Commissioner Street (House of Assembly of South Africa constituency)

Commissioner Street
Commissionerstraat
Former constituency for the South African House of Assembly
Location of Commissioner Street within Johannesburg (1910)
Province	Transvaal
Electorate	3,123 (1921)
Former constituency
Created	1910
Abolished	1924
Number of members	1
Last MHA	Harry Graumann (SAP)

Commissioner Street (Afrikaans: Commissionerstraat) was a constituency in the Transvaal Province of South Africa, which existed from 1910 to 1924. Named after Commissioner Street, one of the main thoroughfares of the Johannesburg CBD, it covered the southern and southwestern parts of the CBD. Throughout its existence it elected one member to the House of Assembly and one to the Transvaal Provincial Council.

Franchise notes

When the Union of South Africa was formed in 1910, the electoral qualifications in use in each pre-existing colony were kept in place. In the Transvaal Colony, and its predecessor the South African Republic, the vote was restricted to white men, and as such, elections in the Transvaal Province were held on a whites-only franchise from the beginning. The franchise was also restricted by property and education qualifications until the 1933 general election, following the passage of the Women's Enfranchisement Act, 1930 and the Franchise Laws Amendment Act, 1931. From then on, the franchise was given to all white citizens aged 21 or over. Non-whites remained disenfranchised until the end of apartheid and the introduction of universal suffrage in 1994. ^[1]

History

Commissioner Street was a largely working-class seat, and was closely fought between the Labour Party and various non-socialist candidates, changing hands at every election during its existence. Its first representative was Harry Sampson, a trade union organiser and leading figure of the Transvaal Independent Labour Party, who won the seat by a narrow margin over the Unionist candidate. In 1915, Sampson moved to the new constituency of Siemert, and Labour’s new candidate C. H. Hayward lost the seat to the South African Party candidate Harry Graumann.

In 1920, the seat was redrawn to include a large part of the abolished Ophirton constituency, greatly increasing its surface area and bringing in a number of additional voters. On these boundaries, Labour candidate John Henry Scott Gow gained the seat back in 1920, as part of a nationwide wave of success for the party. However, he would lose it once again in 1921 to Graumann, who served as the seat’s MP until its abolition in 1924.

Members

Election		Member	Party
	1910	Harry Sampson	Labour
	1915	Harry Graumann	SAP
	1920	J. H. S. Gow	Labour
	1921	Harry Graumann	SAP
	1924	Constituency abolished

^{[2] [3]}

Detailed results

Elections in the 1910s

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 1910 South African general election § Commissioner Street.[ edit ]

General election 1910: Commissioner Street

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Harry Sampson	924	50.4	New
	Unionist	R. Curry	884	48.3	New
	Socialist	J. Davidson	25	1.4	New
Majority			80	2.1	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 1915 South African general election § Commissioner Street.[ edit ]

General election 1915: Commissioner Street

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	Harry Graumann	1,031	65.4	New
	Labour	C. W. Hayward	546	34.6	−15.8
Majority			485	30.8	N/A
Turnout			1,577	67.0	N/A
	South African gain from Labour		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1920s

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 1920 South African general election § Commissioner Street.[ edit ]

General election 1920: Commissioner Street

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	J. H. S. Gow	838	49.7	+15.1
	South African	W. J. Laite	791	46.9	−18.5
	Independent	S. P. Bunting	57	3.4	New
Majority			47	2.8	N/A
Turnout			1,686	55.3	−11.7
	Labour gain from South African		Swing	+16.8

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 1921 South African general election § Commissioner Street.[ edit ]

General election 1921: Commissioner Street

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	Harry Graumann	1,181	62.4	+15.5
	Labour	J. H. S. Gow	713	37.6	−12.1
Majority			468	24.8	N/A
Turnout			1,894	60.6	+5.3
	South African gain from Labour		Swing	+13.8

References

1. "EISA South Africa: Historical franchise arrangements". Eisa.org.za. Archived from the original on 9 May 2013. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
2. Schoeman, B.M. (1977). Parlementêre verkiesings in Suid-Afrika 1910-1976. Pretoria: Aktuele Publikasies.
3. Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa (1972). "House of Assembly" (vol. 5, pp. 617–636). Cape Town: Nasionale Opvoedkundige Uitgewery (Nasou).