West Ham North (UK Parliament constituency)

West Ham North
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
1950–1974
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Newham North West Newham North East
Created from	Stratford and Upton
1885–1918
Number of members	One
Type of constituency	Borough constituency
Replaced by	Stratford and Upton
Created from	South Essex

West Ham North was a borough constituency in the County Borough of West Ham, in what was then Essex but is now Greater London. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first-past-the-post voting system.

History

The constituency was created under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 for the 1885 general election, and abolished for the 1918 general election.

It was re-established for the 1950 general election, and abolished again for the February 1974 general election.

Boundaries

1885–1918

The 1885 act created a new parliamentary borough of West Ham which was divided into two single-member divisions. West Ham, North Division consisted of the part of the Local Government District of West Ham north of a boundary formed by a number of railway lines and roads, described as follows:

From a point where the north side of the present London and Tilbury Railway crosses the west boundary of West Ham Parish; thence in a north-easterly direction along the north side of the said railway to a point where the east side of the present North Woolwich Branch of the Great Eastern Railway crosses it; thence in a northerly direction along the east side of the last-mentioned railway to a point opposite the centre of Abbey Road; thence in a north-easterly and easterly direction along the centres of Abbey Road, Church Street North, Portway, and Plashet Lane to the eastern boundary of West Ham Parish.^[1]

1950–1974

West Ham North Borough Constituency was created by the Representation of the People Act 1948, and was first contested at the 1950 general election. The seat was defined as consisting of eight wards of the County Borough of West Ham: Broadway, Forest Gate, High Street, Newtown, Park, Plashet Road, Upton and West Ham.^[2]

Members of Parliament

MPs 1885–1918

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Edward Rider Cook	Liberal
	1886	James Forrest Fulton	Conservative
	1892	Archibald Grove	Liberal
	1895	Ernest Gray	Conservative
	1906	Charles Masterman	Liberal
	1911 by-election[3]	Baron Maurice Arnold de Forest	Liberal
	1918	constituency abolished: see Stratford and Upton

MPs 1950–1974

Election		Member	Party
1950		constituency recreated
	1950	Arthur Lewis	Labour
	Feb 1974	constituency abolished: see Newham North West and Newham North East

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1885: West Ham North[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Edward Rider Cook	4,219	54.7	n/a
	Conservative	James Forrest Fulton	3,500	45.3	n/a
Majority			719	9.4	n/a
Turnout				77.0	n/a
	Liberal win (new seat)

General Election 1886: West Ham North[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Forrest Fulton	3,920	55.1	+9.8
	Liberal	Edward Rider Cook	3,193	44.9	-9.8
Majority			727	10.2	19.6
Turnout				70.9	-6.1
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+9.8

Elections in the 1890s

General Election 1892: West Ham North[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Newcomen Archibald Grove	4,976	50.2
	Conservative	James Forrest Fulton	4,943	49.8
Majority			33	0.4
Turnout				74.4
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing

Ernest Gray

General Election 1895: West Ham North[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ernest Gray	5,635	53.3	+3.5
	Liberal	Thomas Newcomen Archibald Grove	4,931	46.7	-3.5
Majority			704	6.6	7.0
Turnout				73.9	-0.5
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+3.5

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1900: West Ham North[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ernest Gray	6,613	61.5
	Liberal	John Henry Bethell	4,133	38.5
Majority			2,480	23.0
Turnout				67.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

Masterman

General Election 1906: West Ham North[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Frederick Gurney Masterman	6,838	57.3	+18.8
	Conservative	Ernest Gray	5,094	42.7	-18.8
Majority			1,744	14.6	37.6
Turnout				79.0	+11.2
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+18.8

Elections in the 1910s

General Election January 1910: West Ham North[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Frederick Gurney Masterman	7,023	53.4
	Conservative	Ernest Gray	6,133	46.6
Majority			890	6.8
Turnout				84.0
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election December 1910: West Ham North[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Frederick Gurney Masterman	6,657	53.6	+02
	Conservative	Ernest Edward Wild	5,760	46.4	-0.2
Majority			897	7.2	+0.4
Turnout				79.3	-0.7
	Liberal hold		Swing	+0.2

Maurice de Forest

West Ham North by-election, 1911[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Baron Maurice Arnold de Forest	6,807	54.1	+0.5
	Conservative	Ernest Edward Wild	5,776	45.9	-0.5
Majority			1,031	8.2	+1.0
Turnout				76.2	-3.1
	Liberal hold		Swing	+0.5

General Election 1914/15:

A General Election was due to take place by the end of 1915. By the autumn of 1914, the following candidates had been adopted to contest that election.

• Liberal: Baron Maurice Arnold de Forest
• Unionist: Ernest Edward Wild

Due to the outbreak of war, the election never took place.

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: West Ham North[13][14]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Arthur William John Lewis	33,782	68.58	N/A
	Conservative	RM Prior	12,623	25.63	N/A
	Liberal	RL Phillips	2,349	4.77	N/A
	Christian Democrat	Miss GW Dickinson	503	1.02	N/A
Majority			21,159	42.96	N/A
Turnout			49,257	77.83	N/A
Registered electors			63,288
	Labour win (new seat)

General Election 1951: West Ham North[15][16]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Arthur William John Lewis	34,156	70.45	+1.87
	Conservative	James A Erskine-Shaw	14,328	29.55	+3.92
Majority			19,828	40.90	-2.06
Turnout			48,484	76.57	-1.26
Registered electors			63,318
	Labour hold		Swing	-1.03

General Election 1955: West Ham North[17][18]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Arthur William John Lewis	27,249	65.89	-4.56
	Conservative	Muriel Bowen	10,712	25.90	-3.65
	Liberal	David Penwarden	3,393	8.20	N/A
Majority			16,537	39.99	-0.91
Turnout			41,354	67.41	-9.16
Registered electors			61,346
	Labour hold		Swing	-4.11

General Election 1959: West Ham North[19][20]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Arthur William John Lewis	27,249	65.89	-6.66
	Conservative	J Guy Jones	9,318	22.90	-3.00
	Liberal	David S Brooke	7,271	8.20	+9.67
Majority			14,778	36.32	-3.67
Turnout			40,685	70.36	+2.95
Registered electors			57,828
	Labour hold		Swing	-1.83

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1964: West Ham North[21][22]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Arthur William John Lewis	21,228	60.52	-5.37
	Liberal	Jean Pilkington	7,005	19.97	+11.77
	Conservative	Christopher Brocklebank-Fowler	6,844	19.51	-3.39
Majority			14,223	40.55	+4.22
Turnout			35,077	62.83	-7.53
Registered electors			55,824
	Labour hold		Swing	-8.57

General Election 1966: West Ham North[23][24]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Arthur William John Lewis	21,778	65.62	+5.10
	Liberal	Jean Pilkington	5,882	17.72	-2.25
	Conservative	William J Shearman	5,527	16.65	-2.86
Majority			15,896	47.90	+7.35
Turnout			33,187	61.83	-1.00
Registered electors			53,672
	Labour hold		Swing	+3.68

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: West Ham North[25][26]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Arthur William John Lewis	17,664	63.17	-2.45
	Conservative	William J Shearman	7,130	25.50	+8.85
	Liberal	Brian McCarthy	3,167	11.33	-6.39
Majority			10,534	37.67	-10.23
Turnout			27,961	50.32	-11.51
Registered electors			55,565
	Labour hold		Swing	-5.65

See also

• West Ham South, 1918–1950

References

1. Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 C.23, Sixth Schedule, Divisions of Boroughs
2. Representation of the People Act 1948 C.65, First Schedule, Parliamentary Constituencies
3. Masterman was re-elected in December 1910, but the election was declared void. A by-election was held in July 1911. See London Gazette, issue 28512 (11 July 1911), page 27.
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)
10. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
11. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918, FWS Craig
12. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918, FWS Craig
13. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results February 1950". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
15. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1951". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
17. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1955". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
19. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1959". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
21. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1964". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
23. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1966". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
25. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1970". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 12 April 2016.

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 2)

External links

• Boundary Commissioners for England and Wales (1885). "West Ham. Divisions of New Borough (map)". londonancestor.com.