Stroud (UK Parliament constituency)
Stroud is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. It is held by Siobhan Baillie of the Conservative Party. Formerly a safe Conservative seat, Stroud has been a marginal seat since 1992, changing hands four times in seven elections since then. History. The seat's parliamentary borough forerunner was created by the First Reform Act for the 1832 general election. It elected two MPs using the bloc vote until transformed in the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 for that year's general election, the name being transferred to a single-seat  county division which covered a wider zone. This was abolished at the 1950 general election, chiefly replaced with a new seat, Stroud and Thornbury. That was in turn abolished at the 1955 general election, when the present entity was created. Since this recreation the seat has had boundary changes. Boundaries. 1955–1974: The Urban Districts of Nailsworth and Stroud, the Rural Districts of Dursley, Stroud, and Tetbury, and part of the Rural District of Gloucester. 1974–1983: The Urban Districts of Nailsworth and Stroud, the Rural Districts of Dursley, Stroud, and Tetbury, and in the Rural District of Gloucester the parishes of  Arlingham, Brookthorpe with Whaddon, Eastington, Elmore, Frampton on Severn, Fretherne with Saul, Frocester, Hardwicke, Harescombe, Haresfield, Longney, Moreton Valence, Quedgeley, Standish, Upton St Leonards, and Whitminster. 1983–1997: The District of Stroud wards of Berkeley, Bisley, Cainscross, Cam, Cambridge, Central, Chalford, Dursley, Eastington, Hinton, King's Stanley, Leonard Stanley, Minchinhampton, Nailsworth, Nibley, Painswick, Parklands, Randwick, Rodborough, Severn, Stonehouse, Thrupp, Trinity, Uley, Uplands, Vale, Whiteshill, Woodfield, and Wotton and Kingswood, and the District of Cotswold wards of Avening, Grumbold's Ash, and Tetbury. 1997–2010: All the wards of the District of Stroud except the Wotton and Kingswood ward. 2010–present: The District  of Stroud wards of Amberley and Woodchester, Berkeley, Bisley, Cainscross, Cam East, Cam West, Central, Chalford, Coaley and Uley, Dursley, Eastington and Standish, Farmhill and Paganhill, Hardwicke, Nailsworth, Over Stroud, Painswick, Rodborough, Severn, Slade, Stonehouse, The Stanleys, Thrupp, Trinity, Uplands, Upton St Leonards, Vale, and Valley. The seat is 24 of the 27 wards of Stroud district (the rest are in The Cotswolds seat). The north-west limit is the Severn, which meanders from Gloucester as the upper estuary. Constituency profile. Stroud lies south of Gloucester, between the two larger Gloucestershire constituencies of The Cotswolds and Forest of Dean. Its  east climbs the Cotswold Hills but Stroud is both smaller and more industrialised than east and west neighbours. Most of the seat is rural or semi-rural with a middle belt that has a group of urbanised villages, including Caincross, Cam and Rodborough, with the main towns part of the West Country textile manufacturing heritage. The major market towns include Stroud itself, Dursley in the south, and the smaller towns of Berkeley (which has a smaller electorate than Chalford, but more facilities), Stonehouse and Nailsworth. In November 2012, unemployment was 2.1%, compared to the national average of 3.8%. Elections. Election  in the 1940s. 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 from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected; Elections 1832 to 1918. 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: Elections in the 1870s. Elections in  the 1860s. Elections in the 1840s. Elections in the 1830s. Sources. Craig, F. W. S. (1983). "British parliamentary election results 1918-1949" (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. .