Limehouse (UK Parliament constituency)

Limehouse
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
Limehouse in London 1885-1918
Limehouse in London 1918-50
1885–1950
Seats	one
Created from	Tower Hamlets
Replaced by	Stepney

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

History

The constituency was created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 for the 1885 general election, and abolished for the 1950 general election.

Its most prominent MP was Labour's Clement Attlee, party leader from 1935 to 1955, and Prime Minister from 1945 to 1951.

Boundaries

In 1885 the area was administered as part of the county of Middlesex. It was located in the Tower division, in the east of the historic county. The neighbourhood of Limehouse formed a division of the parliamentary borough of Tower Hamlets. The parliamentary division was part of the East End of London.

In 1889 the Tower division of Middlesex was severed from the county, for administrative purposes. It became part of the County of London. In 1900 the lower tier of local government in London was re-modelled. Limehouse became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney.

When a re-distribution of parliamentary seats took place in 1918, the constituency became a division of Stepney. It comprised the wards of Limehouse North, Limehouse South, Mile End Old Town North East, Mile End Old Town South East, and Ratcliffe.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Edward Samuel Norris	Conservative
	1892	John Wallace	Liberal
	1895	Harry Samuel	Conservative
	1906	William Pearce	Liberal
	1922	Clement Attlee	Labour
1950		constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1885: Tower Hamlets, Limehouse ^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edward Samuel Norris	2,566	60.5
	Liberal	James George Cotton Minchin	1,676	39.5
Majority			890	21.0
Turnout			4,242	71.2
Registered electors			5,954
	Conservative win (new seat)

General election 1886: Tower Hamlets, Limehouse ^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edward Samuel Norris	2,230	61.0	+0.5
	Liberal	Thomas Edward Scrutton	1,428	39.0	−0.5
Majority			802	22.0	+1.0
Turnout			3,658	61.4	−9.8
Registered electors			5,954
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.5

Elections in the 1890s

General election 1892: Tower Hamlets, Limehouse ^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Stewart Wallace	2,475	51.8	+12.8
	Conservative	Harry Samuel	2,305	48.2	−12.8
Majority			170	3.6	N/A
Turnout			4,780	74.0	+12.6
Registered electors			6,456
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+12.8

Harry Samuel

General election 1895: Tower Hamlets, Limehouse ^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Harry Samuel	2,661	56.2	+8.0
	Lib-Lab	William Marcus Thompson [2]	2,071	43.8	−8.0
Majority			590	12.4	N/A
Turnout			4,732	75.0	+1.0
Registered electors			6,309
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+8.0

Elections in the 1900s (decade)

General election 1900: Tower Hamlets, Limehouse ^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Harry Samuel	2,608	55.8	−0.4
	Liberal	William Pearce	2,070	44.2	+0.4
Majority			538	11.6	−0.8
Turnout			4,678	68.4	−6.6
Registered electors			6,835
	Conservative hold		Swing	−0.4

Pearce

General election 1906: Tower Hamlets, Limehouse ^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Pearce	2,981	59.8	+15.6
	Conservative	Harry Samuel	2,007	40.2	−15.6
Majority			974	19.6	N/A
Turnout			4,988	80.0	+11.6
Registered electors			6,234
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+15.6

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: Tower Hamlets, Limehouse

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Pearce	2,826	54.1	−5.7
	Conservative	George Borwick	2,395	45.9	+5.7
Majority			431	8.2	−11.4
Turnout			5,221	81.5	+1.5
Registered electors			6,405
	Liberal hold		Swing	-5.7

General election December 1910: Tower Hamlets, Limehouse

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Pearce	2,557	54.6	+0.5
	Conservative	Patrick Rose-Innes	2,126	45.4	−0.5
Majority			431	9.2	+1.0
Turnout			4,683	73.1	−8.4
Registered electors			6,405
	Liberal hold		Swing	+0.5

General election 1918: Stepney, Limehouse

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Liberal	William Pearce	5,860	59.9	+5.3
	Labour	D. D. Sheehan	2,470	25.2	New
	National	Charles Herbert Roswell	1,455	14.9	New
Majority			3,390	34.7	+25.5
Turnout			29,275	33.4	−39.7
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A
Cindicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Limehouse

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Clement Attlee	9,688	55.4	+30.2
	National Liberal	William Pearce	7,789	44.6	−15.3
Majority			1,899	10.8	N/A
Turnout			17,477	57.8	+24.4
	Labour gain from National Liberal		Swing	+22.7

General election 1923: Limehouse

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Clement Attlee	11,473	68.5	+13.1
	Unionist	Thomas Miller-Jones	5,288	31.5	New
Majority			6,185	37.0	+26.2
Turnout			30,452	55.0	−2.8
	Labour hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1924: Stepney, Limehouse

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Clement Attlee	11,713	57.7	−8.8
	Unionist	Thomas Miller-Jones	5,692	28.1	−3.4
	Liberal	Henry Bryant Marks	2,869	14.2	New
Majority			6,021	29.6	−7.4
Turnout			30,927	65.6	+10.6
	Labour hold		Swing	-3.7

General election 1929: Limehouse ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Clement Attlee	13,872	55.9	−1.8
	Unionist	Evan Morgan	6,584	26.5	−1.6
	Liberal	Jasper Addis	4,116	16.6	+2.4
	Communist	Wally Tapsell	245	1.0	New
Majority			7,288	29.4	−0.2
Turnout			38,440	64.6	−1.0
	Labour hold		Swing	-0.1

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Stepney, Limehouse

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Clement Attlee	11,354	50.5	−5.4
	Conservative	R. Girouard	10,803	48.1	+21.6
	New Party	Herbert L. Hodge	307	1.4	New
Majority			551	2.4	−27.0
Turnout			38,682	58.1	−6.5
	Labour hold		Swing	-13.5

General election 1935: Stepney, Limehouse

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Clement Attlee	14,600	66.5	+16.0
	Conservative	Charles John Busby	7,355	33.5	−14.6
Majority			7,245	33.0	+30.6
Turnout			37,020	59.3	+1.2
	Labour hold		Swing	+15.3

Elections in the 1940s

General election 1945: Stepney, Limehouse

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Clement Attlee	8,398	83.8	+17.3
	Conservative	Alfred N Peter Woodard	1,618	16.2	−17.3
Majority			6,780	67.6	+34.6
Turnout			16,367	61.2	+1.9
	Labour hold		Swing	+17.3

References

1. Craig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885-1918. London: Macmillan Press. ISBN   9781349022984.
2. Owen, William Benjamin (1912). "Thompson, William Marcus"  . Dictionary of National Biography (2nd supplement). Vol. 3. pp. 506–507.
3. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig

• Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Woodford	Constituency represented by the prime minister 1945–1950	Succeeded by Walthamstow West