Den Helder (electoral district)

Den Helder was an electoral district of the House of Representatives in the Netherlands from 1888 to 1918.

Profile

The electoral district of Den Helder was created in 1888 out of part of the Alkmaar district, which was reduced from two seats to one. Den Helder's boundaries remained the same throughout the electoral district's existence. Fully located in the province of North Holland, it included the city of Den Helder and the rural municipalities of Anna Paulowna, Callantsoog, Petten and Zijpe to its south, as well of the Wadden Islands of Texel, Vlieland and Terschelling and the island of Wieringen. Roughly a quarter of the district's working age population was connected to the Willemsoord naval base.^[1][2]

The district's population increased slightly during its existence, from 43,483 in 1888 to 49,904 in 1909. A majority of around 60% the population was Reformed, with another 17.5% being Catholic and some 7% being Gereformeerd. The share of "Others" rose from 11.5% in 1888 to 16.4% in 1909.^[3]

The district of Den Helder was abolished upon the introduction of party-list proportional representation in 1918.

Members

Theo de Meester

Den Helder was represented mostly by Liberal and Free-thinking Democratic members. The only exception is Andries Staalman, who was elected as an Anti-Revolutionary in 1894 and in all subsequent elections, but sat as an independent in parliament. He broke with the party in 1903 and founded the Christian Democratic Party, but subsequently failed to get re-elected. Carel Victor Gerritsen, elected in 1905, died before he was installed as member of parliament.

Election	Member	Party		Ref
1888	Simon Taco Land		Lib	[4]
1891
1891
1894
1894	Andries Staalman		AR	[5]
1897
1901
1903			CD
1905	Carel Victor Gerritsen		VD	[6]
1905	Zadok van den Bergh		VD	[7]
1909	Theo de Meester		Lib	[8]
1913
1917	Pieter Oud		VD	[9]
1917

Election results

Elections in the 1880s

1888 general election: Den Helder

Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Simon Taco Land	Lib	1,072	38.73	1,779	63.92
	H.W. van Marle	AR	973	35.15	1,004	36.08
	D.C. Loman	Lib	705	25.47
Others			18	0.65
Total			2,768	100.00	2,783	100.00
Valid votes			2,768	99.78	2,783	99.93
Invalid/blank votes			6	0.22	2	0.07
Total votes			2,774	100.00	2,785	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			3,627	76.48	3,627	76.79
	Liberal gain
Source: Kiesraad, Huygens Instituut (1, 2)

Elections in the 1890s

1891 general election: Den Helder

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Simon Taco Land	Lib	1,044	73.68
	H.W. van Marle	AR	281	19.83
	D. de Clerq	V	62	4.38
Others			30	2.12
Total			1,417	100.00
Valid votes			1,417	98.88
Invalid/blank votes			16	1.12
Total votes			1,433	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			3,725	38.47
	Liberal hold
Source: Kiesraad, Huygens Instituut

1891 Den Helder by-election

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Simon Taco Land	Lib	1,099	95.23
Others			55	4.77
Total			1,154	100.00
Valid votes			1,154	94.98
Invalid/blank votes			61	5.02
Total votes			1,215	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			3,725	32.62
	Liberal hold
Source: Kiesraad, Huygens Instituut

1894 general election: Den Helder

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Simon Taco Land	Lib	1,021	92.99
	J. Timmer	Lib	77	7.01
Total			1,098	100.00
Valid votes			1,098	96.74
Invalid/blank votes			37	3.26
Total votes			1,135	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			3,700	30.68
	Liberal hold
Source: Kiesraad, Huygens Instituut

1894 Den Helder by-election

Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Andries Staalman	AR	558	28.64	1,254	55.56
	J.J. Kraakman		281	14.43	1,003	44.44
	H. van Calcar		256	13.14
	J.C. Jansen	Lib	243	12.47
	J.J. Stooker		213	10.93
	P.C.F. Frowein		158	8.11
	J.G. van den Bosch		91	4.67
	J. Korver	AR	75	3.85
	J.B. Verhey	Lib	40	2.05
Others			33	1.69
Total			1,948	100.00	2,257	100.00
Valid votes			1,948	99.69	2,257	97.16
Invalid/blank votes			6	0.31	66	2.84
Total votes			1,954	100.00	2,323	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			3,711	52.65	3,711	62.60
	Anti-Revolutionary gain
Source: Kiesraad, Huygens Instituut (1, 2)

