Epping was one of eight single-member divisions of Essex (later classified as county constituencies) created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, replacing the three two member divisions of East, South and West Essex.
The seat underwent a significant loss of territory at the 1945 boundary review, with the majority of the electorate forming the new constituency of Woodford. It was abolished for the February 1974 general election when it was divided between the new seats of Chingford, Epping Forest and Harlow.
Its most prominent MP was Winston Churchill, who served as Prime Minister twice, the local MP for twenty-one years from 1924 to 1945, spanning the middle part of his long service as an MP. From 1945, he was the MP for Woodford.
In the 1955 and 1959 general elections, the celebrated cricket commentator and journalist John Arlott stood as the Liberal Party candidate.
The House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1944 set up Boundaries Commissions to carry out periodic reviews of the distribution of parliamentary constituencies. It also authorised an initial review to subdivide abnormally large constituencies in time for the 1945 election.[3] This was implemented by the Redistribution of Seats Order 1945 under which Epping was divided into two constituencies. As a consequence, the new Parliamentary Borough of Woodford was formed from the Municipal Borough of Wanstead and Woodford (created from amalgamating the two separate Urban Districts) and the Urban District of Chigwell (previously a parish in the Rural District of Epping which had also absorbed the former Urban Districts of Buckhurst Hill and Loughton).
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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:
This election was suspended by the Parliament and Registration Act 1916 (royal assent 27 January 1916), which was extended five times, due to the First World War. A general election was finally allowed in December 1918 after the war was over; but first, Amelius Lockwood was disqualified as an MP by being raised to the peerage in 1917, necessitating a by-election. The Liberals, in wartime coalition with the Conservatives and Unionists, did not oppose the Unionist candidate.
A 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:
The election was suspended by the Prolongation of Parliament Act 1940 (royal assent 6 November 1940), which was extended four times, due to the Second World War.
^Great Britain, Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales. The public general acts. unknown library. Proprietors of the Law Journal Reports, 1884.
^ abcCraig, Fred W. S. (1972). Boundaries of parliamentary constituencies 1885-1972;. Chichester: Political Reference Publications. ISBN0900178094. OCLC539011.
^ abDebrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1901
^ abDebrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1916
^ abcdeCraig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN0-900178-06-X.
^Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939