Battersea South (UK Parliament constituency)

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Battersea South
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
CountyCounty of London, then Greater London
1918–1983
Number of membersOne
Replaced byBattersea, Tooting
Created fromBattersea (abolished and largely succeeded by Battersea North)
Clapham (part of)

Battersea South was a parliamentary constituency, originally in the County of London and later in Greater London. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the UK Parliament (using first-past-the-post voting).

It was created for the 1918 general election, when the former Battersea constituency was divided in two and the Clapham constituency was reduced in size, losing both of its Battersea wards of the four in total. Battersea South was abolished for the 1983 general election, when the bulk of its territory was reunited with Battersea North to form a new Battersea seat. The south of its area formed a new Tooting seat.

Boundaries[]

Battersea South in London 1918-50
A map showing the wards of Battersea Metropolitan Borough as they appeared in 1916
Battersea South in London 1950-74

1918–1950: The Metropolitan Borough of Battersea wards of Bolingbroke, Broomwood, St John, Shaftesbury, and Winstanley.

1950–1974: The Metropolitan Borough of Battersea wards of Bolingbroke, Broomwood, Lavender, Nightingale, St John, Shaftesbury, Stormont, and Thornton.

1974–1983: The London Borough of Wandsworth wards of Balham, Earlsfield, Fairfield, Nightingale, and Northcote.

The seat was created by the Representation of the People Act 1918. When seats were redistributed by the Representation of the People Act 1948 the boundaries of the constituency were altered to contain only four wards, and Winstanley ward was transferred to Battersea North.[1] However the wards of the borough were redrawn in 1949 prior to the next general election in 1950.[2] Accordingly, changes were made under the House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1949. Of the 16 new wards, eight were included in each of the Battersea North and South constituencies.[3][4]

In 1965 Battersea became part of the London Borough of Wandsworth. This, however made no immediate change to the parliamentary constituencies. It was not until the general election of February 1974 that the constituency boundaries were altered.[5] The Shaftesbury and St John's wards were transferred to Battersea North, while the redrawn constituency incorporated areas previously in the Clapham and Putney seats. These boundaries were used until abolition.[4]

The constituency was abolished in 1983. Most of its area (Balham, Fairfield and Northcote wards) went to the recreated Battersea seat, with part (Earlsfield and Nightingale wards) passing to Tooting.[5]

Members of Parliament[]

Election Member Party
1918 Viscount Curzon Conservative
1929 by-election William Bennett Labour
1931 Sir Harry Selley Conservative
1945 Caroline Ganley Labour Co-operative
1951 Ernest Partridge Conservative
1964 Ernie Perry Labour
1979 Alf Dubs Labour
1983 constituency abolished

Election results[]

Elections in the 1970s[]

General election 1979: Battersea South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Alf Dubs 13,984 45.11
Conservative Wellesley Wallace 13,652 44.04
Liberal Jennifer Ware 2,802 9.04
National Front A Perry 561 1.81 New
Majority 332 1.07
Turnout 31,000 70.92
Labour hold Swing
General election October 1974: Battersea South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Ernest Perry 14,284 47.84
Conservative Wellesley Wallace 11,433 38.29
Liberal Jennifer Ware 3,971 13.3
More Prosperous Britain Thomas Keen 170 0.57 New
Majority 2,851 9.55
Turnout 29,856 63.9
Labour hold Swing
General election February 1974: Battersea South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Ernest Perry 14,431 42.55
Conservative Anthony V Bradbury 12,778 37.68
Liberal G Mulholland 5,919 17.45
National Front John Clifton 787 2.32
Majority 1,653 4.87
Turnout 33,916 73.02
Labour hold Swing
General election 1970: Battersea South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Ernest Perry 10,925 49.54
Conservative Ian Norman Samuel 9,227 41.84
Liberal Raymond Benad 1,183 5.36
National Front Tom Lamb 716 3.25 New
Majority 1,698 7.70
Turnout 22,050 63.57
Labour hold Swing

Elections in the 1960s[]

General election 1966: Battersea South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Ernest Perry 13,651 52.94
Conservative Ian Norman Samuel 9,861 38.24
Liberal Basil Weekley 2,276 8.83
Majority 3,790 14.70
Turnout 25,788 72.95
Labour hold Swing
General election 1964: Battersea South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Ernest Perry 12,253 46.84
Conservative Ernest Partridge 10,615 40.57
Liberal David Layton 3,294 12.59
Majority 1,638 6.27 N/A
Turnout 26,162 72.30
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

