Woolwich East (UK Parliament constituency)

Woolwich East
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
County	Greater London
1918–1983
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Woolwich
Created from	Woolwich

Woolwich East was a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 until 1983. Its seat was Woolwich, now in the Royal Borough of Greenwich in south-east London.

The constituency was formed for the 1918 general election, when the constituency of Woolwich was divided into Woolwich East and Woolwich West, and abolished in 1983 when it was largely replaced by a new Woolwich constituency. Between 1950 and 1974 it included North Woolwich on the north bank of the River Thames; this was then transferred to Newham South.

Throughout its 65-year existence, the constituency elected Labour MPs with the sole exception of a Conservative elected in a 1921 by-election.

File:WoolwichEast1918.png

Woolwich East in the County of London 1918-49

File:WoolwichEast1950.png

Woolwich East in the County of London 1950-74

Boundaries

1918-1950: The Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich wards of Burrage, Central, Glyndon, St Margaret's, and St Nicholas.

1950-1955: The Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich wards of Abbey Wood, Burrage, Central, Dockyard, Glyndon, River, St Margaret's, St Mary's, and St Nicholas.

1955-1974: The Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich wards of Abbey Wood, Burrage, Central, Glyndon, River, St Margaret's, St Mary's, St Nicholas, Slade, and Winn's Common.

1974-1983: The London Borough of Greenwich wards of Abbey Wood, Eynsham, St Margaret's, St Mary's, St Nicholas, Slade, and Woolwich.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1918	Will Crooks	Labour
	1921 by-election	Robert Gee	Conservative
	1922	Harry Snell	Labour
	1931 by-election	George Hicks	Labour
	1950	Ernest Bevin	Labour
	1951 by-election	Christopher Mayhew	Labour
	1974		Liberal
	Oct 1974	John Cartwright	Labour
	1981		SDP

Election results

Elections in the 1940s

1945 General Election: Woolwich, East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ernest George Hicks	18,983	70.4
	Conservative	Reginald Frederick Brittain Bennett	7,237	27.0
	Independent	H.H. Wright	571	2.1
Majority			11,746	43.9
Turnout			36,851	72.7
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1930s

1935 General Election: Woolwich, East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ernest George Hicks	17,563	58.0
	Conservative	Capt. John Francis Finn	12,721	42.0
Majority			4,842	16.0
Turnout			42,450	71.3
	Labour hold		Swing

1931 General Election: Woolwich, East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ernest George Hicks	16,658	50.9
	Conservative	Capt. John Francis Finn	16,050	49.1
Majority			608	1.8
Turnout			42,857	76.3
	Labour hold		Swing

Woolwich, East: by-election, 15 April 1931

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ernest George Hicks	16,200	56.7
	Conservative	E.S. Shrapnell-Smith	12,357	43.3
Majority			3,843	13.4
Turnout			42,886	66.6
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1920s

1929 General Election: Woolwich East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Harry Snell	20,447	63.2	+4.8
	Unionist	Edward Shrapnell Shrapnell-Smith	11,966	36.8	-4.8
Majority			8,541	26.4	+9.6
Turnout			42,808	75.6	-6.0
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.8

1924 General Election: Woolwich East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Harry Snell	16,660	58.4
	Conservative	D.A. Gooch	11,862	41.6
Majority			4,798	16.8
Turnout			34,935	81.6
	Labour hold		Swing

1923 General Election: Woolwich East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Harry Snell	15,766	61.6	+4.5
	Unionist	Ernest Augustus Taylor	9,389	38.4	-4.5
Majority			5,927	23.2	+9.0
Turnout			34,429	74.4	-6.0
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.5

1922 General Election: Woolwich, East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Harry Snell	15,620	57.1
	Conservative	Capt. Robert Gee, VC	11,714	42.9
Majority			3,906	14.2
Turnout			33,993	80.4
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Woolwich, East: by-election, 2 March 1921

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Coalition Conservative	Capt. Robert Gee, VC	13,724	51.3
	Labour	Ramsay MacDonald	13,081	48.7
Majority			683	2.6
Turnout			34,099	78.5
	Coalition Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1910s

1918 General Election: Woolwich, East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Rt. Hon. Will Crooks	unopposed
	Labour gain from new seat		Swing

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 5)

Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.