Central Norfolk (UK Parliament constituency)

Central Norfolk was a county constituency in the county of Norfolk. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Central Norfolk
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1950–February 1974
Number of members	one
Replaced by	North Norfolk, South Norfolk
Created from	North Norfolk, East Norfolk and South Norfolk

History

The constituency was created by the Representation of the People Act 1948 for the 1950 general election, and abolished for the February 1974 general election.

Boundaries

1950–1955: The Rural Districts of Forehoe and Henstead, and St Faith's and Aylsham, and in the Rural District of Blofield and Flegg the parishes of Great and Little Plumstead, Postwick, and Thorpe next Norwich.[1]

The Rural District of Forehoe and Henstead was previously part of South Norfolk, the former Rural District of Aylesham was part of North Norfolk, and areas to the north and east of Norwich (the former Rural District of St Faith's and the part of the Rural District of Blofield and Flegg) were part of the abolished constituency of East Norfolk.

1955–1974: As prior but with slightly redrawn boundaries.[2]

On abolition, the Rural District of St Faiths and Aylsham was transferred to North Norfolk, the Rural District of Forhoe and Henstead to South Norfolk and the part of the Rural District of Blofield and Flegg to Yarmouth.  Small parts transferred to Norwich North and Norwich South due to expansion of the County Borough.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party	Notes
	1950	Frank Medlicott	National Liberal and Conservative
	1959	Richard Collard	Conservative and National Liberal	Died August 1962
	1962 by-election	Ian Gilmour	Conservative
Feb 1974		constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Norfolk Central [3][4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal and Conservative	Frank Medlicott	20,407	51.3
	Labour	G. W. Holderness	16,516	41.5
	Liberal	Philip Jebb	2,859	7.2
Majority			3,891	9.8
Turnout			39,782	84.3
	National Liberal and Conservative win (new seat)

General election 1951: Norfolk Central [5][6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal and Conservative	Frank Medlicott	21,909	55.92
	Labour	John R Lambley	17,270	44.08
Majority			4,639	11.84
Turnout			39,179	81.75
	National Liberal and Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1955: Norfolk Central [7][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal and Conservative	Frank Medlicott	21,851	57.29
	Labour	Elizabeth Littlejohn	16,288	42.71
Majority			5,563	14.58
Turnout			38,139	77.41
	National Liberal and Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1959: Norfolk Central [9] [10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative and National Liberal	Richard Collard	21,918	50.4	-6.9
	Labour	Frank H Stone	15,131	34.8	-7.9
	Liberal	Geoffrey Maxwell Goode	6,465	14.8	New
Majority			6,787	15.6	+1.0
Turnout			43,514
	Conservative and National Liberal hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

1962 Central Norfolk by-election[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative and National Liberal	Ian Gilmour	13,268	37.7	-12.7
	Labour	Geoffrey B L Bennett	13,048	37.0	+2.2
	Liberal	Geoffrey Maxwell Goode	7,915	22.5	+7.7
	Independent Liberal	Kenneth Coleman	909	2.6	New
	Independent	J Andrews	79	0.2	New
Majority			220	0.7	-14.9
Turnout			35,217	60.2	-19.6
	Conservative and National Liberal hold		Swing	-7.5

• anti-Common Market

General election 1964: Norfolk Central [12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ian Gilmour	24,486	49.0	-1.4
	Labour	Geoffrey B L Bennett	18 481	37.0	+2.2
	Liberal	Geoffrey Maxwell Goode	6,961	14.0	-0.8
Majority			6,005	12.0	-3.6
Turnout			49,928
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1966: Norfolk Central [13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ian Gilmour	27,935	54.3	+5.3
	Labour	Bryan Davies	23,529	45.7	+8.7
Majority			4,406	8.6	-3.4
Turnout			51,464	79.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Norfolk Central [14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ian Gilmour	32,921	56.6	+2.3
	Labour	Charles R Coyne	19,030	32.7	-13.0
	Liberal	Royle Drew	6,172	10.6	New
Majority			13,891	23.9	+15.3
Turnout			58,123
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

1. "Representation of the People Act, 1948". www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 2019-03-14.
2. S., Craig, Fred W. (1972). Boundaries of parliamentary constituencies 1885-1972;. Chichester: Political Reference Publications. ISBN 0900178094. OCLC 539011.
3. British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
5. The Times Guide to the House of Commons, 1951
7. The Times Guide to the House of Commons, 1955
9. The Times Guide to the House of Commons, 1959
11. 1962 By Election Results from the British Election Ephemera Archive, accessed via the Wayback machine, accessed on 26 July 2015
12. The Times Guide to the House of Commons, 1964
13. The Times Guide to the House of Commons, 1966
14. The Times Guide to the House of Commons, 1970

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "N" (part 2)