Wandsworth Central (UK Parliament constituency)

Wandsworth Central was a parliamentary constituency in the Wandsworth district of South London. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first-past-the-post voting system.

Wandsworth Central
Former borough constituency
for the House of Commons
CountyCounty of London, then Greater London
19181974 (1974)
SeatsOne
Created fromWandsworth
Replaced byTooting and Battersea South

The constituency was created for the 1918 general election, and abolished for the February 1974 general election.

Boundaries

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Wandsworth Central in the County of London 1918-50
 
A map showing the wards of Wandsworth Metropolitan Borough as they appeared in 1916.
 
Wandsworth Central in the County of London 1950-74

When the constituency was created, in 1918, it was a division of the Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth. It was in a part of the County of London, which was located in the northern part of the historic county of Surrey.

In 1965 the area of the constituency became part of the London Borough of Wandsworth in Greater London.

1918–1950: During the 1885-1918 distribution of parliamentary seats, the area had been part of the Wandsworth constituency. In 1918 the Metropolitan Borough (a larger area than the Wandsworth constituency had been) was split into five divisions. In addition to Central these divisions were Balham and Tooting, Clapham, Putney and Streatham.

The Central constituency comprised the Fairfield and Springfield wards of the Metropolitan Borough, as they existed in 1918.

The constituency was surrounded by the River Thames to the north, Battersea South to the east, Balham and Tooting to the south-east and south, Wimbledon to the south-west and Putney to the west.

1950–1974: In the redistribution, which took effect with the 1950 United Kingdom general election, the Metropolitan Borough was re-arranged into four divisions. The Balham and Tooting constituency was the one which disappeared.

Tooting ward and part of Balham ward were included in the redrawn Central seat. Springfield ward remained from the old Central division. Fairfield ward was transferred to the Putney constituency. The rest of Balham ward remained in the Clapham constituency.

The effect of these changes was to combine the southern part of the old Central, with the former Balham and Tooting. This moved the boundaries of this constituency south and east from those in the previous distribution.

The constituency was surrounded by Battersea South to the north, Clapham to the north-east, Streatham to the east, Mitcham in the south, Wimbledon to the south-west and Putney to the north-west.

In the 1974 re-distribution, which was the first after the local government boundary changes in 1965, the London Borough (with significantly different boundaries from the old Metropolitan Borough) was divided into four seats. Those were Battersea North, Battersea South, Putney and Tooting. The Springfield and Tooting wards were included in the Tooting constituency, with the Balham ward being included in Battersea South.

Members of Parliament

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Election Member Party
1918 Sir John Norton-Griffiths, Bt Conservative
1924 Sir Henry Jackson Conservative
1929 Archibald Church Labour
1931 National Labour
1931 Sir Henry Jackson, Bt Conservative
1937 by-election Harry Nathan Labour
1940 by-election Ernest Bevin Labour
1950 Richard Adams Labour
1955 Michael Hughes-Young Conservative
1964 Dr David Kerr Labour
1970 Tom Cox Labour
Feb 1974 constituency abolished

Election results

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Swing is only calculated when the same two parties, as in the previous election, share first and second place. Votes for other candidates are ignored in the calculation of Butler swing. A positive swing is from Labour towards the Conservative candidate and a negative swing is from Conservative towards a Labour candidate.

1910s1920s1930s1940s1950s1960s1970s

Elections in the 1910s

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General election of 1918
General election 1918: Wandsworth Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist John Norton-Griffiths 7,771 55.0
Labour George Pearce Blizard 3,382 23.9
C Liberal Henry Guest 2,988 21.1
Majority 4,389 31.1
Turnout 14,141 50.8
Registered electors 27,825
Unionist win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

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General election 1922: Wandsworth Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist John Norton-Griffiths 12,470 69.7 +14.7
Labour Lewis Silkin 5,420 30.3 +6.4
Majority 7,050 39.4 +8.3
Turnout 17,890 61.4 +10.6
Unionist hold Swing +0.03
General election 1923: Wandsworth Central [1][note 1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist John Norton-Griffiths 8,774 47.7 −22.0
Labour George Pearce Blizard 5,294 28.7 −1.6
Liberal Edward Maynard Coningsby Denney 4,357 23.6 New
Majority 3,480 19.0 −20.4
Turnout 18,425 62.0 +0.6
Unionist hold Swing -10.2
General election 1924: Wandsworth Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Henry Jackson 13,234 61.6 +13.9
Labour Charles Latham 8,235 38.4 +9.7
Majority 4,999 23.2 +4.2
Turnout 21,469 70.8 +8.8
Unionist hold Swing -0.7
General election 1929: Wandsworth Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Archibald Church 11,404 41.8 +3.4
Unionist Henry Jackson 11,104 40.7 −20.9
Liberal Arthur Wansbrough Duthie 4,784 17.5 New
Majority 300 1.1 N/A
Turnout 27,292 69.5 −1.3
Labour gain from Unionist Swing -12.3

