Battersea South (UK Parliament constituency)

Battersea South
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
County County of London, then Greater London
19181983
Number of members One
Replaced by Battersea, and Tooting
Created from Battersea

Battersea South was a parliamentary constituency, originally in the County of London and later in Greater 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 most of its territory was reunited with Battersea North to form the new Battersea constituency.

Boundaries

Battersea South in London 1918-49
A map showing the wards of Battersea Metropolitan Borough as they appeared in 1916
Battersea South in London 1950-74

1918-1950: The Metropolitan Borough of Battersea wards of Bolingbroke, Broomwood, St John, Shaftesbury, and Winstanley.

1950-1974: The Metropolitan Borough of Battersea wards of Bolingbroke, Broomwood, Lavender, Nightingale, St John, Shaftesbury, Stormont, and Thornton.

1974-1983: The London Borough of Wandsworth wards of Balham, Earlsfield, Fairfield, Nightingale, and Northcote.

The seat was created by the Representation of the People Act 1918. When seats were redistributed by the Representation of the People Act 1948 the boundaries of the constituency were altered to contain only four wards, and Winstanley ward was transferred to Battersea North.[1] However the wards of the borough were redrawn in 1949 prior to the next general election in 1950.[2] 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.[3][4]

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.[5] The Shaftesbury and St John's wards were transferred to Battersea North, while the redrawn constituency incorporated areas previously in the Clapham and Putney seats. These boundaries were used until abolition.[4]

The constituency was abolished in 1983. Most of its area (Balham, Fairfield and Northcote wards) went to the recreated Battersea seat, with part (Earlsfield and Nightingale wards) passing to Tooting.[5]

Members of Parliament

ElectionMemberParty
1918 Viscount Curzon Conservative
1929 by-election William Bennett Labour
1931 Sir Harry Selley Conservative
1945 Caroline Ganley Labour Co-operative
1951 Ernest Partridge Conservative
1964 Ernie Perry Labour
1979 Alf Dubs Labour
1983 constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: Battersea South
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Alf Dubs 13,984 45.11
Conservative Wellesley Theodore Octavius Wallace 13,652 44.04
Liberal Jennifer Margaret Ware 2,802 9.04
National Front A Perry 561 1.81
Majority 332 1.07
Turnout 31,000 70.92
Labour hold Swing
General Election October 1974: Battersea South
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Ernest Perry 14,284 47.84
Conservative Wellesley Theodore Octavius Wallace 11,433 38.29
Liberal Jennifer Margaret Ware 3,971 13.3
More Prosperous Britain Thomas Leslie Keen 170 0.57
Majority 2,851 9.55
Turnout 29,856 63.9
Labour hold Swing
General Election February 1974: Battersea South
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Ernest Perry 14,431 42.55
Conservative Anthony V Bradbury 12,778 37.68
Liberal G Mulholland 5,919 17.45
National Front John Clifton 787 2.32
Majority 1,653 4.87
Turnout 33,916 73.02
Labour hold Swing
General Election 1970: Battersea South
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Ernest Perry 10,925 49.54
Conservative Ian Norman Samuel 9,227 41.84
Liberal Raymond Benad 1,183 5.36
National Front Tom Lamb 716 3.25
Majority 1,698 7.7
Turnout 22,050 63.57
Labour hold Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1966: Battersea South
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Ernest Perry 13,651 52.94
Conservative Ian Norman Samuel 9,861 38.24
Liberal Basil Weekley 2,276 8.83
Majority 3,790 14.70
Turnout 72.95
Labour hold Swing
General Election 1964: Battersea South
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Ernest Perry 12,253 46.84
Conservative Ernest Partridge 10,615 40.57
Liberal David Layton 3,294 12.59
Majority 1,638 6.26
Turnout 72.30
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1959: Battersea South[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Ernest Partridge 14,203 48.26
Labour Co-op Geoffrey Rhodes 12,451 42.31
Liberal William Broderick Mattinson 2,774 9.43
Majority 1,752 5.95
Turnout 78.85
Conservative hold Swing
General Election 1955: Battersea South
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Ernest Partridge 15,044 47.57
Labour Eric Kenneth I Hurst 14,365 45.42
Liberal Alan Cooper-Smith 2.219 7.02
Majority 679 2.15
Turnout 80.60
Conservative hold Swing
General Election 1951: Battersea South
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Ernest Partridge 17,731 50.71
Labour Co-op Caroline Ganley 17,237 49.29
Majority 494 1.41
Turnout 85.61
Conservative gain from Labour Co-op Swing
General Election 1950: Battersea South
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Co-op Caroline Ganley 16,142 46.30
Conservative Ernest Partridge 15,774 45.24
Liberal Clifford Henry Tyers 2,949 8.46
Majority 368 1.06
Turnout 85.62
Labour Co-op hold Swing

Election in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Battersea South
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Co-op Caroline Ganley 19,275 61.53
Conservative Ernest Partridge 12,050 38.47
Majority 7,225 23.06
Turnout 73.04
Labour Co-op gain from Conservative Swing

Election in the 1930s

General Election 1935: Battersea South
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Harry Selley 21,268 57.3
Labour Herbert Romeril 15,821 42.7
Majority 5,447 14.6
Turnout
Conservative hold Swing
General Election 1931: Battersea South
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Harry Selley 27,857 66.9
Labour William Bennett 12,822 30.8
New Party Leslie Charles Cuming 909 2.3
Majority 15,035 36.1
Turnout
Conservative gain from Labour Swing

Election in the 1920s

General Election 1929: Battersea South
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour William Bennett 18,113 43.9
Unionist Harry Selley 17,695 42.8
Liberal William James West 5,516 13.3
Majority 418 1.0
Turnout 72.5
Labour hold Swing
Battersea South by-election, 1929
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour William Bennett 11,789 45.5
Unionist Harry Selley 11,213 43.4
Liberal Vivian Albu 2.858 11.1
Majority 576 2.1
Turnout 25,557 57.7
Labour gain from Unionist Swing
General Election 1924: Battersea South
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Unionist Francis Curzon 19,588 57.7
Labour Albert Winfield 14,371 42.3
Majority 5,217 15.4
Turnout
Unionist hold Swing
General Election 1923: Battersea South
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Unionist Francis Curzon 14,558 52.0 -9.5
Labour Albert Winfield 13,440 48.0 +9.5
Majority 1,118 4.0 -19.0
Turnout
Unionist hold Swing -9.5
General Election 1922: Battersea South
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Unionist Francis Curzon 17,685 61.5 -6.7
Labour Albert Winfield 11,050 38.5 +23.8
Majority 6,635 23.0 -30.5
Turnout
Unionist hold Swing -15.2

Election in the 1910s

Lynch
General Election 1918: Battersea South
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Unionist 15,670 68.2 n/a
Labour Arthur Lynch 3,383 14.7 n/a
Liberal Joseph William Molden 2,273 9.9 n/a
NFDDSS John Ernest Philip Jenkin 1,657 7.2 n/a
Majority 12,287 53.5 n/a
Turnout n/a
Unionist win

References

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