City of Chester (constituency)

The City of Chester was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament from 2 December 2022 by Samantha Dixon of the Labour Party until its abolition. She was elected in the by-election held following the resignation of Chris Matheson MP on 21 October 2022.

The constituency was split in two by the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies with the majority, comprising areas to the north of the River Dee, including the city centre, being combined with the town of Neston to form Chester North and Neston, which was first contested at the 2024 general election. Areas to the south of the river were added to Eddisbury, which was renamed Chester South and Eddisbury.

Profile The constituency covered the English city of Chester on the border of Wales and parts of the surrounding Cheshire West and Chester unitary authority, including the villages of Aldford, Capenhurst, Christleton, Guilden Sutton, Mollington, Newtown, Pulford and Saughall.

Much of the city of Chester itself is residential of varying characteristics, with more middle-class areas such as Upton and the large rural former council estate of Blacon which is, except where purchased under the right to buy, owned and managed by the local housing association, Chester And District Housing Trust."CDHT" Chester And District Housing Trust. Retrieved 2017-02-20

History As part of a county palatine with a parliament of its own until the early-sixteenth century, Chester was not enfranchised (sent no MPs) until the Chester and Cheshire (Constituencies) Act 1542 (34 & 35 Hen. 8. c. 13), since when it returned two MPs to Parliament as a parliamentary borough. It continued to elect two MPs until the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 which reduced its representation to one MP.

Under the Representation of the People Act 1918, the parliamentary borough was abolished and replaced by a county division, gaining rural areas from the neighbouring constituencies of Eddisbury and Wirral. From then until its abolition, the boundaries of the constituency remained relatively consistent, primarily reflecting changes in local authority and ward boundaries.

Boundaries

1918–1950: The County Borough of Chester, the Urban District of Hoole, and the Rural District of Chester.

1950–1974: As prior but with minor boundary changes to align with the revised boundaries of the Rural District of Chester.

1974–1983: The County Borough of Chester, and the Rural District of Chester.

Hoole Urban District had been absorbed by the County Borough of Chester in 1954, but the constituency boundaries remained unchanged.

1983–1997: The City of Chester wards of Blacon Hall, Boughton, Boughton Heath, Christleton, College, Curzon, Dee Point, Dodleston, Grosvenor, Hoole, Newton, Plas Newton, Sealand, Upton Grange, Upton Heath, Vicars Cross, and Westminster.

Rural areas to the north of Chester, comprising the wards of Elton, Mollington and Saughall, transferred to the new constituency of Ellesmere Port and Neston.

1997–2010: The City of Chester wards of Blacon Hall, Boughton, Boughton Heath, Christledon, College, Curzon, Dee Point, Dodleston, Grosvenor, Hoole, Mollington, Newton, Plas Newton, Saughall, Sealand, Upton Grange, Upton Heath, Vicars Cross, and Westminster.

The wards of Mollington and Saughall transferred back from Ellesmere Port and Neston.

2010–2019: The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 2007 defined the boundaries as:

The City of Chester wards of Blacon Hall, Blacon Lodge, Boughton, Boughton Heath, Christleton, City and St Anne's, College, Curzon and Westminster, Dodleston, Handbridge and St Mary's, Hoole All Saints, Hoole Groves, Huntington, Lache Park, Mollington, Newton Brook, Newton St Michael's, Saughall, Upton Grange, Upton Westlea, and Vicars Cross.

Minor changes to reflect revised ward boundaries.

However, before the new boundaries came into force for the 2010 election, the districts making up the county of Cheshire were abolished on 1 April 2009, being replaced by four unitary authorities. Consequently, the constituency's boundaries became:

The Cheshire West and Chester wards of Blacon, Boughton, Chester City, Chester Villages (part), Dodleston and Huntington, Farndon (part), Garden Quarter, Great Boughton, Handbridge Park, Hoole, Lache, Little Neston and Burton, Newton, Saughall and Mollington, and Upton.

