Great Yarmouth is a constituency in Norfolk represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Rupert Lowe.
Elected for Reform UK, Lowe had the whip suspended in March 2025 following allegations of bullying and allegations of threats of physical violence against Reform UK party chairman Zia Yusuf. He currently sits as the sole MP for Restore Britain.
Constituency profile
Great Yarmouth is a coastal constituency located in Norfolk and is coterminous with the local government borough of the same name. The constituency lies on land bounded between the North Sea and the wetlands of the Broads National Park. It covers the connected towns of Great Yarmouth and Gorleston-on-Sea and the villages of Caister-on-Sea, Belton, Hemsby and Martham. Great Yarmouth and Gorleston-on-Sea are seaside resort towns which have also been centres for the fishing and natural gas industries. The area is popular with tourists and contains several holiday caravan parks. The two towns have high levels of deprivation, with many parts falling within the 10% most-deprived areas in England. The surrounding villages are comparatively wealthier. House prices in the constituency are lower than the national average and considerably lower than the rest of the East of England.
In general, residents are older and have very low levels of education, income and professional employment compared to the rest of the country. White people made up 95% of the population at the 2021 census. when its voters were absorbed into the North Division of the Parliamentary County of Norfolk.
The seat was re-established as a single-member Borough by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 and remained unchanged until the Representation of the People Act 1948, which came into effect for the 1950 general election. This abolished the Parliamentary Borough and replaced it with the County Constituency of Yarmouth, which incorporated the County Borough and surrounding rural areas.
Further to the local government reorganisation of 1974, which was reflected in the redistribution of seats which came into effect for the 1983 general election, the constituency was formally renamed Great Yarmouth and its boundaries coincided with those of the local authority of the Borough of Great Yarmouth. It has remained unchanged since then.
Boundaries
The constituency covers the area in and around Great Yarmouth in Norfolk. Despite its rural area, there is a substantial amount of industry in the constituency.
1885–1918:
- The Municipal Borough of Great Yarmouth, including the parish of Gorleston, and part of the parish of Runham.
1918–1950:
- The County Borough of Great Yarmouth.
1950–1974:
- The County Borough of Great Yarmouth; and
- The Rural District of Blofield and Flegg except the civil parishes of Great and Little Plumstead, Postwick, and Thorpe-next-Norwich (later renamed Thorpe St Andrew).
:The parts of the Rural District of Blofield and Flegg had previously been included in the abolished Eastern Division of Norfolk.
1974–1983:
- The County Borough of Great Yarmouth; and
- the Rural District of Blofield and Flegg.
:The remaining parishes of the Rural District of Blofield and Flegg were transferred from the abolished constituency of Central Norfolk.
1983–present:
- The Borough of Great Yarmouth.
:Thorpe St Andrew was transferred to Norwich North and remaining western parts to the new constituency of Mid Norfolk. Gained a small area from the abolished Suffolk constituency of Lowestoft, including Bradwell, which had been transferred to Norfolk as a result of the local government reorganisation of 1974, as laid out in the Local Government Act 1972.
The boundaries were unchanged by the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies.
Members of Parliament
Great Yarmouth borough
Great Yarmouth was a 2-seat constituency until 1868 when it was disenfranchised. It was recreated for the 1885 general election as a single-seat constituency.
