Bromley was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament from 1918 to 1974. Its most famous Member of Parliament (MP) was Harold Macmillan, who held the seat from 1945 to 1964 and served as Prime Minister from 1957 to 1963.
Like all 20th-century such seats for geographic zones it elected one MP, using the first past the post system of election. It lay in Kent until 1965 and Greater London thereafter.
The constituency was formed primarily from the existing of constituency Sevenoaks
The constituency was subject to minor boundary changes.
The Urban Districts of Beckenham and Penge were transferred to the new constituency of Beckenham
The seat overspan the town of Bromley. As with the rest of south-east London these areas were in the far northwest of the Historic County of Kent â and was in the last such parts to join London, joining Greater London in April 1965.
The seat was abolished in the redistribution which took effect in 1974, largely replaced by the seat of Ravensbourne. The London Borough of Bromley (a larger area than the previous Municipal Borough) was, as to Westminster representation, split into four seats.
This constituency consisted largely of prosperous leafy suburbia and was one of the Conservatives' strongest seats. The character of the area was one of prosperous small businesses, rather than commuting professionals.
Before 1918 this area was mostly the northern part of the Sevenoaks constituency. The first MP for this seat was Henry William Forster, the former member for Sevenoaks. In 1919 he was created the 1st Baron Forster and became Governor-General of Australia in 1920.
The next three MPs were first elected at by-elections (in 1919, 1930 and 1945 respectively).
In 1945 the sitting member died between the day of the election and the declaration of the result, so the opportunity arose for one of the Conservative former ministers defeated in the general election to return to the House of Commons representing an extremely safe seat. Future Prime Minister Harold Macmillan was selected by the Conservative Party to fight the seat. He was perhaps the most famous MP for Bromley, serving from the 1945 by-election until his retirement in 1964, when he was succeeded by John Hunt. Hunt held the seat (renamed Ravensbourne in 1974) until 1997.