County Kent Number of members 1 | Created from Sevenoaks Replaced by Sevenoaks, Ravensbourne | |
Bromley is a former borough constituency in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. Its best-known MP was Harold Macmillan (Prime Minister 1957-1963).
Contents
Boundaries
1918-1945: The Municipal Borough of Bromley, and the Urban Districts of Beckenham and Penge.
1945-1950: Parts of the Municipal Boroughs of Beckenham and Bromley, and the Urban District of Penge.
1950-1974: The Municipal Borough of Bromley.
The constituency covered an area based on the town of Bromley. It is part of the north of the historic county of Kent, which was included in Greater London after 1965.
The constituency was abolished in the redistribution which took effect in 1974. The London Borough of Bromley (a larger area than the previous Municipal Borough) was split into four seats.
History
This constituency consisted largely of prosperous leafy suburbia and was one of the Conservatives' strongest seats. The character of the area was one of prosperous small businesses, rather than commuting professionals.
Before 1918 this area was mostly the northern part of the Sevenoaks constituency. The first MP for this seat was Henry William Forster, the former member for Sevenoaks. In 1919 he was created the 1st Baron Forster and became Governor-General of Australia in 1920.
The next three MPs were first elected at by-elections (in 1919, 1930 and 1945 respectively).
In 1945 the sitting member died between the day of the election and the declaration of the result, so the opportunity arose for one of the Conservative former ministers defeated in the general election to return to the House of Commons representing an extremely safe seat. Future Prime Minister Harold Macmillan was the lucky beneficiary of the vacancy. He was the most famous MP for Bromley, serving from the 1945 by-election until his retirement in 1964, when he was succeeded by John Hunt. Hunt, on the left of the Conservative party, held the seat (renamed Ravensbourne in 1974) until 1997.