Croydon South (historic UK Parliament constituency)

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This seat should not be confused with the current Croydon South constituency
Croydon South
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
County Surrey until 1965, then Greater London
1955–1974 (1974)
Number of membersOne
Replaced by Croydon Central (bulk)
Croydon South (small portion)
Created from Croydon East and Croydon West
1918–1950
Number of membersOne
Type of constituency Borough constituency
Replaced by Croydon East and Croydon West
Created from Croydon

Croydon South was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system.

Contents

It was created for the 1918 general election when the County Borough of Croydon had grown so the Croydon seat was split into two seats.

In 1974 the seat was redrawn and renamed Croydon Central; following the 1965 addition of Purley and Coulsdon to the London Borough of Croydon in 1974 a fresh seat of Croydon South was created to the south predominantly from East Surrey rather than from the historic Croydon South.

It did not exist from 1950 to 1955 as an east–west division of the town was chosen instead. Its voters elected twice Labour candidates, for the 1945 and 1966 Parliaments when the Labour Party received strong majorities, and at all other elections elected Conservative candidates.

Boundaries

1918-1950: The County Borough of Croydon wards of Central, East, South, and West.

1955-1965: The County Borough of Croydon wards of Addington, Broad Green, Central, Shirley, South, and Waddon.

1965-1974: The London Borough of Croydon wards of Addington, Broad Green, Central, Shirley, South, and Waddon.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1918–1950

ElectionNamePartyNotes
1918 Ian Malcolm Conservative previously MP for Croydon
1919 by-election Allan Smith Conservative
1923 William Mitchell-Thomson Conservative
1932 by-election Herbert Williams Conservative
1945 David Rees-Williams Labour
1950 constituency abolished

From 1950 to 1955 the seat was divided into Croydon East and Croydon West.

MPs 1955–1974

ElectionNameParty
1955 Richard Thompson Conservative
1966 David Winnick Labour
1970 Richard Thompson Conservative
Feb 1974 constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1910s

General election 1918: Croydon South [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
C Unionist Ian Malcolm 17,81371.8
Labour H.T. Muggeridge [2] 7,00628.2
Majority10,80743.6
Turnout 24,81955.0
Registered electors 45,115
Unionist win (new seat)
Cindicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.
1919 Croydon South by-election [3]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
C Unionist Allan Smith 11,77755.2−16.6
Liberal Howard Houlder9,57344.8New
Majority2,20410.4−33.2
Turnout 21,35045.5−9.5
Registered electors 46,900
Unionist hold Swing N/A
Cindicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Croydon South [4]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Unionist Allan Smith 15,356 47.3 −24.5
Labour H.T. Muggeridge 8,94227.5−0.7
Liberal Thomas Dobson 8,18325.2N/A
Majority6,41419.8−23.8
Turnout 32,48166.4+11.4
Registered electors 48,904
Unionist hold Swing −11.9
General election 1923: Croydon South [5]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Unionist William Mitchell-Thomson 14,310 45.5 −1.8
Labour H.T. Muggeridge 9,92631.6+4.1
Liberal Wynne Cemlyn-Jones 7,20822.9−2.3
Majority4,38413.9−5.9
Turnout 31,44463.4−3.0
Registered electors 49,634
Unionist hold Swing −3.0
General election 1924: Croydon South [6]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Unionist William Mitchell-Thomson 23,734 64.6 +19.1
Labour H.T. Muggeridge 12,97935.4+3.8
Majority10,75529.2+15.3
Turnout 36,71372.0+8.6
Registered electors 50,964
Unionist hold Swing +7.7
General election 1929: Croydon South [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Unionist William Mitchell-Thomson 23,258 49.2 −15.4
Labour E.W. Wilton13,79329.2−6.2
Liberal Albert Sigismund Elwell-Sutton10,21821.6New
Majority9,46520.0−9.2
Turnout 47,26967.4−4.6
Registered electors 70,107
Unionist hold Swing −4.6

Elections in 1930s

General election 1931: Croydon South
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative William Mitchell-Thomson 40,67280.34
Labour T. Crawford9,95019.66
Majority30,72260.69
Turnout 50,62268.33
Conservative hold Swing
1932 Croydon South by-election
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Herbert Williams 19,126 67.5 −12.8
Labour Rudolph Putnam Messel 9,18932.5+12.8
Majority9,93735.0−25.7
Turnout 28,31538.2−30.1
Conservative hold Swing −12.8
General election 1935: Croydon South
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Herbert Williams 31,971 62.3 -18.0
Labour T Crawford14,90029.0+9.3
Liberal David William Alun Llewellyn4,4408.7New
Majority17,07133.3-27.6
Turnout 45,86065.2-3.1
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in 1940s

General election 1945: Croydon South
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour David Rees-Williams 27,650 53.4 +24.4
Conservative Herbert Williams 24,14746.6−15.7
Majority3,5036.8N/A
Turnout 51,79770.1+4.9
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

Elections in 1950s

General election 1955: Croydon South [8]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Richard Thompson 27,359 56.98
Labour Arthur Carr20,65943.02
Majority6,70013.96
Turnout 48,01877.23
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1959: Croydon South
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Richard Thompson 29,284 58.16
Labour Frederic A Messer22,06941.84
Majority8,21516.32
Turnout 51,35379.13
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in 1960s

General election 1964: Croydon South
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Richard Thompson 24,854 52.75
Labour Tyrell Burgess22,26547.25
Majority2,5895.50
Turnout 47,11974.27
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1966: Croydon South
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour David Winnick 21,496 44.73
Conservative Richard Thompson 21,41544.56
Liberal W Edward P Babbs5,14610.71New
Majority810.17N/A
Turnout 48,05776.10
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

Elections in 1970s

General election 1970: Croydon South
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Richard Thompson 25,986 49.74
Labour David Winnick 22,28342.65
Liberal Michael R Lane3,6737.03
Independent C Thornton3030.58New
Majority3,7037.09N/A
Turnout 52,24571.29
Conservative gain from Labour Swing

Politics and history of the constituency

The seat was created in 1918 and the first MP was Ian Malcolm, who had been the MP for all of Croydon. H.T. Muggeridge, father of Malcolm Muggeridge, fought the seat for Labour four times from 1918, later becoming MP for Romford. The seat saw a by-election in 1932, won by Herbert Williams.

Croydon South had twice seen Croydon's only Labour MPs before the 1990s. David Rees-Williams held the seat from the 1945 Labour landslide until unfavourable boundary changes in 1950. David Winnick won the seat in 1966 before losing in 1970. Otherwise the seat, and indeed the rest of Croydon, had always been firm Conservative territory.

From 1950 until 1955 the seat was divided into east and west, represented by Conservatives Herbert Williams and Richard Thompson respectively.

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References

  1. ↑ F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949
  2. ↑ Debrett's House of Commons 1922
  3. ↑ F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949
  4. ↑ F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949
  5. ↑ F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949
  6. ↑ F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949
  7. ↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
  8. ↑ The Times' Guide to the House of Commons. 1955.

Sources

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