Eton and Slough (UK Parliament constituency)
Encyclopedia
Eton and Slough was a parliamentary 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
voting system.
The constituency was created in 1945 as part of an interim redistribution of seats in areas which had experienced large population growth since the last redistribution had taken effect in 1918. The 1945 redistribution preceded the first general review of constituencies by a permanent Boundary Commission for England which had been established in 1944. Before 1945 the area had formed part of the Wycombe
constituency.
The constituency had some notable MPs: Fenner Brockway was a noted internationalist; Anthony Meyer
, who later became MP for a constituency in Flintshire
, Wales
, famously challenged Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
in 1989
; and Joan Lestor
, who later served as MP for Eccles
, Greater Manchester
, was a government minister and founder of anti-fascist newsletter Searchlight
.
. It comprised the southernmost part of that county, consisting of the Municipal Borough of Slough
, the Eton Urban District
and the Eton Rural District
.
1950–1983: As a result of the first general review Eton and Slough became a borough constituency. The Municipal Borough of Slough and the Eton Urban District continued to be in the constituency, but Eton Rural District was transferred to the new South Buckinghamshire constituency.
There were considerable changes in English local government in 1974
with the areas forming the constituency being transferred from Buckinghamshire to Berkshire
. However there were no changes to parliamentary boundaries until 1983. In that year the constituency was broken up, with Eton becoming part of the Windsor and Maidenhead
seat and Slough forming the new Slough
constituency.
United Kingdom constituencies
In the United Kingdom , each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one or more members to a parliament or assembly.Within the United Kingdom there are now five bodies with members elected by constituencies:...
represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
. It elected one Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) by the first-past-the-post
First-past-the-post
First-past-the-post voting refers to an election won by the candidate with the most votes. The winning potato candidate does not necessarily receive an absolute majority of all votes cast.-Overview:...
voting system.
The constituency was created in 1945 as part of an interim redistribution of seats in areas which had experienced large population growth since the last redistribution had taken effect in 1918. The 1945 redistribution preceded the first general review of constituencies by a permanent Boundary Commission for England which had been established in 1944. Before 1945 the area had formed part of the Wycombe
Wycombe (UK Parliament constituency)
Wycombe is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It currently elects one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post system of elections....
constituency.
The constituency had some notable MPs: Fenner Brockway was a noted internationalist; Anthony Meyer
Anthony Meyer
Sir Anthony John Charles Meyer, 3rd Baronet was a British soldier, diplomat, and Conservative and later Liberal Democrat politician, best known for standing against Margaret Thatcher for the party leadership in 1989...
, who later became MP for a constituency in Flintshire
Flintshire
Flintshire is a county in north-east Wales. It borders Denbighshire, Wrexham and the English county of Cheshire. It is named after the historic county of Flintshire, which had notably different borders...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, famously challenged Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
in 1989
Conservative Party (UK) leadership election, 1989
The 1989 Conservative Party leadership election took place on 5 December 1989. The incumbent Margaret Thatcher was opposed by the little known 69-year-old backbencher MP Sir Anthony Meyer, Bt.-Background:...
; and Joan Lestor
Joan Lestor
Joan Lestor, Baroness Lestor of Eccles was a British Labour politician.Lestor was educated at Blaenavon Secondary School, Monmouth; William Morris High School, Walthamstow and the University of London. She became a nursery school teacher and a member of the Socialist Party of Great Britain, but...
, who later served as MP for Eccles
Eccles (UK Parliament constituency)
Eccles was a parliamentary constituency of the United Kingdom, centred on the town of Eccles in Greater Manchester, England. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system.- History :The constituency...
, Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...
, was a government minister and founder of anti-fascist newsletter Searchlight
Searchlight (magazine)
Searchlight is a British anti-fascist magazine, founded in 1975 by Gerry Gable, which publishes exposés about racism, antisemitism, and fascism in the UK....
.
