Westminster St George's (UK Parliament constituency)

Westminster St George's
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
County	County of London
1885–1950
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Cities of London and Westminster
Created from	Westminster

Westminster St George's, originally named St George's, Hanover Square, was a parliamentary constituency in Central London. It 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 system of election.

History

The constituency was created under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, and was then named "St George Hanover Square" after the parish of the same name.

It was renamed in 1918 as "Westminster St George's", and abolished in 1950.

Boundaries

File:StGeorgesHanoverSquare1885.png

St George Hanover Square in the Metropolitan area 1885-1918

St George's in the Parliamentary County of London 1918-50

Westminster Metropolitan Borough wards in 1916

1885-1918

From 1885 to 1918, when the constituency was known as St George Hanover Square, it was defined as being coterminus with the civil parish of the same name. In 1900 the parish was included for local government purposes in the area of the Metropolitan Borough of Westminster. This did not affect the name or boundaries of the constituency until 1918.

1918-1950

The Boundary Commission report of 1918 (Cd. 8756), at Schedule-Part II no. 78, defined the constituency as the following wards of the Metropolitan Borough of Westminster:

• Conduit: A small ward running from the top of Regent Street down through Hanover Square, the eastern side of Berkeley Square, and down to the Ritz on Piccadilly.
• Grosvenor: Covering the whole of Mayfair and the northern half of Hyde Park.
• Hamlet of Knightsbridge: The southern half of Hyde Park, together with Knightsbridge and part of the museums area north of South Kensington including the Royal Albert Hall.
• Knightsbridge St. George's: The area of Belgravia.
• Victoria: A very large ward running from Buckingham Palace south to include Victoria Station, and Pimlico.

The constituency also included "the part of the Charing Cross Ward which lies to the south and west of a line drawn from the ward boundary at the centre of Wellington Arch, along the middle of Constitution Hill, thence along the middle of the road to the north and east of the Queen Victoria Memorial, thence along the middle of Spur Road to boundary of St. Margaret Ward". This area included the remainder of the grounds of Buckingham Palace which were not in the Victoria Ward, but contained no electors. The boundary commissioners proposals were enacted by Schedule 9 of the Representation of the People Act 1918.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Lord Algernon Percy	Conservative
	1887 by-election	George Goschen	Liberal Unionist
	1900	Hon. Heneage Legge	Conservative
	1906 by-election	Hon. Alfred Lyttelton	Liberal Unionist
	1912		Conservative
	1913 by-election	Sir Alexander Henderson, Bt	Conservative
	1916 by-election	Sir George Reid	Conservative
	1918 by-election	Sir Newton Moore	Conservative
	1918	Walter Long	Coalition Conservative
	1921 by-election	James Erskine	Anti-Waste League and Independent Conservative
	1923		Conservative
	1929	Sir Laming Worthington-Evans, Bt.	Conservative
	1931 by-election	Duff Cooper	Conservative
	1945	Arthur Howard	Conservative
	1950	constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Westminster St George's

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Arthur Howard	13,086	67.2
	Common Wealth	W B D Brown	5,314	27.3
	Independent	D Crisp	1,069	5.5
Majority			7,772	39.9
Turnout			19,469	57.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1930s

Duff Cooper

General Election 1935: Westminster St George's

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Duff Cooper	25,424	84.6
	Labour	Mrs Anne Freemantle	4,643	15.4
Majority			20,781	69.2
Turnout			30,067	55.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election of 1931

In the 1931 general election, Duff Cooper, Conservative was elected unopposed.

By-election 1931: Westminster St George's Electorate

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Duff Cooper	17,242	59.9
	Independent Conservative	E W Petter	11,532	40.1
Majority			5,710	19.8
Turnout			28,774	53.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1929: Westminster St George's

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Rt Hon. Sir Worthington Laming Worthington-Evans	22,448	78.1	n/a
	Labour	Joseph George Butler	6,294	21.9	n/a
Majority			16,154	56.2	n/a
Turnout			28,742	53.3	n/a
	Unionist hold		Swing	n/a

General election of 1924

In the 1924 general election, James Erskine, Unionist was elected unopposed.

General election of 1923

In the 1923 general election, James Erskine, now an official Unionist, was elected unopposed.

Mary Allen

General Election 1922: Westminster St George's

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Conservative	James Erskine	11,252	55.9
	Conservative	Leslie Orme Wilson	7,559	37.6
	Liberal	Mary Sophia Allen	1,303	6.5
Majority			3,693	18.3
Turnout			20,114	62.2
	Independent Conservative hold		Swing

By-election 1921: Westminster St George's

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Anti-Waste League	James Erskine	7,244	57.5	N/A
	Coalition Conservative	Sir Herbert Merton Jessel, Bt.	5,356	42.5	-47.7
Majority			1,888	15.0
Turnout			12,600	39.8
	Anti-Waste League gain from Coalition Conservative		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1918: Westminster St George's

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Coalition Conservative	Walter Long	10,453	90.2
	Liberal	Henry Thomas Mackenzie Bell	1,140	9.8
Majority			9,313	80.4
Turnout			11,593	39.9
	Coalition Conservative hold		Swing

By-election of 1918

In the 1918 by-election, Sir Newton Moore, Conservative was elected unopposed.

By-election of 1916

In the 1916 by-election, Sir George Reid, Conservative was elected unopposed.

By-election of 1913

In the 1913 by-election, Sir Alexander Henderson, Conservative was elected unopposed.

General Election Dec 1910: St George's, Hanover Square

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Alfred Lyttelton	4,398	78.7
	Liberal	Henry Thomas Mackenzie Bell	1,188	21.3
Majority			3,210	57.4
Turnout			5,586	62.4
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing

General Election Jan 1910: St George's, Hanover Square

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Alfred Lyttelton	5,383	78.6
	Liberal	Henry Thomas Mackenzie Bell	1,469	21.4
Majority			3,914	57.2
Turnout			6,852	76.5
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing

Elections in the 1900s

By-election of 1906

In the 1906 by-election, Alfred Lyttelton, Liberal Unionist was elected unopposed.

General Election 1906: St George's, Hanover Square

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Heneage Legge	4,264	66.1
	Liberal	M C Mallik	2,191	33.9
Majority			2,073	32.2
Turnout			6,455	69.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1900: St George's, Hanover Square

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Heneage Legge	3,852	75.1
	Liberal	W Everitt	1,278	24.9
Majority			2,574	50.2
Turnout			5,130	52.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1890s

General election of 1895

In the 1895 general election, George Goschen, Conservative was elected unopposed.

By-election of 1895

In the 1895 by-election, George Goschen, Conservative was elected unopposed.

General election of 1892

In the 1892 general election, George Goschen, Liberal Unionist was elected unopposed.

Elections in the 1880s

By-election 1887: St George's, Hanover Square

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	George Goschen	5,702	78.7
	Liberal	J Haysman	1,545	21.3
Majority			4,157	57.4
Turnout			7,247	65.4
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing

General election of 1886

In the 1886 general election, Lord Algernon Percy, Conservative was elected unopposed.

General Election 1885: St George's, Hanover Square

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Lord Algernon Percy	5,256	67.7
	Liberal	Sir W G F Phillimore	2,503	32.3
Majority			2,753	35.4
Turnout			7,759	73.9

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 1)
• F. W. S. Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1885 - 1918
• F. W. S. Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918 - 1949