MPs 1295–1640
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Year!!First member!!Second member
|-
|1309 ||Nicholas Fastolf||
|-
| 1314||Nicholas Fastolf||
|-
| 1321|| John Perbroun||
|-
| 1324|| John Perbroun||
|-
| 1361|| Hugh Fastolf||
|-
| 1366|| Hugh Fastolf||
|-
| 1373|| Hugh Fastolf||
|-
| 1377 (Jan)|| Hugh Fastolf||
|-
| 1377 (Oct)|| Hugh Fastolf||
|-
| 1385|| Ralph Ramsey||
|-
| 1386|| Ralph Ramsey|| John Beketon
|-
| 1388 (Feb)|| Ralph Ramsey|| John Ellis ||
|-
| 1478|| John Paston||
|-
| 1504|| Thomas More
|-
| 1510–1523|| colspan = "2"|No names known
|-
| 1529|| Humphrey Wingfield|| John Ladde, died <br /> and replaced 1353 or 1354 by Philip Bernard
|-
| 1558–9|| Sir Thomas Woodhouse|| William Barker!!First party!!!!Second member
|-
| 1709
| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
| Nathaniel Symonds
| <!-- party -->
|-
| 1710
|rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
|rowspan="2"| George England
|rowspan="2"| <!-- party -->
|-
| 1715
| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
| Horatio Townshend
| <!-- party -->
|-
| 1722
| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
| Hon. Charles Townshend
| <!-- party -->
|rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
|rowspan="2"| Horatio Walpole
|rowspan="2"| <!-- party -->
|-
| 1723
|rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
|rowspan="2"| William Townshend
|rowspan="2"| <!-- party -->
|-
| 1734
|rowspan="4" style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
|rowspan="4"| (Sir) Edward Walpole
|rowspan="4"| <!-- party -->
|-
| 1738
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| Roger Townshend
| <!-- party --> Patriot Whig
|-
| 1747
| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
| Hon. Charles Townshend
| <!-- party -->
|-
| 1756
|rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
|rowspan="2"| Charles Townshend
|rowspan="2"| <!-- party -->
|-
| 1768
| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
| Hon. Richard Walpole
| <!-- party -->
|-
| 1784
| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
| Captain Sir John Jervis
| <!-- party -->
|rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
|rowspan="2"| Henry Beaufoy
|rowspan="2"| <!-- party -->
|-
| 1790
|rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
|rowspan="2"| Charles Townshend
|rowspan="2"|
|-
| 1795
|rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
|rowspan="2"| Brigadier Stephens Howe
|rowspan="2"| Tory
|-
|May 1796
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| Lord Charles Townshend <br /> killed by brother, 1796
| Tory
| <!-- party -->
| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
| Thomas Jervis
| <!-- party -->
|-
| 1806
|rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
|rowspan="2"| Hon. Edward Harbord
|rowspan="2"| Tory
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| Lord Arthur Lennox
| Conservative
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| Octavius Coope
| Conservative
|-
| 1848
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| Joseph Sandars
| Conservative
|rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
|rowspan="2"| Charles Rumbold
|rowspan="2"| Whig
|-
| 1852
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| Sir Edmund Lacon
| Conservative
|-
|March 1857
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| William McCullagh
| Independent Whig
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| Edward Watkin
| Radical
|-
|August 1857
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| Adolphus William Young
| Whig
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| John Mellor
| Whig
|-
| 1859
|rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
|rowspan="2"| Sir Edmund Lacon, Bt
|rowspan="2"| Conservative
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| Sir Henry Stracey, Bt
| Conservative
|-
| 1865
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| James Goodson
| Conservative
|-
|1868
|colspan="6"| Constituency disfranchised for corruption
|}
MPs 1885–1950
- 1885: Constituency revived, electing only a single member
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Election!!!!Member
Elections in the 2010s
Elections in the 2000s
Elections in the 1990s
Elections in the 1980s
Elections in the 1970s
Elections in the 1960s
Election in the 1950s
Elections in the 1940s
Elections in the 1930s
Elections in the 1920s
Elections in the 1910s
<nowiki>*</nowiki> Wilson – who stood as a 'Patriotic Trade Unionist's and Seamen's' candidate – supported the Coalition Government and was supported by the National Sailors' and Firemen's Union. He claimed to have been adopted by both the Liberal Party and National Democratic and Labour Party, but only appeared on the former's official list.
<nowiki>**</nowiki> Dawson initially was endorsed by the National Federation of Discharged and Demobilized Sailors and Soldiers who then repudiated him.
Election results 1885–1918
Elections in the 1880s
thumb|120px|Norton
Elections in the 1900s
The election of Lennox and Coope was declared void on petition on 14 February 1848 due to bribery, causing a by-election.
Elections in the 1850s
The election was declared void on petition due to bribery by McCullagh and Watkin's agents, causing a by-election.
Extensive bribery was found in the seat and its right to return a member was lost. It was then incorporated into East Suffolk and North Norfolk.
Elections before 1832
See also
- List of parliamentary constituencies in Norfolk
- Yarmouth (Isle of Wight) (UK Parliament constituency)
References
Sources
- Robert Beatson, A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807) A Chronological Register of Both Houses of the British Parliament, from the Union in 1708, to the Third Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in 1807
- D Brunton & D H Pennington, Members of the Long Parliament (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954)
- Cobbett's Parliamentary history of England, from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the year 1803 (London: Thomas Hansard, 1808) titles A-Z
- The Constitutional Year Book for 1913 (London: National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associations, 1913)
- F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885 (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989)
- F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949 (Glasgow: Political Reference Publications, 1969)
- Maija Jansson (ed.), Proceedings in Parliament, 1614 (House of Commons) (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1988) Proceedings in Parliament, 1614 (House of Commons)
- J E Neale, The Elizabethan House of Commons (London: Jonathan Cape, 1949)
External links
- Great Yarmouth UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) at MapIt UK
- Great Yarmouth UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at MapIt UK
- Great Yarmouth UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) at MapIt UK