Hertford and Stevenage (UK Parliament constituency)

Hertford and Stevenage
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
February 1974–1983
Number of members	one
Replaced by	Stevenage, Hertford & Stortford and Broxbourne
Created from	Hertford, Hitchin and Hertfordshire East

Hertford and Stevenage was a parliamentary constituency in Hertfordshire, which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from February 1974 until it was abolished for the 1983 general election.

Boundaries

The Municipal Borough of Hertford, the Urban Districts of Stevenage and Ware, and the Rural District of Hertford (the civil parishes of Aston, Bayford, Bengeo Rural, Bengeo Urban, Benington, Bramfield, Brickendon Liberty, Brickendon Rural, Datchworth, Hertingfordbury, Little Amwell, Little Berkhamsted, St Andrew Rural, St John Rural, Sacombe, Stapleford, Tewin, Walkern, and Watton-at-Stone).

Hertford and its rural district had previously been in the Hertford constituency, Stevenage in Hitchin and Ware in Hertfordshire East. After being used for only three general elections, a further round of boundary changes in 1983 saw Hertford and Stevenage abolished, with Hertford and Ware joining Bishop's Stortford in Hertford and Stortford while the remainder of the seat formed the basis of the new Stevenage constituency.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
Feb 1974		Shirley Williams	Labour
1979		Bowen Wells	Conservative
1983	constituency abolished

Elections

General Election 1979: Hertford and Stevenage

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Bowen Wells	31,739	45.07
	Labour	Shirley Williams	30,443	43.23
	Liberal	B Rigby	7,660	10.88
	National Front	J Pell	581	0.83
Majority			1,296	1.84
Turnout				80.37
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General Election October 1974: Hertford and Stevenage

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Shirley Williams	29,548	47.13
	Conservative	Vivian Bendall	20,502	32.70
	Liberal	TN Willis	11,419	18.21
	National Front	K Taylor	1,232	1.96
Majority			9,046	14.43
Turnout				76.26
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election February 1974: Hertford and Stevenage

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Shirley Williams	30,343	44.65
	Conservative	Vivian Bendall	22,167	32.62
	Liberal	TN Willis	15,444	22.73
Majority			8,176	12.03
Turnout				83.58
	Labour hold		Swing

References

• Robert Waller, The Almanac of British Politics (1st edition, London: Croom Helm, 1983)
• Frederic A Youngs, jr, Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol I (London: Royal Historical Society, 1979)
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "H" (part 3)