Croydon (UK Parliament constituency)

Last updated

Croydon
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
Croydon 1885 Constituency.svg
Boundary of Croydon in Surreyfor the 1910 general election
County Surrey
Major settlements Croydon, Addiscombe, Norbury, South Croydon, South Norwood, Thornton Heath, Upper Norwood
18851918
SeatsOne
Created from East Surrey (leaving its bulk, continued)
Replaced by Croydon North and Croydon South

Croydon was a constituency in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament from 1885 to 1918. As with most in its lifetime following the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, it was a seat, that elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Contents

It was won for all but three years by the Conservative candidate, the exception being the years 1906-1909 when that party, as a fellow Unionist party against Irish Home Rule and other devolution in a spell of widespread popular decline held a general meeting endorsing instead H. O. Arnold-Forster, a Liberal Unionist. His 3.2% victory against the candidate of the rest of the Liberal Party coupled with a 20.2% performance for Labour in Croydon which coincided with a Liberal landslide the First Asquith ministry which brought in the fundamental constitutional reform of the Parliament Act 1911 after the delay for "the People's Budget" to be implemented. [1] He died in 1909 causing a by-election and his party, with its occasional candidates in the region, no longer stood for the Croydon seat nor its north–south successors after 1918. The Labour party fielded a candidate for the second time in the 1909 by-election, polling badly, winning about a fifth of the 1906 vote; the party fielded none in the 1910 elections for this seat.

Boundaries

1885–1918: The municipal borough of Croydon. [2]

This seat was covered an area based on the town of Croydon. Croydon had been a Municipal Borough from 1883 and was to become a County Borough in 1889. By 1902, at the latest, the parliamentary and local government boroughs had the same boundaries.

The Royal Commission on London Traffic, which reported in 1906, included the borough in its definition of Greater London. It was throughout in the north-east of Surrey. Its area has been included in Greater London since 1965.

From 1918 Croydon was divided into two borough constituencies - Croydon North and Croydon South.

History

The 1906 election saw for the first time a majority of seats in London's metropolitan area align with the Liberal party; the Liberal Unionist candidate here was a compromise reached by the Conservatives and non-Home Rule for Ireland Liberals calculated to prevent a loss to a Liberal candidate. United Kingdom general election 1906 (within London & Middlesex).svg
The 1906 election saw for the first time a majority of seats in London's metropolitan area align with the Liberal party; the Liberal Unionist candidate here was a compromise reached by the Conservatives and non-Home Rule for Ireland Liberals calculated to prevent a loss to a Liberal candidate.

The constituency was close enough to London and built-up enough to be considered part of a greater London or "Metropolitan" area.

A large part of the inhabitants of this constituency commuted to work in the City of London. It was however an area where attendance at Nonconformist chapels exceeded that at Anglican churches, according to the Daily News survey of 1902. By the time of the 1911 census more factories had been set up and a large artisan population had moved in so its core and north in particular was decidedly lower-income working-class.

The constituency was in general Conservative, but less strongly so than many suburban commuter seats around London. The Labour Party secured 20% of the vote, in a three-way contest, in the 1906 election.

Borough rather than a County seat

The seat being a parliamentary borough made for a lower level of election expenses permissible and the usual office/status for the returning officer.

Members of Parliament

W. Grantham SirWilliamGrantham.jpg
W. Grantham
YearMemberParty
1885 William Grantham Conservative
1886 Sidney Herbert Conservative
1895 Charles Ritchie Conservative
1906 H. O. Arnold-Forster Liberal Unionist
1909 Sir Robert Hermon-Hodge Conservative
1910 Ian Malcolm Conservative
1918 constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1880s

Jabez Balfour Jabez Balfour Vanity Fair 1892-03-19.jpg
Jabez Balfour
General election 1885: Croydon [3]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative William Grantham 5,484 56.0
Liberal Jabez Balfour 4,31544.0
Majority1,16912.0
Turnout 9,79977.7
Registered electors 12,619
Conservative win (new seat)

Grantham resigned after being appointed a judge of the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice, causing a by-election.

