Torquay (UK Parliament constituency)

Torquay
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
1885–February 1974
Seats	one
Created from	East Devon
Replaced by	Torbay

Torquay was a county constituency in Devon, South West England, which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

It was created for the 1885 general election and abolished for the February 1974 general election. The area it represented became part of the Torbay constituency.

Boundaries

1885–1918: The Borough of Dartmouth and the Sessional Division of Paignton.

1918–1950: The Boroughs of Dartmouth and Torquay, the Urban Districts of Brixham and Paignton, the parishes of Churston Ferrers, Kingswear, Marldon, and Stoke Gabriel in the Rural District of Totnes, and the parishes of Cockington and Stokeinteignhead in the Rural District of Newton Abbot.

1950–1974: The Borough of Torquay, the Urban Districts of Brixham and Paignton, and the parishes of Churston Ferrers and Kingswear in the Rural District of Totnes.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Lewis McIver	Liberal
	1886	Richard Mallock	Conservative
	1895	Arthur Philpotts	Conservative
	1900	Francis Layland-Barratt	Liberal
	Dec 1910	Charles Burn	Liberal Unionist
	1912		Conservative Party
	1918		Coalition Conservative
	1922		Conservative
	1923	Piers Thompson	Liberal
	1924	Charles Williams	Conservative
	1955 by-election	Frederic Bennett	Conservative
	Feb 1974	constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1885: Torquay^[1]^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Lewis McIver	3,509	52.6
	Conservative	Richard Mallock	3,161	47.4
Majority			348	5.2
Turnout			6,670	86.2
Registered electors			7,738
	Liberal win (new seat)

General election 1886: Torquay^[1]^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Mallock	3,135	50.6	+3.2
	Liberal Unionist	Lewis McIver	3,055	49.4	−3.2
Majority			80	1.2	N/A
Turnout			6,190	80.0	−6.2
Registered electors			7,738
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+3.2

Elections in the 1890s

General election 1892: Torquay^[1]^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Mallock	4,157	52.5	+1.9
	Liberal	Arthur Hayter	3,763	47.5	−1.9
Majority			394	5.0	+3.8
Turnout			7,920	84.2	+4.2
Registered electors			9,404
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.9

General election 1895: Torquay^[3]^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Arthur Philpotts	4,205	51.1	−1.4
	Liberal	Francis Layland-Barratt	4,030	48.9	+1.4
Majority			175	2.2	−2.8
Turnout			8,235	82.0	−2.2
Registered electors			10,039
	Conservative hold		Swing	−1.4

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: Torquay^[3]^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Francis Layland-Barratt	4,020	50.8	+1.9
	Conservative	James Reginald Lea Rankin	3,891	49.2	−1.9
Majority			129	1.6	N/A
Turnout			7,911	84.9	+2.9
Registered electors			9,313
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+1.9

Layland-Barratt

General election 1906: Torquay^[1]^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Francis Layland-Barratt	4,856	52.5	+1.7
	Conservative	Henry Lopes	4,396	47.5	−1.7
Majority			460	5.0	+3.4
Turnout			9,252	89.5	+4.6
Registered electors			10,343
	Liberal hold		Swing	+1.7

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: Torquay^[4]^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Francis Layland-Barratt	5,104	50.1	−2.4
	Conservative	Henry Lopes	5,093	49.9	+2.4
Majority			11	0.2	−4.8
Turnout			10,197	90.7	+1.2
Registered electors			11,241
	Liberal hold		Swing	−2.4

General election December 1910: Torquay^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Charles Burn	5,101	50.6	+0.7
	Liberal	Francis Layland-Barratt	4,971	49.4	−0.7
Majority			130	1.2	N/A
Turnout			10,072	89.6	−1.1
Registered electors			11,241
	Liberal Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+0.7

General Election 1914–15:

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

• Unionist: Charles Burn
• Liberal: Thomas Devereux Pile^[5]

General election 1918: Torquay

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Unionist	Charles Burn	14,068	66.2	+15.6
	Labour	Alfred Trestrail	4,029	18.9	New
	Liberal	Russell Cooke	3,173	14.9	−34.5
Majority			10,039	47.3	+46.1
Turnout			21,270	65.3	−24.3
	Unionist hold		Swing	+25.1
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Torquay

