Erith and Crayford (UK Parliament constituency)

Erith and Crayford was a parliamentary constituency in the London Borough of Bexley, south-east London, which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

It was created for the 1955 general election, and abolished for the 1997 general election, when it was replaced by the new constituencies of Erith & Thamesmead and Bexleyheath & Crayford.

Boundaries

1955-1974: The Municipal Borough of Erith, and the Urban District of Crayford.

1974-1983: The London Borough of Bexley wards of Belvedere, Bostall, Crayford North, Crayford Town, Crayford West, Erith Town, and Northumberland Heath.

1983-1997: The London Borough of Bexley wards of Belvedere, Bostall, Crayford, Erith, North End, Northumberland Heath, and Thamesmead East.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1955	Norman Dodds	Labour
	1965 by-election	James Wellbeloved	Labour
	1981		SDP
	1983	David Evennett	Conservative
	1997	constituency abolished: see Erith and Thamesmead & Bexleyheath and Crayford

Elections

Elections in the 1950s and 1960s

General Election 1959: Erith and Crayford General Election 1964: Erith and Crayford

General Election 1955: Erith and Crayford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Norman Dodds	24,957	60.43
	Conservative	Edward Lucas Gardner	16,339	39.57
Majority			8,618	20.87
	Labour win
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Norman Dodds	24,523	56.65
	Conservative	JJ Davis	18,763	43.35
Majority			5,760	13.31
	Labour hold		Swing
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Norman Dodds	22,806	53.1
	Conservative	B Black	13,951	32.3
	Liberal	Stanley W Vince	6,189	14.4
Majority			8,855	20.6	–
	Labour hold		Swing

By-election 1965: Erith and Crayford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Wellbeloved	21,835	55.4	+2.3
	Conservative	David Madel	14,763	37.5	+5.2
	Liberal	Stanley W Vince	2,823	7.2	-7.2
Majority			7,072	17.9
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1966: Erith and Crayford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Wellbeloved	24,243	55.53
	Conservative	David Madel	15,033	34.43
	Liberal	Stanley W Vince	3,827	8.77
	Communist	L Smith	556	1.27
Majority			9,210	21.10
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: Erith and Crayford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Wellbeloved	23,012	55.9
	Conservative	H.J. Jackson	18,158	44.1
Majority			4,854	11.79
Turnout				71.3
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election February 1974: Erith and Crayford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Wellbeloved	22,632	46.1
	Conservative	R.I. Raitt	15,551	31.7
	Liberal	S. Vince	10,951	22.3
Majority			7,081	14.4
Turnout				81.8
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election October 1974: Erith and Crayford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Wellbeloved	22,670	51.2	+5.1
	Conservative	M. Macdonald	14,203	32.1	+0.4
	Liberal	T. Hobbert	7,423	16.8	−5.5
Majority			8,467	19.1
Turnout			44,296	73.1
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1979: Erith and Crayford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Wellbeloved	22,450	47.3	−3.9
	Conservative	S. Blunt	19,717	41.5	+9.3
	Liberal	M. Jamieson	4,512	9.5	−7.3
	National Front	O. Hawke	838	1.8	N/A
Majority			2,733	5.8
Turnout			47,517	77.5	+4.4
	Labour hold		Swing	−6.6

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1983: Erith and Crayford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Evennett	15,289	37.1	−1.7
	Social Democratic	James Wellbeloved	14,369	34.9	+25.4
	Labour	M.G. Smart	11,260	27.3	−22.7
	BNP	O. Hawke	272	0.7	N/A
Majority			920	2.2
Turnout			41,190	73.5	−4.0
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+10.5

General Election 1987: Erith and Crayford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Evennett	20,203	45.2	+8.1
	Labour	Colin Francis Hargrave	13,209	29.5	+2.5
	Social Democratic	James Wellbeloved	11,300	25.3	−9.6
Majority			6,994	15.7
Turnout			44,712	75.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	+2.6

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1992: Erith and Crayford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Evennett	21,926	46.5	+1.3
	Labour	Nigel Beard	19,587	41.5	+12.0
	Liberal Democrat	Mrs Florence M. Jamieson	5,657	12.0	−13.3
Majority			2,339	5.0	−10.7
Turnout			47,170	79.7	+4.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	−5.3

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "E" (part 2)