2019–2024: Following a further local government ward boundary review in 2019, the boundaries were:

The Cheshire West and Chester wards of Central and Blacon, Chester City & the Garden Quarter, Christleton & Huntington (part), Farndon (part), Gowy Rural (part), Great Boughton, Handbridge Park, Lache, Newton & Hoole, Saughall and Mollington, and Upton.

Political history

Two-member seat (to 1885) From 1715 to 1869, at least one of the two seats was held by a member of the Grosvenor family. For most of the nineteenth century, both MPs represented the Whigs and (later) the Liberals. The Conservatives held one of the two seats from 1859 to 1865 and 1868–1880.

Single-member seat (from 1885) The Liberals won the single-member seat in 1885 but, apart from the landslide year of 1906 (won by the Liberals with a majority of just 47 votes), Chester returned Conservative Party MPs continuously from 1886 to 1997. At most elections, majorities were in relative terms medium but the party's MPs won marginal majorities at the 1929 general election over the Liberal candidate (when the Labour Party formed a minority government) and at the 1992 general election over the Labour candidate, when the Conservatives had a small parliamentary majority.

Christine Russell of the Labour Party gained the seat easily from Gyles Brandreth at the 1997 general election after 87 years of Conservative control, and retained it until 2010. Her majority over the Conservatives had been reduced to under 1,000 votes at the 2005 general election.

Stephen Mosley of the Conservatives gained the seat from Labour at the 2010 general election. However, Mosley narrowly lost his seat five years later to Chris Matheson of the Labour Party in 2015 by 93 votes. The 2015 general election result gave the constituency the most marginal majority (0.2%) of Labour's 232 seats won that year.

Matheson was re-elected at the 2017 general election with a significantly increased majority of 9,176 votes, one of the largest swings to Labour in the election. At 56.8%, it was the highest share of the vote that Labour has ever had in the constituency and it is no longer considered a marginal seat. At the 2019 election, Matheson was elected once again, with a reduced but still comfortable majority of 11.3%. On 21 October 2022, he resigned after allegations of sexual impropriety led him to be suspended from the House of Commons for four weeks, occasioning a by-election held on 1 December, which was won by Samantha Dixon with an increased majority for Labour.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1545 to 1660 YearFirst memberSecond member1545 Sir Lawrence Smith1547 Richard Sneyd William Aldersey1553 (Mar) Richard Sneyd Randall Mainwaring1553 (Oct) Richard Sneyd Thomas Massey1554 (Apr) Richard Sneyd William Aldersey1554 (Nov) Richard Sneyd Thomas Massey1555 William Gerard William Aldersey1558 Sir Lawrence Smith William Gerard1559 (Jan) Sir Lawrence Smith William Gerard1562–1563 William Gerard John Yerworth1571 William Gerard William Glasier1572 (Apr) William Gerard William Glasier1584 (Nov) Richard Birkheved Richard Bavand 1586 (Sep) Richard Birkheved Peter Warburton 1588–1589 Richard Birkheved Peter Warburton 1593Richard Birkheved Gilbert Gerard 1597 (Sep) Peter Warburton William Brock 1601 Hugh Glasier Thomas Gamull 1604 Thomas Lawton Hugh Glasier 1606 Thomas Gamull Hugh Glasier 1610 Thomas Gamull Sir John Bingley 1614 Edward Whitby Sir John Bingley1621–1622 Edward Whitby John Ratcliffe1624 Edward Whitby John Savage1625 Edward Whitby Sir John Savage1626 Edward Whitby William Gamull1628–1629 Edward Whitby John Ratcliffe1629–1640 No Parliaments summoned Apr 1640 Sir Thomas Smith Robert Brerewood Nov 1640 Sir Thomas Smith† Francis Gamull†1645 William Edwards John Ratcliffe 1653 Chester not represented in Barebones Parliament 1654 Charles Walley One seat only 1656 Edward Bradshaw One seat only 1659 Jonathan Ridge John Griffith † Smith and Gamull were both disabled from serving in 1644.

