Bermondsey (UK Parliament constituency)

For the current constituency, see Bermondsey and Old Southwark (UK Parliament constituency).

Bermondsey
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Bermondsey in Greater Londonfor the February 1974 general election
1885–1918
Seats	one
Created from	Southwark
Replaced by	Bermondsey West and Rotherhithe
1950–1983
Seats	one
Created from	Bermondsey West and Rotherhithe
Replaced by	Southwark and Bermondsey

Bermondsey was a borough constituency centred on the Bermondsey district of South London, England. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Elections were held using the first-past-the-post voting system.

The constituency was created for the 1885 general election and abolished for the 1918 general election, when almost all its territory was represented by the new Bermondsey West and a very small amount going into the existing Rotherhithe constituency.

A new Bermondsey constituency was created for the 1950 general election including Rotherhithe, was and abolished for the 1983 election, when it was largely replaced by the new Southwark and Bermondsey constituency.

History

The 1983 by-election was one of the most bitterly contested by-elections in the United Kingdom as it involved Bob Mellish, the retired Labour MP, running a highly personal and homophobic campaign against the Labour candidate, Peter Tatchell. The result was the election of Simon Hughes as a Liberal in a former Labour stronghold.

Boundaries

Map of boundaries 1974–1983

Dates	Local authority	Maps	Wards
1885–1918	Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey (after 1900)
1950–1974	Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey (before 1965) London Borough of Southwark (after 1965)		Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey
1974–1983	London Borough of Wandsworth		Abbey, Bricklayers, Browning, Cathedral, Chaucer, Dockyard, Riverside, and Rotherhithe. [1]

Members of Parliament

MPs 1885–1918

Election		Member [2]	Party [3]	Notes
	1885	Thorold Rogers	Liberal	Member for Southwark (1880–1885)
	1886	Alfred Lafone	Conservative
	1892	Reuben Barrow	Liberal
	1895	Alfred Lafone	Conservative
	1900	Henry Cust
	1906	George Cooper	Liberal	Died in office
	1909 by-election	John Dumphreys	Conservative
	1910	Harold Glanville	Liberal	Contested Bermondsey West following redistribution
1918		Constituency abolished: see Rotherhithe and Bermondsey West

MPs 1950–1983

Election		Member	Party	Notes
	1950	Bob Mellish	Labour	Labour Chief Whip 1969–1976. Resigned November 1982
	1983 by-election	Simon Hughes	Liberal	Contested Southwark and Bermondsey following redistribution
1983		constituency abolished: see Southwark and Bermondsey

Election results

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1885: Bermondsey ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Thorold Rogers	3,469	50.6
	Conservative	Alfred Lafone	3,386	49.4
Majority			83	1.2
Turnout			6,855	72.7
Registered electors			9,433
	Liberal win (new seat)

General election 1886: Bermondsey ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alfred Lafone	3,356	52.8	+3.4
	Liberal	Thorold Rogers	2,998	47.2	−3.4
Majority			358	5.6	N/A
Turnout			6,354	67.4	−5.3
Registered electors			9,433
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+3.4

Elections in the 1890s

General election 1892: Bermondsey ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Reuben Barrow	4,390	54.1	+6.9
	Conservative	Alfred Lafone	3,732	45.9	−6.9
Majority			658	8.2	N/A
Turnout			8,122	75.9	+8.5
Registered electors			10,702
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+6.9

General election 1895: Bermondsey ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alfred Lafone	4,182	52.2	+6.3
	Liberal	Reuben Barrow	3,822	47.8	−6.3
Majority			360	4.5	N/A
Turnout			8,004	73.2	−2.7
Registered electors			10,935
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+6.3

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: Bermondsey ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Henry Cust	4,017	51.9	−0.3
	Liberal	John Benn	3,717	48.1	+0.3
Majority			300	3.8	−0.6
Turnout			7,734	69.0	−4.2
Registered electors			11,211
	Conservative hold		Swing	−0.3

