Rutland and Stamford (UK Parliament constituency)

Rutland and Stamford
County constituency for the House of Commons
County	Lincolnshire and Rutland
Current constituency
Created	2024
Member of Parliament	None
Seats	One
Created from	Rutland & Melton Grantham & Stamford
1918–1983
Created from	Rutland and Stamford
Replaced by	Rutland & Melton Stamford & Spalding

Rutland and Stamford was a county constituency comprising the area centred on the town of Stamford in Lincolnshire, and the county of Rutland. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, using the first-past-the-post voting system.

The constituency was created for the 1918 general election, and abolished for the 1983 general election. It was succeeded by the Rutland and Melton and Stamford and Spalding constituencies.

Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat will be re-established for the next general election.

Boundaries

Historic

1918–1950: The administrative county of Rutland, the Municipal Borough of Stamford, the Urban District of Bourne, the Rural Districts of Bourne and Uffington, and part of the Rural District of Grantham.

1950–1983: The administrative county of Rutland, the Municipal Borough of Stamford, the Urban District of Bourne, the Rural District of South Kesteven, and parts of the Rural Districts of East Kesteven and West Kesteven.

Proposed

The re-established constituency will be composed of the following (as they existed on 1 December 2020):

• The District of Harborough wards of: Billesdon & Tilton; Nevill; Thurnby & Houghton.
• The District of Rutland.
• The District of South Kesteven wards of: Casewick; Castle; Dole Wood; Glen; Isaac Newton; Stamford All Saints; Stamford St. George’s; Stamford St. John’s; Stamford St. Mary’s.

It will include the following areas:

• The County of Rutland and the parts of Harborough District, including Thurnby, from the (to be abolished) constituency of Rutland and Melton
• The town of Stamford and surrounding areas from Grantham and Stamford - to be renamed Grantham and Bourne.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1918	Claud Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby	Conservative
	1922	Charles Harvey Dixon	Conservative
	1923 by-election	Neville Smith-Carington	Conservative
	1933 by-election	Lord Willoughby de Eresby	Conservative
	1950	Sir Roger Conant	Conservative
	1959	Kenneth Lewis	Conservative
	1983	Constituency abolished. See Rutland & Melton and Stamford & Spalding

In 1983 Rutland became part of the Rutland and Melton constituency along with Melton borough and part of Harborough District in Leicestershire.

Elections

Elections in the 1910s

General election 1918: Rutland and Stamford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C		Claud Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby	8,838	53.6
		Fleming Eccles	7,639	46.4
Majority			1,199	7.2
Turnout			16,477	61.8
Registered electors			26,647
	win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Rutland and Stamford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Charles Harvey Dixon		46.8	−6.8
		Fleming Eccles	7,236	32.9	−13.5
	National Farmers' Union	Edward Clark	4,471	20.3	New
Majority			3,042	13.9	+6.7
Turnout			21,985	81.2	+19.4
Registered electors			27,074
	hold		Swing	+3.4

1923 Rutland and Stamford by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Neville Smith-Carington		57.1	+10.3
		Arthur Sells	8,406	42.9	+10.0
Majority			2,790	14.2	+0.3
Turnout			19,602	71.5	−9.7
Registered electors			27,409
	hold		Swing	+0.2

General election 1923: Rutland and Stamford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Neville Smith-Carington		51.4	+4.6
		Frank Stapledon Hiley	5,203	24.8	New
		Arthur Sells	5,005	23.8	−9.1
Majority			5,600	26.6	+12.7
Turnout			21,011	76.7	−4.5
Registered electors			27,409
	hold		Swing	+6.9

General election 1924: Rutland and Stamford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Neville Smith-Carington		66.7	+15.3
		H F Wheeler	6,633	33.3	+9.5
Majority			6,653	33.4	+6.8
Turnout			19,919	71.5	−5.2
Registered electors			27,869
	hold		Swing	+2.9

General election 1929: Rutland and Stamford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Neville Smith-Carington		47.4	−19.3
		Henry James Jones	7,403	27.9	−5.4
		Harry Payne	6,561	24.7	New
Majority			5,204	19.5	−13.9
Turnout			26,571	76.7	+5.2
Registered electors			34,647
	hold		Swing	−7.0

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Rutland and Stamford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Neville Smith-Carington		71.9	+24.5
		F E Church	7,446	28.1	+0.2
Majority			11,640	43.8	+24.3
Turnout			26,532	75.3	−1.4
	hold		Swing

1933 Rutland and Stamford by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		James Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby		53.3	−18.6
		Arnold William Gray	12,818	46.7	+18.6
Majority			1,787	6.6	−37.2
Turnout			27,423	77.2	+1.9
	hold		Swing

General election 1935: Rutland and Stamford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		James Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby		59.9	−12.0
		Arnold William Gray	11,238	40.1	+12.0
Majority			5,561	19.8	−24.0
Turnout			28,037	78.4	+3.1
	hold		Swing

General Election 1939–40

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected;

• Conservative: James Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby
• Labour: Arnold William Gray

Elections in the 1940s

General election 1945: Rutland and Stamford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		James Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby		53.7	−6.2
		Arnold William Gray	13,223	46.3	+6.2
Majority			2,136	7.4	−12.4
Turnout			28,582	72.9	−5.5
	hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Rutland and Stamford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Roger Conant		49.6	−4.1
		Tom Bradley	13,712	41.3	−5.0
		Cyril Valentine	3,024	9.1	New
Majority			2,786	8.3	+0.9
Turnout			33,234	83.8	+10.9
	hold		Swing

General election 1951: Rutland and Stamford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Roger Conant		54.1	+4.5
		Tom Bradley	15,127	45.9	+4.6
Majority			2,723	8.2	−0.1
Turnout			32,977
	hold		Swing

General election 1955: Rutland and Stamford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Roger Conant		54.3	+0.2
		Tom Bradley	14,856	45.7	−0.2
Majority			2,819	3.6	−4.6
Turnout			32,531	79.7
	hold		Swing

General election 1959: Rutland and Stamford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Kenneth Lewis		57.4	+3.1
		Christopher S B Attlee	14,137	42.6	−3.1
Majority			4,941	14.8	+11.2
Turnout			33,215
	hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Rutland and Stamford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Kenneth Lewis		55.5	−1.9
		A Victor Butler	14,990	44.5	+1.9
Majority			3,730	11.0	−3.8
Turnout			33,710	79.3
	hold		Swing

General election 1966: Rutland and Stamford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Kenneth Lewis		53.4	−2.1
		A Victor Butler	15,704	46.6	+2.1
Majority			2,287	6.8	−4.2
Turnout			33,695
	hold		Swing

Elections in the 2020s

General election 2024: Rutland and Stamford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Emma Baker
		Chris Clowes
		Alicia Kearns
		James Moore
		Joe Wood
Majority
Turnout

Reform UK removed Ginny Ball as their candidate in March 2024 after "exposure of a range of racist comments on her social media feed".

See also

• Stamford (UK Parliament list of constituencies)