Islington West (UK Parliament constituency)

Islington West
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
1885–1950
Number of members	one
Replaced by	Islington South West
Created from	Finsbury

Islington West was a borough constituency in the Metropolitan Borough of Islington, in North London.

It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 until it was abolished for the 1950 general election. Elections were held using the first past the post voting system.

Boundaries

Islington West in the Metropolitan area 1885-1918

Islington West in the Parliamentary County of London 1918-50

Islington Metropolitan Borough wards in 1916

1918-1950: The Metropolitan Borough of Islington wards of Lower Holloway and Thornhill.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Richard Chamberlain	Liberal
	1886		Liberal Unionist
	1892	Thomas Lough	Liberal
	1918	Sir George Samuel Elliott	Conservative
	1922	James Despencer-Robertson	Conservative
	1923	Frederick Montague, later Baron Amwell	Labour
	1931	Patrick William Donner	Conservative
	1935	Frederick Montague, later Baron Amwell	Labour
	1947	Albert Evans	Labour
1950		constituency abolished: see Islington South West

Elections

Elections in the 1910s

William Black

Thomas Lough

General Election December 1910 Islington West [1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Thomas Lough	3,549	54.3
	Liberal Unionist	William George Black	2,985	45.7
Majority			564	8.6
Turnout			6,534	76.5
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1918: Islington West [2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Sir George Samuel Elliott	4,996	45.4
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Thomas Lough	2,616	23.7
	Labour	John Thomas Sheppard	2,300	20.9	n/a
	NFDDSS	Ernest Miles Taylor	1,105	10.0	n/a
Majority			2,380	21.7
Turnout				42.1
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing

• endorsed by the Coalition Government

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1922: Islington West [3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	James Archibald St George Fitzwarenne-Despencer Robertson	7,335	38.9
	Liberal	Cllr. Henry Mills	6,643	35.3
	Labour	W J Lewington	4,856	25.8
Majority			592	3.6
Turnout				57.5
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1923: Islington West [4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Frederick Montague	7,955	41.4	+15.6
	Unionist	James Archibald St George Fitzwarenne-Despencer Robertson	5,829	30.3	-8.6
	Liberal	Joseph William Molden	5,443	28.3	-7.0
Majority			2,126	11.1	14.7
Turnout				57.7	+0.2
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+12.1

General Election 1924: Islington West [5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Frederick Montague	10,174	45.3
	Unionist	James Archibald St George Fitzwarenne-Despencer Robertson	9,499	42.3
	Liberal	Joseph William Molden	2,780	12.4
Majority			675	3.0
Turnout				67.2
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1929: Islington West [6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Frederick Montague	13,768	55.2	+9.9
	Unionist	James Archibald St George Fitzwarenne-Despencer Robertson	6,921	27.7	-14.6
	Liberal	David Eifion Puleston Evans	4,267	17.1	+4.7
Majority			6,847	27.5	+24.5
Turnout				60.2	-7.0
	Labour hold		Swing	+12.2

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931: Islington West [7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Patrick William Donner	14,487	59.22
	Labour	Frederick Montague	9,977	40.78
Majority			4,510	18.44
Turnout				58.00
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General Election 1935: Islington West [8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Frederick Montague	11,340	55.00
	Conservative	Viscount Duncannon	9,280	45.00
Majority			2,060	9.99
Turnout				52.63
	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: Frederick Montague^[9]
• Conservative: ET Hope
• Liberal: WC Woodroofe ^[10]

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Islington West [11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Frederick Montague	11,496	73.8	+18.8
	Conservative	E.T. Hope	4,090	26.2	-18.8
Majority			7,406	47.6
Turnout			25,926	60.1	+7.5
	Labour hold		Swing	+18.8

Islington West by-election, 1947
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Albert Evans	8,760	57.2	-16.6
	Conservative	Tom Forrest Howard	4,084	26.6	+0.4
	Liberal	Edwin Thomas Malindine	2,459	16.0	N/A
	Independent	L.J. Wildman	33	0.2	N/A
Majority			4,676	30.6
Turnout			29,859	51.4	-8.7
	Labour hold		Swing	-8.5

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Islington

References

1. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
2. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
3. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
4. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
5. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
6. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
7. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
8. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
9. Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939
10. The Liberal Magazine, 1939
11. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "I"