Elections in the 1930s

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General election 1931: Wandsworth Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Henry Jackson 19,159 70.7 +30.0
Labour J.L. Cohen 7,512 27.7 −14.1
New Party A.M. Diston 424 1.6 New
Majority 11,647 43.0 N/A
Turnout 26,895 68.7 −0.8
Registered electors 39,463
Conservative gain from Labour Swing +22.5
General election 1935: Wandsworth Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Henry Jackson 14,728 58.6 −12.1
Labour F. Wynne Davies 10,405 41.4 +13.7
Majority 4,323 17.2 −25.8
Turnout 25,133 65.0 −3.7
Registered electors 38,664
Conservative hold Swing -13.2
1937 Wandsworth Central by-election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Harry Nathan 12,406 51.0 +9.6
Conservative Roland Jennings 11,921 49.0 −9.6
Majority 485 2.0 N/A
Turnout 24,327 63.2 −1.8
Registered electors 38,478
Labour gain from Conservative Swing -9.6

Elections in the 1940s

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  • Creation of Nathan as the 1st Lord Nathan
By-election of 1940
By-Election 22 June 1940: Wandsworth Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Ernest Bevin Unopposed N/A N/A
Labour hold Swing N/A
  • Note (1940): Bevin was the Minister of Labour and National Service at the time of his election. Under an agreement between the three parties comprising the wartime coalition, the parties which had not represented a seat when it became vacant would not contest the by-election.
General election of 1945
General election 1945: Wandsworth Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Ernest Bevin 14,126 61.2 +19.8
Conservative John Smyth 8,952 38.8 −19.8
Majority 5,174 22.4 N/A
Turnout 23,078 73.6 +8.6
Registered electors 31,349
Labour hold Swing N/A

Elections in the 1950s

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  • There were major boundary changes, which came into effect, at the 1950 election (for details see the Boundaries section above).
General election 1950: Wandsworth Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Richard Adams 27,582 48.5 −12.7
Conservative Robert Grant-Ferris 25,533 45.0 +6.2
Liberal Alan H Rose 3,680 6.5 New
Majority 2,049 3.5 −18.9
Turnout 56,795 82.1 +8.5
Labour hold Swing +9.3
General election 1951: Wandsworth Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Richard Adams 28,844 51.0 +2.5
Conservative Robert Grant-Ferris 27,661 49.0 +4.0
Majority 1,183 2.0 −1.5
Turnout 56,505 83.7 +1.6
Labour hold Swing +0.9
General election 1955: Wandsworth Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Michael Hughes-Young 25,484 51.1 +2.1
Labour Annie Llewelyn-Davies 24,391 48.9 −2.1
Majority 1,093 2.2 N/A
Turnout 49,875 77.6 −6.1
Conservative gain from Labour Swing +2.1
General election 1959: Wandsworth Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Michael Hughes-Young 23,655 47.7 −3.4
Labour Annie Llewelyn-Davies 21,683 43.7 −5.2
Liberal Ronald Arthur Locke 4,287 8.6 New
Majority 1,972 4.0 +1.8
Turnout 49,625 80.3 +2.7
Conservative hold Swing +1.1

Elections in the 1960s

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General election 1964: Wandsworth Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour David Kerr 20,581 47.5 +3.8
Conservative Michael Hughes-Young 18,336 42.4 −5.3
Liberal Ronald Arthur Locke 4,369 10.1 +1.5
Majority 2,245 5.1 N/A
Turnout 43,286 74.2 −6.1
Labour gain from Conservative Swing -5.1
General election 1966: Wandsworth Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour David Kerr 22,159 52.8 +5.3
Conservative Bryan Cassidy 16,331 39.0 −3.4
Liberal Mario Uziell-Hamilton 3,429 8.2 −1.9
Majority 5,828 13.8 +8.7
Turnout 41,919 74.2 0.0
Labour hold Swing -4.7

Elections in the 1970s

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General election 1970: Wandsworth Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Tom Cox 19,776 54.0 +1.2
Conservative Patricia McLaughlin 16,830 46.0 +7.0
Majority 2,946 8.0 −5.8
Turnout 36,606 62.6 −11.6
Registered electors 58,502
Labour hold Swing +3.5
  • Constituency abolished (1974)

References

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  • Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)
  • British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press, revised edition 1977)
  • British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Research Services 1983).
  • Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume III 1919-1945, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (Harvester Press 1979)
  • Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume IV 1945-1979, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (Harvester Press 1981)
  • Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 1)

Footnotes

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  1. ^ This is result as declared and as it appears in standard works of reference. However an error was made during the tallying of Norton-Griffiths' votes when a batch of 1,000 was incorrectly counted as 100. Therefore Norton-Griffiths' total should really be 9,674. See TNA LCO 2/2584.
  1. ^ British parliamentary election results, 1918-1949, FWS Craig