These changes were reflected in the following redistribution of parliamentary seats which did not come into effect until the 1983 general election, resulting in a net reduction in the county's representation from 17 to 10 MPs.
The table below shows the number of MPs representing Cheshire at each major redistribution of seats affecting the county.
The Reform Act 1832[2] radically changed the representation of the House of Commons, with the county being divided into the Northern and Southern Divisions, each returning two MPs.
North Cheshire covered the northern and eastern parts of the county, comprising the hundreds of Bucklow and Macclesfield; South Cheshire covered the southern and western parts, comprising the hundreds of Broxton, Eddisbury, Nantwich, Northwich and Wirral.
Under the terms of the Appropriation of Seats (Sudbury and Saint Albans) Act 1861,[1] Birkenhead was enfranchised as a single-member parliamentary borough.
Under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885,[5] the three 2-member county divisions were replaced by eight single-member constituencies, namely Altrincham, Crewe, Eddisbury, Hyde, Knutsford, Macclesfield, Northwich and Wirral.
It also authorised an initial review to subdivide abnormally large constituencies (those exceeding an electorate of 100,000) in time for the 1945 election.
Shortly after the Second Periodic Review came into effect, the county was subject to a major reconfiguration under the terms of the Local Government Act 1972.
This review did not come into effect for a further nine years, at the 1983 general election, and resulted in wholescale changes, with only the constituencies of City of Chester and Macclesfield being retained in the reconfigured county.
1 Birchwood, Burtonwood, Poulton-with-Fearnhead, Winwick, Woolston 2 Appleton, Grappenhall, Stockton Heath 3 Great Sankey, Penketh