Southwark (UK Parliament constituency)

Southwark
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
County	London
1950–1974
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Bermondsey, Dulwich, Peckham
Created from	Southwark Central, Southwark North and Southwark South East

Southwark (Br [ˈsʌðɨk])^[1] was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Southwark district of South London. It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the English Parliament from 1295 to 1707, to the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and to the Parliament of the United Kingdom until the constituency's abolition for the 1885 general election.

The constituency was re-established as a single-member seat for the 1950 general election, and abolished for the February 1974 general election.

Southwark in the Metropolitan area, showing boundaries used from 1868 to 1885.

Southwark in the Parliamentary County of London, showing boundaries used from 1950 to 1974.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1295–1640

Parliament	First member	Second member
1386[2]	Henry Thymelby	William Beeche
1388 (Feb)[2]	John Northampton	William Porter
1388 (Sep)[2]	Roger Chandler	Richard atte Vine
1390 (Jan)[2]	William Wintringham	John Mucking
1390 (Nov)
1391[2]	William Spalding	Walter Segrave
1393[2]	John Solas	Thomas Solas
1394
1395[2]	John Solas	John Mucking
1397 (Jan)[2]	Thomas atte Gill	John Mucking
1397 (Sep)[2]	William Derby	John Mucking
1399[2]	Ralph Spalding	John Parker
1401
1402[2]	John Gofaire	John Mucking
1404 (Jan)
1404 (Oct)
1406[2]	John Baker	Thomas Spencer
1407[2]	Thomas Colman	John Deken
1410
1411
1413 (Feb)
1413 (May)[2]	William Horton	Thomas Spencer
1414 (Apr)[2]	John William	John Welles
1414 (Nov)[2]	John Solas	William Kirton
1415[2]	William Redstone	Thomas Spencer
1416 (Mar)[2]	John Solas	John Mucking
1416 (Oct)
1417[2]	William Kirton	John Deken
1419[2]	Robert William	John Welles
1420[2]	William Kirton	John Deken
1421 (May)[2]	William Redstone	John Deken
1421 (Dec)[2]	Thomas Dewy	Thomas Lucas
1510–1523[3]	No names known
1529 [3]	Sir John Shilston, died 1530	Robert Acton
1536[3]	Thomas Bulla	?
1539[3]	Sir Richard Long	Robert Acton
1542[3]	Robert Acton	Thomas Bulla
1545[3]	?	William Gyllam
1547[3]	Sir John Gates, repl. by Jan 1552 by John Sayer	Richard Fulmerston
1553 (Mar)[3]	John Eston	John Sayer
1553 (Oct)[3]	Humphrey Colet	John Sayer
1554 (Apr)[3]	John Eston	John Sayer
1554 (Nov)[3]	John Eston	John Sayer
1555[3]	John Eston	Humphrey Colet
1558[3]	John Eston	Robert Freeman
1559 [4]	John Eston	Robert Freeman
1562/3 [4]	Thomas Cure	Oliffe Burr
1571 [4]	Thomas Cure	William Wilson
1572 [4]	Oliffe Burr	Thomas Way
1584 [4]	Thomas Way	Richard Hutton
1586 [4]	Thomas Cure	Richard Hutton
1588/9 [4]	Richard Hutton	William Pratt
1593 [4]	Hugh Browker	Richard Hutton
1597 [4]	Edmund Bowyer	Richard Hutton
1601 [4]	Mathew Dale	Zachariah Locke
1604–1611	Sir George Rivers	William Counden
1614	Edward Coxe	Richard Yarward
1621	Richard Yarward	Robert Bromfield
1624	Richard Yarward	Robert Bromfield
1625	Richard Yarward	William Coxe
1626	Richard Yarward	William Coxe
1628	Richard Yarward	William Coxe
1629–1640	No Parliaments summoned

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

MPs 1640–1885

Election	First Member		First Party	Second Member		Second Party
November 1640		Edward Bagshawe	Royalist		John White[5]	Parliamentarian
January 1644	Bagshawe disabled from sitting – seat vacant
1645		George Thomson			George Snelling
1653	Southwark was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament
1654		Samuel Highland			Robert Warcup
1656					Peter De La Noy
January 1659		George Thomson			Andrew Brewer
April 1660		John Langham			Sir Thomas Bludworth
1661		George Moore
1666		Sir Thomas Clarges
1679		Sir Richard How			Peter Rich
1685		Sir Peter Daniel			Anthony Bowyer
1689		John Arnold			Sir Peter Rich
1690					Anthony Bowyer
1695		Sir Charles Cox	Whig
1698					John Cholmley	Whig
January 1712					Edmund Halsey[6]
February 1712					Sir George Matthews
1713		John Lade			Fisher Tench[7]	Whig
1722		George Meggott			Edmund Halsey
1724 by-election[8]		John Lade
1727		Sir Joseph Eyles
1730 by-election[9]					Thomas Inwen
1734		George Heathcote
1741		Ralph Thrale
1743 by-election[10]					Alexander Hume
1747		William Belchier
1754					William Hammond
1761		Joseph Mawbey[11]			Alexander Hume
1765 by-election[12]					Henry Thrale
1774		Nathaniel Polhill
1780					Sir Richard Hotham
1782 by-election[13]		Henry Thornton	Independent
April 1784					Sir Barnard Turner
June 1784 by-election[14]					Paul le Mesurier
May 1796					George Woodford Thellusson[15]	Whig
December 1796 by-election[15]					George Tierney	Whig
1806					Sir Thomas Turton, Bt
1812					Charles Calvert	Whig
1815 by-election[16]		Charles Barclay
1818		Sir Robert Thomas Wilson	Whig
Aug 1830					John Rawlinson Harris
Nov 1830 by-election[17]					Charles Calvert	Whig
1831		William Brougham	Whig
1832					John Humphery	Whig
1835		Daniel Whittle Harvey	Radical
1840 by-election[18]		Benjamin Wood	Whig
1845 by-election[19]		Sir William Molesworth	Radical
1852					Apsley Pellatt	Whig
1855 by-election		Sir Charles Napier	Liberal
1857					John Locke	Liberal
1860 by-election[20]		Austen Henry Layard	Liberal
1870 by-election[21]		Marcus Beresford	Conservative
1880 by-election[22]					Edward George Clarke	Conservative
1880		Arthur Cohen	Liberal		James Edwin Thorold Rogers	Liberal
1885	constituency abolished: see Bermondsey, Rotherhithe and Southwark West

