# Isle of Ely (UK Parliament constituency)

Isle of Ely was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, centred on the Isle of Ely in Cambridgeshire. Until its abolition in 1983, it elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

## History

The isle had previously been represented by two members of the First and Second Protectorate Parliaments, between 1654 and 1658.
The twentieth century constituency was created in 1918 and remained virtually unchanged until its abolition in 1983. The territory included in the new seat was similar to that previously constituting the Wisbech constituency (the Northern division of Cambridgeshire). That constituency was dominated by the Fens, a district of Liberal inclined smallholders. The towns in the Wisbech division, predominantly Conservative Wisbech and the more Liberal inclined March, tended to be outvoted by the rural areas.
The small city of Ely had formerly been part of the Newmarket constituency (the east division of Cambridgeshire). Pelling suggests Ely was Conservative "because of the cathedral and its fairly substantial middle-class population".
In 1918, the former Liberal MP for Wisbech, Colin Coote, was returned unopposed as a Coalition Liberal. In 1922 Coote contested the seat again, this time as a National Liberal candidate. A Labour candidate appeared for the first time. The anti-Conservative vote was badly split (National Liberal 27.7% and Labour 21.4%), so the Conservative soldier Lieutenant Colonel Norman Coates was easily elected. Coates retired and did not seek re-election in 1923.
In 1923, the reunited Liberal Party nominated a member of the family of one of their richest members. Henry Mond was the son of the industrialist Alfred Mond (later the 1st Lord Melchett). He was able to squeeze the Labour vote down to 12.4%, which was sufficient for a narrow Liberal victory as part of the party's best election result after the First World War.
In the 1924 general election, both the Conservative and Labour candidates increased their vote. Mond was defeated. The new MP was the Conservative, Sir Hugh Lucas-Tooth, Bt. Lucas-Tooth had a long political career, not leaving the House of Commons until 1970, but he only retained this seat for one Parliament until his defeat in 1929.
The Monds had joined the Conservative Party in 1926 after a disagreement with Lloyd George's land policy. However another rich Liberal stood in this constituency in 1929, the flamboyant James de Rothschild. He retained the seat for three Parliaments, serving from 1929 to 1945. In the 1945 general election de Rothschild came third, the first time this had happened to any Liberal candidate in the constituency.
It must have appeared that the days when the Isle seat was a Conservative/Liberal marginal had ended in 1945. The new Conservative MP, Harry Legge-Bourke, had a majority of 6.1% over Labour, with the Liberal almost 10% further behind. He retained the seat until his death in 1973, with Labour in second place. The Liberal Party did not contest general elections in 1951, 1955, 1959, 1964 and 1970. The Liberal vote in 1966 was only 11.4%.
Clement Freud gained the seat for the Liberals from the Conservatives in a 1973 by-election during the height of the 1970s Liberal revival. He retained the seat until it was abolished in 1983 and won the successor seat of North East Cambridgeshire that year, but was defeated in 1987.
The constituency was renamed in 1983, with most of the territory incorporated into the constituency of North East Cambridgeshire.

## Boundaries
### 1918-1974

In the Representation of the People Act 1918, the constituency was defined as having the same boundaries as the administrative county of the Isle of Ely, which had been formed in 1889 from a traditional sub-division of the historic county of Cambridgeshire in East Anglia. The bulk of the constituency was formed from the abolished Wisbech Division of Cambridgeshire, with the northernmost parts of the abolished Chesterton and Newmarket Divisions, including the city of Ely.

### 1974-1983

In 1965, the Isle of Ely county was merged into the new administrative county of Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely and in the next redistribution of parliamentary seats, which took effect for the February 1974 general election, the constituency was defined as comprising:
* The Municipal Borough of Wisbech;
* The urban districts of Chatteris, Ely, March, and Whittlesey; and
* The rural districts of Ely, North Witchford, and Wisbech.
The only change was the loss of the small rural district of Thorney, which had been included in the new administrative county of Huntingdon and Peterborough and was now transferred to the borough constituency of Peterborough.
Meanwhile, as a result of the Local Government Act 1972, the two counties of Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely, and Huntingdon and Peterborough were merged to form the non-metropolitan county of Cambridgeshire, with effect from 1 April 1974. However, the next redistribution did not come into effect until the 1983 general election, when the constituency was largely replaced by North East Cambridgeshire. The city of Ely was included in the new constituency of South East Cambridgeshire, and the villages of Thorney and Eye were returned from Peterborough.