George Cooper

General election January 1906: Bermondsey ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	George Cooper	4,775	61.3	+13.2
	Conservative	Henry Cust	3,016	38.7	−13.2
Majority			1,759	22.6	N/A
Turnout			7,791	73.4	+4.4
Registered electors			10,619
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+13.2

Spencer Hughes

1909 Bermondsey by-election ^{[5] [4]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Dumphreys	4,278	47.5	+8.8
	Liberal	Spencer Leigh Hughes	3,291	36.6	−24.7
	Labour	Alfred Salter	1,435	15.9	New
Majority			987	10.9	N/A
Turnout			9,004	73.6	+0.2
Registered electors			12,233
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+16.8

Elections in the 1910s

Harold Glanville

General election January 1910: Bermondsey ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Harold Glanville	5,477	54.9	−6.4
	Conservative	John Dumphreys	4,508	45.1	+6.4
Majority			969	9.8	−12.9
Turnout			9,985	82.4	+9.1
Registered electors			12,115
	Liberal hold		Swing	−6.4

General election December 1910: Bermondsey ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Harold Glanville	4,911	57.1	+2.2
	Conservative	John Dumphreys	3,695	42.9	−2.2
Majority			1,216	14.2	+4.4
Turnout			8,606	71.0	−11.4
Registered electors			12,115
	Liberal hold		Swing	+2.2

Bermondsey historical election results

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Bermondsey ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Bob Mellish	26,018	76.9
	Conservative	F Warwick	5,964	17.6
	Liberal	Bridget Talbot	1,852	5.5
Majority			20,054	59.3
Turnout			33,834	79.7
Registered electors			42,467
	Labour win (new seat)

General election 1951: Bermondsey ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bob Mellish	26,267	78.9	+2.0
	Conservative	Ralph Manders	5,265	15.8	–1.8
	Liberal	Harry Wilson	1,779	5.3	–0.1
Majority			21,002	63.0	+3.8
Turnout			33,311	78.2	–1.5
Registered electors			42,587
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.9

General election 1955: Bermondsey ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bob Mellish	21,709	76.7	–2.1
	Conservative	Catherine Orr-Ewing	4,309	15.2	–0.6
	Liberal	Harry Wilson	1,554	5.49	+0.2
	Ind. Labour Party	H Birkett	715	2.5	New
Majority			17,400	61.5	–1.5
Turnout			28,287	69.5	−8.7
Registered electors			40,695
	Labour hold		Swing	–0.8

General election 1959: Bermondsey ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bob Mellish	20,528	76.8	+0.1
	Conservative	Kenneth Payne	6,187	23.2	+7.9
Majority			14,341	53.7	–7.8
Turnout			27,715	70.4	+0.9
Registered electors			37,921
	Labour hold		Swing	–3.9

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Bermondsey ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bob Mellish	17,481	79.3	+2.4
	Conservative	Jeremy Porter	4,568	20.7	–2.4
Majority			12,913	58.6	+4.9
Turnout			22,049	63.3	–7.2
Registered electors			34,845
	Labour hold		Swing	+2.4

General election 1966: Bermondsey ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bob Mellish	16,605	80.6	+1.3
	Conservative	Jeremy Porter	3,990	19.4	–1.3
Majority			12,615	61.2	+2.7
Turnout			20,095	60.91	–2.4
Registered electors			33,811
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.3

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Bermondsey ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bob Mellish	13,908	76.9	–3.7
	Conservative	George Nicholson	4,172	23.1	+3.7
Majority			9,736	53.9	–7.4
Turnout			18,090	52.9	–8.0
Registered electors			34,166
	Labour hold		Swing	+3.7

1970 notional result [7]
Party		Vote	%
	Labour	24,700	73.3
	Conservative	9,000	26.7
Turnout		33,700	50.4
Electorate		66,835

