Finchley was a 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

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

 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 system of election; its best-known MP was Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...

, Prime Minister

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...

 from 1979 to 1990. It was abolished in 1997.

Boundaries

In 1918 the constituency was created as a county division of Middlesex

Middlesex

Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...

, centred on the town of Finchley

Finchley

Finchley is a district in Barnet in north London, England. Finchley is on high ground, about north of Charing Cross. It formed an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, becoming a municipal borough in 1933, and has formed part of Greater London since 1965...

, which before 1918 had been located in the Hornsey constituency

Hornsey (UK Parliament constituency)

Hornsey was a parliamentary constituency covering what is now the Hornsey district of North London. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from the 1885 general election until it was abolished for the 1983 general election...

. The local government areas included in the seat were the Finchley

Municipal Borough of Finchley

Finchley was a local government district in Middlesex, England, from 1878 to 1965. It formed part of the northern suburbs of London and was within the Metropolitan Police District and London Passenger Transport Area. Its former area now forms part of the London Borough of Barnet.-Formation:The...

 and Friern Barnet Urban Districts. In 1934 the Finchley district became a Municipal Borough

Municipal borough

Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002...

.

In 1945 there was an interim redistribution of parliamentary constituencies to split those with more than 100,000 electors, prior to the general redistribution of 1950. Middlesex was significantly affected by the interim changes. This constituency had a minor revision. In the 1945-1950 Parliament it included the Municipal Borough of Finchley, part of the Municipal Borough of Hornsey

Municipal Borough of Hornsey

Hornsey was a local government district in east Middlesex from 1867 to 1965.In 1867, a Local Board was formed for part of the civil parish of Hornsey. The rest of the parish was already under South Hornsey Local Board formed in 1865....

, and part of the Friern Barnet Urban District.

In the redistribution of 1950, the seat was re-classified as a borough constituency. The boundaries reverted to those of 1945, with the constituency comprising the Municipal Borough of Finchley and the Friern Barnet Urban District.

In 1965 the area of the constituency was joined to other districts to form the London Borough of Barnet

London Borough of Barnet

The London Borough of Barnet is a London borough in North London and forms part of Outer London. It has a population of 331,500 and covers . It borders Hertfordshire to the north and five other London boroughs: Harrow and Brent to the west, Camden and Haringey to the south-east and Enfield to the...

 in Greater London

Greater London

Greater London is the top-level administrative division of England covering London. It was created in 1965 and spans the City of London, including Middle Temple and Inner Temple, and the 32 London boroughs. This territory is coterminate with the London Government Office Region and the London...

.

In the 1974 changes to parliamentary boundaries, the constituency was redefined as comprising the wards of East Finchley, Finchley, Friern Barnet, St Paul's, and Woodhouse. The boundaries were left unchanged in the 1983 redistribution.

Members of Parliament

Event		Member	Party	Notes
	1918 United Kingdom general election, 1918 The United Kingdom general election of 1918 was the first to be held after the Representation of the People Act 1918, which meant it was the first United Kingdom general election in which nearly all adult men and some women could vote. Polling was held on 14 December 1918, although the count did...	John Newman John Pretyman Newman Lieutenant-Colonel Sir John Robert Pretyman Newman was an Irish-born British Army officer and Conservative politician....	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...	MP for Enfield Enfield (UK Parliament constituency) Enfield was a parliamentary constituency of Middlesex centred on the town of Enfield. The area formed part of the London conurbation. 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...  1910–1918
	1923 United Kingdom general election, 1923 -Seats summary:-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987*-External links:***...	Thomas Atholl Robertson Thomas Atholl Robertson Thomas Atholl Robertson was a Scottish fine arts printer and publisher and Liberal politician.-Family and education:...	Liberal Liberal Party (UK) The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
	1924 United Kingdom general election, 1924 - Seats summary :- References :* F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987* - External links :* * *...	Sir Edward Cadogan Edward Cadogan Sir Edward Cecil George Cadogan, KBE, CB was a British, Conservative politician.Cadogan was a younger son of the 5th Earl Cadogan and his wife, Beatrix, a daughter of the 2nd Earl Craven...	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...	MP for Reading Reading (UK Parliament constituency) Reading was a parliamentary borough, and later a borough constituency, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It comprised the town of Reading in the county of Berkshire....  1922–1923 and Bolton Bolton (UK Parliament constituency) Bolton was a borough constituency centred on the town of Bolton in the county of Lancashire. It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons for the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the bloc vote system....  1940–1945
	1935 United Kingdom general election, 1935 The United Kingdom general election held on 14 November 1935 resulted in a large, though reduced, majority for the National Government now led by Conservative Stanley Baldwin. The greatest number of MPs, as before, were Conservative, while the National Liberal vote held steady...	John Crowder John Crowder Sir John Frederick Ellenborough Crowder was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was the Member of Parliament for Finchley from the 1935 general election until the 1959 general election, when he was succeeded by Margaret Thatcher .Crowder was educated at Eton...	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...
	1959 United Kingdom general election, 1959 This United Kingdom general election was held on 8 October 1959. It marked a third successive victory for the ruling Conservative Party, led by Harold Macmillan...	Rt Hon Margaret Thatcher Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...	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...	Later Baroness Thatcher; Leader of the Conservative Party 1975-90; Prime Minister 1979-90
	1992 United Kingdom general election, 1992 The United Kingdom general election of 1992 was held on 9 April 1992, and was the fourth consecutive victory for the Conservative Party. This election result was one of the biggest surprises in 20th Century politics, as polling leading up to the day of the election showed Labour under leader Neil...	Hartley Booth Hartley Booth Vernon Edward Hartley Booth, known as Hartley Booth is a British politician.-Political career:Booth succeeded Margaret Thatcher as the Conservative Member of Parliament for Finchley from the 1992 general election until the constituency was abolished in the 1997 general election...	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...
1997 United Kingdom general election, 1997 The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...	constituency abolished: see Finchley & Golders Green and Chipping Barnet Chipping Barnet (UK Parliament constituency) - Elections in the 2000s:- References :...

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1980s

Elections in the 1970s

Elections in the 1960s

Elections in the 1950s

Sources

• Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)