Election 2015: The history of the Harwich constituency
HARWICH has had an MP since 1604 and even had two from 1604 – 1868.
During that time Samuel Pepys was one of the areas member of parliament – he held a seat from February to August 1679.
In 1868 the constituency was reduced to one member. From then until 1997 the seat was divided between wins for the Conservatives and wins for the Liberals.
But in 1997 the seat was won by Labour’s Ivan Henderson.
He would hold onto it for had eight years before it became Conservative once again with Douglas Carswell winning in 2005.
In 2010 the seat was abolished. Clacton became its own constituency and Harwich was merged with North Essex.
In the 2010 general election Bernard Jenkin won with a majority of 11,447.
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