F. W. S. Craig - Reference Books

Reference Books

His research into elections continued and widened from Scotland to the whole of the United Kingdom, and he compiled a card index to all elections from 1918 onwards. In 1966 he had completed a manuscript of a reference book on statistics about elections since 1918, which was intended to be published in two volumes of 700 pages each to be part-funded by the Institute of Electoral Research; the calling of a general election annoyed him because he would have to add the statistics from it to the book. Craig took a decisive step in 1968 when he was paid off from his public relations job and set up Political Reference Publications, in order to publish his work. The first book to be published was British Parliamentary Election Statistics 1918-1966 which summarised the results of every general election as well as giving a wealth of other information. Critical reception was very positive and Craig always considered it his favourite book. It has continued to be updated, under the title British Electoral Facts.

His series of British Parliamentary Election Results began to appear the next year with the volume for 1918-1949. The series has been completed to run from the Reform Act of 1832 to date. Craig also started the Political Companion, a quarterly update, which ran from 1969 to 1983. His work was a family affair with his wife Phyllis helping with the production and administration, and his daughters undertaking the proofreading. Craig pioneered the use of technology and put the source data onto computer readable tape; the distinctive clear layout of his books was a result of his use of early computer typesetting.