Sydney Buxton Sydney Buxton.jpg
Sydney Buxton
By-election, 27 Jan 1886: Croydon [4]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Sidney Herbert 5,205 53.9 -2.1
Liberal Sydney Buxton 4,45846.1+2.1
Majority7477.8-4.2
Turnout 9,66376.6-1.1
Registered electors 12,619
Conservative hold Swing -2.1
General election 1886: Croydon [5]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Sidney Herbert Unopposed
Conservative hold

Herbert was appointed a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury, requiring a by-election.

By-election, 11 Aug 1886: Croydon [6]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Sidney Herbert Unopposed
Conservative hold

Elections in the 1890s

Sidney Herbert Ranji 1897 page 367 Lord Pembroke.jpg
Sidney Herbert
General election 1892: Croydon [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Sidney Herbert 6,528 57.5 N/A
Liberal Edward William Grimwade4,83442.5New
Majority1,69415.0N/A
Turnout 11,36276.6N/A
Registered electors 14,837
Conservative hold Swing N/A

Herbert's succession to the peerage causes a by-election.

May 1895 Croydon by-election [8]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Charles Ritchie Unopposed
Conservative hold

Ritchie's appointment as President of the Board of Trade causes a by-election.

July 1895 Croydon by-election [9]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Charles Ritchie Unopposed
Conservative hold
Charles Ritchie Charles Thomson Ritchie headshot.jpg
Charles Ritchie
General election 1895: Croydon [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Charles Ritchie 6,876 59.7 +2.2
Liberal Christopher Clarke Hutchinson4,64740.32.2
Majority2,22919.4+4.4
Turnout 11,52371.35.3
Registered electors 16,152
Conservative hold Swing +2.2

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: Croydon [11]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Charles Ritchie Unopposed
Conservative hold
Stranks Sidney Stranks.png
Stranks
General election 1906: Croydon [12]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Unionist H. O. Arnold-Forster 8,211 41.5 N/A
Liberal Henry Charles Augustus Somerset7,57338.3New
Labour Repr. Cmte. Sidney Stranks 4,00720.2New
Majority6383.2N/A
Turnout 19,79183.0N/A
Registered electors 23,858
Liberal Unionist hold Swing N/A
Raphael 1909 John Raphael.jpg
Raphael
1909 Croydon by-election [13]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Robert Hermon-Hodge 11,989 57.4 +15.9
Liberal John Raphael 8,04138.4+0.1
Labour Frank Smith 8864.216.0
Majority3,94819.0+15.8
Turnout 20,91679.04.0
Registered electors 26,470
Conservative hold Swing +7.9

Elections in the 1910s

Hermon-Hodge Robert Hermon-Hodge.jpg
Hermon-Hodge
General election January 1910: Croydon [14]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Robert Hermon-Hodge 12,223 51.9 -5.5 [n 1]
Liberal Arthur Lewis Leon11,32748.1+9.7 [n 1]
Majority8963.8N/A
Turnout 23,55086.1+3.1
Registered electors 27,350
Conservative hold Swing +0.3
Ian Malcolm Ian Zachary Malcolm Vanity Fair 12 May 1898.jpg
Ian Malcolm
General election December 1910: Croydon [15]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Ian Malcolm 11,875 53.4 +1.5
Liberal Arthur Lewis Leon10,34346.61.5
Majority1,5326.8+3.0
Turnout 22,21881.24.9
Registered electors 27,350
Conservative hold Swing +1.5

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 July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

See also

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References

  1. Murray, Bruce K. "The Politics of the ‘People's Budget’." Historical journal 16#3 (1973): 555-570.
  2. "Chap. 23. Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885". The Public General Acts of the United Kingdom passed in the forty-eighth and forty-ninth years of the reign of Queen Victoria. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode. 1885. pp.  111–198.
  3. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  4. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  5. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  6. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  7. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  8. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  9. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  10. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  11. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  12. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  13. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  14. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  15. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
Notes
  1. 1 2 The change (swing) figures here are contrasting the by-election in the previous year, breaking with convention as the last party who stood at a General Election, some four years before, was the co-ticket of the Liberal Unionists and Conservatives, a Liberal Unionist rather than a Conservative; furthermore the Liberal Party only altered its vote between that general election and the by-election by 0.1% making use of the by-election statistics much fairer and informative to the two candidates making up the new slate/field.