Medway (constituency)

Medway was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom between 1983 and 2010. A previous constituency of the same name existed from 1885 to 1918.

Boundaries

1885–1918

The Mid or Medway Division of Kent was created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885. It comprised a rural area

consisting of the petty sessional divisions of Bearstead, Rochester and part of Malling PSD, but did not include the Medway Towns which were comprised in the parliamentary boroughs of Chatham and Rochester. It also surrounded, but did not include the town of Maidstone. It comprised these parishes:

Addington
Allhallows
Allington
Aylesford
Bearsted
Bicknor
Birling
Boughton Malherbe
Boughton Monchelsea
Boxley
Bredhurst
Broomfield
Burham
Chalk
Chatham (rural)
Chart Sutton
Cliffe
Cobham
Cooling
Cuxton
Denton
Ditton
East Barming
East Farleigh
East Malling
East Sutton
Frindsbury (rural)
Frinsted
Gillingham (rural)
Grange
Halling
Harrietsham
Headcorn
High Halstow
Higham
Hollingbourne
Hoo Peninsula
Hucking
Ifield
Ightham
Isle of Grain
Langley
Leeds
Lenham
Leybourne
Lidsing
Linton
Loose
Luddesdown
Meopham
Mereworth
Northfleet (rural)
Nursted
Offham
Otterden
Ryarsh
St Mary Hoo
Shorne
Snodland
Stansted
Stockbury
Stoke
Strood (rural)
Sutton Valence
Teston
Thurnham
Trottiscliffe
Ulcombe
Wateringbury
West Barming
West Farleigh
West Malling
West Peckham
Wichling
Wormshill
Wouldham
Wrotham

The Rochester seat is an old one, going back to the 16th century, but it saw many changes in the 20th century. In 1918 it was split between Chatham and Gillingham. The Chatham seat became Rochester and Chatham in 1950, and then Medway in 1983.

1983–2010

The constituency was revived in 1983 by Parliament's acceptance of a Boundary Commission national review, and was defined as comprising thirteen wards of the then City of Rochester upon Medway: All Saints, Cuxton and Halling, Earl, Frindsbury, Frindsbury Extra, Hoo St. Werburgh, Rede Court, St. Margarets and Borstal, Temple Farm, Thames Side, Town, Troy Town and Warren Wood.

In 1998, Rochester-upon-Medway was merged with the neighbouring Gillingham Borough Council to form the larger unitary Borough of Medway. The Medway constituency covered only part of the new unitary authority, which also encompassed the entirety of the (Gillingham constituency and the majority of the Chatham and Aylesford constituency. Because of this, the seat was renamed Rochester and Strood in 2010 to avoid confusion.

Boundary review

Following the boundary review of parliamentary representation in Kent between 2000 and 2008, the Boundary Commission for England renamed the Medway seat to Rochester and Strood, in order to avoid confusion with the larger unitary authority of Medway.

Upon its creation, the new Rochester and Strood constituency consisted of ten wards of the Borough of Medway: Cuxton and Halling, Peninsula, River, Rochester East, Rochester South and Horsted, Rochester West, Strood North, Strood Rural and Strood South.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1885–1918

{| class="wikitable"

!colspan="2"|Election!!Member

!Party

|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |

| 1885

| John Gathorne-Hardy

| Conservative

|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |

| 1892

| Charles Warde

| Conservative

MPs 1983–2010

{| class="wikitable"

!colspan="2"|Election!!Member

Elections in the 1900s

thumb|120px|Williams

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 Warde
Liberal:

Elections 1983-2005

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1980s

Notes and references

External links

Medway UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) at MapIt UK