1918–1950: The Municipal Boroughs of Falmouth, Penryn, and Truro, the Urban District of St Austell, the Rural District of St Austell except the civil parishes of St Sampson and Tywardreath, the Rural District of East Kerrier except the civil parishes of Constantine, Mabe, and Perranarworthal, and the Rural District of Truro except the civil parishes of Kea, Kenwyn Rural, Perranzabuloe, St Agnes, St Allen, and Tregavethan.[1]
History
The constituency was created by the
Reform Act 1832 (the "Great Reform Act") as a replacement for the
Penryn constituency, which had become a notoriously
rotten borough. The new borough consisted of
Penryn,
Falmouth and parts of
Budock and
St Gluvias parishes, giving it a mostly urban population of nearly 12,000, of whom 875 were registered to vote at its first election in
1832.
Initially Penryn and Falmouth elected two MPs, but this was reduced to one in 1885. It was one of the smallest constituencies in England for the next thirty years. At this period its voters were politically unpredictable; though generally among the more
Conservative Cornish constituencies, they were influenced by personal factors and often swung against the national tide of opinion. Falmouth, which had a stronger non-conformist presence, was the more
Liberal part of the constituency in the late 19th century, but was thought to become more Conservative as it developed its economy as a destination seaside resort.
In 1918 the borough was abolished, but the Penryn and Falmouth name was applied to the
county constituency in which the two towns were placed. This was a much more extensive constituency, covering the whole of south central Cornwall, including the towns of
Truro and
St Austell as well a long stretch of coastline. The constituency had a more industrial character (a sixth of the population were engaged in tin mining); the area suffered badly from unemployment in the 1930s, and in 1935 the
Labour Party came within 3,031 votes of winning what would have been their first seat in Cornwall.
The constituency was abolished for the
1950 general election, most of its area being moved into the
Truro constituency. Penryn and Falmouth were assigned to the new
Falmouth and Camborne division.
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;
A General election was due to take place before the end of 1940, but was postponed due to the Second World War. By 1939, the following candidates had been selected to contest this constituency;
^See ODNB article by Richard Davenport-Hines, 'Gurney, Samuel (1816–1882)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
accessed 23 Jan 2008