In its early years the borough was coterminous with the ancient Tower Hamlets, an area which covered the area of the modern London Borough of Tower Hamlets as well as Shoreditch and Hackney (the parish rather than the larger modern borough), thus extending from the edge of the City of London to the Lea. In 1868, the borough was split in two, with the southern part retaining the name.
The boundaries of the parliamentary borough were defined by the Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832 as "The several Divisions of the Liberty of the Tower, and the Tower Division of Ossulston Hundred".[1]
Tower Hamlets in the Metropolitan area, showing boundaries used from 1868 to 1885.
The Representation of the People Act 1867 widened the parliamentary franchise and also effected a redistribution of seats. This, along with a rapidly increasing population in the East End, resulted in the existing entity being reduced, shedding the parishes of Bethnal Green, Hackney and Shoreditch forming a separate Hackney constituency. The reformed Tower Hamlets was defined as comprising:[3]
The Whitechapel Union (Holy Trinity Minories, Mile End New Town, Norton Folgate, Old Artillery Ground, St Botolph Without Aldgate, St Katherine by the Tower, Spitalfields, Whitechapel.)
Turnout, in multi-member elections, is estimated by dividing the number of votes by two. To the extent that electors did not use both their votes, the figure given will be an underestimate.
Change is calculated for individual candidates, when a party had more than one candidate in an election or the previous one. When a party had only one candidate in an election and the previous one change is calculated for the party vote.
^ abYoungs, Frederic A, Jr. (1979). Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol.I: Southern England. London: Royal Historical Society. p. 749. ISBN0-901050-67-9.
^Representation of the People Act 1867 c.102, Schedule C
^Hawkins, Angus (1987). "Reform Deferred". Parliament, Party and the Art of Politics in Britain, 1855–59 (Illustrated ed.). Basingstoke: Macmillan Press. p. 83. ISBN9781349089253. Retrieved 6 April 2018 – via Google Books.