Hertford and Stevenage was a parliamentary constituency

United Kingdom constituencies

In the United Kingdom , each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one or more members to a parliament or assembly.Within the United Kingdom there are now five bodies with members elected by constituencies:...

 in Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

, which returned one Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 to the House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

 of the Parliament of the United Kingdom

Parliament of the United Kingdom

The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...

 from February 1974

United Kingdom general election, February 1974

The United Kingdom's general election of February 1974 was held on the 28th of that month. It was the first of two United Kingdom general elections held that year, and the first election since the Second World War not to produce an overall majority in the House of Commons for the winning party,...

 until it was abolished for the 1983 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1983

The 1983 United Kingdom general election was held on 9 June 1983. It gave the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of Labour in 1945...

.

Boundaries

It was a county constituency which as originally defined consisted of the borough of Hertford

Hertford

Hertford is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. Forming a civil parish, the 2001 census put the population of Hertford at about 24,180. Recent estimates are that it is now around 28,000...

, the urban districts of Stevenage

Stevenage

Stevenage is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England. It is situated to the east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1, and is between Letchworth Garden City to the north, and Welwyn Garden City to the south....

 and Ware and the rural district of Hertford

Hertford Rural District

Hertford Rural District was a rural district in the county of Hertfordshire, England. It was created in 1894. On April 1, 1974 it was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972, and has since formed part of the District of East Hertfordshire....

. Hertford and its rural district had previously been in the Hertford

Hertford (UK Parliament constituency)

Hertford was the name of a parliamentary constituency in Hertfordshire, which elected Members of Parliament from 1298 until 1974. It was represented in the House of Commons of England from 1298 to 1707, then of the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and finally in the House of...

 constituency, Stevenage in the Hitchin

Hitchin (UK Parliament constituency)

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

 constituency and Ware in East Hertfordshire

East Hertfordshire (UK Parliament constituency)

East Hertfordshire was a parliamentary constituency in the county of Hertfordshire. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.-History:...

. After being used for only three general elections, a further round of boundary changes in 1983 saw Hertford and Stevenage abolished, Hertford and Ware joining Bishop Stortford in Hertford and Stortford while the remainder of the seat formed the basis of the new Stevenage

Stevenage (UK Parliament constituency)

Stevenage is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...

 constituency.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
Feb 1974 United Kingdom general election, February 1974 The United Kingdom's general election of February 1974 was held on the 28th of that month. It was the first of two United Kingdom general elections held that year, and the first election since the Second World War not to produce an overall majority in the House of Commons for the winning party,...		Shirley Williams	Labour Labour Party (UK) The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
1979 United Kingdom general election, 1979 The United Kingdom general election of 1979 was held on 3 May 1979 to elect 635 members to the British House of Commons. The Conservative Party, led by Margaret Thatcher ousted the incumbent Labour government of James Callaghan with a parliamentary majority of 43 seats...		Bowen Wells Bowen Wells Petrie Bowen Wells, known as Bowen Wells; is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom.-Education:Wells was educated at St Paul's, the University of Exeter, and Regent Street Polytechnic.-Member of Parliament:...	Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
1983 United Kingdom general election, 1983 The 1983 United Kingdom general election was held on 9 June 1983. It gave the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of Labour in 1945...	constituency abolished