Woolwich East (UK Parliament constituency)

Woolwich East
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
County	Greater London
1918–1983
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Woolwich
Created from	Woolwich

Woolwich East was a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 until 1983. Its seat was Woolwich, now in the Royal Borough of Greenwich in south-east London.

The constituency was formed for the 1918 general election, when the constituency of Woolwich was divided into Woolwich East and Woolwich West, and abolished in 1983 when it was largely replaced by a new Woolwich constituency. Between 1950 and 1974 it included North Woolwich on the north bank of the River Thames; this was then transferred to Newham South.

Throughout its 65-year existence, the constituency elected Labour MPs with the sole exception of a Conservative elected in a 1921 by-election.

Woolwich East in the Parliamentary County of London from 1918 to 1949.

Woolwich East in the Parliamentary County of London from 1950 to 1974.

Members of Parliament

	Member	Party
1918	Will Crooks	Labour
1921 by-election	Robert Gee	Conservative
1922	Harry Snell	Labour
1931 by-election	George Hicks	Labour
1950	Ernest Bevin	Labour
1951 by-election	Christopher Mayhew	Labour
1974	Christopher Mayhew	Liberal
Oct 1974	John Cartwright	Labour
1981	John Cartwright	SDP

Election results

Elections in the 1940s

1945 General Election: Woolwich, East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ernest George Hicks	18,983	70.4
	Conservative	Reginald Frederick Brittain Bennett	7,237	27.0
	Independent	H.H. Wright	571	2.1
Majority			11,746	43.9
Turnout			36,851	72.7
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1930s

1935 General Election: Woolwich, East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ernest George Hicks	17,563	58.0
	Conservative	Capt. John Francis Finn	12,721	42.0
Majority			4,842	16.0
Turnout			42,450	71.3
	Labour hold		Swing

1931 General Election: Woolwich, East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ernest George Hicks	16,658	50.9
	Conservative	Capt. John Francis Finn	16,050	49.1
Majority			608	1.8
Turnout			42,857	76.3
	Labour hold		Swing

Woolwich, East: by-election, 15 April 1931
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ernest George Hicks	16,200	56.7
	Conservative	E.S. Shrapnell-Smith	12,357	43.3
Majority			3,843	13.4
Turnout			42,886	66.6
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1920s

1929 General Election: Woolwich, East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Harry Snell	20,447	63.2
	Conservative	Edward Shrapnell Shrapnell-Smith	11,966	36.8
Majority			8,541	26.4
Turnout			42,808	75.6
	Labour hold		Swing

1924 General Election: Woolwich, East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Harry Snell	16,660	58.4
	Conservative	D.A. Gooch	11,862	41.6
Majority			4,798	16.8
Turnout			34,935	81.6
	Labour hold		Swing

1923 General Election: Woolwich, East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Harry Snell	15,766	61.6
	Conservative	Ernest Augustus Taylor	9,389	38.4
Majority			5,927	23.2
Turnout			34,429	74.4
	Labour hold		Swing

1922 General Election: Woolwich, East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Harry Snell	15,620	57.1
	Conservative	Capt. Robert Gee, VC	11,714	42.9
Majority			3,906	14.2
Turnout			33,993	80.4
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Woolwich, East: by-election, 2 March 1921
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Coalition Conservative	Capt. Robert Gee, VC	13,724	51.3
	Labour	Ramsay MacDonald	13,081	48.7
Majority			683	2.6
Turnout			34,099	78.5
	Coalition Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1910s

1918 General Election: Woolwich, East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Rt. Hon. Will Crooks	unopposed
	Labour gain from new seat		Swing

References

Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 5)

Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.

Historic constituencies in London

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

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

Coordinates: 51°29′N 0°06′E / 51.49°N 0.10°E / 51.49; 0.10