History of Parliamentary constituencies and boundaries in Essex

county

London

The representation of the Borough of Colchester was reduced to 1 MP and West Ham was created as a new Parliamentary Borough, divided into North and South Divisions.

Outside the London area, the number of constituencies was only increased by one with the creation of the Parliamentary Borough of Southend-on-Sea which was carved out of South East Essex.

The Parliamentary Borough of Colchester was converted into a county division, gaining western parts of Harwich.

Other boundary changes included:

• Chipping Ongar from Epping to Chelmsford;
• Billericay from Chelmsford to South East Essex;
• Burnham-on-Crouch and the Dengie peninsular from South East Essex to Maldon;
• Halstead from Maldon to Saffron Walden; and
• Great Dunmow and Hatfield Broad Oak from Epping to Saffron Walden.

In the London area:

• Walthamstow was split into four boroughs of Walthamstow East and West, and Leyton East and West, with the Urban District of Woodford being transferred to Epping;
• the Borough of West Ham was further divided into the four divisions of Stratford, Upton, Plaistow and Silvertown; and
• the three new borough constituencies of Ilford and East Ham North and South were carved out of Romford, with the Urban District of Wanstead being transferred to Epping and the parish of Cann Hall being included in Leyton East. The much reduced constituency of Romford gained the then small villages of Upminster and Rainham from Chelmsford and South East Essex respectively.

• Thurrock was carved out of South East Essex;
• Woodford (incorporating Woodford, Wanstead and Chigwell) was created from Epping;
• Ilford was split into North and South Divisions; and
• Romford (which had an electorate exceeding 200,000) was once again split into four constituencies with the creation of Barking, Dagenham and Hornchurch.

The boundary between South East Essex and Chelmsford was redrawn to reflect the reorganisation of local authorities since 1918.^[4]

Outside London, the expanded Borough of Southend was split between East and West constituencies, with the former including Shoeburyness and Rochford, both previously in South East Essex, which was now renamed Billericay.

The only other significant change was the transfer of the Urban District of Brentwood from Chelmsford to Romford.

South East Essex was re-established, comprising the Urban Districts of Benfleet, Canvey Island and Rayleigh, which were previously included in the Billericay constituency, along with Rochford, transferred back from Southend East.

Billericay now comprised the Urban District of Billericay (renamed Basildon Urban District shortly afterwards), along with that of Brentwood, transferred from Romford.^[4]

Following an interim review of boundaries in 1960, Woodford was renamed Wanstead and Woodford with only minor boundary changes. This came into effect for the 1964 general election.

On 1 April 1965, the south-western corner of the county of Essex was incorporated into the new county of Greater London, resulting in the majority of the electorate and parliamentary constituencies being removed. As a result, the constituency of Epping was split between Essex and Greater London, with the area comprising the former Urban District of Chingford being included in the new London Borough of Waltham Forest.

• A new constituency of Braintree, created primarily from parts of the Maldon constituency, including the Urban Districts of Braintree and Bocking, and Witham. It also included rural areas to the north of Chelmsford and a very small part of Saffron Walden.
• To compensate for the losses to Braintree, Maldon was extended southwards, taking the Rural District of Rochford from South East Essex.
• Billericay was abolished and split up, with the Urban District of Basildon forming the new constituency of Basildon, and the Urban District of Brentwood forming the basis of Brentwood and Ongar, with Chipping Ongar and surrounding rural areas being transferred from the abolished constituency of Chigwell.
• Epping was abolished and split up, with the majority forming the new constituency of Harlow. The area in the south which was now in the London Borough of Waltham Forest (the former Urban District of Chingford) formed the basis of the new borough constituency of Chingford in Greater London. Remaining areas, including Waltham Abbey and the town of Epping were combined with Chigwell from the abolished constituency thereof to form the new constituency of Epping Forest.

Harwich, Colchester, Southend East, Southend West and Thurrock were unchanged.

• the constituency of Rochford was created, comprising primarily the District of Rochford, which had been formed from the Rural District of Rochford, previously part of the Maldon constituency, and the Urban District of Rayleigh, previously in South East Essex. It also included parts of the Borough of Chelmsford, including South Woodham Ferrers, transferred from the constituency of Chelmsford;

• Maldon was now extended northwards into the southern part of Colchester and renamed South Colchester and Maldon;
• the northern part of Colchester (which included the centre of the town) was renamed North Colchester, with western parts of the Harwich constituency added, including Brightlingsea and Wivenhoe;
• the remainder of South East Essex, which now comprised the District of Castle Point, was renamed Castle Point.

• Billericay was re-established, comprising northern parts of Basildon, including the towns of Billericay and Wickford, and northern parts of Thurrock; and

• in addition to losing parts to Rochford, Chelmsford lost a small rural area to Brentwood and Ongar but gained a small area from Braintree.

• North Essex was created from mainly rural areas of the abolished constituencies of North Colchester, and South Colchester and Maldon, but excluding the urban area comprising the town of Colchester, which was formed as the re-established seat of Colchester, now constituted as a borough constituency. North Essex also included a small slice of the western part of Harwich;
• Maldon was now combined with eastern parts of the Borough of Chelmsford, transferred primarily from the abolished constituency of Chelmsford, creating the new constituency of Maldon and East Chelmsford; and
• the remainder of the Chelmsford constituency, comprising the bulk of the city, formed the new constituency of West Chelmsford, which also included remaining rural areas in the north of the Chelmsford Borough which were previously part of the Braintree constituency.

Elsewhere:

• the town of Rochford was transferred from the constituency of Rochford to Southend East, resulting in both seats being renamed Raleigh and Rochford and Southend East respectively;
• there was a major realignment of the boundaries between Basildon and Billericay with the former gaining the northern part of the Borough of Thurrock from the latter, in exchange for the town of Pitsea; and
• there were minor transfers from Harlow to Epping Forest (North Weald Bassett), and from Saffron Walden to Braintree.

• North Essex now included the town of Harwich from the Harwich constituency, resulting in revised names of Harwich and North Essex and Clacton;

• to compensate for the loss of Witham, Braintree was expanded northwards, taking the District of Braintree wards (including the town of Halstead) which had been in Saffron Waldon:
• Saffron Walden, in turn, took northern, rural parts of the Borough of Chelmsford from the abolished constituency of West Chelmsford;

• the built-up area of the city of Chelmsford now formed the re-established seat of Chelmsford, reconstituted as a borough constituency. This seat included the eastern suburbs previously in Maldon and East Chelmsford, which was abolished;
• the re-established constituency of Maldon took remaining parts, adding southern areas of the Borough of Chelmsford (including South Woodham Ferrers), primarily from the Rayleigh constituency;

• Rayleigh gained the town of Wickford from Billericay and was renamed Rayleigh and Wickford;
• the Billericay and Basildon constituencies were completely re-organised yet again, into the renamed constituencies of Basildon and Billericay and South Basildon and East Thurrock. The former included the town of Billericay, combined with central parts of Basildon, and the latter included southern suburbs of Basildon, Pitsea and northern and eastern areas of the Borough of Thurrock, including East Tilbury, which was transferred from the constituency of Thurrock; and

• North Weald Bassett was now transferred from Epping Forest to Brentwood and Ongar.