MPs 1660–1880 YearFirst memberFirst partySecond memberSecond party 1660John Ratcliffe William Ince 1661Sir Thomas Smith, Bt 1673Robert Werden Tory1675William Williams 1679Sir Thomas Grosvenor, Bt Tory1681Roger Whitley Whig 1685Sir Thomas Grosvenor, Bt ToryRobert Werden Tory 1689Roger Whitley WhigGeorge Mainwaring Whig 1690Sir Thomas Grosvenor, Bt TorySir Richard Levinge, Bt Tory1695Roger Whitley WhigJanuary 1698Thomas Cowper July 1698Peter Shakerley Tory1701Sir Henry Bunbury, Bt Tory1715Sir Richard Grosvenor, Bt Tory1727Sir Thomas Grosvenor, Bt January 1733Sir Robert Grosvenor, Bt March 1733Sir Charles Bunbury, Bt 1742Philip Henry Warburton 1754Sir Richard Grosvenor, Bt 1755Thomas Grosvenor 1761Richard Wilbraham-Bootle 1790Viscount Belgrave 1795Thomas Grosvenor Whig1802Richard Erle-Drax-Grosvenor 1807John Grey Egerton 1818Viscount Belgrave Whig1826Lord Robert Grosvenor Whig1830Sir Philip Grey Egerton, Bt Tory1831Foster Cunliffe-Offley Whig May 1832John Finchett Maddock WhigDecember 1832Sir John Jervis Radical1847Earl Grosvenor WhigThompson, F. M. L., (2004) (online edition 2006) 'Grosvenor, Hugh Lupus, first duke of Westminster (1825–1899)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Retrieved on 26 April 2010. 1850William Owen Stanley Whig1857Enoch Salisbury Radical1859Philip Stapleton Humberston ConservativeLiberal1865William Henry Gladstone Liberal1868Henry Cecil Raikes Conservative1869Hon. Norman Grosvenor Liberal1874John George Dodson Liberal1880Beilby Lawley Liberal1880Writ suspended

MPs since 1885 ElectionMemberParty 1885 Walter Foster Liberal 1886 Robert Yerburgh Conservative 1906 Alfred Mond Liberal 1910 Robert Yerburgh Conservative 1916 by-election Sir Owen Philipps Unionist 1922 Sir Charles Cayzer Unionist 1940 by-election Sir Basil Nield Conservative 1956 by-election John Temple Conservative 1974 Peter Morrison Conservative 1992 Gyles Brandreth Conservative 1997 Christine Russell Labour 2010 Stephen Mosley Conservative 2015 Chris Matheson Labour2022 by-election Samantha Dixon Labour

Elections Elections in the 2020s

Elections in the 2010s

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1980s

Elections in the 1970s

Elections in the 1960s

Elections in the 1950s

Elections in the 1940s

Elections in the 1930s

Elections in the 1920s

Elections in the 1910s

Elections in the 1900s

Elections 1832–1900

Caused by Dodson's appointment as President of the Local Government Board. The result was rendered moot when the previous general election result was voided upon petition. Dodson quickly stood in Scarborough instead.

The election was declared void for bribery and the writ suspended. Chester was left unreprented until the next general election. Lawley succeeded to the peerage later that year.

Succession of Earl Grosvenor to the peerage as Marquess of Westminster.

Caused by Jervis' resignation after his appointment as Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas.

Caused by Grosvenor's resignation, by accepting the office of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds, in order to contest a by-election at Middlesex

Caused by Grosvenor's appointment as Treasurer of the Household

Caused by Jervis' appointment as Solicitor General for England and Wales

Elections before 1832

Caused by Cunliffe-Offley's death

Caused by Grosvenor vacating his seat

Caused by Grosvenor's appointment as Comptroller of the Household

City of Chester (constituency)

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