,671	38.1	N/A
	Conservative	George Bentinck	2,233	31.9	N/A
	Liberal	Anthony Hamond (jun)[12]	2,104	30.0	New
Majority			129	1.9	N/A
Turnout			4,556 (est)	70.4 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			6,471
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Bentinck's resignation caused a by-election.

By-election, 21 Feb 1884: West Norfolk^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Clare Sewell Read	Unopposed
	Conservative hold