Every set of the History of Parliament series is the product of sustained collective endeavour, and this one is no exception. It is the product of the dedication and skill of a team which has remained intact over a long period, and which has brought to fruition most of the research and thinking embodied in these volumes: in biographies, articles on constituencies and committees, and chapters of the Survey. When I arrived in 1997 the team comprised Drs Andrew Barclay, Patrick Little, Jason Peacey and David Scott. The final change in Section personnel occurred when Dr Vivienne Larminie replaced Dr Peacey in 2006. I should like to put on record my heartfelt thanks to Dr Larminie for taking over the management of the Section in 2018 as Assistant Editor when I became Director of the History as a whole.

Volume One of this set, the Introductory Survey, is a multi-authored work. Chapter One was written by Stephen Roberts, Chapter Two by Stephen Roberts and Patrick Little, Chapter Three by Patrick Little and David Scott, Chapter Four by Vivienne Larminie, Chapter Five by Stephen Roberts, Chapters Six and Seven by David Scott, Chapter Eight by Stephen Roberts and Patrick Little, Chapter Nine by Patrick Little, Chapter Ten by David Scott. The bibliography was compiled by Andrew Barclay, and every member of the Section contributed to the Appendices.

The Section began in a small way in 1983, when P.W. Hasler began the groundwork while directing the History as a whole; Eleanor Reid was soon appointed as research assistant. Roland G. Thorne wrote first drafts of biographies of Welsh MPs and corresponding constituency articles; Dorothy Gardener then joined the Section to contribute pieces on London and Middlesex, after the History had received a Leverhulme award for that purpose. Activity intensified in the late 1980s when Eleanor Reid became Editor, and Dr Sarah Jones and Frances Kelly, who replaced Dorothy Gardener, were recruited to the Section. Dr Scott joined the team shortly afterwards. It is fair to say that when Valerie Cromwell became Director of the History in 1991, the work of the Section shifted up another gear, not least because she introduced IT to the History as the essential medium of research and writing.