Hitchin (UK Parliament constituency)

Hitchin is a parliamentary constituency in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 until it was abolished for the 1983 general election.

Hitchin
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundaries since 2024
Boundary of Hitchin in the East of England
County	Hertfordshire
Electorate	72,112 (2023)[1]
Major settlements	Hitchin, Stotfold and Shefford
Current constituency
Created	2024
Member of Parliament	Alistair Strathern (Labour)
Seats	One
Created from	Hitchin and Harpenden
1885–1983
Seats	One
Created from	Hertfordshire
Replaced by	North Hertfordshire, Stevenage[2]

Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat was re-established for the 2024 general election.^[3], since when it has been held by Alistair Strathern of the Labour Party.

• The Sessional Divisions of Aldbury (except the parishes of Great Hadham and Little Hadham), Buntingford, Hitchin, Odsey, Stevenage, and Welwyn; and
• The parish of Braughing.^[4]

The constituency was established by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 (which followed on from the Third Reform Act) as one of four Divisions of the abolished three-member Parliamentary County of Hertfordshire, and was formally named as the Northern or Hitchin Division of Hertfordshire. It included the towns/villages of Hitchin, Stevenage, Welwyn, Baldock and Royston.

• The Urban Districts of Baldock, Hitchin, Royston, and Stevenage;
• The Rural Districts of Ashwell, Buntingford, Hitchin, and Welwyn; and
• The Rural District of Hertford parishes of Aston, Bennington, Datchworth, Sacombe, Walkern, and Watton-at-Stone.^[5]

Minor changes only to reflect local authority boundaries.

• The Urban Districts of Baldock, Hitchin, Letchworth, Royston, and Stevenage;
• The Rural Districts of Hitchin, and Welwyn; and
• Parts of the Rural Districts of Braughing and Hertford.^[6]

The constituency had included a part of the Urban District of Welwyn Garden City, which had been formed as a separate local authority in 1927, and this was now transferred to St Albans.  Other nominal changes as a result of the reorganisation of local authorities.

• The Urban Districts of Baldock, Hitchin, Letchworth, Royston, and Stevenage;
• The Rural District of Hitchin;
• The Rural District of Braughing parishes of Anstey, Ardeley, Aspenden, Broadfield, Buckland, Buntingford, Cottered, Hormead, Meesden, Throcking, Westmilll, and Wyddiall; and
• The Rural District of Hertford parishes of Aston, Bennington, Datchworth, Sacombe, Walkern, and Watton-at-Stone.^[7]

The Rural District of Welwyn was transferred to St Albans.

• The Urban Districts of Baldock, Hitchin, Letchworth, Royston, and Stevenage; and
• The Rural District of Hitchin.^[6]

The part of the Rural District of Braughing was transferred to the new constituency of East Hertfordshire, and the part of the Rural District of Hertford was transferred to Hertford.

• The Urban Districts of Baldock, Hitchin, Letchworth, and Royston; and
• The Rural District of Hitchin.^[6][8]

The Urban District of Stevenage formed the majority of the new County Constituency of Hertford and Stevenage.

The constituency was abolished for the 1983 general election and was replaced by the new constituency of North Hertfordshire, with the exception of a small part in the south-east which was included in the new constituency of Stevenage (Codicote and Knebworth).

Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the composition of the re-established constituency was defined as follows (as they existed on 1 December 2020):

• The District of Central Bedfordshire wards of Arlesey; Shefford; and Stotfold and Langford - transferred partly from North East Bedfordshire and partly from Mid Bedfordshire.
• The District of North Hertfordshire wards of: Cadwell; Chesfield; Hitchin Bearton; Hitchin Highbury; Hitchin Oughton; Hitchin Priory; Hitchin Walsworth; Hitchwood, Offa and Hoo; and Kimpton - transferred from the abolished constituency of Hitchin and Harpenden.^[9]

Following a local government boundary review which came into effect in May 2023,^[10][11] the part in Central Bedfordshire now comprises the following wards from the 2024 general election:

• Arlesey & Fairfield; Clifton, Henlow & Langfield; Meppershall & Shillington (Meppershall parish); Shefford; Stotfold.^[12]

North Hertfordshire and Stevenage prior to 1885

Notes:-

• ^a Dimsdale was a Baron of the Russian Empire.
• ^b Cecil associated himself with the non-coalition wing of the Conservative Party, at some point in the 1918-1922 Parliament.

Hitchin & Harpenden prior to 2024

The Hitchin parliamentary constituency did not exist when the 2019 general election was held. The following is a projection of what the result of the 2019 general election might have looked like in the Hitchin parliamentary constituency if it had existed.

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 the July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

• Unionist: Robert Cecil
• Liberal:

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;

• Conservative: Arnold Wilson
• Labour: George Lindgren

• List of parliamentary constituencies in Hertfordshire
• List of parliamentary constituencies in the East of England (region)

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "H" (part 3)
• Hitchin UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) at MapIt UK

51°57′N 0°17′W / 51.95°N 0.28°W