West Surrey (formally the Western division of Surrey) was a parliamentary constituency in the county of Surrey, which returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the bloc vote system.
It was created under the Great Reform Act for the 1832 general election, and abolished for the 1885 general election.
Boundaries 1832–1885: The Hundreds of Blackheath, Copthorne, Effingham, Elmbridge, Farnham, Godalming, Godley and Chertsey, Woking and Wotton.
The constituency was therefore the more extensive and more rural of the two divisions of Surrey established in 1832. Its main existing towns were urbanising with railway stations built; Woking became a town towards the end of its existence. Elections were conducted at Guildford; other most populous towns were Leatherhead, Dorking, Epsom, Ewell, Farnham, Godalming, Haslemere, Chertsey, Egham, Walton-on-Thames, Weybridge and Woking. Guildford was a parliamentary borough represented in its own right, but those of its freeholders not qualifying for a vote as such could vote for the county division MPs.
Subdivision in 1885
On its abolition in 1885 its contents made up all or some of four single-member seats and the overlapping seat (1295-1867 a constituency returning two members), Guildford parliamentary borough, was abolished. The outcome was as follows: The North-Western division of Surrey or Chertsey (i.e. Bisley; Byfleet; Chertsey; Chobham; Egham; Horsell; Pyrford; Thorpe; Weybridge; Windlesham; Ash, East Clandon, West Clandon, East Horsley, West Horsley, Merrow, Ockham, Pirbright, Send and Ripley, Wanborough, Windlesham, Wisley, Woking and Worplesdon.)CHERTSEY PETTY SESSIONAL DIVISION: RECORDS (summary of PS1-PS7 of Surrey History Centre, 7 Petty Sessional Divisions scope The National Archives: Browse records of other archives: 176 Surrey History Centre. Accessed 2019-12-04Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 Appendix D - county constituencies Epsom (UK Parliament constituency) drew on Mid Surrey as to Tolworth, New Malden, Malden, Worcester Park, Surbiton, Hook, Coombe and Long Ditton in the Kingston Hundred and Sessional Division. Took: Ashtead; Banstead; Great Bookham; Little Bookham; Cheam; Chessington; Cuddington; Epsom; Ewell; Fetcham; Headley; Leatherhead; Sutton; Walton on the Hill; Cobham; Thames Ditton; Esher; East Molesey; West Molesey; Stoke D'Abernon; and Walton on Thames.Combined petty sessional division: Kingston and Elmbridge as dealt with under heading Kingston sessional division in the 1885 Act Dickens's Dictionary of London, Charles Dickens, Jr., 1879 - "Petty Sessional Divisions" Reigate (UK Parliament constituency) drew, approximately equally, on Mid and East Surrey. Took: Abinger; Capel; Dorking; Dorking Rural (reached South Holmwood); Newdigate; Ockley; Wotton. The South-Western division of Surrey or Guildford as to the rest
Members of Parliament Election1st Member1st PartyMain home2nd Member2nd PartyMain home 1832 William Joseph Denison Whig Denbies, Dorking John Leach Whig Lea, Witley,'Parishes: Witley', in A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 3, ed. H E Malden (London, 1911), pp. 61-69. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/surrey/vol3/pp61-69 [accessed 5 December 2019]. SurreyThe Times (London, England), Wednesday, April 21, 1847, Issue 19529, p.7. 1835 Charles BarclayCharles Barclay historic Hansard index, UK Parliament, earlier for Dundalk and Southwark. Conservative Bury Hill, DorkingThe Times (London, England), Friday, December 7, 1855, Issue 22231, p.1. 1837 Hon. George Perceval Conservative Nork House, Banstead andCowdray Park, Midhurst and26 St James's Place, St James's 1840 by-election John Trotter Conservative Horton Place (manor), Epsom 1847 Henry Drummond Conservative Albury Park, Albury 1849 by-election William John Evelyn Conservative Wotton House, Wotton (west of Dorking) 1857 John Ivatt BriscoeWhigBotleys, Chertseythen Foxhills, Chertsey 1859 Liberal 1860 by-election George Cubitt Conservative Denbies, Dorking 1870 by-election Lee Steere Conservative Jayes (Jayes Park), Wotton 1880 Hon. St John Brodrick Conservative Peper Harow House, Peper Harow, near Godalming1885 constituency abolished
The Times obituary of Leech reads:
Election results Elections in the 1830s
Elections in the 1840s Perceval (of the with-heirs-male inheritee branch of the Earls of Egmont) was in 1802 given his peerage becoming Lord Arden which caused a by-election.
Denison's death caused a by-election.
Elections in the 1850s
Elections in the 1860s Drummond's death caused a by-election.
Elections in the 1870s Briscoe's death caused a by-election.
Elections in the 1880s
References
F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989) Frederic A Youngs, jr, Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol II (London: Royal Historical Society, 1991)