Bethnal Green South West (UK Parliament constituency)

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

Bethnal Green South West was a constituency in London. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

It was created for the 1885 general election and abolished for the 1950 general election, when it was combined with Bethnal Green North East to form a new Bethnal Green constituency, reflecting the area's substantial fall in population.

Bethnal Green South West in the Metropolitan area 1885-1918

File:BethnalGreenSouthWest1918.png

Bethnal Green South West in the County of London 1918-50

Boundaries

A map showing the wards of Bethnal Green Metropolitan Borough as they appeared in 1916.

The constituency consisted of the south and west wards of the civil parish of Bethnal Green, Middlesex (later the Metropolitan Borough of Bethnal Green in the County of London).

Members of Parliament

Year		Member	Party
	1885	Edward Pickersgill	Liberal
	1900	Samuel Forde Ridley	Conservative
	1906	Edward Pickersgill	Liberal
	1911	Charles Masterman	Liberal
	1914	Sir Mathew Richard Henry Wilson	Unionist
	1922	Percy Harris	Liberal
	1945	Percy Holman	Labour
1950		constituency abolished: see Bethnal Green

Election results

Election in the 1940s

General Election 5 to 19 July 1945: Bethnal Green South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Percy Holman	6,669	57.33
	Liberal	Sir Percy Harris	4,213	36.22
	Liberal National	O. Howard Leicester	750	6.45
Majority			2,456
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing

Election in the 1930s

General Election 14 November 1935: Bethnal Green South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Percy Alfred Harris	9,011	53.1
	Labour	George Jeger	7,945	46.9
Majority			1,066	6.2
Turnout			27,484	61.7
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 27 October 1931: Bethnal Green South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Percy Alfred Harris	10,176	59.6
	Labour	W. J. Humphreys	3,923	23.0
	Communist	Joseph James Vaughan	2,970	17.4
Majority			6,253	36.6
Turnout			27,895	61.2
	Liberal hold		Swing

Election in the 1920s

General Election 30 May 1929: Bethnal Green South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Percy Alfred Harris	8,109	45.9	+3.6
	Labour	Christopher John Kelly	6,849	38.7	n/a
	Communist	Dr Robert Dunstan	1,368	7.7	-33.2
	Unionist	Herbert John Malone	1,365	7.7	-9.1
Majority			1,260	7.2	+5.8
Turnout			27,895	64.1	-4.3
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

General Election 29 October 1924: Bethnal Green South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Percy Alfred Harris	6,236	42.3
	Communist	Joseph James Vaughan	6,024	40.9
	Unionist	C. P. Norman	2,467	16.8
Majority			212	1.4
Turnout			21,522	68.4
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 6 December 1923: Bethnal Green South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Percy Alfred Harris	5,735	43.3	+2.6
	Labour	Joseph James Vaughan	5,251	39.6	+7.7
	Unionist	John Cecil Gerard Leigh	2,267	17.1	-10.3
Majority			484	3.7	-5.1
Turnout			21,320	62.2	+2.3
	Liberal hold		Swing	-2.5

General Election 15 November 1922: Bethnal Green South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Percy Alfred Harris	5,152	40.7
	Communist	Joseph James Vaughan	4,034	31.9
	Unionist	Sir Mathew Richard Henry Wilson	3,474	27.4
Majority			1,118	8.8
Turnout			21,129	59.9
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing

Election in the 1910s

Hugh Meyler

General Election 14 December 1918: Bethnal Green South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Sir Matthew Richard Henry Wilson	4,240	52.3
	Independent Labour	Ernest Thurtle	1,941	23.9
	Liberal	Lieut.-Col. Hugh Mowbray Meyler	1,935	23.8
Majority			2,299	28.4
Turnout				41.6
	Unionist hold		Swing

• endorsed by the Coalition Government

Bethnal Green South West by-election, 1914

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Sir Matthew Richard Henry Wilson	2,828	47.6
	Liberal	Rt.Hon. Charles Frederick Gurney Masterman	2,804	47.1
	Socialist	John Scurr	316	5.3
Majority			24	0.5
Turnout
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+1.9

Masterman

Bethnal Green South West by-election, 1911

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Frederick Gurney Masterman	2,745	50.4	-6.6
	Conservative	Eric Alfred Hoffgaard	2,561	47.1	+4.1
	Socialist	John Scurr	134	2.5	+2.5
Majority			184	3.3	-10.7
Turnout				76.8
	Liberal hold		Swing	-5.3

E.H. Pickersgill

General Election December 1910: Bethnal Green South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Edward Hare Pickersgill	2,768	57.0
	Conservative	Eric Alfred Hoffgaard	2,086	43.0
Majority			682	14.0
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing	-1.6

General Election January 1910: Bethnal Green South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Edward Hare Pickersgill	3,328	58.6
	Conservative	Eric Alfred Hoffgaard	2,350	41.4
Majority			978	17.2
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing	-4.6

Election in the 1900s

General Election 1906: Bethnal Green South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Edward Hare Pickersgill	3,542	63.2
	Conservative	Samuel Forde Ridley	2,064	36.8
Majority			1,478	26.4
Turnout			7,262	77.2
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+16.4

General Election 1900: Bethnal Green South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Samuel Forde Ridley	2,862	53.2
	Liberal	Edward Hare Pickersgill	2,514	46.8
Majority			348	6.4
Turnout			8,128	66.1
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+6.0

Election in the 1890s

E.H. Pickersgill

General Election 1895: Bethnal Green South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Edward Hare Pickersgill	2,603	52.8
	Conservative	William Arnold Statham	2,324	47.2
Majority			279	5.6
Turnout			7,855	62.7
	Liberal hold		Swing	-6.8

General Election 1892: Bethnal Green South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Edward Hare Pickersgill	3,206	59.6
	Conservative	Thomas Benskin	2,171	40.4
Majority			1,035	19.2
Turnout			7,821	68.8
	Liberal hold		Swing	+3.6

Election in the 1880s

General Election 1886: Bethnal Green South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Edward Hare Pickersgill	2,550	56.0
	Conservative	John Evans Freke Aylmer	2,001	44.0
Majority			549	12.0
Turnout			8,265	55.1
	Liberal hold		Swing	-2.4

General Election 1885: Bethnal Green South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Edward Hare Pickersgill	3,088	58.4
	Conservative	John Evans Freke Aylmer	2,200	41.6
Majority			888	16.8
Turnout			8,265	64.0

References

• Bethnal Green Parliamentary Representation at British History online
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 3)