 The seat was bordered to the west by the constituency of Dorset East, while to the north was New Forest and Christchurch.The rest of the constituency bordered the English Channel.In the 1950 redistribution, the Representation of the People Act 1948 provided for the division of Bournemouth (with the addition of the neighbouring town of Christchurch) into Bournemouth East and Christchurch & Bournemouth West.