The constituency was originally created after the Reform Act in 1832 whenDerbyshire was divided intoNorth Derbyshire and South Derbyshire.
Boundaries of South Derbyshire from 1997 to 2010
1832–1868: The Hundreds of Appletree, Morleston and Litchurch, and Repton and Gresley, and so much of the Wapentake of Wirksworth as was not comprised in the Bakewell Division.[2]
1868–1885: The Hundreds of Repton and Gresley, Morleston and Litchurch, and Appletree.[3]
1885–1918: The Municipal Borough of Derby, the Sessional Divisions of Repton and Swadlincote, and parts of the Sessional Divisions of Ashbourne and Derby.
1918–1950: The Urban Districts of Alvaston and Boulton, Long Eaton, and Swadlincote, the Rural Districts of Hartshorne and Seals, and Shardlow, and part of the Rural District of Repton.
1983–1997: The District of South Derbyshire, and the City of Derby wards of Boulton, Chellaston, and Mickleover.
The District of South Derbyshire wards of Aston; Church Gresley; Etwall; Linton; Melbourne; Midway; Newhall and Stanton; Repton; Seales; Stenson; Swadlincote; Willington and Findern; Woodville.[4]
This comprises the whole of South Derbyshire District, excluding the wards of Hatton and Hilton, which were transferred toDerbyshire Dales.
This constituency consists of rural and semi-rural settlements, includingRepton (with itsfamous public school), in which a majority of voters have, in local elections since World War II, been Tory-voting, plus more historically industrial, and manufacturing-focussed settlements such asSwadlincote where the electorate has been for the most part Labour-voting.
Workless claimants were in November 2012 significantly lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 2.2% of the population based on a statistical compilation byThe Guardian, and very close to that of the Mid Derbyshire seat, at 1.9%. Also similar is the regionally lowest jobseeker seat of Derbyshire Dales, with only 1.5% of the population registered as jobseekers.[5]
^Boulton and Chellaston wards were transferred to Derby South, and Mickleover ward, herein from 1983 to 1997, was transferred from Derby South to Derby North.