Croydon South (historic UK Parliament constituency)

This seat should not be confused with the current Croydon South constituency
Croydon South
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
County Surrey until 1965, then Greater London
1955–1974 (1974)
Number of members One
Replaced by Croydon Central
Created from Croydon East and Croydon West
1918–1950
Number of members One
Type of constituency Borough constituency
Replaced by Croydon East and Croydon West
Created from Croydon

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

It was created for the 1918 general election when the County Borough of Croydon had grown and was split into two parliamentary seats.

In 1974 the seat was renamed Croydon Central, following the 1965 addition of Purley and Coulsdon to the London Borough of Croydon, and a new seat of Croydon South was created to the south, with little overlap.

Boundaries

1918-1950: The County Borough of Croydon wards of Central, East, South, and West.

1955-1974: The County Borough of Croydon wards of Addington, Broad Green, Central, Shirley, South, and Waddon.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1918–1950

Election Name Party Notes
1918 Ian Malcolm Conservative previously MP for Croydon
1919 by-election Allan Macgregor Smith Conservative
1923 William Mitchell-Thomson Conservative
1932 by-election Herbert Williams Conservative
1945 David Rees-Williams Labour
1950 constituency abolished

From 1950 to 1955 the seat was divided into Croydon East and Croydon West.

MPs 1955–1974

Election Name Party
1955 Richard Thompson Conservative
1966 David Winnick Labour
1970 Richard Thompson Conservative
Feb 1974 constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1910s

1918 General Election[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist 17,813 71.8 n/a
Labour Henry Thomas Muggeridge[2] 7,006 28.2 n/a
Majority 10,807 43.6 n/a
Turnout 55.0 n/a
Unionist win
Croydon South by-election, 1919 [3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Sir Allan Macgregor Smith 11,777 55.2 -16.6
Liberal Howard Houlder 9,573 44.8 n/a
Majority 2,204 10.4 -33.2
Turnout 45.5 -9.5
Unionist hold Swing n/a

Elections in the 1920s

1922 General Election [4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Allan Macgregor Smith 15,356 47.3
Labour Henry Thomas Muggeridge 8,942 27.5 n/a
Liberal Thomas William Dobson 8,183 25.2
Majority 6,414 19.8
Turnout 66.4
Unionist hold Swing
1923 General Election [5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Sir William Lowson Mitchell-Thomson 14,310 45.5 -1.8
Labour Henry Thomas Muggeridge 9,926 31.6 +4.1
Liberal Elias Wynne Cemlyn-Jones 7,208 25.2 -2.3
Majority 4,384 13.9 -5.9
Turnout 63.4 -3.0
Unionist hold Swing -3.0
General Election 1929: Croydon South [6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Sir William Lowson Mitchell-Thomson 23,258 49.2
Labour E.W. Wilton 13,793 29.2
Liberal Albert Sigismund Elwell-Sutton 10,218 21.6 n/a
Majority 9,465 20.0
Turnout
Unionist hold Swing

Elections in 1930s

General Election 1931: Croydon South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Sir William Lowson Mitchell-Thomson 40,672 80.34
Labour T Crawford 9,950 19.66
Majority 30,722 60.69
Turnout 68.33
Conservative hold Swing
Croydon South by-election, 1932
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Herbert Williams 19,126 67.5 −12.8
Labour R. P. Messel 9,189 32.5 +12.8
Majority 9,937 35.0 −25.6
Turnout 28,315 38.2 −30.1
Conservative hold Swing −12.8
General Election 1935: Croydon South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Herbert Williams 31971 62.3% -18.0%
Labour T Crawford 14,900 29.0% +9.3%
Liberal David William Alun Llewellyn 4,440 8.7% +8.7%
Majority 17,071 33.3%
Turnout 45,860 65.2%
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in 1940s

General Election 1945: Croydon South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Lt. Col. David Rees Rees-Williams 27,650 53.4 24.4
Conservative Sir Herbert Williams 24,147 46.6 −15.7
Majority 3,503 6.8
Turnout 51,797 70.1
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

Elections in 1950s

General Election 1955: Croydon South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Richard Hilton Marler Thompson 27,359 56.98
Labour A Carr 20,659 43.02
Majority 6,700 13.95
Turnout 77.23
Conservative hold Swing
General Election 1959: Croydon South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Richard Hilton Marler Thompson 29,284 58.16
Labour FA Messer 22,069 41.84
Majority 8,215 16.31
Turnout 79.13
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in 1960s

General Election 1964: Croydon South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Sir Richard Hilton Marler Thompson 24,854 52.75
Labour Tyrell Burgess 22,265 47.25
Majority 2,589 5.49
Turnout 74.27
Conservative hold Swing
General Election 1966: Croydon South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour David Julian Winnick 21,496 44.73
Conservative Sir Richard Hilton Marler Thompson 21,415 44.56
Liberal W Edward P Babbs 5,146 10.71
Majority 81 0.17
Turnout 76.10
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

Elections in 1970s

General Election 1970: Croydon South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Sir Richard Hilton Marler Thompson 25,986 49.74
Labour David Julian Winnick 22,283 42.65
Liberal Michael R Lane 3,673 7.03
Independent C Thornton 303 0.58
Majority 3,703 7.09
Turnout 71.29
Conservative hold Swing

Politics and history of the constituency

The seat was created in 1918 and the first MP was Ian Malcolm, who had been the MP for all of Croydon. H.T. Muggeridge, father of Malcolm Muggeridge, fought the seat for Labour four times from 1918, later becoming MP for Romford. The seat saw a by-election in 1932, won by Herbert Williams.

Croydon South had twice seen Croydon's only Labour MPs before the 1990s. David Rees-Williams held the seat from the 1945 Labour landslide until unfavourable boundary changes in 1950. David Winnick won the seat in 1966 before losing in 1970. Otherwise the seat, and indeed the rest of Croydon, had always been firm Conservative territory.

From 1950 until 1955 the seat was divided into east and west, represented by Conservatives Herbert Williams and Richard Thompson respectively.

References

  1. ↑ F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949
  2. ↑ Debrett's House of Commons 1922
  3. ↑ F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949
  4. ↑ F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949
  5. ↑ F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949
  6. ↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig

Sources

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