Upton (UK Parliament constituency)

Upton
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Upton in Essex, showing boundaries used from 1918 to 1950.
County	Essex
1918–1950
Number of members	One
Replaced by	West Ham North
Created from	West Ham North

Upton (strictly the Upton Division of West Ham) was a parliamentary constituency in the Borough of West Ham in the South-West of Essex (now East London), which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system.

The constituency was created for the 1918 general election and abolished for the 1950 general election.

Boundaries

The County Borough of West Ham wards of Park, Upton, and West Ham.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1918	Sir Ernest Wild	Coalition Conservative
	1922	David Margesson	Conservative
	1923	Benjamin Walter Gardner	Labour
	1924	Herbert Paton Holt	Conservative
	1929	Benjamin Walter Gardner	Labour
	1931	Alfred Chotzner	Conservative
	1934 by-election	Benjamin Walter Gardner	Labour
	1945	Arthur Lewis	Labour
1950		constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1910s

General election 1918: Upton ^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Unionist	Ernest Wild	8,813	61.2
	Labour	Benjamin Gardner	3,186	22.2
	Liberal	John Charles Nicholson	2,380	16.6
Majority			5,627	39.0
Turnout			14,379	46.8
	Unionist win (new seat)
Cindicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Upton ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	David Margesson	10,196	46.0	-15.2
	Labour	Benjamin Gardner	7,268	32.8	+10.6
	Liberal	John Charles Nicholson	4,692	21.2	+4.6
Majority			2,928	13.2	-25.8
Turnout			22,156	69.4	+22.6
	Unionist hold		Swing

General election 1923: Upton ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Benjamin Gardner	8,656	39.3	+6.5
	Unionist	David Margesson	7,630	34.7	-11.3
	Liberal	John Charles Carroll	5,710	26.0	+4.8
Majority			1,026	4.6	N/A
Turnout			21,996	67.2	-2.2
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+8.9

General election 1924: Upton ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Herbert Paton Holt	13,410	54.0	+19.3
	Labour	Benjamin Gardner	11,443	46.0	+6.7
Majority			1,967	8.0	N/A
Turnout			24,853	74.8	+7.6
	Unionist gain from Labour		Swing

General election 1929: Upton ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Benjamin Gardner	14,703	49.0	+3.0
	Unionist	Morgan Morgan	9,681	32.3	-21.7
	Liberal	W. J. Austin	5,607	18.7	New
Majority			5,022	16.7	+24.7
Turnout			29,991	70.8	-4.0
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+12.3

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Upton ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alfred Chotzner	17,561	58.5	+26.2
	Labour	Benjamin Gardner	12,453	41.5	-7.5
Majority			5,108	17.0	N/A
Turnout			30,014	70.4	-0.4
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

1934 Upton by-election ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Benjamin Gardner	11,998	56.4	+14.9
	Conservative	John Macnamara	8,534	40.1	-18.4
	Ind. Labour Party	Fenner Brockway	748	3.5	New
Majority			3,464	16.3	N/A
Turnout			21,280	50.5	-19.9
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+17.0

General election 1935: Upton ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Benjamin Gardner	13,685	53.2	-3.2
	Conservative	Stephen Riou Benson	12,020	46.8	+6.7
Majority			1,665	6.4	-9.9
Turnout			25,705	62.7	+12.2
	Labour hold		Swing

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: D. Robert Rees ^[9]
• Conservative:
• British Union: Arthur Beaven

Elections in the 1940s

General election 1945: Upton ^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Arthur Lewis	14,281	74.5	+21.3
	Conservative	CK Collins	4,885	25.5	-21.3
Majority			9,396	49.0	+42.6
Turnout			19,166	67.4	+4.7
	Labour hold		Swing	+21.3

References

1. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
2. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
3. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
4. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
5. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
6. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
7. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
8. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
9. Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939
10. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig

Bibliography

• 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 "U"