General election February 1974: Bermondsey ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bob Mellish	24,847	68.6	–4.7
	Conservative	Howard Flight	6,126	16.9	–9.8
	Liberal	Chris Hewittson [9]	3,751	10.4	New
	National Front	G Davey	1,485	4.1	New
Majority			18,721	51.7	+5.1
Turnout			32,706	65.9	+15.5
Registered electors			54,904
	Labour hold		Swing	+2.6

General election October 1974: Bermondsey ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bob Mellish	22,875	73.4	+4.8
	Conservative	Howard Flight	4,294	13.8	–3.1
	Liberal	Thomas Taylor	2,520	8.1	–2.3
	National Front	G Davey	1,488	4.8	+0.7
Majority			18,581	59.6	+7.9
Turnout			31,177	56.4	–9.5
Registered electors			55,254
	Labour hold		Swing	+3.9

General election 1979: Bermondsey ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bob Mellish	19,338	63.6	–9.8
	Conservative	Alexander Duma	7,582	24.9	+11.2
	Liberal	Thomas Taylor	2,072	6.8	–1.3
	National Front	James Sneath	1,175	3.9	–0.9
	Workers Revolutionary	Anthony Moore	239	0.8	New
Majority			11,756	38.7	−20.9
Turnout			30,406	59.3	+2.9
Registered electors			51,246
	Labour hold		Swing	–10.5

Elections in the 1980s

1983 Bermondsey by-election ^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Simon Hughes	17,017	57.7	+50.9
	Labour	Peter Tatchell	7,698	26.1	−37.5
	Real Bermondsey Labour	John O'Grady	2,243	7.6	New
	Conservative	Robert Hughes	1,631	5.5	−19.4
	National Front	James Sneath	426	1.4	−2.4
	Monster Raving Loony	David Sutch	97	0.3	New
	Independent Patriot	Jane Birdwood	69	0.2	New
	New Britain	Michael Keulemans	62	0.2	New
	Independent Labour	Barry Giddings	50	0.2	New
	Communist	Robert Gordon	50	0.2	New
	Ecology	George Hannah	45	0.2	New
	Revolutionary Communist	Fran Eden	38	0.1	New
	National Labour Party	Ann King	25	0.1	New
	United Democratic Party	Alan Baker	15	0.1	New
	Anti-Common Market Free Trade Party	David Wedgwood	15	0.1	New
	Systems Designer	Esmond Bevan	8	0.0	New
Majority			9,319	31.6	N/A
Turnout			29,489	57.7	−1.6
Registered electors			51,096
	Liberal gain from Labour		Swing	+44.2

Note: Esmond Bevan made a mistake and inserted his occupation rather than politics in the nomination paper. He was an Independent Labour candidate.

References

1. "The Parliamentary Constituencies (London Borough of Southwark) Order 1971. SI 1971/2113". Statutory Instruments 1971. Part III Section 2. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. 1972. pp. 6231–6233.
2. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 2)
3. Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 47. ISBN   0-900178-06-X.
4. Craig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885–1918. London: Macmillan Press. ISBN   9781349022984.
5. Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12357, 30 October 1909, Page 5
6. Craig, Fred W. S (1983). British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 (2nd ed.). Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN   0900178078 . Retrieved 5 April 2025.
7. Michael Stead. "1970 notional general election & February 1974 general election". BBC. Retrieved 18 March 2025.
8. Craig, Fred W. S (1980). Britain votes 2 : British parliamentary election results 1974-1979. Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN   0900178183 . Retrieved 6 April 2025.
9. "LIBERAL/LIBERAL DEMOCRAT CANDIDATES in the GREATER LONDON REGION 1945-2019" (PDF). liberalhistory.org.uk. Liberal Democrat History Group. pp. 6–98. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
10. Boothroyd, David. "Results of Byelections in the 1979-83 Parliament". United Kingdom Election Results. Archived from the original on 9 June 2000. Retrieved 19 September 2015.

Sources

• Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources: UK General Elections since 1832 Archived 5 May 2004 at the Wayback Machine