South Essex (formally the Southern division of Essex) was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1832 to 1885. It elected two MPs to the House of Commons. At the time the constituency was entirely in the county of Essex. Part of the area has since been transferred from Essex to Greater London.

Areas covered: Epping, Brentwood, Basildon, Thurrock, Southend (to 1918), Waltham Forest, Redbridge, Havering, Barking, Dagenham and Newham.

South-East Essex (in its first incarnation formally the South Eastern division of Essex) was a parliamentary constituency in Essex in the East of England. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The constituency was created for the 1885 general election and abolished for the 1950 general election. For the 1950 election a new constituency, Billericay, was created which included Brentwood (until 1974) and the respected Wards forming the Basildon district. The South-East Essex constituency was re-established for the 1955 general election following boundary changes being finally abolished in 1983 with some areas forming part of a new Castle Point seat.

The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. Its roots can be traced back to the early medieval period. In a series of developments, it came increasingly to constrain the power of the monarch, and went on after the Act of Union 1707 to form the main basis of the Parliament of Great Britain, and later the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 by the Acts of Union passed by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The Acts created a new Kingdom of Great Britain and dissolved both the English and Scottish parliaments, replacing them with a new Parliament of the Kingdom of Great Britain based in the former home of the English parliament. While Scots law and Scottish legislation remained separate, the legislation was now dealt with by the new parliament. The first United Kingdom general elections were held in 1802. The members of the 1801-1802 Parliament had been elected to the former Parliament of Great Britain and Parliament of Ireland, before being co-opted to serve in the first Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Voting Rights
In 1918 Women over 30 were given the right to vote.

In 1928 'The Representation of the People Act 1928' gave Universal suffrage to the adult population over 21.