Hackney South (UK Parliament constituency)

Hackney South
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
1885–1955
Number of members	one
Replaced by	Bethnal Green and Hackney Central
Created from	Hackney

Hackney South was a parliamentary constituency in "The Metropolis" (later the County of London). It was represented by nine Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, only two of whom, Horatio Bottomley and Herbert Morrison, were returned.

History

The constituency was created under the Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885 when the two-member Parliamentary Borough of Hackney was split into three single-member divisions. The seat, officially the Southern Division of the Parliamentary Borough of Hackney was first contested at the 1885 general election. The constituency was abolished in 1955.

Boundaries

Hackney South in London 1885-1918

Hackney South in London 1918-50

Hackney South in London 1950-55

A map showing the wards of Hackney Metropolitan Borough as they appeared in 1916.

1885 - 1918

In 1885 the constituency was defined as consisting of:

• No. 7 or South Hackney Ward of Hackney Parish
• No. 6 or Homerton Ward of Hackney Parish
• The part of the No. 5 or Hackney Ward of Hackney Parish south of the centres of Everning Road, Upper Clapton Road, and the Upper and Lower Clapton Roads.^[1]

1918 - 1950

The Representation of the People Act 1918 redrew constituencies throughout Great Britain. Seats in the County of London were redefined in terms of wards of the Metropolitan Boroughs that had been created in 1900. The Metropolitan Borough of Hackney was divided into three divisions, with the same names as the constituencies created in 1885. Hackney South was defined as consisting of:

• Homerton Ward
• South Hackney Ward
• Stamford Hill Ward
• The part of Clapton Park Ward to the south of a line drawn along the centres of Glenarm Road, Glyn Road and Redwald Road to its junction with Maclaren Street, thence across the recreation grounds in Daubeney Road to the borough boundary at a point fifty feet north of a boundary post situate at the junction of the Waterworks River with the River Lea at Lead Mill Point.^[2]

1950 - 1955

Under the Representation of the People Act 1948 the Boroughs of Hackney and Stoke Newington jointly formed two seats, the borough constituencies of Stoke Newington and Hackney North and Hackney South. Hackney South was enlarged: consisting of the Metropolitan Borough of Hackney except the five wards of Leaside, Maury, Southwold, Springfield and Stamford.^[3]

Redistribution

Following a review of constituencies by the Boundary Commission appointed under the House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1949, parliamentary seats in the metropolitan boroughs of Bethnal Green, Hackney and Stoke Newington were redrawn. The Hackney South constituency was abolished, with most passing to a new Hackney Central borough constituency, and some parts to Bethnal Green.^[4]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party	Notes
	1885	Sir Charles Russell	Liberal	later Baron Russell of Killowen
	1894 by-election	John Fletcher Moulton	Liberal	later Baron Moulton
	1895	Thomas Herbert Robertson	Conservative
	1906	Horatio Bottomley	Liberal	resigned 16 May 1912 after being declared bankrupt
	1912 by-election	Hector Morison	Liberal
	1918	Horatio Bottomley	Independent	expelled 1 Aug 1922 after being convicted of fraud
	1922 by-election	Clifford Erskine-Bolst	Conservative
	1923	Herbert Morrison	Labour	later Baron Morrison of Lambeth
	1924	George Garro-Jones	Liberal	later 1st Baron Trefgarne
	1929	Herbert Morrison	Labour	later Baron Morrison of Lambeth
	1931	Marjorie Graves	Conservative
	1935	Herbert Morrison	Labour	later Baron Morrison of Lambeth
	1945	Herbert Butler	Labour
	1955	constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1885: Hackney South [5][6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Arthur Russell	3,544	57.7	N/A
	Conservative	Charles John Darling	2,602	42.3	N/A
Majority			942	15.3	N/A
	Liberal win (new seat)

Scoble

Hackney South by-election 1886[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Charles Arthur Russell	3,174	61.4	+3.7
	Conservative	Andrew Richard Scoble	1,979	38.3	-4.0
	Independent Conservative	Henry Munster	17	0.3	N/A
Majority			1,195	23.1	+7.8
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1886: Hackney South [8][9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Charles Arthur Russell	2,800	50.9	-10.5
	Conservative	Charles John Darling	2,700	49.1	+10.8
Majority			100	1.8	-21.3
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

