East Cheshire (UK Parliament constituency)

East Cheshire
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
County	Cheshire
1868–1885
Seats	Two
Created from	North Cheshire
Replaced by	Macclesfield

East Cheshire was a parliamentary constituency which returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Elections were held using the bloc vote system.

History

Under the Reform Act 1867,^[1] the Parliamentary County of Cheshire was divided into three 2-member constituencies. This was achieved by the creation of Mid Cheshire which comprised the Hundred of Bucklow from North Cheshire and the Hundred of Northwich from South Cheshire. Under the Boundary Act 1868,^[2] North Cheshire and South Cheshire were renamed East Cheshire and West Cheshire respectively.

Under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885,^[3] the three 2-member seats were abolished and re-divided into eight single-member constituencies: Altrincham, Crewe, Eddisbury, Hyde, Knutsford, Macclesfield, Northwich and Wirral.

Boundaries

1868–1885: The Hundred of Macclesfield.^[4][5]

Members of Parliament

Election[6][7]			First member	First party	Second member	Second Party
		1868	Edward Egerton	Conservative	William Legh	Conservative
		1869 by-election	William Cunliffe Brooks	Conservative
		1885	constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1860s

General election 1868: East Cheshire^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edward Egerton	Unopposed
	Conservative	William Legh	Unopposed
Registered electors			6,276
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Egerton's death caused a by-election.

By-election, 6 Oct 1869: East Cheshire^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Cunliffe Brooks	2,908	61.6	N/A
	Liberal	Edward Watkin	1,815	38.4	New
Majority			1,093	23.2	N/A
Turnout			4,723	75.3	N/A
Registered electors			6,276
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1870s

General election 1874: East Cheshire^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Cunliffe Brooks	Unopposed
	Conservative	William Legh	Unopposed
Registered electors			6,492
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1880s

10713

General election 1880: East Cheshire^[8]^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Cunliffe Brooks	3,424	32.0	N/A
	Conservative	William Legh	3,310	30.9	N/A
	Liberal	Gibbon Bayley-Worthington	2,032	19.0	New
	Liberal	Thomas Albert Bazley	1,947	18.2	New
Majority			1,278	11.9	N/A
Turnout			5,357 (est)	78.2 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			6,849
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

See also

• List of former United Kingdom Parliament constituencies
• History of parliamentary constituencies and boundaries in Cheshire

References

1. "Reform Act 1867" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 September 2017.
2. Great Britain (1868). The Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland [1807-1868/69]. unknown library. His Majesty's statute and law printers.
3. Great Britain, Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales. The public general acts. unknown library. Proprietors of the Law Journal Reports, 1884.
4. "Representation of the People Act 1867" (PDF). Retrieved 27 July 2017.
5. "A Collection of the Public General Statutes: 1867/68. Cap. XLVI. An Act to settle and describe the Limits of certain Boroughs and the Divisions of certain Counties in England and Wales, in so far as respects the Election of Members to serve in Parliament". London: Eyre and Spottiswoode. 1868. pp. 119–166. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
6. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 3)
7. Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1977]. British parliamentary election results 1832–1885 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 359. ISBN 0-900178-26-4.
8. Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (e-book) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. p. 359. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.
9. "The Mid Campaign". London Evening Standard. 5 April 1880. p. 2. Retrieved 19 December 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.