Wandsworth Central (UK Parliament constituency)

Wandsworth Central
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
County County of London, then Greater London
1918–1974
Number of members One
Replaced by Tooting and Battersea South
Created from Wandsworth

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 in the Parliamentary County of London from 1918 to 1949.
Wandsworth Central in the Parliamentary County of London from 1950 to 1974.

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

Boundaries

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 United Kingdom general election, 1950, 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

ElectionMemberParty
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

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.

1910s – 1920s – 1930s – 1940s – 1950s – 1960s – 1970s

Elections in the 1910s

General election of 1918
General Election 1918: Wandsworth Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Sir John Norton-Griffiths 7,771 55.0 N/A
Labour George Pearce Blizard 3,382 23.9 N/A
Coalition Liberal Hon. Henry Guest 2,988 21.1 N/A
Majority 4,389 31.1 N/A
Turnout 14,141 50.8 N/A
Registered electors 27,825
Conservative gain from new seat Swing N/A

Elections in the 1920s

General election of 1922
General Election 1922: Wandsworth Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Sir John Norton-Griffiths, Bt 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
Registered electors 29,154
Conservative hold Swing +0.03
General election of 1923
General Election 1923: Wandsworth Central[note 1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Sir John Norton-Griffiths, Bt 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 N/A
Majority 3,480 19.0 -20.4
Turnout 18,425 62.0 +0.6
Registered electors 29,733
Conservative hold Swing -7.34
General election of 1924
General Election 1924: Wandsworth Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Sir Henry Jackson 13,234 61.6 +13.9
Labour C. Latham 8,235 38.4 +9.7
Majority 4,999 23.2 +4.2
Turnout 21,469 70.8 +8.8
Registered electors 30,342
Conservative hold Swing -0.73
General election of 1929
General Election 1929: Wandsworth Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Archibald George Church 11,404 41.8 +3.4
Conservative Sir Henry Jackson 11,104 40.7 -20.9
Liberal Arthur Wansbrough Duthie 4,784 17.5 N/A
Majority 300 1.1 N/A
Turnout 27,292 69.5 -1.3
Registered electors 39,258
Labour gain from Conservative Swing -12.31

Elections in the 1930s

General election of 1931
General Election 1931: Wandsworth Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Sir 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 N/A
Majority 11,647 43.0 N/A
Turnout 26,895 68.7 -0.8
Registered electors 39,463
Conservative gain from Labour Swing +22.50
General election of 1935
General Election 1935: Wandsworth Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Sir Henry Jackson, Bt 14,728 58.6 -12.1
Labour F.W. 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 -13.23
By-election of 1937
By-Election 29 April 1937: Wandsworth Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Harry Louis 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 -9.60

Elections in the 1940s

By-election of 1940
By-Election 22 June 1940: Wandsworth Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Rt Hon. Ernest Bevin Unopposed N/A N/A
Labour hold Swing N/A
General election of 1945
General Election 1945: Wandsworth Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Rt Hon. Ernest Bevin 14,126 61.2 N/A
Conservative John George Smyth 8,952 38.8 N/A
Majority 5,174 22.4 N/A
Turnout 23,078 73.6 N/A
Registered electors 31,349
Labour hold Swing N/A

Elections in the 1950s

General election of 1950
General Election 1950: Wandsworth Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Harold Richard Adams 27,582 48.5 -12.7
Conservative Robert Grant Grant-Ferris 25,533 45.0 +6.2
Liberal Alan H Rose 3,680 6.5 N/A
Majority 2,049 3.5 -18.9
Turnout 56,795 82.1 +8.5
Registered electors 69,206
Labour hold Swing +9.28
General election of 1951
General Election 1951: Wandsworth Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Harold Richard Adams 28,844 51.0 +2.5
Conservative Robert Grant Grant-Ferris 27,661 49.0 +4.0
Majority 1,183 2.0 -1.5
Turnout 56,505 83.7 +1.6
Registered electors 67,476
Labour hold Swing +0.88
General election of 1955
General Election 1955: Wandsworth Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Michael Henry Colin Hughes-Young 25,484 51.1 +2.1
Labour Annie Llewelyn Davies 24,391 48.9 -2.1
Majority 1,093 2.0 N/A
Turnout 49,875 77.6 -6.1
Registered electors 64,276
Conservative gain from Labour Swing +2.14
General election of 1959
General Election 1959: Wandsworth Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Michael Henry Colin Hughes-Young 23,655 47.7 -3.4
Labour Annie Llewelyn Davies 21,683 43.7 -5.2
Liberal R.A. Locke 4,287 8.6 N/A
Majority 1,972 4.0 +1.8
Turnout 49,625 80.3 +2.7
Registered electors 61,831
Conservative hold Swing +1.08

Elections in the 1960s

General election of 1964
General Election 1964: Wandsworth Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Dr. David Leigh Kerr 20,581 47.5 +3.8
Conservative Michael Henry Colin Hughes-Young 18,336 42.4 -5.3
Liberal R.A. Locke 4,369 10.1 +1.5
Majority 2,245 5.1 N/A
Turnout 43,286 74.2 -6.1
Registered electors 58,338
Labour gain from Conservative Swing -5.06
General election of 1966
General Election 1966: Wandsworth Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Dr. David Leigh Kerr 22,159 52.8 +5.3
Conservative Bryan Michael Deece Cassidy 16,331 39.0 -3.4
Liberal Mario Reginald Uziell-Hamilton 3,429 8.2 -1.9
Majority 5,828 13.8 +8.7
Turnout 41,919 74.2 ..
Registered electors 56,521
Labour hold Swing -4.69

Elections in the 1970s

General election of 1970
General Election 1970: Wandsworth Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Thomas Michael 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 +3.55

References

Footnotes

  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.