Elections in the 1950s[]

General election 1959: Battersea South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Ernest Partridge 14,203 48.26
Labour Geoffrey Rhodes 12,451 42.31
Liberal William Broderick Mattinson 2,774 9.43
Majority 1,752 5.95
Turnout 29,428 78.85
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1955: Battersea South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Ernest Partridge 15,044 47.57
Labour Eric Kenneth I Hurst 14,365 45.42
Liberal Alan Cooper-Smith 2,219 7.02 New
Majority 679 2.15
Turnout 31,628 80.60
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1951: Battersea South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Ernest Partridge 17,731 50.71
Labour Caroline Ganley 17,237 49.29
Majority 494 1.42 N/A
Turnout 34,968 85.61
Conservative gain from Labour Swing
General election 1950: Battersea South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Caroline Ganley 16,142 46.30
Conservative Ernest Partridge 15,774 45.24
Liberal Clifford Henry Tyers 2,949 8.46 New
Majority 368 1.06
Turnout 34,865 85.62
Labour hold Swing

Election in the 1940s[]

General election 1945: Battersea South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Caroline Ganley 19,275 61.53
Conservative Ernest Partridge 12,050 38.47
Majority 7,225 23.06 N/A
Turnout 31,325 73.04
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

Election in the 1930s[]

General election 1935: Battersea South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Harry Selley 21,268 57.3 -9.6
Labour Herbert Romeril 15,821 42.7 +11.9
Majority 5,447 14.6 -21.5
Turnout 37.089
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1931: Battersea South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Harry Selley 27,857 66.9 +24.1
Labour William Bennett 12,822 30.8 -13.1
New Party Leslie Charles Cuming 909 2.3 New
Majority 15,035 36.1 N/A
Turnout 41,588
Conservative gain from Labour Swing

Election in the 1920s[]

General election 1929: Battersea South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour William Bennett 18,113 43.9 +1.6
Unionist Harry Selley 17,695 42.8 -14.9
Liberal William J. West 5,516 13.3 N/A
Majority 418 1.1 N/A
Turnout 41,324 72.5
Labour gain from Unionist Swing
1929 Battersea South by-election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour William Bennett 11,789 45.5 +3.2
Unionist Harry Selley 11,213 43.4 -14.3
Liberal Vivian Albu 2.858 11.1 New
Majority 576 2.1 N/A
Turnout 25,557 57.7
Labour gain from Unionist Swing
Curzon
General election 1924: Battersea South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Francis Curzon 19,588 57.7 +5.7
Labour Albert Winfield 14,371 42.3 -5.7
Majority 5,217 15.4 +11.4
Turnout 33,959
Unionist hold Swing
General election 1923: Battersea South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Francis Curzon 14,558 52.0 −9.5
Labour Albert Winfield 13,440 48.0 +9.5
Majority 1,118 4.0 −19.0
Turnout 27,998
Unionist hold Swing −9.5
General election 1922: Battersea South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Francis Curzon 17,685 61.5 −6.7
Labour Albert Winfield 11,050 38.5 +23.8
Majority 6,635 23.0 −30.5
Turnout 28,735
Unionist hold Swing −15.2

Election in the 1910s[]

Lynch
General election 1918: Battersea South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
C Unionist Francis Curzon 15,670 68.2
Labour Arthur Lynch 3,383 14.7
Liberal Joseph William Molden 2,273 9.9
Independent John Ernest Philip Jenkin* 1,657 7.2
Majority 12,287 53.5
Turnout 22,983 53.4
Unionist win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

* Jenkin was supported by and possibly the nominee of the local National Federation of Discharged and Demobilized Sailors and Soldiers branch.

References[]

  1. ^ Representation of the People Act 1948, (1948, C.65), Schedule 1
  2. ^ Battersea (Wards) Order 1949 (S.I. 1949/552)
  3. ^ The House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) (No. 2) Order, 1949 (S.I. 1949 No. 1440)
  4. ^ a b F A Youngs Jr., Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol I: Southern England, London, 1979
  5. ^ a b The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 1970 (1970 No. 1674)
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