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Charles Burn	14,676	52.2	−14.0
	Liberal	Piers Thompson	13,425	47.8	+32.9
Majority			1,251	4.4	−42.9
Turnout			28,101	78.5	+13.2
	Unionist hold		Swing	-23.5

General election 1923: Torquay

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Piers Thompson	15,294	50.6	+2.8
	Unionist	Charles Williams	14,922	49.4	−2.8
Majority			372	1.2	N/A
Turnout			30,216	80.0	+1.5
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing	+2.8

General election 1924: Torquay

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Charles Williams	18,119	55.2	+5.8
	Liberal	Piers Thompson	11,958	36.4	−14.2
	Labour	Arthur Moyle	2,752	8.4	New
Majority			6,161	18.8	N/A
Turnout			32,829	84.4	+4.4
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+10.0

General election 1929: Torquay

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Charles Williams	21,690	49.7	−5.5
	Liberal	Richard Acland	16,337	37.5	+1.1
	Labour	Hubert Medland	5,576	12.8	+4.4
Majority			5,353	12.2	−6.6
Turnout			43,603	81.7	−2.7
	Unionist hold		Swing	-3.3

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Torquay

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charles Williams	34,690	82.5	+32.8
	Labour	Hubert Medland	7,351	17.5	+4.7
Majority			27,339	65.03	+52.8
Turnout			42,041	74.6	−7.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1935: Torquay

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charles Williams	27,008	63.6	−18.9
	Liberal	Harry Samways	9,073	21.4	New
	Labour	F Scardifield	6,387	15.0	−2.5
Majority			17,935	42.2	−22.8
Turnout			42,468	71.0	−3.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

Election in the 1940s

General Election 1939–40: Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected;

• Conservative: Charles Williams
• Liberal: Hugo Keene
• Labour: W W Blaylock

General election 1945: Torquay

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charles Williams	25,479	48.9	−14.7
	Labour	George Cornes	13,590	26.1	+11.1
	Liberal	Gorley Putt	13,003	25.0	+3.6
Majority			11,889	22.8	−19.4
Turnout			52,072	71.4	+0.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Torquay

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charles Williams	29,153	53.56
	Labour	Robert Briscoe	14,287	26.25
	Liberal	Stuart Townend	10,987	20.19
Majority			14,866	27.31
Turnout			54,427	82.83
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1951: Torquay

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charles Williams	31,441	59.16
	Labour	Robert Briscoe	14,801	27.85
	Liberal	Deryck Abel	6,904	12.99
Majority			16,640	31.31
Turnout			53,146	79.97
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1955: Torquay

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charles Williams	29,777	60.36
	Labour	Robert Briscoe	12,547	25.43
	Liberal	Peter Bessell	7,012	14.21
Majority			17,230	34.93
Turnout			49,336	75.49
	Conservative hold		Swing

1955 Torquay by-election^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Frederic Bennett	20,964	50.98	−9.38
	Labour	William Hamling	10,383	25.25	−0.18
	Liberal	Peter Bessell	9,775	23.77	+9.56
Majority			10,581	25.73	−9.20
Turnout			41,122
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1959: Torquay

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Frederic Bennett	29,527	56.79
	Labour	William V Cooper	11,784	22.66
	Liberal	Thomas Kellock	10,685	20.55
Majority			17,743	34.13
Turnout			51,996	76.91
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Torquay

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Frederic Bennett	28,801	52.38
	Liberal	Hugo Brunner	13,652	24.83
	Labour	Thelma W Thompson	12,530	22.79
Majority			15,149	27.55
Turnout			54,983	75.04
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1966: Torquay

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Frederic Bennett	28,693	49.44
	Labour	Raymond S Dash	16,594	28.59
	Liberal	Hugo Brunner	12,750	21.97
Majority			12,099	20.85
Turnout			58,037	77.40
	Conservative hold		Swing

Election in the 1970s

General election 1970: Torquay

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Frederic Bennett	33,996	55.6	+6.2
	Labour	Paul ST Bryers	15,948	26.1	−2.5
	Liberal	Keith P. Jenkins	11,163	18.3	−3.7
Majority			18,048	29.54	+8.7
Turnout			61,107	73.72	−3.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

1. The Liberal Year Book, 1908
2. Craig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885-1918. London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 9781349022984.
3. Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1901
4. Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1916
5. Western Times 11 May 1914
6. British Parliamentary Elections Results 1950-1973 by FWS Craig

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "T" (part 2)
• Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.