Whitechapel (UK Parliament constituency)

Whitechapel
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
1885–1918
Number of members	one
Replaced by	Whitechapel St George's
Created from	Tower Hamlets

Whitechapel was a parliamentary constituency in the Whitechapel district of East London. In 1885 the seat was established as a division of the parliamentary borough of Tower Hamlets. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

History and Boundaries

Whitechapel in the Metropolitan area, showing boundaries used 1885-1918

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

Whitechapel is part of the historic county of Middlesex, in the far east of the county. The constituency was on the north bank of the River Thames. It was bordered by the constituencies of: City of London to the west; Hoxton & Bethnal Green South West to the north; and Stepney & St George's in the East to the east.

From 1889 the district was included in the administrative County of London. In 1900 the constituency became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney.

In the redistribution of 1918 Whitechapel was incorporated in a new Whitechapel and St George's constituency.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member [1]	Party
	1885	Sir Samuel Montagu, Bt	Liberal
	1900	Sir Stuart Samuel, Bt	Liberal
	1916 by-election	James Kiley	Liberal
	1918	constituency abolished: see Whitechapel and St George's

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

Samuel Montagu

General Election 1885: Whitechapel[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Samuel Montagu	2,353	54.4	n/a
	Conservative	Phineas Cowan	1,972	45.6	n/a
Majority			381	8.8
Turnout			6,140	70.4	n/a
	Liberal win (new seat)

General Election 1886: Whitechapel[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Samuel Montagu	2,179	57.8
	Conservative	William Le Poer Trench	1,592	42.2
Majority			587	15.6
Turnout			6,140	61.4
	Liberal hold		Swing	+3.4

Elections in the 1890s

General Election 1892: Whitechapel[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Samuel Montagu	2,327	56.4
	Conservative	William Le Poer Trench	1,800	43.6
Majority			527	12.8
Turnout			5,813	71.0
	Liberal hold		Swing	-1.4

General Election 1895: Whitechapel[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Samuel Montagu	2,009	50.4
	Conservative	Sir William Henry Porter	1,977	49.6
Majority			32	0.8
Turnout			5,864	68.0
	Liberal hold		Swing	-6.0

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1900: Whitechapel[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Stuart Montagu Samuel	1,679	51.1
	Conservative	David Hope Kyd	1,608	48.9
Majority			71	2.2
Turnout			5,004	65.7
	Liberal hold		Swing	+0.7

General Election 1906: Whitechapel[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Stuart Montagu Samuel	1,925	55.1
	Conservative	David Hope Kyd	1,569	44.9
Majority			356	10.2
Turnout			4,279	81.7
	Liberal hold		Swing	+4.0

Elections in the 1910s

General Election January 1910: Whitechapel[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Stuart Montagu Samuel	1,963	58.3
	Conservative	L. Greenlees	1,402	41.7
Majority			561	16.6
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing	+3.2

General Election December 1910: Whitechapel[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Stuart Montagu Samuel	1,731	59.2
	Conservative	Edgar Monteagle Browne	1,191	40.8
Majority			540	18.4
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing	+0.9

Whitechapel by-election, 1913
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Stuart Montagu Samuel	1,722	52.5
	Conservative	Edgar Monteagle Browne	1,556	47.5
Majority			166	5.0
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing	-6.7

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 autumn of 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

• Liberal: Sir Stuart Montagu Samuel
• Unionist:

Whitechapel by-election, 1916
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	James Daniel Kiley	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

References

1. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 3)
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)

• Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press 1974)
• Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume II 1886-1918, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (Harvester Press 1978)
• Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume III 1919-1945, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (Harvester Press 1979)