Bethnal Green South West (UK Parliament constituency)

Bethnal Green South West
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
Bethnal Green South West in London 1885-1918
Bethnal Green South West in London 1918-50
1885–1950
Seats	one
Created from	Hackney
Replaced by	Bethnal Green

Bethnal Green South West was a constituency in London. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

It was created for the 1885 general election and abolished for the 1950 general election, when it was combined with Bethnal Green North East to form a new Bethnal Green constituency, reflecting the area's substantial fall in population.

Boundaries

The constituency consisted of the south and west wards of the civil parish of Bethnal Green, Middlesex (later the Metropolitan Borough of Bethnal Green in the County of London).

1885-1918: The South and West wards of the parish of St. Matthew, Bethnal Green. ^[1]

Members of Parliament

Year		Member	Party
	1885	Edward Pickersgill	Liberal
	1900	Samuel Forde Ridley	Conservative
	1906	Edward Pickersgill	Liberal
	1911	Charles Masterman	Liberal
	1914	Sir Mathew Wilson	Unionist
	1922	Percy Harris	Liberal
	1945	Percy Holman	Labour
1950		constituency abolished: see Bethnal Green

Election results

Elections in the 1880s

E.H. Pickersgill

General election 1885: Bethnal Green South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Edward Pickersgill	3,088	58.4
	Conservative	John Evans Freke Aylmer	2,200	41.6
Majority			888	16.8
Turnout			5,288	64.0
Registered electors			8,265
	Liberal win (new seat)

General election 1886: Bethnal Green South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Edward Pickersgill	2,550	56.0	−2.4
	Conservative	John Evans Freke Aylmer	2,001	44.0	+2.4
Majority			549	12.0	−4.8
Turnout			4,551	55.1	−8.9
Registered electors			8,265
	Liberal hold		Swing	-2.4

Election in the 1890s

General election 1892: Bethnal Green South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Edward Pickersgill	3,206	59.6	+3.6
	Conservative	Thomas Benskin	2,171	40.4	−3.6
Majority			1,035	19.2	+7.2
Turnout			5,377	68.8	+13.7
Registered electors			7,821
	Liberal hold		Swing	+3.6

General election 1895: Bethnal Green South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Edward Pickersgill	2,603	52.8	−6.8
	Conservative	William Arnold Statham	2,324	47.2	+6.8
Majority			279	5.6	−13.6
Turnout			4,927	62.7	−6.1
Registered electors			7,855
	Liberal hold		Swing	-6.8

Election in the 1900s

General election 1900: Bethnal Green South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Samuel Ridley	2,862	53.2	+6.0
	Liberal	Edward Pickersgill	2,514	46.8	−6.0
Majority			348	6.4	N/A
Turnout			5,376	66.1	+3.4
Registered electors			8,128
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+6.0

General election 1906: Bethnal Green South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Edward Pickersgill	3,542	63.2	+16.4
	Conservative	Samual Ridley	2,064	36.8	−16.4
Majority			1,478	26.4	N/A
Turnout			5,606	77.2	+11.1
Registered electors			7,262
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+16.4

Election in the 1910s

E.H. Pickersgill

General election January 1910: Bethnal Green South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Edward Pickersgill	3,328	58.6	−4.6
	Conservative	Eric Alfred Hoffgaard	2,350	41.4	+4.6
Majority			978	17.2	−9.2
Turnout			5,678	79.9	+1.7
	Liberal hold		Swing	-4.6

General election December 1910: Bethnal Green South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Edward Pickersgill	2,768	57.0	−1.6
	Conservative	Eric Alfred Hoffgaard	2,086	43.0	+1.6
Majority			682	14.0	−3.2
Turnout			4,854	68.3	−11.6
	Liberal hold		Swing	-1.6

Masterman

1911 Bethnal Green South West by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Masterman	2,745	50.4	−6.6
	Conservative	Eric Alfred Hoffgaard	2,561	47.1	+4.1
	Independent Labour	John Scurr	134	2.5	New
Majority			184	3.3	−10.7
Turnout			5,440	76.8	+8.5
	Liberal hold		Swing	-5.3

1914 Bethnal Green South West by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Matthew Wilson	2,828	47.6	+0.5
	Liberal	Charles Masterman	2,804	47.1	−3.3
	Independent Labour	John Scurr	316	5.3	+2.8
Majority			24	0.5	N/A
Turnout			5.948	83.5	+6.7
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+1.9

Hugh Meyler

General election 1918: Bethnal Green South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Unionist	Matthew Wilson	4,240	52.3	+4.7
	NFDDSS	Ernest Thurtle	1,941	23.9	New
	Liberal	Hugh Meyler	1,935	23.8	−23.3
Majority			2,299	28.4	+27.9
Turnout			6,116	41.6	−41.9
	Unionist hold		Swing
Cindicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Election in the 1920s

General election 1922: Bethnal Green South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Percy Harris	5,152	40.7	+16.9
	Communist	Joe Vaughan	4,034	31.9	New
	Unionist	Matthew Wilson	3,474	27.4	−24.9
Majority			1,118	8.8	N/A
Turnout			21,129	59.9	+18.3
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing

General election 1923: Bethnal Green South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Percy Harris	5,735	43.3	+2.6
	Labour	Joe Vaughan	5,251	39.6	+7.7
	Unionist	John Cecil Gerard Leigh	2,267	17.1	−10.3
Majority			484	3.7	−5.1
Turnout			21,320	62.2	+2.3
	Liberal hold		Swing	-2.5

General election 1924: Bethnal Green South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Percy Harris	6,236	42.3	−1.0
	Communist	Joe Vaughan	6,024	40.9	+1.3
	Unionist	C.P. Norman	2,467	16.8	−0.3
Majority			212	1.4	−2.3
Turnout			21,522	68.4	+6.2
	Liberal hold		Swing	-1.1

General election 1929: Bethnal Green South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Percy Harris	8,109	45.9	+3.6
	Labour	Christopher John Kelly	6,849	38.7	New
	Communist	Robert Dunstan	1,368	7.7	−33.2
	Unionist	Herbert John Malone	1,365	7.7	−9.1
Majority			1,260	7.2	+5.8
Turnout			27,895	64.1	−4.3
	Liberal hold		Swing

Election in the 1930s

General election 1931: Bethnal Green South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Percy Harris	10,176	59.6	+13.7
	Labour	W.J. Humphreys	3,923	23.0	−15.7
	Communist	Joe Vaughan	2,970	17.4	+9.7
Majority			6,253	36.6	+29.4
Turnout			27,895	61.2	−2.9
	Liberal hold		Swing	+14.0

General election 1935: Bethnal Green South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Percy Harris	9,011	53.1	−6.5
	Labour	George Jeger	7,945	46.9	+23.9
Majority			1,066	6.2	−30.4
Turnout			27,484	61.7	+0.5
	Liberal hold		Swing	-15.2

Election in the 1940s

General election 1945: Bethnal Green South West ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Percy Holman	6,669	57.3	+10.4
	Liberal	Percy Harris	4,213	36.2	−16.9
	National	O. Howard Leicester	750	6.5	New
Majority			2,456	21.1	N/A
Turnout			11,632
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing	+13.6

References

1. "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.
2. Craig, F.W.S., ed. (1969). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 . Glasgow: Political Reference Publications. p.  8. ISBN   0-900178-01-9.

Bibliography

• Bethnal Green Parliamentary Representation at British History online
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 3)