1897 general election: Den Helder

Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Andries Staalman	AR	2,535	48.33	2,918	54.30
	Cornelis Lely	Lib	1,842	35.12	2,456	45.70
	Herman Schaepman	Ka	775	14.78
	J. Korver	AR	77	1.47
	J.C. Jansen	Lib	16	0.31
Total			5,245	100.00	5,374	100.00
Valid votes			5,245	98.57	5,374	99.04
Invalid/blank votes			76	1.43	52	0.96
Total votes			5,321	100.00	5,426	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			6,598	80.65	6,598	82.24
	Anti-Revolutionary hold
Source: Kiesraad, Huygens Instituut (1, 2)

Elections in the 1900s

1901 general election: Den Helder

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Andries Staalman	AR	2,683	51.53
	C.S. Jaring	Lib	2,138	41.06
	Frederik Hugenholtz	SDAP	386	7.41
Total			5,207	100.00
Valid votes			5,207	99.16
Invalid/blank votes			44	0.84
Total votes			5,251	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			6,816	77.04
	Anti-Revolutionary hold
Source: Kiesraad, Huygens Instituut

1905 general election: Den Helder

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Carel Victor Gerritsen	VD	3,111	51.03
	Andries Staalman	CD	2,276	37.34
	L. Adriaanse	AR	491	8.05
	A.H. Gerhard	SDAP	218	3.58
Total			6,096	100.00
Valid votes			6,096	98.72
Invalid/blank votes			79	1.28
Total votes			6,175	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			7,641	80.81
	Free-thinking Democratic gain
Source: Kiesraad, Huygens Instituut

1905 Den Helder by-election

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Zadok van den Bergh	VD	3,420	53.79
	Andries Staalman	CD	2,938	46.21
Total			6,358	100.00
Valid votes			6,358	99.07
Invalid/blank votes			60	0.93
Total votes			6,418	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			7,641	83.99
	Free-thinking Democratic hold
Source: Kiesraad, Huygens Instituut

1909 general election: Den Helder

Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Theo de Meester	Lib	3,128	45.77	3,891	54.25
	Andries Staalman	CD	2,950	43.17	3,282	45.75
	C. Thomassen	SDAP	659	9.64
	F. Fokkens	CHU	97	1.42
Total			6,834	100.00	7,173	100.00
Valid votes			6,834	99.17	7,173	99.35
Invalid/blank votes			57	0.83	47	0.65
Total votes			6,891	100.00	7,220	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			8,402	82.02	8,402	85.93
	Liberal gain
Source: Kiesraad, Huygens Instituut (1, 2)

Elections in the 1910s

1913 general election: Den Helder

Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Theo de Meester	Lib	2,778	37.90	3,486	58.15
	C. Thomassen	SDAP	2,171	29.62	2,509	41.85
	Andries Staalman	CD	1,220	16.64
	C.J.van der Hegge Spies	AR	1,161	15.84
Total			7,330	100.00	5,995	100.00
Valid votes			7,330	99.07	5,995	98.52
Invalid/blank votes			69	0.93	90	1.48
Total votes			7,399	100.00	6,085	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			9,031	81.93	9,031	67.38
	Liberal hold
Source: Kiesraad, Huygens Instituut (1, 2)

1917 Den Helder by-election

Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Pieter Oud	VD	2,264	35.46	3,341	54.87
	C. Thomassen	SDAP	2,128	33.33	2,748	45.13
	Andries Staalman	CD	1,993	31.21
Total			6,385	100.00	6,089	100.00
Valid votes			6,385	98.66	6,089	97.78
Invalid/blank votes			87	1.34	138	2.22
Total votes			6,472	100.00	6,227	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			9,953	65.03	9,953	62.56
	Free-thinking Democratic gain
Source: Kiesraad, Huygens Instituut (1, 2)

1917 general election: Den Helder

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Pieter Oud	VD	3,222	51.88
	Andries Staalman	CD	2,989	48.12
Total			6,211	100.00
Valid votes			6,211	98.82
Invalid/blank votes			74	1.18
Total votes			6,285	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			9,953	63.15
	Free-thinking Democratic hold
Source: Kiesraad, Huygens Instituut