Southwark West (UK Parliament constituency)

Southwark West
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
1885–1918
Number of members	one
Replaced by	Southwark North
Created from	Southwark

Southwark West was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Southwark district of South London. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

The constituency was created for the 1885 general election, and abolished for the 1918 general election.

Southwark West in the Metropolitan Board of Works area, showing boundaries used 1885-1918

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Arthur Cohen	Liberal
	1888 by-election	Richard Knight Causton	Liberal
	1910	Sir William Henry Dunn	Conservative
	1910	Edward Anthony Strauss	Liberal
	1918	constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1885: Southwark West[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Arthur Cohen	2,851	52.2	n/a
	Conservative	A Beddall	2,611	47.8	n/a
Majority			240	4.4	n/a
Turnout				70.2	n/a
	Liberal win (new seat)

General Election 1886: Southwark West[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Arthur Cohen	2,566	51.1	-1.1
	Conservative	A Beddall	2,453	48.9	+1.1
Majority			113	2.2	-2.2
Turnout				64.5	-5.7
	Liberal hold		Swing	-1.1

Richard Causton

Southwark West by-election, 1888[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Richard Knight Causton	3,638	59.8	+8.7
	Conservative	A Beddall	2,444	40.2	-8.7
Majority			1,194	19.6	+17.4
Turnout				73.3
	Liberal hold		Swing	+8.7

Elections in the 1890s

Edward Bond

General Election 1892: Southwark West[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Richard Knight Causton	3,534	60.6	+0.8
	Conservative	Edward Bond	2,295	39.4	-0.8
Majority			1,239	21.2	+1.6
Turnout				72.4	-0.9
	Liberal hold		Swing	+0.8

In August 1892 upon his appointment as a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury, Causton was required to resign and seek re-election. He was re-elected unopposed.

General Election 1895: Southwark West[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Richard Knight Causton	2,989	51.0
	Conservative	Frederick William Horner	2,870	49.0
Majority			119	2.0
Turnout				72.2
	Liberal hold		Swing

Elections in the 1900s

Richard Causton

General Election 1900: Southwark West[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Richard Knight Causton	2,893	51.1
	Conservative	Sir Alfred James Newton	2,763	48.9
Majority			130	2.2
Turnout				71.2
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1906: Southwark West[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Richard Knight Causton	3,057	54.1	+3.0
	Conservative	Arthur Clavell Salter	2,592	45.9	-3.0
Majority			465	8.2	+6.0
Turnout				79.9	+8.7
	Liberal hold		Swing	+3.0

Elections in the 1910s

General Election January 1910: Southwark West[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sir William Henry Dunn	3,387
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Richard Knight Causton	3,223
Majority
Turnout
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing

Edward Strauss

General Election December 1910: Southwark West[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Edward Anthony Strauss	3,028	50.1
	Conservative	Sir William Henry Dunn	3,010	49.9
Majority			18	0.2
Turnout			6,038	74.9
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election 1914/15:

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

• Liberal: Edward Anthony Strauss
• Unionist:

References

1. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
2. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
3. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
4. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
5. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
6. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
7. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
8. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
9. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 4)