It was created in 1885 and was subject to significant changes in boundaries in 1918 and 1945. It initially covered a huge swathe of what is nowEast London, with parts of the constituency progressively removed as they experienced significant increases in population as London expanded. The constituency has more or less coincided with the town ofRomford since 1955.
1885–1918: The Liberty of Havering-atte-Bower, and part of the Sessional Division of Becontree.
1918–1945: The Urban Districts of Barking and Romford, and the Rural District of Romford.
1945–1950: The Borough of Romford.
1950–1955: The Borough of Romford, and the Urban District of Brentwood.
1955–1974: The Borough of Romford.
1974–1983: The London Borough of Havering wards of Bedfords, Central, Collier Row, Gidea Park, Heath Park, Mawney, and Oldchurch.
1983–1997: The London Borough of Havering wards of Brooklands, Chase Cross, Collier Row, Gidea Park, Heath Park, Mawney, Oldchurch, Rise Park, and St Edward's.
1997–2010: The London Borough of Havering wards of Ardleigh Green, Brooklands, Chase Cross, Collier Row, Gidea Park, Heath Park, Mawney, Oldchurch, Rise Park, and St Edward's.
2010–2024: The London Borough of Havering wards of Brooklands, Havering Park, Hylands, Mawneys, Pettits, Romford Town, and Squirrel's Heath.
NB: Contents, but not the boundaries of the constituency, were changed as a result of a local government boundary review which came into effect in May 2022.[2][3]
Further to the2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the composition of the constituency was, from the2024 general election onward, expanded slightly to include parts of the Emerson Park ward (as it existed on 1 December 2020), primarily that part of polling district EM2 to the west of the River Ravensbourne.[4]
Following this minor change, as well as reflecting the 2022 local government review, the constituency now comprises the following wards of the London Borough of Havering from the 2024 general election:
Havering-atte-Bower; Hylands and Harrow Lodge; Marshalls and Rise Park; Mawneys; Rush Green and Crowlands; St Alban's; St Edwards; Squirrel's Heath.[5]
This seat was created in theRedistribution of Seats Act 1885. It included the civil parishes of Havering-atte-Bower, Hornchurch and Romford which together formed theLiberty of Havering-atte-Bower, combined with Barking (including Great Ilford), Dagenham, East Ham, Little Ilford and Wanstead. The 1918 revision removed the populous county borough ofEast Ham (including Little Ilford) and the municipal borough ofIlford. Wanstead became part of the Epping constituency. The parishes of Cranham, Great Warley and Upminster were gained fromChelmsford and Rainham and Wennington were gained fromSouth East Essex. The Romford constituency then comprised the parishes of Barking, Cranham, Dagenham, Great Warley, Havering-atte-Bower, Hornchurch, Noak Hill, Rainham, Romford, Upminster and Wennington.
At the 1935 general election there were 167,939 people registered to vote, making Romford the largest constituency in the country. By 1939 this had risen to 207,101, althoughHendon had become larger.[6] TheHouse of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1944 caused the constituency to be divided. The revised boundary coincided with the municipal borough ofRomford, which had been enlarged in the 1930s to include Havering-atte-Bower and Noak Hill. The Brentwood Urban District, which had been expanded in the 1930s to include Hutton, Ingrave and South Weald, was included in the constituency from 1950 to 1955. Harold Hill was removed from the constituency in 1974. The constituency shared boundaries with theRomford electoral division for election of councillors to the Greater London Council at elections in 1973, 1977 and 1981. Subsequent boundary revisions have been relatively minor, with Ardleigh Green gained from Upminster in 1997 and Hylands gained from Hornchurch in 2010.
The constituency created in 1885 covered a large swathe of what became East London. The population of East Ham, which included Thameside docks and industry, increased from 9,713 in 1881 to 133,487 in 1911. Ilford, a prosperous railway suburb further from London, went from a population of 7,645 in 1881 to 78,188 in 1911. The 1918 revision removed these urbanised places, replacing them with the rural parishes of Cranham (population 489 in 1911), Wennington (364) and the semi-rural Great Warley (2,051), Rainham (1,972) and Upminster (2,468). It was now a much more sparsely populated constituency, aside from the ancientmarket towns ofBarking (31,294) andRomford (16,970) and the pre-First World War housing estates atEmerson Park,Romford Garden Suburb andUpminster Garden Suburb.
During theinterwar period the large London County Council estate atBecontree was constructed with around 23,000 homes in the parishes of Barking and Dagenham. The Thameside part of the constituency was industrial and included theFord Dagenham plant. There was suburban housing growth in most parishes, including some large estates such asElm Park Garden City. Barking, Dagenham and Romford were incorporated as boroughs, and rural parishes had been eliminated by 1934.
The 1945 revision left the constituency with the town of Romford, theCollier Row andGidea Park suburbs, and the more rural Havering-atte-Bower and Noak Hill. The inclusion ofBrentwood Urban District in the constituency between 1950 and 1955 added the town of Brentwood and its rural hinterland. Romford Borough Council built post–Second World War estates at Collier Row, Chase Cross and Rise Park. Another large London County Council estate of 25,000 homes was constructed atHarold Hill and completed in 1958. The constituency became part of theLondon Borough of Havering inGreater London in 1965. The 1974 revision removed the Harold Hill estate from the constituency. The addition of Ardleigh Green in 1997 and Hylands in 2010 further expanded the interwar suburban part of the constituency.
The 2020 mid-year population estimate for the constituency was 107,064.[7]
Although Romford was, through much of the 20th century, highlymarginal in terms of majorities obtained, its boundaries have changed significantly. It has been Conservative since theFebruary 1974 general election, except for the1997 landslide. It was one of the few Conservative gains in2001. The 2015 result made the seat the 157th-safest of the Conservative Party's 331 seats by percentage of majority.[8]
^List of selected candidates (26 March 2015)."List of selected candidates". Libdems.org.uk.Archived from the original on 9 August 2017. Retrieved4 August 2016.
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