New Forest (UK Parliament constituency)

New Forest was a county constituency in south-west Hampshire which elected one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

New Forest
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
New Forest in Hampshire, showing boundaries used from 1983–1997
County	Hampshire
Major settlements	Ringwood, Brockenhurst, Lyndhurst, Fordingbridge
1950–1997
Seats	One
Created from	New Forest and Christchurch
Replaced by	New Forest West, New Forest East
1885–1918
Seats	One
Created from	South Hampshire
Replaced by	New Forest and Christchurch

It was first created under the Redistribution of Seats Act for the 1885 general election, and was abolished for the 1918 general election, when it was partially replaced by the New Forest and Christchurch constituency.

The seat was re-established for the 1950 general election and those thereafter, was significantly cut in size on the creation of the seat of Romsey in 1983 and was abolished for the 1997 general election, when the New Forest East and New Forest West seats were created using its remaining components.

In the British TV series House of Cards, this was the constituency represented by the main character, Francis Urquhart.^{[citation needed]}

Boundaries

1885–1918: The Borough of Romsey, the Sessional Divisions of Lymington and Ringwood, part of the Sessional Division of Romsey, and the civil parishes of Chilworth and North Shoreham.

1950–1955: The Borough of Lymington, and the Rural Districts of New Forest, and Ringwood and Fordingbridge.

1955–1974: The Borough of Lymington, the Rural District of Ringwood and Fordingbridge, and part of the Rural District of New Forest.

1974–1983: The Rural Districts of New Forest, and Ringwood and Fordingbridge.^[1]

1983–1997: The District of New Forest wards of Barton, Bashley, Becton, Boldre, Bransgore and Sopley, Brockenhurst, Copythorne South, Downlands, Fordingbridge, Forest North, Forest North West, Forest South, Forest West, Hordle, Lymington Town, Lyndhurst, Milford, Milton, Pennington, Ringwood North, Ringwood South, and Sway.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1885–1918

Election		Member[2]	Party
	1885	Francis Compton	Conservative
	1892	John Douglas-Scott-Montagu	Conservative
	1905 by-election	Henry Francis Compton	Conservative
	1906	Robert Hobart	Liberal
	Jan 1910	Walter Frank Perkins	Conservative
	1918	constituency abolished: see New Forest and Christchurch

MPs 1950–1997

Event		Member[2]	Party	Notes
	1950	Oliver Crosthwaite-Eyre	Conservative	Resigned October 1968
	1968 by-election	Patrick McNair-Wilson	Conservative
	1997	constituency abolished; see New Forest East & New Forest West

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1885: New Forest ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Francis Compton	4,281	54.9
	Liberal	Henry Mason Bompas[4]	3,511	45.1
Majority			770	9.8
Turnout			7,792	83.3
Registered electors			9,353
	Conservative win (new seat)

General election 1886: New Forest ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Francis Compton	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1890s

General election January 1892: New Forest ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Douglas-Scott-Montagu	4,481	54.6	N/A
	Liberal	Joseph King	3,726	45.4	New
Majority			755	9.2	N/A
Turnout			8,207	81.0	N/A
Registered electors			10,126
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

General election January 1895: New Forest ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Douglas-Scott-Montagu	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: New Forest^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Douglas-Scott-Montagu	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

1905 New Forest by-election^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Henry Francis Compton	4,539	51.1	N/A
	Liberal	Robert Hobart	4,340	48.9	New
Majority			199	2.2	N/A
Turnout			8,879	82.1	N/A
Registered electors			10,818
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

General election January 1906: New Forest^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Robert Hobart	4,949	50.2	N/A
	Conservative	Henry Francis Compton	4,901	49.8	N/A
Majority			48	0.4	N/A
Turnout			9,850	89.3	N/A
Registered electors			11,030
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: New Forest^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Walter Frank Perkins	6,516	59.6	+9.8
	Liberal	Robert Hobart	4,423	40.4	−9.8
Majority			2,093	19.2	N/A
Turnout			10,939	90.3	+1.0
Registered electors			12,118
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+9.8

