Type of constituency County constituency Number of members 1 | Created from Hornsey | |
 | ||
County 1918–1965 Middlesex
1965–1997 Greater London Replaced by Hornsey, Finchley and Golders Green, Chipping Barnet | ||
Finchley was a constituency represented 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 Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990. Although boundary changes meant that she never again attained her large majority of 1959, she was nonetheless returned by comfortable (9,000) majorities at General Elections throughout her premiership.
Contents
The seat was abolished in 1997 and split between the Finchley and Golders Green and Chipping Barnet constituencies.
Boundaries
1918-1945: The Urban Districts of Finchley and Friern Barnet.
1945-1950: The Municipal Borough of Finchley, part of the Municipal Borough of Hornsey, and part of the Urban District of Friern Barnet.
1950-1974: The Municipal Borough of Finchley, and the Urban District of Friern Barnet.
1974-1997: The London Borough of Barnet wards of East Finchley, Finchley, Friern Barnet, St Paul's, and Woodhouse.
In 1918 the constituency was created as a county division of Middlesex, centred on the town of Finchley, which before 1918 had been located in the Hornsey constituency. In 1934 the Finchley district became a Municipal Borough.
In 1945 there was an interim redistribution of parliamentary constituencies to split those with more than 100,000 electors, prior to the general redistribution of 1950. Middlesex was significantly affected by the interim changes.
In 1950 the seat was re-classified as a borough constituency, with the boundaries reverting to those of 1918.
In 1965 the area of the constituency was joined to other districts to form the London Borough of Barnet in Greater London.
Elections in the 1910s
* Endorsed by the Coalition Government
Elections in the 1930s
Liberal candidate Lady Domini Crosfield withdrew following the formation of the National Government.
General Election 1939/40
Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940, but it was postponed after the outbreak of World War II. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place from 1939, and by the end of that year the following candidates had been selected: