Croydon (UK Parliament constituency)

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Croydon
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
County Surrey
18851918
Number of members One
Replaced by Croydon North and Croydon South
Created from East Surrey

Croydon was a constituency in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 to 1918. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Boundaries

This constituency was a parliamentary borough covering an area based on the town of Croydon. Croydon had been a Municipal Borough from 1883 and was to become a County Borough in 1889. By 1902, at the latest, the parliamentary and local government boroughs had the same boundaries.

The Royal Commission on London Traffic, which reported in 1906, included the borough in its definition of Greater London. It is part of the northern section of the historic county of Surrey, which was included in Greater London after 1965.

From 1918 Croydon was divided into two borough constituencies - Croydon North and Croydon South.

History

A large part of the inhabitants of this constituency commuted to work in the City of London. It was however an area where attendance at Nonconformist chapels exceeded that at Anglican churches, according to the Daily News survey of 1902. By the time of the 1911 census a larger artisan population had moved in so the social status of the borough was declining.

The constituency was in general Conservative, but less strongly so than many suburban commuter seats around London. The Labour Party secured 20% of the vote, in a three way contest, in the 1906 election.

Members of Parliament

Election Member Party
1885 William Grantham Conservative
1886 by-election Hon. Sidney Herbert Conservative
1895 by-election Charles Thomson Ritchie Conservative
1906 H. O. Arnold-Forster Liberal Unionist
1909 by-election Sir Robert Hermon-Hodge, Bt. Conservative
Dec 1910 Ian Zachary Malcolm Conservative
1918 constituency abolished: see Croydon North & Croydon South

Election results

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1885: Croydon[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative William Grantham 5,484 56.0 n/a
Liberal Jabez Spencer Balfour 4,315 44.0 n/a
Majority 1,169 12.0 n/a
Turnout 77.7 n/a
Conservative win (new seat)
File:Sydney Buxton.jpg
Sydney Buxton
Croydon by-election, 1886[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Hon. Sidney Herbert 5,205 53.9 -2.1
Liberal Sydney Charles Buxton 4,458 46.1 +2.1
Majority 747 7.8 -4.2
Turnout 76.6
Conservative hold Swing -2.1
General Election 1886: Croydon[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Hon. Sidney Herbert
Liberal
Majority
Turnout
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1890s

General Election 1892: Croydon[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Hon. Sidney Herbert
Liberal
Majority
Turnout
Conservative hold Swing
Croydon by-election, 1895[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Rt Hon. Charles Thomson Ritchie unopposed n/a n/a
Conservative hold Swing n/a
General Election 1895: Croydon[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Rt Hon. Charles Thomson Ritchie n/a
Liberal
Majority
Turnout
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1900s

Charles Ritchie
General Election 1900: Croydon[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Rt Hon. Charles Thomson Ritchie
Liberal
Majority
Turnout
Conservative hold Swing
General Election 1906: Croydon[8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Unionist Rt Hon. Hugh Oakeley Arnold-Forster 8,211 41.5
Liberal Henry Charles Somers Augustus Somerset 7,573 38.3
Labour Sidney Stranks 4,007 20.2
Majority 638 3.2
Turnout 83.0
Liberal Unionist hold Swing
Croydon by-election, 1909[9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Sir Robert Trotter Hermon-Hodge 11,989 57.4
Liberal J E Raphael 8,041 38.4
Labour Frank S Smith 886 4.2
Majority 3,948 19.0
Turnout 79.0
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1910s

General Election January 1910: Croydon[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Sir Robert Trotter Hermon-Hodge 12,223 51.9
Liberal Arthur Lewis Leon 11,327 48.1
Majority 896 3.8
Turnout 86.1
Conservative hold Swing
General Election December 1910: Croydon[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Ian Zachary Malcolm 11,875 53.4
Liberal Arthur Lewis Leon 10,343 46.6
Majority 1,532 6.8
Turnout 81.2
Conservative hold Swing

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;

Note: In 1906 this constituency was close enough to London to be considered part of a Greater London area. From 1965 Croydon formed part of the administrative area of Greater London. Nevertheless at the time it existed the constituency was a Surrey borough, so it was in the South East region rather than the London region. Both regional historic constituency categories apply.

See also

References

  1. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  2. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  3. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  4. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  5. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  6. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  7. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  8. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  9. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  10. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  11. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)