Kennington (UK Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with Kensington (UK Parliament constituency).

Kennington
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
1885–1950
Seats	one
Created from	Lambeth
Replaced by	Vauxhall and Brixton

Kennington was a borough constituency centred on the Kennington district of South London. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

The constituency was created for the 1885 general election, and abolished for the 1950 general election.

In 1918 Alice Theresa Lucas became the first woman to stand as a Conservative party candidate. She took 32.2% of the vote and came second to the Liberal candidate Henry Purchase. She would have been the first woman MP if she had been elected. ^[1]

Kennington in London 1885–1918

Kennington in London 1918–50

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Robert Gent-Davis	Conservative
	1889	Mark Hanbury Beaufoy	Liberal
	1895	Sir Frederick Cook	Conservative
	1906	Sir Stephen Collins	Liberal
	1918	Henry Purchase	Coalition Liberal
	1922	Francis Capel Harrison	Conservative
	1923	Thomas Williams	Labour
	1924	George Harvey	Unionist
	1929	Leonard Matters	Labour
	1931	Sir George Harvey	Conservative
	1939	John Wilmot	Labour
	1945	Charles Gibson	Labour
	1950	constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1940s

General election 1945: Lambeth, Kennington

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Charles Gibson	12,910	70.2	+10.1
	Conservative	S.H. Stanley	5,471	29.8	−10.1
Majority			7,439	40.4	+20.2
Turnout			29,529	62.2	+11.6
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Elections in the 1930s

1939 Kennington by-election: Lambeth, Kennington

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Wilmot	10,715	60.1	+11.2
	Conservative	A. Kennedy	7,119	39.9	−11.2
Majority			3,596	20.2	N/A
Turnout			43,907	40.6	−15.1
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

General election 1935: Lambeth, Kennington

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Harvey	12,401	51.1	−13.2
	Labour	Leonard Matters	11,856	48.9	+13.2
Majority			545	2.2	−26.4
Turnout			43,583	55.7	−5.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1931: Lambeth, Kennington

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Harvey	18,371	64.3	+20.0
	Labour	Leonard Matters	10,188	35.7	−20.0
Majority			8,183	28.6	N/A
Turnout			46,600	61.3	+1.2
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1929: Kennington

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Leonard Matters	15,477	55.7	+12.0
	Unionist	George Harvey	12,328	44.3	−12.0
Majority			3,149	11.4	N/A
Turnout			27,805	60.1	−10.2
Registered electors			46,290
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+12.0

General election 1924: Lambeth, Kennington

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	George Harvey	14,898	56.3	+19.5
	Labour	Thomas Williams	11,572	43.7	+4.5
Majority			3,326	12.6	N/A
Turnout			26,470	70.3	+12.7
Registered electors			37,629
	Unionist gain from Labour		Swing	+7.5

Jacobsen

General election 1923: Kennington

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Thomas Williams	8,292	39.2	+3.1
	Unionist	Reginald Blair	7,782	36.8	−10.5
	Liberal	Thomas Owen Jacobsen	5,075	24.0	+7.4
Majority			510	2.4	N/A
Turnout			21,149	57.6	−0.8
Registered electors			36,729
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+6.8

Gosling

General election 1922: Kennington

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Francis Harrison	10,081	47.3	+15.1
	Labour	Harry Gosling	7,670	36.1	+10.7
	National Liberal	Henry Purchase	3,522	16.6	−25.8
Majority			2,411	11.2	N/A
Turnout			21,273	58.4	+28.7
Registered electors			36,451
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+20.5

Elections in the 1910s

Purchase

General election 1918: Kennington

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Liberal	Henry Purchase	4,705	42.4	−5.2
	Unionist	Alice Lucas	3,573	32.2	−14.7
	Labour	William Glennie	2,817	25.4	New
Majority			1,132	10.2	+9.5
Turnout			11,095	29.7	−44.5
Registered electors			37,322
	Liberal hold		Swing	+4.8
Cindicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Collins

General election December 1910: Lambeth, Kennington ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Stephen Collins	3,565	47.6	−4.7
	Conservative	Francis Lucas	3,510	46.9	−0.8
	Independent Labour	Victor Grayson	408	5.5	New
Majority			55	0.7	−3.9
Turnout			7,483	74.2	−6.2
Registered electors			10,088
	Liberal hold		Swing	−2.0

General election January 1910: Lambeth, Kennington ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Stephen Collins	4,246	52.3	−8.0
	Conservative	Francis Lucas	3,865	47.7	+8.0
Majority			381	4.6	−16.0
Turnout			8,111	80.4	+6.3
Registered electors			10,088
	Liberal hold		Swing	-8.0

Elections in the 1900s

Collins

General election 1906: Lambeth, Kennington ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Stephen Collins	4,639	60.3	+24.8
	Conservative	Frederick Cook	3,054	39.7	−24.8
Majority			1,585	20.6	N/A
Turnout			7,693	74.1	+11.8
Registered electors			10,382
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+24.8

General election 1900: Lambeth, Kennington ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Frederick Cook	4,195	64.5	+12.7
	Liberal	Walter Essex	2,309	35.5	−2.6
Majority			1,886	29.0	+15.3
Turnout			6,504	62.3	−9.5
Registered electors			10,432
	Conservative hold		Swing	+7.7

Elections in the 1890s

General election 1895: Lambeth, Kennington ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Frederick Cook	3,764	51.8	+6.1
	Liberal	Mark Beaufoy	2,769	38.1	−16.2
	Independent Liberal	William Wightman	730	10.1	New
Majority			995	13.7	N/A
Turnout			7,263	71.8	−4.3
Registered electors			10,117
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+11.2

General election 1892: Lambeth, Kennington ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Mark Beaufoy	3,860	54.3	+7.9
	Conservative	Ferdinand Begg	3,253	45.7	−7.9
Majority			607	8.6	N/A
Turnout			7,113	76.1	+3.8
Registered electors			9,348
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+7.9

Elections in the 1880s

By-election, 15 Mar 1889: Kennington ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Mark Hanbury Beaufoy	4,069	54.2	+7.8
	Conservative	Philip Beresford-Hope [3]	3,439	45.8	−7.8
Majority			630	8.4	N/A
Turnout			7,508	84.2	+11.9
Registered electors			8,920
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+7.8

General election 1886: Lambeth, Kennington ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Gent-Davis	3,222	53.6	+1.0
	Liberal	Mark Hanbury Beaufoy	2,792	46.4	−0.5
Majority			430	7.2	+1.5
Turnout			6,014	72.3	−4.4
Registered electors			8,313
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.8

General election 1885: Lambeth, Kennington ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Gent-Davis	3,351	52.6
	Liberal	John O'Connor Power	2,991	46.9
	Social Democratic Federation	John Fielding	32	0.5
Majority			360	5.7
Turnout			6,374	76.7
Registered electors			8,313
	Conservative win (new seat)

References

1. Takayanagi, Mari (2018). "Lucas [née Stern], Alice Theresa (1853–1924), parliamentary candidate". www.oxforddnb.com. doi:10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.112246. ISBN   978-0-19-861412-8 . Retrieved 1 April 2019.
2. Craig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885–1918. London: Macmillan Press. ISBN   9781349022984.
3. "Kennington Election" . Nottingham Evening Post . 16 March 1889. p. 4. Retrieved 2 December 2017– via British Newspaper Archive.

• Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN   0-900178-06-X.
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "K" (part 1)