Medway was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom between 1983 and 2010. A previous constituency of the same name existed from 1885 to 1918. Boundaries 1885–1918 The Mid or Medway Division of Kent was created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885. It comprised a rural area consisting of the petty sessional divisions of Bearstead, Rochester and part of Malling PSD, but did not include the Medway Towns which were comprised in the parliamentary boroughs of Chatham and Rochester. It also surrounded, but did not include the town of Maidstone. It comprised these parishes: Addington Allhallows Allington Aylesford Bearsted Bicknor Birling Boughton Malherbe Boughton Monchelsea Boxley Bredhurst Broomfield Burham Chalk Chatham (rural) Chart Sutton Cliffe Cobham Cooling Cuxton Denton Ditton East Barming East Farleigh East Malling East Sutton Frindsbury (rural) Frinsted Gillingham (rural) Grange Halling Harrietsham Headcorn High Halstow Higham Hollingbourne Hoo Peninsula Hucking Ifield Ightham Isle of Grain Langley Leeds Lenham Leybourne Lidsing Linton Loose Luddesdown Meopham Mereworth Northfleet (rural) Nursted Offham Otterden Ryarsh St Mary Hoo Shorne Snodland Stansted Stockbury Stoke Strood (rural) Sutton Valence Teston Thurnham Trottiscliffe Ulcombe Wateringbury West Barming West Farleigh West Malling West Peckham Wichling Wormshill Wouldham Wrotham The Rochester seat is an old one, going back to the 16th century, but it saw many changes in the 20th century. In 1918 it was split between Chatham and Gillingham. The Chatham seat became Rochester and Chatham in 1950, and then Medway in 1983. 1983–2010 The constituency was revived in 1983 by Parliament's acceptance of a Boundary Commission national review, and was defined as comprising thirteen wards of the then City of Rochester upon Medway: All Saints, Cuxton and Halling, Earl, Frindsbury, Frindsbury Extra, Hoo St. Werburgh, Rede Court, St. Margarets and Borstal, Temple Farm, Thames Side, Town, Troy Town and Warren Wood. Boundaries were not changed at the next redistribution that followed the Fourth Review for the 1997 election. Conveniently but somewhat confusingly 1998 Rochester upon Medway merged with the neighbouring Borough of Gillingham to form the larger unitary Borough of Medway. The Medway constituency covered only part of the unitary authority: some towns in the borough of Medway, such as Gillingham (Gillingham) or Chatham see (Chatham and Aylesford) had and retain their own constituency. Because of this, the name of the seat caused much confusion leading to its renaming in 2010. Boundary review