## Members of Parliament
### 1654-1658

| Year | Member(s) | Member(s) |
| 1654–55 | John Thurloe George Glapthorn |
| 1656–58 | John Thurloe |

### 1918-1983

| Year | Member | Party |
| 1918 | Colin Coote | Coalition Liberal |
| 1922 | Norman Coates | Unionist |
| 1923 | Henry Mond | Liberal |
| 1924 | Hugh Lucas-Tooth | Unionist |
| 1929 | James de Rothschild | Liberal |
| 1945 | Harry Legge-Bourke | Conservative |
| 1973 | Clement Freud | Liberal |

## Elections
### Elections in the 1910s

General election 1918: Isle of Ely :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| C | Liberal | Colin Coote | Unopposed | Unopposed | Unopposed |
| | Liberal win (new seat) | Liberal win (new seat) | Liberal win (new seat) | Liberal win (new seat) | Liberal win (new seat) |
| C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government. ||||||

### Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Isle of Ely :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Unionist | Norman Coates | 13,552 | 50.9 | N/A |
| | National Liberal | Colin Coote | 7,359 | 27.7 | N/A |
| | Labour | William George Hall | 5,688 | 21.4 | New |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 6,193 | 23.2 | N/A |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 26,599 | 72.0 | N/A |
| | Unionist gain from National Liberal | Unionist gain from National Liberal | Swing | N/A | |
General election 1923: Isle of Ely :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal | Henry Mond | 11,476 | 44.7 | +17.0 |
| | Unionist | Max Townley | 11,009 | 42.9 | −8.0 |
| | Labour | Richard Henry Kennard Hope | 3,172 | 12.4 | −9.0 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 467 | 1.8 | N/A |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 25,657 | 68.1 | −3.9 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 37,656 | | |
| | Liberal gain from Unionist | Liberal gain from Unionist | Swing | +12.5 | |
General election 1924: Isle of Ely :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Unionist | Hugh Lucas-Tooth | 13,344 | 46.1 | +3.2 |
| | Liberal | Henry Mond | 11,381 | 39.3 | −5.4 |
| | Labour | Dermot Freyer | 4,235 | 14.6 | +2.2 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 1,963 | 6.8 | N/A |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 28,960 | 75.7 | +7.6 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 38,281 | | |
| | Unionist gain from Liberal | Unionist gain from Liberal | Swing | +4.3 | |
General election 1929: Isle of Ely :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal | James de Rothschild | 16,111 | 43.9 | +4.6 |
| | Unionist | Hugh Lucas-Tooth | 13,628 | 37.1 | −9.0 |
| | Labour | Dermot Freyer | 6,967 | 19.0 | +4.4 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 2,483 | 6.8 | N/A |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 36,706 | 75.0 | −0.7 |
| | Liberal gain from Unionist | Liberal gain from Unionist | Swing | +6.8 | |

### Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Isle of Ely :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal | James de Rothschild | 20,842 | 64.8 | +20.9 |
| | Agricultural Party | John Alexander Whitehead | 6,993 | 21.8 | New |
| | Labour | Francis Joseph Knowles | 4,302 | 13.4 | −5.6 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 13,849 | 43.0 | +36.2 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 32,137 | 63.2 | −11.8 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 50,849 | | |
| | Liberal hold | Liberal hold | Swing | −0.45 | |
General election 1935: Isle of Ely :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal | James de Rothschild | 17,671 | 51.0 | −13.8 |
| | Conservative | William Garthwaite | 16,972 | 49.0 | New |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 699 | 2.0 | −41.0 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 34,643 | 66.0 | +2.8 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 52,515 | | |
| | Liberal hold | Liberal hold | Swing | −31.4 | |

### Elections in the 1940s

General election 1945: Isle of Ely :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Harry Legge-Bourke | 15,592 | 40.6 | −8.4 |
| | Labour | Alfred Francis Colenso Gray | 13,271 | 34.5 | New |
| | Liberal | James de Rothschild | 9,564 | 24.9 | −26.1 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 2,321 | 6.1 | N/A |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 38,427 | 67.8 | +1.8 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 56,661 | | |
| | Conservative gain from Liberal | Conservative gain from Liberal | Swing | +8.85 | |

### Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Isle of Ely :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Harry Legge-Bourke | 21,528 | 45.0 | +4.4 |
| | Labour | Alfred Francis Colenso Gray | 16,565 | 34.6 | +0.1 |
| | Liberal | Grenville Jones | 9,733 | 20.4 | −4.5 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 4,963 | 10.4 | +4.3 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 47,826 | 79.6 | +11.8 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 60,070 | | |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | +2.15 | |
General election 1951: Isle of Ely :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Harry Legge-Bourke | 26,319 | 56.9 | +11.9 |
| | Labour | Alfred Francis Colenso Gray | 19,915 | 43.1 | +8.5 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 6,404 | 13.8 | +3.4 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 46,234 | 75.9 | −3.7 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 60,918 | | |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | +1.7 | |
General election 1955: Isle of Ely :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Harry Legge-Bourke | 24,862 | 57.4 | +0.5 |
| | Labour | Alfred Francis Colenso Gray | 18,416 | 42.6 | −0.5 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 6,446 | 14.8 | +1.0 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 43,278 | 70.7 | −5.2 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 61,188 | | |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | +0.5 | |
General election 1959: Isle of Ely :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Harry Legge-Bourke | 26,173 | 57.0 | −0.4 |
| | Labour | Derek Page | 19,705 | 43.0 | +0.4 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 6,468 | 14.0 | −0.8 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 45,878 | 74.7 | +4.0 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 61,387 | | |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | −0.4 | |

### Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Isle of Ely :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Harry Legge-Bourke | 25,317 | 56.2 | −0.8 |
| | Labour | Cyril Shaw | 19,692 | 43.8 | +0.8 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 5,625 | 12.4 | −1.6 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 45,009 | 73.8 | −0.9 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 61,004 | | |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | −0.8 | |
General election 1966: Isle of Ely :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Harry Legge-Bourke | 21,320 | 46.2 | −10.0 |
| | Labour | Graham Nurse | 19,566 | 43.8 | 0.0 |
| | Liberal | Derek Malcolm Rigby | 5,250 | 11.4 | New |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 1,754 | 2.4 | −10.0 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 46,136 | 75.9 | +2.1 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 60,758 | | |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | −4.3 | |

### Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Isle of Ely :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Harry Legge-Bourke | 28,972 | 59.9 | +13.7 |
| | Labour | Rex Edgar O'Hare | 19,366 | 40.1 | −3.7 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 9,606 | 19.8 | +17.4 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 48,338 | 71.9 | −4.0 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 67,226 | | |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | +8.7 | |
1973 Isle of Ely by-election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal | Clement Freud | 17,390 | 38.3 | New |
| | Conservative | John Burdett Stevens | 15,920 | 35.0 | −24.9 |
| | Labour | Barry A Young | 12,153 | 26.7 | −13.4 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 1,470 | 3.3 | N/A |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 45,463 | 65.8 | −6.1 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 69,069 | | |
| | Liberal gain from Conservative | Liberal gain from Conservative | Swing | +31.6 | |
General election February 1974: Isle of Ely :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal | Clement Freud | 27,647 | 49.0 | N/A |
| | Conservative | John Burdett Stevens | 19,300 | 34.2 | −25.7 |
| | Labour | Michael Brandon Harris | 9,478 | 16.8 | −23.3 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 8,347 | 14.8 | N/A |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 56,425 | 83.1 | +11.2 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 67,913 | | |
| | Liberal gain from Conservative | Liberal gain from Conservative | Swing | +37.35 | |
General election October 1974: Isle of Ely :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal | Clement Freud | 22,040 | 41.7 | −7.3 |
| | Conservative | Thomas Stuttaford | 19,355 | 36.7 | +2.5 |
| | Labour | Michael Brandon Harris | 11,420 | 21.6 | +4.8 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 2,685 | 5.0 | −9.8 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 52,815 | 77.1 | −6.0 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 68,473 | | |
| | Liberal hold | Liberal hold | Swing | −4.9 | |
General election 1979: Isle of Ely :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal | Clement Freud | 26,397 | 46.7 | +5.0 |
| | Conservative | Thomas Stuttaford | 23,067 | 40.8 | +4.1 |
| | Labour | Colin Harry Saunders | 7,067 | 12.5 | −9.1 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 3,330 | 5.9 | +0.9 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 56,531 | 80.8 | +3.7 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 69,954 | | |
| | Liberal hold | Liberal hold | Swing | +0.45 | |