Creation

The constituency was created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, when the North Durham and South Durham county divisions were replaced by eight new single-member county constituencies. These were Barnard Castle, Bishop Auckland, Chester-le-Street, Houghton-le-Spring, Jarrow, Mid Durham, North West Durham and South East Durham. In addition there were seven County Durham borough constituencies.

Boundaries

The Sessional Division of Durham and Willington (including all the parish of Shadforth and excluding all the parish of Moorhouse) and the Municipal Borough of Durham.^[1][2]

See map on Vision of Britain website.^[3]

NB: 1) Boundary Commission proposed name was "Brancepeth"

2) Included only non-resident freeholders in the parliamentary borough of Durham

Abolition

The seat was abolished for the 1918 general election, when its contents were distributed as follows:

• Parish of Witton Gilbert to Chester-le-Street;
• Remaining northern areas, including Brandon and Willington, to the newly created county division of Durham, which also absorbed the abolished parliamentary borough;
• South-western areas, including Brandon and Willington, to the new constituency of Spennymoor; and
• South-eastern areas, including Ferryhill, to the new constituency of Sedgefield.

Elections in the 1880s

Elections in the 1890s

Elections in the 1900s

Elections in the 1910s

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 July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

• Liberal: Samuel Galbraith
• Unionist:
• Labour: Joseph Batey