British Elections 1885-1918

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Population or voter equality was still a new concept, and not really prioritised. Most parliamentary boroughs still had their own constituencies, particularly in Scotland, and there were still very few suburbs, so you get lots of tiny urban constituencies (this is also true in 1918-35). The redistricters were mandated to separate urban and rural areas as much as possible, as part of the Liberal-Conservative compromise to pass the Act. County and borough boundaries were very strictly respected. Many ancient county boundaries were still in place, particularly around Worcestershire (Wiki).

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Even as late as the Labour-SDP split, you still had a couple of constituencies with detached enclaves. Wiki suggests Stirling and Falkirk was the last one, but from a brief consultation of "Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972", you can add Clackmannan, Monmouth and East Flint.

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Excellent spot on Don Valley, not an insignificant exclave but the civil parish of Denaby. But apologies for derailing the thread. Yes, the pattern of concentrated Tory support is evident as late as 1923 and evidences the part of the non-Conservative coalition that was lost in the move to Labour. The counter-acting gains in city cores are, of course, harder to see.

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Remarkable the Tory strength in the south-east compared to the rest of rural southern England.

Anglicanism - note that rural East Sussex where they were a bit weaker had substantial Nonconformist strength, which translated into Liberal votes.

Sussex overall being one of the most observant Church of England counties. If "intense" was ever an appropriate description of sentiment toward the Established church, then it certainly applied to Lewes. There's no point saying it's a strange little town, because every town is in its own way... But visiting Lewes, I felt like it was!

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This is a rough approximation of religious observance by county from the 1851 Census. Red areas are more Established Church (Church of England) than average, or about average in the lighter cases. Blue areas are more nonconformist. Please disregard the Isle of Man.