Mid Durham was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election from 1885 to 1918.
History
Creation The constituency was created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, when the North Durham and South Durham county divisions were replaced by eight new single-member county constituencies. These were Barnard Castle, Bishop Auckland, Chester-le-Street, Houghton-le-Spring, Jarrow, Mid Durham, North West Durham and South East Durham. In addition there were seven County Durham borough constituencies.
Boundaries The Sessional Division of Durham and Willington (including all the parish of Shadforth and excluding all the parish of Moorhouse) and the Municipal Borough of Durham.Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1886
See map on Vision of Britain website.
NB: 1) Boundary Commission proposed name was "Brancepeth"
2) Included only non-resident freeholders in the parliamentary borough of Durham
Abolition The seat was abolished for the 1918 general election, when its contents were distributed as follows:
Parish of Witton Gilbert to Chester-le-Street; Remaining northern areas, including Brandon and Willington, to the newly created county division of Durham, which also absorbed the abolished parliamentary borough; South-western areas, including Brandon and Willington, to the new constituency of Spennymoor; and South-eastern areas, including Ferryhill, to the new constituency of Sedgefield.
Members of Parliament YearMemberWhip 1885 William CrawfordLiberal 1890 John WilsonLiberal 1915 Samuel Galbraith Liberal 1918 constituency abolished
Elections Elections in the 1880s
Elections in the 1890s
Elections in the 1900s
Elections in the 1910s
General Election 1914–15:
Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by July 1914, the following candidates had been selected; Liberal: Samuel Galbraith Unionist: Labour: Joseph Batey
See also History of parliamentary constituencies and boundaries in Durham
References