Mile End (UK Parliament constituency)

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

Mile End was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Mile End 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.

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

Boundaries

1885–1918: In this period the constituency was a division of the parliamentary borough of Tower Hamlets in east London. The seat was centred upon the community of Mile End including the Mile End Road, which adjoined the Charrington Brewery. The brewery was headed by Spencer Charrington, MP for the area between 1885 and 1904.

Before 1885 the division was administered as part of the county of Middlesex. It formed part of The Metropolis from 1855 to 1889. In 1889 there was a change in the administrative arrangements covering the constituency, with the creation of the County of London. In 1900 London was divided into Metropolitan Boroughs. The Mile End Old Town Parish Vestry was abolished, with Mile End becoming part of the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney.

1918–1950: The constituency became a division of Stepney. The Representation of the People Act 1918 defined it as comprising four local government wards of Mile End Old Town (Centre, North, South and West) as well as the ward of Whitechapel East.

In 1945, the seat became one of only two seats in that Parliament to have a Communist MP elected. Phil Piratin had been a local activist and borough councillor.

In 1950 the constituency was abolished. Its territory became part of the Stepney seat.

Members of Parliament

Year		Member	Party
	1885	Spencer Charrington	Conservative
	1905	Harry Levy-Lawson	Liberal Unionist
	1906	Bertram Straus	Liberal
	1910, January	Harry Levy-Lawson	Liberal Unionist a
	1916	Warwick Brookes	Unionist
	1918	Sir Walter Preston	Unionist b
	1923	John Scurr	Labour
	1931	William O'Donovan	Conservative
	1935	Daniel Frankel	Labour
	1945	Phil Piratin	Communist
	1950	constituency abolished

Notes:-

• ^a The Liberal Unionist Party formally merged into the Conservative Party in 1912.
• ^b Coalition Unionist 1918–1922.

Election results

Elections in the 1880s

Hart

General election 1885: Mile End ^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Spencer Charrington	2,091	52.9
	Liberal	Ernest Hart	1,442	36.5
	Independent Liberal	Acton Smee Ayrton	420	10.6
Majority			649	16.4
Turnout			3,953	68.1
Registered electors			5,804
	Conservative win (new seat)

Charrington

General election 1886: Mile End ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Spencer Charrington	2,110	62.2	+9.3
	Liberal	Arnold White	1,281	37.8	+1.3
Majority			829	24.4	+8.0
Turnout			3,391	58.4	−9.7
Registered electors			5,804
	Conservative hold		Swing	+4.0

Elections in the 1890s

General election 1892: Mile End ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Spencer Charrington	2,204	53.3	−8.9
	Liberal	James Haysman	1,931	46.7	+8.9
Majority			273	6.6	−17.8
Turnout			4,135	72.1	+13.7
Registered electors			5,738
	Conservative hold		Swing	-8.9

General election 1895: Mile End ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Spencer Charrington	2,383	61.1	+7.8
	Liberal	James Haysman	1,516	38.9	−7.8
Majority			867	22.2	+15.6
Turnout			3,899	70.2	−1.9
Registered electors			5,551
	Conservative hold		Swing	+7.8

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: Mile End ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Spencer Charrington	2,440	65.6	+4.5
	Liberal	Charles Clarke	1,280	34.4	−4.5
Majority			1160	31.2	+9.0
Turnout			3,720	62.9	−7.3
Registered electors			5,915
	Conservative hold		Swing	+4.5

1905 Mile End by-election ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Harry Levy-Lawson	2,138	50.9	−14.7
	Liberal	Bertram Straus	2,060	49.1	+14.7
Majority			78	1.8	−29.4
Turnout			4,198	78.0	+15.1
Registered electors			5,380
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	-14.7

Straus

General election 1906: Mile End ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Bertram Straus	2,295	51.4	+17.0
	Liberal Unionist	Harry Levy-Lawson	2,169	48.6	−17.0
Majority			126	2.8	N/A
Turnout			4,464	82.4	+19.5
Registered electors			5,419
	Liberal gain from Liberal Unionist		Swing	+17.0

Elections in the 1910s

Levy-Lawson

General election January 1910: Mile End ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Harry Levy-Lawson	2,332	50.6	+2.0
	Liberal	Bertram Straus	2,275	49.4	−2.0
Majority			57	1.2	N/A
Turnout			4,607	84.3	+1.9
	Liberal Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+2.0