Boundaries
1945–1950: Eton and Slough was established as a County Constituency comprising part of the administrative county of BuckinghamshireBuckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
. It comprised the southernmost part of that county, consisting of the Municipal Borough of Slough
Slough
Slough is a borough and unitary authority within the ceremonial county of Royal Berkshire, England. The town straddles the A4 Bath Road and the Great Western Main Line, west of central London...
, the Eton Urban District
Eton Urban District
Eton Urban District was from 1894 to 1974 a local government district in the administrative county of Buckinghamshire, England. In 1894 the urban district took over the responsibilities of the disbanded Eton Local Board District....
and the Eton Rural District
Eton Rural District
Eton was a rural district in the administrative county of Buckinghamshire, England. It was named after but did not contain Eton, which was an urban district....
.
1950–1983: As a result of the first general review Eton and Slough became a borough constituency. The Municipal Borough of Slough and the Eton Urban District continued to be in the constituency, but Eton Rural District was transferred to the new South Buckinghamshire constituency.
There were considerable changes in English local government in 1974
Local Government Act 1972
The Local Government Act 1972 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974....
with the areas forming the constituency being transferred from Buckinghamshire to Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
. However there were no changes to parliamentary boundaries until 1983. In that year the constituency was broken up, with Eton becoming part of the Windsor and Maidenhead
Windsor and Maidenhead (UK Parliament constituency)
Windsor and Maidenhead was a county constituency in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....
seat and Slough forming the new Slough
Slough (UK Parliament constituency)
Slough is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...
constituency.
Members of Parliament
| Election | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1945 United Kingdom general election, 1945 The United Kingdom general election of 1945 was a general election held on 5 July 1945, with polls in some constituencies delayed until 12 July and in Nelson and Colne until 19 July, due to local wakes weeks. The results were counted and declared on 26 July, due in part to the time it took to... |
Benn Levy Benn Levy Benn Wolfe Levy was a Labour Party Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom... |
Labour Labour Party (UK) The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after... |
|
| 1950 United Kingdom general election, 1950 The 1950 United Kingdom general election was the first general election ever after a full term of a Labour government. Despite polling over one and a half million votes more than the Conservatives, the election, held on 23 February 1950 resulted in Labour receiving a slim majority of just five... |
Fenner Brockway Fenner Brockway, Baron Brockway Fenner Brockway, Baron Brockway , was a British anti-war activist and politician.-Biography:Archibald Fenner Brockway was born in Calcutta, India, which was at that time under British Imperial rule... |
Labour Labour Party (UK) The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after... |
|
| 1964 United Kingdom general election, 1964 The United Kingdom general election of 1964 was held on 15 October 1964, more than five years after the preceding election, and thirteen years after the Conservative Party had retaken power... |
Sir Anthony Meyer Anthony Meyer Sir Anthony John Charles Meyer, 3rd Baronet was a British soldier, diplomat, and Conservative and later Liberal Democrat politician, best known for standing against Margaret Thatcher for the party leadership in 1989... |
Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House... |
|
| 1966 United Kingdom general election, 1966 The 1966 United Kingdom general election on 31 March 1966 was called by sitting Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Wilson's decision to call an election turned on the fact that his government, elected a mere 17 months previously in 1964 had an unworkably small majority of only 4 MPs... |
Joan Lestor Joan Lestor Joan Lestor, Baroness Lestor of Eccles was a British Labour politician.Lestor was educated at Blaenavon Secondary School, Monmouth; William Morris High School, Walthamstow and the University of London. She became a nursery school teacher and a member of the Socialist Party of Great Britain, but... |
Labour Labour Party (UK) The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after... |
|
Elections in the 1940s
Elections in the 1950s
Elections in the 1960s
Elections in the 1970s
Sources
- Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972, compiled and edited by F. W. S. CraigF. W. S. CraigFrederick Walter Scott Craig was a Scottish psephologist and compiler of the standard reference books covering United Kingdom Parliamentary election results. He originally worked in public relations, compiling election results in his spare time which were published by the Scottish Unionist Party...
(Political Reference Publications, 1972) - British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (The Macmillan Press 1977).
- British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Research Services 1983).
- British Parliamentary Election Results 1974-1983, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Research Services 1984).