Clapham (UK Parliament constituency)

Clapham
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
1885–February 1974
Number of members	one
Replaced by	Streatham and Vauxhall
Created from	Clapham

Clapham was a borough constituency in South London which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was created for the 1885 general election and abolished for the February 1974 general election.

Clapham in the Metropolitan Board of Works area, boundaries used 1885-1918

Clapham in the Parliamentary County of London 1918-49

Clapham in the Parliamentary County of London 1950-74

Boundaries

1885-1918: In 1885 the constituency was established as a division of the parliamentary borough of Battersea and Clapham, in the northern part of the historic county of Surrey. It was based on the Clapham area of South London.

The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 provided that the constituency was to consist of-

"The Parish of Clapham,
No. 1 Ward of Battersea Parish, and
No. 4 Ward of Battersea Parish, except so much as is comprised in Division No. 1 as herein described".^[1]

In 1889 the area was severed from Surrey and became part of the new County of London. In 1900 local government in London was reorganised. The constituency became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth.

1918-1950: In the redistribution of 1918, the constituency became a division of Wandsworth. It consisted of the local government wards of Clapham North and Clapham South, with a part of Balham.

In 1965 the area became part of the London Borough of Lambeth and Greater London.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1885	John Moulton	Liberal
	1886	John Saunders Gilliat	Conservative
	1892	Percy Melville Thornton	Conservative
	1910	George Faber	Conservative
	1918 b-e	Harry Greer	Unionist
	1918	Sir Arthur du Cros	Unionist
	1922 b-e	Sir John Leigh	Unionist
	1945	John Battley	Labour
	1950	Charles Gibson	Labour
	1959	Alan Glyn	Conservative
	1964	Margaret McKay	Labour
	1970	William Shelton	Conservative
1974		constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1880s

John Moulton

General Election 1885: Clapham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Fletcher Moulton	3,976	52.1
	Conservative	Hon. Algernon Henry Bourke	3,650	47.9
Majority			326
Turnout			9,454	80.7
	Liberal gain from new seat		Swing

John Gilliat

General Election 1886: Clapham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Saunders Gilliat	3,816	53.3	5.4
	Liberal	John Fletcher Moulton	3,347	46.7	-5.4
Majority			469
Turnout			9,454	75.8
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing

Elections in the 1890s

R. McKenna

General Election 1892: Clapham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Percy Melville Thornton	5,170	53.3	0
	Liberal	Reginald McKenna	4,526	46.7	0
Majority			644
Turnout			12,124	80.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1895: Clapham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Percy Melville Thornton	5,925	60.3	7.0
	Liberal	John Kempster	3,904	39.7	-7.0
Majority			2,021
Turnout			13,872	70.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1900: Clapham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Percy Melville Thornton	7,504	70.9	10.6
	Liberal	Frank Duerdin Perrott	3,084	29.1	-10.6
Majority			4,420
Turnout			16,572	63.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1906: Clapham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Percy Melville Thornton	7,912	50.3	-20.6
	Liberal	Frederick Low	7,816	49.7	20.6
Majority			96
Turnout			19,180	82.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1910s

General Election January 1910: Clapham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Denison Faber	10,743	55.1	4.8
	Liberal	John George Kipling	8,762	44.9	-4.8
Majority			1,981
Turnout			22,611	86.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

Sir John Benn

General Election December 1910: Clapham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Denison Faber	9,560	55.6	0.5
	Liberal	Sir John Williams Benn	7,639	44.4	-0.5
Majority			1,921
Turnout			22,611	76.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1914/15:

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

Unionist: George Denison Faber
Liberal: Joseph William Molden^[2]

Clapham by-election, 1918
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Harry Greer	4,512	57.5	1.9
	Independent	Henry Hamilton Beamish	3,331	42.5	N/A
Majority			1,181	15.0
Turnout			23,526	33.3
	Unionist hold		Swing

Elections in the 1920s

Sir John Leigh

General Election 1929: Clapham^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Sir John Leigh	13,507	41.7	-22.4
	Labour	J Allen Skinner	9,871	30.5	-5.4
	Liberal	Owen Picton Davies	8,991	27.8	n/a
Majority			3,636	11.2
Turnout				67.3	-2.2
	Unionist hold		Swing

References

↑ Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, Sixth Schedule
↑ Western Daily Press 13 May 1914
↑ British parliamentary election results 1918-1949, Craig, F.W.S.

British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press 1974)
Debrett’s Illustrated Heraldic and Biographical House of Commons and the Judicial Bench 1886
Debrett’s House of Commons and the Judicial Bench 1901
Debrett’s House of Commons and the Judicial Bench 1918
Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 4)

Historic constituencies in London

1885	Battersea Bermondsey Bethnal Green North East Bethnal Green South West Bow and Bromley Brixton Camberwell North Chelsea City of London Clapham Deptford Dulwich Finsbury Central Finsbury East Fulham Greenwich Hackney Central Hackney North Hackney South Haggerston Hammersmith Hampstead Holborn Hoxton Islington East Islington North Islington South Islington West Kennington Kensington North Kensington South Lambeth North Lewisham Limehouse Marylebone East Marylebone West Mile End Newington West Norwood Paddington North Paddington South Peckham Poplar Rotherhithe Southwark West St George St George's Hanover Square St Pancras East St Pancras North St Pancras South St Pancras West Stepney Strand Walworth Wandsworth Westminster Whitechapel Woolwich

1918	Balham and Tooting Battersea North Battersea South Bermondsey West Bethnal Green North East Bethnal Green South West Bow and Bromley Brixton Camberwell North Camberwell North West Clapham Dulwich Chelsea City of London Deptford Finsbury Fulham East Fulham West Greenwich Hackney Central Hackney North Hackney South Hammersmith North Hammersmith South Hampstead Holborn Islington East Islington North Islington South Islington West Kennington Kensington North Kensington South Lambeth North Lewisham East Lewisham West Limehouse Mile End Norwood Paddington North Paddington South Peckham Poplar South Putney Rotherhithe St Marylebone St Pancras North St Pancras South East St Pancras South West Shoreditch Southwark Central Southwark North Southwark South East Stoke Newington Streatham Wandsworth Central Westminster Abbey Westminster St George's Whitechapel and St George's Woolwich East Woolwich West

1950	Battersea North Battersea South Bermondsey Bethnal Green Brixton Chelsea Cities of London and Westminster Clapham Deptford Dulwich Fulham East Fulham West Greenwich Hackney South Hammersmith North Hammersmith South Hampstead Holborn and St Pancras South Islington East Islington North Islington South West Kensington North Kensington South Lewisham North Lewisham South Lewisham West Norwood Paddington North Paddington South Peckham Poplar Putney St Marylebone St Pancras North Streatham Shoreditch and Finsbury Southwark Stepney Stoke Newington and Hackney North Vauxhall Wandsworth Central Woolwich East Woolwich West

1955	Barons Court Battersea North Battersea South Bermondsey Bethnal Green Brixton Chelsea Cities of London and Westminster Clapham Deptford Dulwich Fulham Greenwich Hackney Central Hammersmith North Hampstead Holborn and St Pancras South Islington East Islington North Islington South West Kensington North Kensington South Lewisham North Lewisham South Lewisham West Norwood Paddington North Paddington South Peckham Poplar Putney St Marylebone St Pancras North Shoreditch and Finsbury Southwark Stepney Stoke Newington and Hackney North Streatham Vauxhall Wandsworth Central Woolwich East Woolwich West