Knutsford was first created as one of eight single-member divisions of Cheshire under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885.

[2] The seat was centred around the town of Knutsford and stretched from Daresbury to the west, Disley to the east, and Holmes Chapel to the south.

[3] Major realignment of boundaries, losing eastern and western parts, whilst being extended to the north and south: 1955–1974: The Urban Districts of Alderley Edge, Bowdon, Hale, Knutsford, and Wilmslow, and the Rural Districts of Bucklow and Congleton.

From 1 April 1974 until the constituency was abolished at the next boundary review which came into effect for the 1983 general election, the constituency comprised parts of the newly formed Boroughs of Congleton, Macclesfield and Vale Royal in Cheshire, the City of Manchester (parish of Ringway) and the Borough of Trafford in Greater Manchester (Bowdon, Hale and the parishes of Carrington, Dunham Massey, Partington and Warburton), but its boundaries were unchanged.

The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected;