East Essex (UK Parliament constituency)

East Essex, formally known as the East Division of Essex was a parliamentary constituency in the English county of Essex. From 1868 to 1885, it returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, using the bloc vote system of election.

East Essex
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
County	Essex
1868–1885
Seats	Two
Created from	North Essex (6 hundreds of) South Essex (took Dengie hundred away from)
Replaced by	Saffron Walden (east part of), Maldon, Harwich, Colchester, South East Essex

History and boundaries

East Essex was created by the Reform Act 1867 for the 1868 general election as one of three two-member divisions of Essex (East, South and West), replacing the two divisions which had been created by the Reform Act 1832 (Northern and Southern). Initially named as the North East Division,^[1] it was renamed the East Division under the Boundaries Act 1868. The seat was created from parts of both South Essex and North Essex.

The place for "holding of courts for election of members" from 1867 became Braintree under the 1867 Act.^[1]

The boundaries were defined as:

• The Hundreds of Hinckford, Lexden, Tendring, Winstree, Witham, Thurstable, and Dengie.^[2][3]

See map on Vision of Britain website.^[4]

The Dengie hundred was transferred from the Southern Division, with the remainder being previously part of the abolished Northern division.

Under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, the three two-member divisions of Essex were abolished and replaced by eight single-member divisions. East Essex was replaced by the Harwich and Maldon Divisions and parts of the Saffron Walden and South Eastern Divisions.^[5]

Members of Parliament

Election	1st Member		1st Party	2nd Member		2nd Party
1868		James Round	Conservative		Samuel Ruggles-Brise	Conservative
1883 by-election					Charles Hedley Strutt	Conservative
1885	constituency abolished

Election results

General election 1868: East Essex^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Round	2,861	28.5
	Conservative	Samuel Ruggles-Brise	2,816	28.1
	Liberal	Thomas Western	2,224	22.2
	Liberal	Thomas Abdy	2,134	21.3
Majority			592	5.9
Turnout			5,018 (est)	76.4 (est)
Registered electors			6,564
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

General election 1874: East Essex^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Round	Unopposed
	Conservative	Samuel Ruggles-Brise	Unopposed
Registered electors			6,453
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

General election 1880: East Essex^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Round	2,691	35.3	N/A
	Conservative	Samuel Ruggles-Brise	2,561	33.6	N/A
	Liberal	Charles Page Wood[7]	2,369	31.1	New
Majority			192	2.5	N/A
Turnout			5,060 (est)	79.3 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			6,380
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

Brise's resignation caused a by-election.

By-election, 25 Aug 1883: East Essex^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charles Hedley Strutt	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "E" (part 2)
• Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1977]. British parliamentary election results 1832–1885 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 385. ISBN 0-900178-26-4.

Specific

1. "Representation of the People Act 1867, Schedule D at scanned page 26 of 36 of the Act" (PDF). Retrieved 27 July 2017.
2. "Representation of the People Act 1867" (PDF). Retrieved 27 July 2017.
3. "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.
4. "HMSO Boundary Commission Report 1868, Essex".
5. Redistribution of Seats Act 1885. https://archive.org/stream/publicgeneralac01walegoog#page/n155/mode/2up
6. Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (e-book) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. p. 383. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.
7. "East Essex Division". East Anglian Daily Times. 15 March 1880. p. 2. Retrieved 20 December 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.