Medway (UK Parliament constituency)

Medway was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom between 1983 and 2010. A previous constituency of the same name existed from 1885 to 1918.

1885–1918
The Mid or Medway Division of Kent was created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885. It comprised a rural area consisting of the petty sessional divisions of Bearstead, Rochester and part of Malling PSD, but did not include the Medway Towns which were comprised in the parliamentary boroughs of Chatham and Rochester. It also surrounded, but did not include the town of Maidstone. It comprised these parishes:


 * Addington
 * Allhallows
 * Allington
 * Aylesford
 * Bearsted
 * Bicknor
 * Birling
 * Boughton Malherbe
 * Boughton Monchelsea
 * Boxley
 * Bredhurst
 * Broomfield
 * Burham
 * Chalk
 * Chatham (rural)
 * Chart Sutton
 * Cliffe
 * Cobham
 * Cooling
 * Cuxton
 * Denton
 * Ditton
 * East Barming
 * East Farleigh
 * East Malling
 * East Sutton
 * Frindsbury (rural)
 * Frinsted
 * Gillingham (rural)
 * Grange
 * Halling
 * Harrietsham
 * Headcorn
 * High Halstow
 * Higham
 * Hollingbourne
 * Hoo Peninsula
 * Hucking
 * Ifield
 * Ightham
 * Isle of Grain
 * Langley
 * Leeds
 * Lenham
 * Leybourne
 * Lidsing
 * Linton
 * Loose
 * Luddesdown
 * Meopham
 * Mereworth
 * Northfleet (rural)
 * Nursted
 * Offham
 * Otterden
 * Ryarsh
 * St Mary Hoo
 * Shorne
 * Snodland
 * Stansted
 * Stockbury
 * Stoke
 * Strood (rural)
 * Sutton Valence
 * Teston
 * Thurnham
 * Trottiscliffe
 * Ulcombe
 * Wateringbury
 * West Barming
 * West Farleigh
 * West Malling
 * West Peckham
 * Wichling
 * Wormshill
 * Wouldham
 * Wrotham

The Rochester seat is an old one, going back to the 16th century, but it saw many changes in the 20th century. In 1918 it was split between Chatham and Gillingham. The Chatham seat became Rochester and Chatham in 1950, and then Medway in 1983.

1983–2010
The constituency was revived in 1983 by Parliament's acceptance of a Boundary Commission national review, and was defined as comprising thirteen wards of the then City of Rochester upon Medway: All Saints, Cuxton and Halling, Earl, Frindsbury, Frindsbury Extra, Hoo St. Werburgh, Rede Court, St. Margarets and Borstal, Temple Farm, Thames Side, Town, Troy Town and Warren Wood.

Boundaries were not changed at the next redistribution that followed the Fourth Review for the 1997 election.

Conveniently but somewhat confusingly 1998 Rochester upon Medway merged with the neighbouring Borough of Gillingham to form the larger unitary Borough of Medway. The Medway constituency covered only part of the unitary authority: some towns in the borough of Medway, such as Gillingham (Gillingham) or Chatham see (Chatham and Aylesford) had and retain their own constituency. Because of this, the name of the seat caused much confusion leading to its renaming in 2010.

Boundary review
Following the boundary review of parliamentary representation in Kent between 2000 and 2008, the Boundary Commission for England renamed the Medway seat to Rochester and Strood. This is because the Commission agreed that the term "Medway" is now primarily used for the larger unitary authority.

The constituency consists of ten wards of the Borough of Medway: Cuxton and Halling, Peninsula, River, Rochester East, Rochester South and Horsted, Rochester West, Strood North, Strood Rural and Strood South.

Elections in the 1890s




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;
 * Unionist: Charles Warde
 * Liberal: