Hackney Central (UK Parliament constituency)

Hackney Central
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
1885–1950
Number of members	one
Replaced by	Hackney South and Stoke Newington and Hackney North
Created from	Hackney
1955–1983
Number of members	one
Replaced by	Hackney North and Stoke Newington and Hackney South and Shoreditch
Created from	Hackney South

Hackney Central was a borough constituency in what was then the Metropolitan Borough of Hackney, in London. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Hackney Central in the Metropolitan area, showing boundaries used from 1885 to 1918.

Hackney Central in the Parliamentary County of London, showing boundaries used from 1918 to 1950.

Hackney Central in the Parliamentary County of London, showing boundaries used from 1955 to 1974.

The constituency was created under the Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885 from 1885, and abolished for the 1950 general election. It was recreated for the 1955 general election, and abolished again for the 1983 general election.

Boundaries

1918-1950: The Metropolitan Borough of Hackney wards of Downs, Hackney, and Kingsland, and the part of West Hackney ward which lies to the south and east of a line drawn along the middle of Shacklewell Lane.

1955-1974: The Metropolitan Borough of Hackney wards of Albion, Chatham, Kenninghall, Kingsland, Kingsmead, Leabridge, Pembury, Rushmore and Town Hall.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1885-1950

Election		Name	Party
	1885	Sir William Guyer Hunter	Conservative
	1892	Sir Andrew Richard Scoble	Conservative
	1900	Augustus Henry Eden Allhusen	Conservative
	1906	Sir Albert Spicer	Liberal
	1918	William James Uglow Woolcock	Coalition Liberal
	1922	Sir Arthur Levy Lever	National Liberal
	1923	Leonard Benjamin Franklin	Liberal
	1924	Robert Vaughan Gower	Conservative
	1929	Frederick Charles Watkins	Labour
	1931	John Cutts Lockwood	Conservative
	1935	Frederick Charles Watkins	Labour
	1945	Harry Hynd	Labour
1950		constituency abolished

MPs 1955-1983

Election		Name	Party
1955		constituency recreated
	1955	Herbert Butler	Labour
	1970	Clinton Davis	Labour
1983		constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1880s

1885 General Election: Hackney Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sir William Guyer Hunter	2,941	51.7	n/a
	Liberal	John Holms	2,748	48.3	n/a
Majority			193	3.4	n/a
Turnout			7,381	77.1	n/a
	Conservative gain from new seat		Swing	n/a

1886 General Election: Hackney Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sir William Guyer Hunter	3,047	60.8	9.1
	Liberal	Martin Andrew Sharp Hume	1,961	39.2	-9.1
Majority			1,086
Turnout			7,381	67.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1890s

1892 General Election: Hackney Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sir Andrew Scoble	3,478	52.1	-8.7
	Liberal	J. Fyfe Stewart	3,193	47.9	8.7
Majority			285
Turnout			8,951	74.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

1895 General Election: Hackney Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sir Andrew Scoble	3,278	52.5	0.4
	Liberal	Charles Russell	2,966	47.5	-0.4
Majority			312
Turnout			8,835	70.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1900s

1900 General Election: Hackney Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Augustus Henry Eden Allhusen	3,747	62.6	10.1
	Liberal	Sir Israel Hart	2,243	37.4	-10.1
Majority			1,504
Turnout			8,692	68.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

1906 General Election: Hackney Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Albert Spicer	3,998	54.2	16.8
	Conservative	Augustus Henry Eden Allhusen	3,382	45.8	-16.8
Majority			616
Turnout			8,779	84.1
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing

Election in the 1910s

January 1910 General Election: Hackney Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Albert Spicer	4,429	53.5	-0.7
	Liberal Unionist	Felix Cassel	3,853	46.5	0.7
Majority			576
Turnout			9,343	88.6
	Liberal hold		Swing

December 1910 General Election: Hackney Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Albert Spicer	3,954	53.3	-0.2
	Conservative	Albert Henry Jessel	3,464	46.7	0.2
Majority			490
Turnout			9,343	79.4
	Liberal hold		Swing

William Woolcock

General Election 14 December 1918:Hackney Central Composed of the Hackney Metropolitan District wards of Downs, Hackney, Kingsland and West Hackney (part) Electorate 27,801
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William James Uglow Woolcock	Unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

endorsed by the Coalition Government

Elections in the 1920s

Sir Arthur Lever

General Election 1922: Hackney Central Electorate 35,033
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	Sir Arthur Levy Lever	9,795	46.4	n/a
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Thomas McKinnon Wood	6,825	32.3	n/a
	Labour	Arthur Alfred Lynch	4,507	21.3	n/a
Majority			2,970	14.1	n/a
Turnout			21,127	60.3	n/a
	National Liberal gain from Liberal		Swing	n/a

General Election 1923: Hackney Central Electorate 35,334
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Leonard Benjamin Franklin	8,569	38.6	+6.3
	Unionist	Sir Daniel Thomas Keymer	7,252	32.7	-13.7
	Labour	Ernest Edwin Hunter	6,354	28.7	+7.4
Majority			1,317	5.9	20.0
Turnout			22,175	62.8	+2.5
	Liberal hold		Swing	+10.0

General Election 1924: Hackney Central Electorate 35,969
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Sir Robert Vaughan Gower	11,414	42.7	+10.0
	Labour	Ernest Edwin Hunter	9,684	36.3	+7.6
	Liberal	Leonard Benjamin Franklin	5,594	21.0	-17.6
Majority			1,730	6.4	12.3
Turnout			26,692	74.2	+11.4
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+13.8

General Election 1929: Hackney Central Electorate 47,774
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Frederick Charles Watkins	12,462	37.3	+1.0
	Unionist	Alfred Charles Bossom	10,814	32.3	-10.4
	Liberal	Leonard Benjamin Franklin	10,186	30.4	+9.4
Majority			1,648	5.0	11.4
Turnout			33,462	70.0	-4.2
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+5.7

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931: Hackney Central Electorate 48,025
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Cutts Lockwood	16,963	52.1	+19.8
	Labour	Frederick Charles Watkins	9,295	28.5	-8.8
	Liberal	Leonard Benjamin Franklin	6,316	19.4	-11.0
Majority			7,668	23.6	28.6
Turnout			32,574	67.8	-2.2
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+14.3

General Election 1935: Hackney Central Electorate 48,990
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Frederick Charles Watkins	15,322	51.6	+23.1
	Conservative	John Cutts Lockwood	14,375	48.4	-3.7
Majority			957	3.2	26.8
Turnout			29,707	60.6	-7.2
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+13.4

General Election 1939/40

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected;

Labour: Frederick Watkins
Conservative: William Arthur Fearnley-Whittingstall ^[1]

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Hackney Central Electorate 33,531
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Henry Hynd	14,810	67.2	+15.6
	Conservative	R.R. Harris	4,889	22.2	-26.2
	Liberal	Lt. Samuel Woolf Magnus	2,348	10.6	n/a
Majority			9,921	45.0	+41.8
Turnout			22,047	65.7	+5.1
	Labour hold		Swing	+18.9

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 26 May 1955: Hackney Central Electorate 66,183
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Herbert William Butler	27,012
	Conservative	James Harry Allason	15,212
	Communist	John R Betteridge	1,530
Majority
Turnout			43,754
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 8 October 1959: Hackney Central Electorate
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Herbert William Butler
	Conservative	John C T Waring
Majority
Turnout
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 15 October 1964: Hackney Central Electorate 61,036
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Herbert William Butler
	Conservative	H Martin L Morton
Majority
Turnout			34,844
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 31 March 1966: Hackney Central Electorate 58,513
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Herbert William Butler
	Conservative	H Martin L Morton
	Liberal	Cecil V Gittins
Majority
Turnout			33,668
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.5

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 18 June 1970: Hackney Central Electorate
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Stanley Clinton Davis
	Conservative	Kenneth S Lightwood
	Independent	Aftab Qureshi
Majority
Turnout
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 28 February 1974: Hackney Central Electorate
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Stanley Clinton Davis
	Conservative	Kenneth S Lightwood
	Liberal	Mrs MG Snow
Majority
Turnout
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 10 October 1974: Hackney Central Electorate
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Stanley Clinton Davis
	Conservative	Kenneth S Lightwood
	Liberal	Mrs MG Snow
Majority
Turnout
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 3 May 1979: Hackney Central Electorate
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Stanley Clinton Davis	16,506	59.34
	Conservative	Nicholas Jerome Bennett	7,718	27.75
	Liberal	Elikkos Georghiades	1,835	6.60
	National Front	Ronald May	1,418	5.10
	Workers Revolutionary	Mark Johnson	340	1.22
Majority			8,788	31.59
Turnout			46,464	59.87
	Labour hold		Swing

References

↑ The Law Journal - Volume 86 (1938)

Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "H" (part 1)
British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press 1974)
Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
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

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

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

1974	Acton Barking Battersea North Battersea South Beckenham Bermondsey Bethnal Green and Bow Bexleyheath Brent East Brent North Brent South Brentford and Isleworth Carshalton Chelsea Chingford Chipping Barnet Chislehurst City of London and Westminster South Croydon Central Croydon North East Croydon North West Croydon South Dagenham Dulwich Ealing North Edmonton Enfield North Enfield Southgate Erith and Crayford Feltham and Heston Finchley Fulham Greenwich Hackney Central Hackney North and Stoke Newington Hackney South and Shoreditch Hammersmith North Hampstead Harrow Central Harrow East Harrow West Hayes and Harlington Hendon North Hendon South Holborn and St Pancras South Hornchurch Hornsey Ilford North Ilford South Islington Central Islington North Islington South and Finsbury Kensington Kingston-upon-Thames Lambeth Central Lewisham Deptford Lewisham East Lewisham West Leyton Mitcham and Morden Newham North East Newham North West Newham South Norwood Orpington Paddington Peckham Putney Ravensbourne Richmond Romford Ruislip-Northwood St Marylebone St Pancras North Sidcup Southall Stepney and Poplar Streatham Surbiton Sutton and Cheam Tooting Tottenham Twickenham Upminster Uxbridge Vauxhall Walthamstow Wanstead and Woodford Wimbledon Wood Green Woolwich East Woolwich West