Straus

General election December 1910: Mile End ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Harry Levy-Lawson	2,176	50.1	−0.5
	Liberal	Bertram Straus	2,170	49.9	+0.5
Majority			6	0.2	−1.0
Turnout			4,346	79.5	−4.8
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	-0.5

General Election 1914–15:

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

• Unionist: Harry Levy-Lawson
• Liberal: Bertram Straus

Billing

1916 Mile End by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Warwick Brookes	1,991	55.2	+5.1
	Independent	Noel Pemberton Billing	1,615	44.8	New
Majority			376	10.4	+10.2
Turnout			3,606
	Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1918: Stepney, Mile End

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Unionist	Walter Preston	6,025	63.2	+13.1
	Labour	William Devenay	2,392	25.1	New
	Liberal	Charles John Ough Sanders [10]	1,119	11.7	−38.2
Majority			3,633	38.1	+37.9
Turnout			22,131	43.1	−36.4
	Unionist hold		Swing	N/A
Cindicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Mile End

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Walter Preston	6,014	41.0	−22.2
	Labour	John Scurr	5,219	35.5	+10.4
	Liberal	Robert Bernard Solomon	3,457	23.5	+11.8
Majority			795	5.5	−32.6
Turnout			14,690	63.8	+20.7
	Unionist hold		Swing	-16.3

General election 1923: Mile End

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Scurr	6,219	41.0	+5.5
	Unionist	Walter Preston	4,741	31.2	−9.8
	Liberal	Robert Bernard Solomon	4,215	27.8	+4.3
Majority			1,478	9.8	N/A
Turnout			23,787	63.8	0.0
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+7.6

General election 1924: Stepney, Mile End

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Scurr	8,306	48.5	+7.5
	Unionist	Johnnie Dodge	4,960	28.9	−2.3
	Liberal	Solomon Teff	3,872	22.6	−5.2
Majority			3,346	19.6	+9.8
Turnout			24,245	70.7	+6.9
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.9

General election 1929: Stepney, Mile End

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Scurr	11,489	47.1	−1.4
	Unionist	Johnnie Dodge	7,401	30.3	+1.4
	Liberal	Solomon Teff	5,525	22.6	0.0
Majority			4,088	16.8	−2.8
Turnout			34,662	70.4	−0.3
	Labour hold		Swing	-1.4

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Stepney, Mile End

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William O'Donovan	12,399	56.0	+25.7
	Labour	John Scurr	9,738	44.0	−3.1
Majority			2,661	12.0	−4.8
Turnout			36,896	60.0	−10.4
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+14.4

General election 1935: Stepney, Mile End

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Daniel Frankel	13,177	57.2	+13.2
	Conservative	William O'Donovan	9,859	42.8	−13.2
Majority			3318	14.4	+2.4
Turnout			36,294	63.5	+3.5
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+13.2

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1939–40

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected;

• Labour: Daniel Frankel ^[11]
• Conservative:

General election 1945: Stepney, Mile End

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Communist	Phil Piratin	5,075	47.6	New
	Labour	Daniel Frankel	3,861	36.2	−21.0
	Conservative	V. Motion	1,722	16.2	−26.6
Majority			1,214	11.4	N/A
Turnout			16,177	65.9	+2.4
	Communist gain from Labour		Swing	N/A

References

1. Craig, F.W.S. (1974). British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (1 ed.). London: Macmillan.
2. Craig, F.W.S. (1974). British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (1 ed.). London: Macmillan.
3. Craig, F.W.S. (1974). British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (1 ed.). London: Macmillan.
4. Craig, F.W.S. (1974). British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (1 ed.). London: Macmillan.
5. Craig, F.W.S. (1974). British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (1 ed.). London: Macmillan.
6. Craig, F.W.S. (1974). British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (1 ed.). London: Macmillan.
7. Craig, F.W.S. (1974). British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (1 ed.). London: Macmillan.
8. Craig, F.W.S. (1974). British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (1 ed.). London: Macmillan.
9. Craig, F.W.S. (1974). British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (1 ed.). London: Macmillan.
10. ‘SANDERS, Sir Charles John Ough’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2016; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014; online edn, April 2014
11. Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939

External links

• Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885–1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1885–1918, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (The Macmillan Press 1974)
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press, revised edition 1977)
• Social Geography of British Elections 1885–1910. by Henry Pelling (Macmillan 1967)
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "M" (part 2)