Elections in the 1890s

H. Robertson

General Election 1892: Hackney South [10][11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Charles Arthur Russell	4,537	57.9	+7.0
	Conservative	Thomas Herbert Robertson	3,293	42.1	-7.0
Majority			1,244	15.9	+14.1
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

J.F. Moulton

Hackney South by-election 1894 [12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Fletcher Moulton	4,530	51.1	-6.8
	Conservative	Thomas Herbert Robertson	4,338	48.9	+6.8
Majority			192	2.2	-13.7
	Liberal hold

General Election 1895: Hackney South [13][14]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Thomas Herbert Robertson	4,681	51.2	+2.3
	Liberal	John Fletcher Moulton	4,362	48.8	-2.3
Majority			319	3.5	+5.7
Turnout
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1900: Hackney South [15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Thomas Herbert Robertson	4,714	50.1	+1.3
	Liberal	Horatio William Bottomley	4,376	49.9	-1.3
Majority			338	3.6	+0.1
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1906: Hackney South [16]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Horatio William Bottomley	6,736	62.4	+12.5
	Conservative	Thomas Herbert Robertson	3,257	30.2	-19.9
	Independent Liberal	Rev. William Riley	804	7.4	N/A
Majority			3,476	32.2	+38.8
Turnout
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing

Elections in the 1910s

General Election January 1910: Hackney South [17][18]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Horatio William Bottomley	7,299	62.9	+0.5
	Conservative	Conway Wertheimer	4,304	37.1	+6.9
Majority			2,995	25.8	-6.4
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election December 1910: Hackney South [19][20]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Horatio William Bottomley	5.068	49.4	-13.3
	Conservative	Sydney Charles Nettleton King-Farlow	3,243	31.6	-5.5
	Independent Liberal	Richard Henry Roberts	1,946	19.0	N/A
Majority			1,825	17.8	-8.0
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

Hackney South by-election 1912 [21]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Hector Morison	5,339	52.5	+3.1
	Conservative	John Constant Gibson	4,836	47.5	+15.9
Majority			503	4.9	-12.9
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1918: Hackney South[22]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Horatio William Bottomley	11,145	79.7	N/A
	Liberal	Arthur Henry	2,830	20.3	N/A
Majority			8,315	59.5	N/A
	Independent gain from Liberal

• endorsed by Coalition Government

Elections in the 1920s

Hackney South by-election 1922
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Clifford Charles Alan Lawrence Erskine-Bolst	9,118	50.2	N/A
	Labour	George Wilfrid Holford Knight	9,046	49.8	N/A
Majority			72	0.4	N/A
Turnout
	Unionist gain from Independent		Swing

General Election 1922: Hackney South[23][24]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Clifford Charles Alan Lawrence Erskine-Bolst	14,017	51.4	+1.2
	Labour	George Wilfrid Holford Knight	9,276	48.6	-1.2
Majority			4,741	17.4	+17.0
Turnout
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1923: Hackney South[25][26]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Herbert Stanley Morrison	9,578	42.8	-5.8
	Liberal	George Morgan Garro-Jones	6,757	30.2	n/a
	Unionist	Clifford Charles Alan Lawrence Erskine-Bolst	6,047	27.0	-24.4
Majority			2,821	12.2	+29.6
Turnout				65.8	-4.2
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	n/a

General Election 1924: Hackney South[27][28]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	George Morgan Trefgarne	13,415	53.5	+23.3
	Labour	Herbert Stanley Morrison	11,651	46.5	+3.7
Majority			1,761	7.0	+19.2
Turnout
	Liberal gain from Labour		Swing

