Battersea North (UK Parliament constituency)

Battersea North
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
County County of London, then Greater London
1918–1983
Number of members One
Replaced by Battersea
Created from Battersea

Battersea North was a parliamentary constituency in the then Metropolitan Borough of Battersea in 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.

It was created for the 1918 general election, when the former Battersea constituency was divided in two. It was abolished for the 1983 general election, when it was reunited with most of Battersea South to form the new Battersea constituency.

Boundaries

Battersea North in the Parliamentary County of London from 1918 to 1949.
Battersea North in the Parliamentary County of London from 1950 to 1974.

The constituency was created by the Representation of the People Act 1918 and was initially composed of four wards of the metropolitan borough: Church, Latchmere, Nine Elms and Park.[1] When seats were redistributed by the Representation of the People Act 1948 the seat was redefined as consisting of five wards by the addition of the Winstanley ward, transferred from Battersea South.[2] However the wards of the borough were redrawn in 1949 prior to the next general election in 1950.[3] Accordingly, changes were made under the House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1949. Of the 16 new wards, eight were included in each of the Battersea North and South constituencies. From 1950 to 1974 Battersea North consisted of Church, Latchmere, Newtown, Nine Elms, Park, Queenstown, Vicarage and Winstanley wards.[4][5]

In 1965 Battersea became part of the London Borough of Wandsworth. This, however made no immediate change to the parliamentary constituencies. It was not until the general election of February 1974 that the constituency boundaries were altered. Renamed Wandsworth, Battersea North, the seat was defined as consisting of five wards of the London Borough: Latchmere, Queenstown, St John's, St Mary's Park and Shaftesbury. Shaftesbury and St John's were transferred from Battersea South.[6] These boundaries were used until abolition.

The constituency was abolished for the election of 1983, and was subsumed by the new Battersea seat, where it formed 61.5% of the total constituency (with the addition of the Balham, Fairfield and Northcote wards from Battersea South).

Members of Parliament

ElectionMemberParty
1918 Richard Morris Coalition Liberal
1922 Shapurji Saklatvala Communist
1923 Henry Cairn Hogbin Liberal
1924 Shapurji Saklatvala Communist
1929 William Stephen Sanders Labour
1931 Arthur Marsden Conservative
1935 William Sanders Labour
1940 by-election Francis Douglas Labour
1946 by-election Douglas Jay Labour
1983 constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 3 May 1979: Battersea North
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Douglas Jay 15,384 56.22 -6.00
Conservative P Phillips 9,358 21.82 11.40
Liberal W Brown 2,021 7.18 -3.87
National Front Michael Salt 772 2.74 -1.79
Workers (Leninist) A Lavelle 104 0.37 N/A
Workers Revolutionary P Clay 47 0.17 N/A
Community Party J Harwell 30 0.11 N/A
Majority 6,746 22.99 -10.13
Turnout 67.98 6.42
Labour hold Swing -8.70
General Election 10 October 1974: Battersea North
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Douglas Jay 17,161 62.22 3.43
Conservative Simon J C Randall 6,019 21.82 -3.85
Liberal C R Williams 3,048 11.05 -3.43
National Front R Friend 1,250 4.53 N/A
Communist (ML) Carol Reakes 102 0.37 -0.29
Majority 11,142 33.12 7.28
Turnout 61.56 -9.16
Labour hold Swing 3.64
General Election 28 February 1974: Battersea North
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Douglas Jay 18,503 58.79 -6.72
Conservative Simon Randall 8,080 25.67 -2.10
Liberal John Savile 4,683 14.88 9.18
Communist (ML) Carol Reakes 208 0.66 N/A
Majority 10,423 33.12 -14.14
Turnout 70.72 12.03
Labour hold Swing -8.00
General Election 18 June 1970: Battersea North
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Douglas Jay 11,621 65.51 -6.61
Conservative Anthony V Bradbury 4,927 27.77 2.91
Liberal Hester M G Smallbone 1,012 5.70 N/A
Communist D Welsh 179 1.01 -2.01
Majority 6,694 47.26 -9.52
Turnout 58.69 -3.52
Labour hold Swing -6.15

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 31 March 1966: Battersea North
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Douglas Jay 15,522 72.12 8.41
Conservative C Peter M Davidson 5,350 24.86 -0.06
Communist Mrs. Gladys M Easton 650 3.02 1.01
Majority 10,172 47.26 33.59
Turnout 63.21 -2.51
Labour hold Swing 4.24
General Election 15 October 1964: Battersea North
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Douglas Jay 14,930 63.71 -4.13
Conservative Robert George Taylor 5,847 24.95 -7.21
Liberal Stephen R Jakobi 2,187 9.33 N/A
Communist Mrs. Gladys M Easton 471 2.01 N/A
Majority 9,083 13.67 25.09
Turnout 35,659 65.72 -4.84
Labour hold Swing -5.67

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 8 October 1959:
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Douglas Patrick Thomas Jay 19,595 67.84 -2.89
Conservative Robert George Taylor 9,289 32.16 4.99
Majority 6,533 13.67 -29.9
Turnout 40,937 70.56 1.21
Labour hold Swing -3.94
General Election 26 May 1955: Battersea North
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Douglas Patrick Thomas Jay 20,980 70.73 -1.8
Conservative Walter Ian Percival 8,058 27.17 -0.3
Independent Eric Fenner 622 2.10 N/A
Majority 12,922 43.57 -1.58
Turnout 42,766 69.35 -10.89
Labour hold Swing -1.1
General Election 25 October 1951: Battersea North
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Douglas Patrick Thomas Jay 25,882 72.53 2.96
Conservative Walter Ian Percival 9,905 27.47 -1.95
Majority 16,077 45.05 1.00
Turnout 80.24 -0.46
Labour hold Swing 2.46
General Election 23 February 1950: Battersea North
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Douglas Patrick Thomas Jay 24,762 69.57 -4.33
Conservative Martin Madden 9,084 25.52 -0.58
Liberal Edward Richter Handscombe 1,090 3.06 N/A
Communist John Mahon 655 1.84 N/A
Majority 15,678 44.05
Turnout 80.7
Labour hold Swing -3.75

Elections in the 1940s

Francis Douglas was appointed Governor of Malta, leading to a by-election.

by-election, 25 July 1946:

constituency of Battersea North
Composed of the Battersea wards of Church, Latchmere, Nine Elms and Park
Electorate 29,652, Turnout 55.4%, Voters 16,427

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Douglas Jay 11,329 68.9 −5.0
Conservative B A Shattock 4,858 29.6 +3.5
Ind. Labour Party Hugo Dewar 240 1.5 N/A
Majority 6,471 39.3 −8.5
Turnout 16427 55.4
Labour hold Swing
General Election 5 to 19 July 1945:

constituency of Battersea North
Composed of the Battersea wards of Church, Latchmere, Nine Elms and Park
Electorate 26,783, Turnout 71.09%, Voters 19,039

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Francis Douglas 14,070 73.9
Conservative J G W Paget 4,969 26.1
Majority 9,101 47.8
Labour hold Swing

William Sanders resigned in 1940, leading to a by-election.

by-election, 17 April 1940:

constituency of Battersea North
Composed of the Battersea wards of Church, Latchmere, Nine Elms and Park
Electorate 42,725, Turnout 25.1%, Voters 10,738

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Francis Douglas 9,947 92.6 33.9
Independent E.C. Joyce 791 7.4 N/A
Majority 9,156 85.2 +67.8
Turnout 10,738 25.1 -38.4
Labour hold Swing N/A

Election in the 1930s

General Election 14 November 1935:

constituency of Battersea North
Composed of the Battersea wards of Church, Latchmere, Nine Elms and Park
Electorate 47,213, Turnout 63.5%%,

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour William Stephen Sanders 17,596 58.7 23.1
Conservative Arthur Marsden 12,393 41.3 -14.1
Majority 5,203 17.4 N/A
Turnout 29,989 63.5 -4.1
Labour gain from Conservative Swing 18.6%


General Election 27 October 1931:

constituency of Battersea North
Composed of the Battersea wards of Church, Latchmere, Nine Elms and Park
Electorate 49,873, Turnout 67.6%%,

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Commander Arthur Marsden 18,688 55.5%
Labour William Stephen Sanders 11,985 35.6%
Communist Shapurji Saklatvala 3,021 8.9%
Majority 6,703 19.9%
Turnout 33,694
Conservative gain from Labour Swing

Election in the 1920s

General Election 30 May 1929: Battersea North
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour William Stephen Sanders 13,265 37.8
Conservative Arthur Marsden 10,833 30.8
Communist Shapurji Saklatvala 6,554 18.6
Liberal Thomas Patrick Brogan 4,513 12.9
Majority 2,432 7.0
Turnout 69.7
Labour gain from Communist Swing
Henry Hogbin
General Election 29 October 1924: Battersea North
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Communist Shapurji Saklatvala 15,096 50.9
Constitutionalist Henry Cairn Hogbin 14,554 49.1
Majority 542 1.8
Turnout 73.1
Communist gain from Liberal Swing
General Election 6 December 1923: Battersea North
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Henry Cairn Hogbin 12,527 50.4
Communist Shapurji Saklatvala 12,341 49.6
Majority 186 0.8
Turnout 61.9
Liberal gain from Communist Swing
General Election 15 November 1922: Battersea North
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Communist Shapurji Saklatvala 11,311 50.5
National Liberal Henry Cairn Hogbin 9,290 41.6
Liberal Vivian Claude Albu 1,756 7.9
Majority 2,021 9.5
Turnout
Communist gain from Coalition Liberal Swing

Election in the 1910s

General Election 14 December 1918:

constituency of Battersea North
Composed of the Battersea wards of Church, Latchmere, Nine Elms and Park
Electorate 38,552, Turnout 43.7%,

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Coalition Liberal Richard Morris 11,231 66.6
Labour Charlotte Despard 5,634 33.4
Majority 5,597 33.2
Coalition Liberal win (new seat)

References

  1. ↑ Representation of the People Act 1918 (1918 C.64), Schedule 9
  2. ↑ Representation of the People Act 1948, (1948, C.65), Schedule 1
  3. ↑ Battersea (Wards) Order 1949 (S.I. 1949/552)
  4. ↑ The House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) (No. 2) Order, 1949 (S.I. 1949 No. 1440)
  5. ↑ F A Youngs Jr., Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol I: Southern England, London, 1979
  6. ↑ The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 1970 (1970 No. 1674)