MPs 1950–1974

Election		Member	Party
	1950	George Isaacs	Labour
	1959	Ray Gunter	Labour
	1972 by-election	Harry Lamborn	Labour
Feb 1974		constituency abolished

Election results

General Election 1950: Southwark
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Rt Hon. George Alfred Isaacs	35,049	68.27
	Conservative	James Mantle Greenwood	12,671	24.68
	Liberal	Lionel Fowler	2,950	5.75
	Communist	SP Bent	668	1.30
Majority			22,378	43.59
Turnout				73.98

General Election 1951: Southwark
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Isaacs	36,586	72.28
	Conservative	JM Greenwood	14,032	27.72
Majority			22,554	44.56
Turnout				72.32

General Election 1955: Southwark
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Isaacs	28,174	70.30
	Conservative	JM Greenwood	10,944	27.31
	Communist	SP Bent	959	2.39
Majority			17,230	42.99
Turnout				60.18

General Election 1959: Southwark
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ray Gunter	25,036	63.99
	Conservative	JM Greenwood	12,696	32.45
	Communist	SP Bent	1,395	3.57
Majority			12,340	31.54
Turnout				63.37

General Election 1964: Southwark
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ray Gunter	22,426	68.82
	Conservative	APR Noble	8,563	26.28
	Communist	SP Bent	1,599	4.91
Majority			13,863	42.54
Turnout				55.86

General Election 1966: Southwark
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ray Gunter	21,855	73.55
	Conservative	APR Noble	6,454	21.72
	Communist	SP Bent	1,404	4.73
Majority			15,401	51.83
Turnout				54.03

General Election 1970: Southwark
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ray Gunter	16,834	67.33
	Conservative	Jeffrey Gordon	7,040	28.16
	Communist	E Hume	1,128	4.51
Majority			9,794	39.17
Turnout				48.19

Southwark by-election, 1972
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Harry Lamborn	12,108	79.33	+12.00
	Conservative	Jeffrey Gordon	2,756	18.06	-10.10
	Independent	Brian McDermott	398	2.61	N/A
Majority			9,352
Turnout			15,262

Notes

1. "Southwark", in The Columbia Lippincott Gazetteer of the World (1952), New York: Columbia University Press.
2. "History of Parliament". History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 2011-11-21.
3. "History of Parliament". History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 2011-11-21.
4. "History of Parliament". History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 2011-11-21.
5. Died January 1645; the writ to fill both vacancies was issued in August 1645
6. On petition, Halsey was found not to have been duly elected, and a new election was held
7. Created a baronet, August 1715
8. The by-election in January 1724 was caused by death of George Meggott
9. The by-election in January 1730 was caused by death of Edmund Halsey
10. The by-election in June 1743 was caused by death of Thomas Inwen
11. Mawbey was created a baronet in July 1765
12. The by-election in December 1765 was caused by death of William Hammond
13. The by-election in December 1782 was caused by death of Nathaniel Polhill
14. The by-election in June 1784 was caused by death of Sir Barnard Turner
15. Thellusson's election in May 1796 was declared void in November 1796; a by-election was held at which he was re-elected but he was found to be ineligible to sit and Tierney was declared elected in his place
16. The by-election in February 1815 was caused by death of Henry Thornton
17. The by-election in November 1830 was caused by death of John Rawlinson Harris
18. The by-election in January 1840 was caused by the resignation of Daniel Whittle Harvey
19. The by-election in September 1845 was caused by the death of Benjamin Wood
20. The by-election in December 1860 was caused by the death of Sir Charles Napier
21. The by-election in February 1870 was caused by the resignation of Austen Henry Layard
22. The by-election in December 1880 was caused by the death of John Locke

References

• Robert Beatson, A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807)
• D Brunton & D H Pennington, Members of the Long Parliament (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954)
• Cobbett's Parliamentary history of England, from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the year 1803 (London: Thomas Hansard, 1808)
• F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885 (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989)
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 4)