Victoria County (House of Assembly of South Africa constituency)

Victoria County
Former constituency for the South African House of Assembly
Province	Natal
Former constituency
Created	1910
Abolished	1920
Number of members	1
Last MHA	J. G. Hunter (Un)

Victoria County was a short-lived constituency in the Natal Province of South Africa, which existed from 1910 to 1920. It covered a coastal area north of Durban. Throughout its existence it elected one member to the House of Assembly.

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. The franchise used in the Natal Colony, while theoretically not restricted by race, was significantly less liberal than that of the Cape, and no more than a few hundred non-white electors ever qualified. In 1908, an estimated 200 of the 22,786 electors in the colony were of non-European descent, and by 1935, only one remained. ^[1] By 1958, when the last non-white voters in the Cape were taken off the rolls, Natal too had an all-white electorate. 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, which remained the case until the end of apartheid and the introduction of universal suffrage in 1994. ^[2]

History

As in most of Natal, the electorate of Victoria County was largely English-speaking and conservative. It was a stronghold for the Unionist Party, the most pro-British of South Africa's major parties, who won it over an independent in 1910 and unopposed in 1915. In 1920, Victoria County was abolished, and its MP, John George Hunter, stood for and won the new seat of Stamford Hill in Durban.

Members

Election		Member	Party
	1910	Charlie Henwood	Unionist
	1915	J. G. Hunter
	1920	Constituency abolished

^{[3] [4]}

Detailed results

Elections in the 1910s

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

General election 1910: Victoria County

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Charlie Henwood	635	64.8	New
	Independent	G. Armstrong	345	35.2	New
Majority			234	29.6	N/A
	Unionist win (new seat)

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

General election 1915: Victoria County

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	J. G. Hunter	Unopposed
	Unionist hold

References

1. May, H.J. (1955). The South African Constitution. 3rd ed. Cape Town: Juta & Co.
2. "EISA South Africa: Historical franchise arrangements". Eisa.org.za. Archived from the original on 9 May 2013. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
3. Schoeman, B.M. (1977). Parlementêre verkiesings in Suid-Afrika 1910-1976. Pretoria: Aktuele Publikasies.
4. Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa (1972). "House of Assembly" (vol. 5, pp. 617–636). Cape Town: Nasionale Opvoedkundige Uitgewery (Nasou).