General Election 1929: Hackney South[29][30]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Herbert Stanley Morrison	15,590	51.2	+4.7
	Unionist	Sir Tresham Joseph Philip Lever	8,222	27.0	N/A
	Liberal	Miss Muriel Morgan Gibbon	6,302	20.7	-32.8
	Communist	John Thomas Murphy	331	1.1	N/A
Majority			7,368	24.2	+31.2
Turnout
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931: Hackney South[31][32]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Frances Marjorie Graves	15,920	55.4	+28.4
	Labour	Herbert Stanley Morrison	12,827	44.6	-6.6
Majority			3,093	10.8	+35.0
Turnout
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General Election 1935: Hackney South[33][34]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Herbert Stanley Morrison	15,830	59.3	+14.7
	Conservative	Frances Marjorie Graves	10,876	40.7	-14.7
Majority			4,954	18.6	+29.4
Turnout
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election 1939/40

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected;

• Labour: Herbert Stanley Morrison^[35]
• Liberal National:

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Hackney South[36][37]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Herbert William Butler	10,432	51.6	-7.7
	Liberal National	Stanley Price	4,901	24.2	N/A
	Communist	William Charles Rust	4,891	24.2	N/A
Majority			5,531	27.4	+8.8
Turnout
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: Hackney South [38][39]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Herbert William Butler	35,821	61.0	+9.6
	Conservative	Herbert P Brooks	15,105	25.7	N/A
	Liberal	Frank Albert Marlow	5,575	9.5	N/A
	Communist	John Richard Betteridge	4,891	3.8	-20.4
Majority			20,716	35.3	+7.9
Turnout
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1951: Hackney South [40][41]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Herbert William Butler	39,271	66.5	+5.5
	Conservative	Peter Anthony Grayson Rawlinson	18,003	30.5	+9.8
	Communist	John Richard Betteridge	1,744	3.0	-0.8
Majority			21,268	36.0	+0.7
Turnout
	Labour hold		Swing

References

1. Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885, C. 23., Sixth Schedule, Divisions of boroughs. Number, names, contents, and boundaries of divisions.
2. Representation of the People Act 1918 c.64, Ninth Schedule: Redistribution of Seats
3. Representation Of The People Act 1948, c.65, First Schedule: Parliamentary Constituencies
4. The Parliamentary Constituencies (Bethnal Green, Hackney and Stoke Newington) Order 1955 (S.I. 1955/20)
5. British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, FWS Craig
6. "The General Election. The Polls". The Times. 26 November 1885. p. 7.
7. "Election Intelligence (Hackney South)". The Times. 12 February 1886. p. 6.
8. British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, FWS Craig
9. "The General Election. The Polls". The Times. 6 July 1886. p. 6.
10. British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, FWS Craig
11. "The General Election. The Polls". The Times. 7 July 1892. p. 6.
12. "Election Intelligence (Hackney South)". The Times. 8 May 1894. p. 5.
13. British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, FWS Craig
14. "The General Election, More Unionist Gains, The Polls". The Times. 17 July 1895. p. 6.
15. British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, FWS Craig
16. British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, FWS Craig
17. British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, FWS Craig
18. "Progress Of The General Election". The Times. 20 January 1910. p. 6.
19. British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, FWS Craig
20. "Progress Of The General Election". The Times. 7 December 1910. p. 7.
21. "South Hackney Election". The Times. 25 May 1912. p. 9.
22. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
23. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
24. "The General Election: First Returns, Polling In The Boroughs, Heavy Voting". The Times. 16 November 1922. p. 6.
25. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
26. "The General Election: First Returns, Polling In The Boroughs, Liberal Gains". The Times. 7 December 1923. p. 6.
27. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
28. "The General Election: First Returns, Polling In The Boroughs". The Times. 30 October 1924. p. 6.
29. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
30. "The General Election: First Returns, Polling In The Boroughs". The Times. 31 May 1929. p. 6.
31. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
32. "The General Election: First Returns, Polling In The Boroughs". The Times. 28 October 1931. p. 6.
33. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
34. "The General Election: First Returns, Polling In The Boroughs". The Times. 15 November 1935. p. 8.
35. Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939
36. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
37. "UK general election results 1945". Political Science Resources. University of Keele. Retrieved 2009-04-25.
38. British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973, FWS Craig
39. "UK general election results 1950". Political Science Resources. University of Keele. Retrieved 2009-04-25.
40. British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973, FWS Craig
41. "UK general election results 1951". Political Science Resources. University of Keele. Retrieved 2009-04-25.

Sources

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "H" (part 1)