General election December 1910: New Forest^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Walter Frank Perkins	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: New Forest

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Oliver Crosthwaite-Eyre	28,427	55.97
	Labour	Aubrey W White	15,986	31.47
	Liberal	Howard Fry	6,380	12.56
Majority			12,441	24.50
Turnout			50,793	81.58
	Conservative win (new seat)

General election 1951: New Forest

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Oliver Crosthwaite-Eyre	31,574	64.29
	Labour	Aubrey W White	17,537	35.71
Majority			8,717	28.58
Turnout			49,111	86.30
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1955: New Forest

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Oliver Crosthwaite-Eyre	27,027	68.75
	Labour	Hallam J Barnes	12,285	31.25
Majority			14,742	37.50
Turnout			39,312	73.17
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1959: New Forest

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Oliver Crosthwaite-Eyre	29,949	68.67
	Labour	Bob Mitchell	13,667	31.33
Majority			16,282	37.34
Turnout			43,616	73.98
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: New Forest

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Oliver Crosthwaite-Eyre	27,884	53.31
	Labour	C Bernard Kissen	12,924	24.71
	Liberal	George Nicholas D Locock	11,497	21.98	New
Majority			14,960	28.60
Turnout			52,305	75.84
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1966: New Forest

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Oliver Crosthwaite-Eyre	27,292	51.20
	Labour	Michael H Jones	14,260	26.75
	Liberal	George Nicholas D Locock	11,757	22.05
Majority			13,032	24.45
Turnout			53,309	74.16
	Conservative hold		Swing

1968 New Forest by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Patrick McNair-Wilson	28,025	66.27	+15.07
	Liberal	George Nicholas D Locock	8,430	19.93	−2.12
	Labour	Alan Reynard	5,836	13.80	−12.95
Majority			19,595	46.34	+21.89
Turnout			42,291
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: New Forest

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Patrick McNair-Wilson	36,041	60.13
	Labour	David Malcolm Offenbach	13,576	22.65
	Liberal	Peter Johnson	10,322	17.22
Majority			22,465	37.48
Turnout			59,939	71.85
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election February 1974: New Forest

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Patrick McNair-Wilson	30,567	48.92
	Liberal	A Hayes	19,185	30.70
	Labour	MVC Bailey	12,737	20.38
Majority			11,382	18.21
Turnout			62,489	80.70
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election October 1974: New Forest

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Patrick McNair-Wilson	28,778	49.65
	Liberal	A Hayes	15,355	26.49
	Labour	PJ Brushett	13,825	23.85
Majority			13,423	23.16
Turnout			57,958	74.20
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1979: New Forest

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Patrick McNair-Wilson	39,124	59.51
	Liberal	M Kyrle	13,674	20.80
	Labour	Alan Whitehead	12,950	19.70
Majority			25,450	38.71
Turnout			65,748	77.23
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1983: New Forest^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Patrick McNair-Wilson	34,157	66.37
	Alliance	Robin Harrison	13,232	25.71
	Labour	David James	4,075	7.92
Majority			20,925	40.66
Turnout			51,464	62.10
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1987: New Forest^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Patrick McNair-Wilson	37,188	64.67
	Alliance	Roger Karn	15,456	26.88
	Labour	James Hampton	4,856	8.45
Majority			21,732	37.79
Turnout			57,500	76.58
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1992: New Forest^[7][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Patrick McNair-Wilson	37,986	62.4	−2.3
	Liberal Democrats	JK Vernon-Jackson	17,581	28.9	+2.0
	Labour	MJ Shutler	4,989	8.2	−0.2
	Natural Law	FA Carter	350	0.6	New
Majority			20,405	33.5	−4.3
Turnout			60,906	80.8	+4.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	−2.1

See also

• List of parliamentary constituencies in Hampshire