1832–1868: The Hundreds of Bampton, Black Torrington, Braunton, Crediton, Fremington, Halberton, Hartland, Hayridge, Hemyock, North Tawton and Winkleigh, Shebbear, Sherwill, South Molton, Tiverton, Witheridge, and West Budleigh. 1868–1885: The Hundreds of Bampton, Braunton, Crediton, Fremington, Halberton, Hartland, Hayridge, Hemyock, North Tawton, Shebbear, Sherwill, South Molton, Tiverton, Winkleigh, Witheridge, and West Budleigh. 1950–1974: The Boroughs of Barnstaple and South Molton, the Urban Districts of Ilfracombe and Lynton, and the Rural Districts of Barnstaple and South Molton. 1974–1983: The Boroughs of Barnstaple and Bideford, the Urban Districts of Ilfracombe, Lynton, and Northam, and the Rural Districts of Barnstaple, Bideford, and South Molton. 1983–2010: The District of North Devon, and the District of Mid Devon wards of Taw, Taw Vale, and West Creedy. 2010–present: The District of North Devon.
History
A two-seat constituency of the same name existed from 1832 to 1885, formally titled the 'Northern Division of Devon'. This began at the 1832 general election, when the Reform Act 1832 divided the former two-seat Devon into Northern and Southern divisions, each of which elected two MPs using the bloc vote system of election. The constituency was abolished for the 1885 general election, when the Redistribution of Seats Act split the county into smaller single-seat divisions. Its second creation is current, and began at the 1950 general election. Prior to 1950, its territory was split between the old constituencies of Barnstaple and South Molton. In the 20th century this area had a prominent national MP, Jeremy Thorpe, who led a Liberal Party revival countrywide, with particular strength in the south-west. The Liberal Democrats and its predecessor the Liberal Party have, since the Second World War, performed strongly in this seat; it was held for twenty years by Thorpe as the Liberal leader. He lost it in the 1979 general election, amid a scandal as a married man in love with Norman Scott and Thorpe's alleged involvement in a plot to murder him, of which he was found not guilty the same year. At the 1992 general election Liberal Democrat Nick Harvey regained the seat from the Conservatives. He lost the seat 23 years later.
