Troyeville (House of Assembly of South Africa constituency)

Troyeville
Former constituency for the South African House of Assembly
Location of Troyeville within Johannesburg (1910)
Province	Transvaal
Electorate	9,778 (1948)
Former constituency
Created	1910
Abolished	1958
Number of members	1
Last MHA	Morris Kentridge (UP)

Troyeville was a constituency in the Transvaal Province of South Africa, which existed from 1910 to 1958. It covered a part of the inner eastern suburbs of Johannesburg, centred on the suburb of Troyeville. 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

Troyeville was a largely working-class constituency, and followed the general trend of such areas across South Africa's major cities. Its first MP, John William Quinn of the Unionist Party, left parliament in 1915, and the resulting by-election (not held until 1917) was won by Frederic Creswell, the leader of the Labour Party, who had lost his seat in Bezuidenhout at the previous general election. Creswell represented Troyeville until 1921, when he was defeated by the recently-reunited South African Party, and would represent three more constituencies through his long parliamentary career. At the 1924 election, Labour retook the seat with Morris Kentridge, who would represent Troyeville until the abolition of the constituency in 1958, after defecting to the SAP in 1933 and joining the United Party on that party's formation. Having already served intermittently in parliament starting in 1914, Kentridge retired from politics on his seat's abolition. His son, Sydney Kentridge, became a notable defence lawyer and anti-apartheid activist, defending Nelson Mandela in the 1956 Treason Trial and representing Steve Biko's family at the inquest into his death in 1978.

Members

Election		Member	Party
	1910	J. W. Quinn	Unionist
	1915
	1917 by	Frederic Creswell	Labour
	1920
	1921	W. S. Webber	South African
	1924	Morris Kentridge	Labour
	1929
	1933		South African
	1934		United
	1938
	1943
	1948
	1953
	1958	Constituency abolished

^{[2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]}

Detailed results

Elections in the 1910s

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

General election 1910: Troyeville

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	J. W. Quinn	1,172	59.9	New
	Het Volk	G. A. Mulligan	785	40.1	New
Majority			387	19.8	N/A
	Unionist win (new seat)

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

General election 1915: Troyeville

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	J. W. Quinn	1,119	58.3	−1.6
	Independent Labour	A. G. Barlow	802	41.7	New
Majority			317	16.6	N/A
Turnout			1,921	78.1	N/A
	Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

Troyeville by-election, 26 January 1917 ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Frederic Creswell	Unopposed
	Labour gain from Unionist

Elections in the 1920s

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

General election 1920: Troyeville

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Frederic Creswell	1,324	66.6	+24.9
	Unionist	O. A. Reid	664	33.4	−24.9
Majority			360	33.2	N/A
Turnout			1,988	64.9	−13.2
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+24.9

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

General election 1921: Troyeville

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	W. S. Webber	1,192	55.0	New
	Labour	Frederic Creswell	976	45.0	−21.6
Majority			216	10.0	N/A
Turnout			2,168	68.3	+3.4
	South African gain from Labour		Swing	N/A

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).
4. South Africa 1980/81: Official Yearbook of the Republic of South Africa. Johannesburg: Chris van Rensburg Publications.
5. South Africa 1983: Official Yearbook of the Republic of South Africa. Johannesburg: Chris van Rensburg Publications.
6. Government Gazette of South Africa, No. 10751. 22 May 1987. Pretoria: Government of South Africa.
7. Government Gazette of South Africa, No. 12109. 20 September 1989. Pretoria: Government of South Africa.