Rotherhithe (UK Parliament constituency)

Rotherhithe
Rotherhithe
Former Borough constituency; for the House of Commons
	Rotherhithe in London 1885–1918
	Rotherhithe in London 1918–50
1885–1950
Seats	one
Created from	Southwark
Replaced by	Bermondsey

Rotherhithe was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Rotherhithe district of South 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 system.

The constituency was created for the 1885 general election, and abolished for the 1950 general election when it became part of the revived Bermondsey constituency.

Boundaries[edit]

1885-1918[edit]

The Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey wards of St Olave's, St John's, St Thomas's, St Mary, Rotherhithe and St Mary Magdalen, Bermondsey.^[1]

1918-1950[edit]

The Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey wards of St John, St Olave, Bermondsey five and six, and Rotherhithe one, two and three.

Members of Parliament[edit]

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Charles Hamilton	Conservative
	1892	John Macdona	Conservative
	1906	Hubert Carr-Gomm	Liberal
	1918	John Lort-Williams	Unionist
	1923	Ben Smith	Labour
	1931	Norah Runge	Conservative
	1935	Ben Smith	Labour
	1946 b-e	Bob Mellish	Labour
1950		constituency abolished

Election results[edit]

Decades:

1880s
1890s
1900s
1910s
1820s
1930s
1940s

Elections in the 1880s[edit]

General election 1885: Rotherhithe ^[2]^[3]^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Charles Hamilton	3,327	54.3
	Lib-Lab	Richard Pankhurst	2,800	45.7
Majority			527	8.6
Turnout			6,127	72.5
Registered electors			8,455
	Conservative win (new seat)

General election 1886: Rotherhithe ^[2]^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charles Hamilton	3,202	60.2	+5.9
	Liberal	William Brampton Gurdon	2,115	39.8	-5.9
Majority			1,087	20.4	+11.8
Turnout			5,317	62.9	-9.6
Registered electors			8,455
	Conservative hold		Swing	+5.9

Elections in the 1890s[edit]

General election 1892: Rotherhithe ^[2]^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Macdona	3,995	59.1	-1.1
	Liberal	Harold Glanville	2,765	40.9	+1.1
Majority			1,230	18.2	-2.2
Turnout			6,760	70.1	+7.2
Registered electors			9,638
	Conservative hold		Swing	-1.1

General election 1895: Rotherhithe ^[2]^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Macdona	4,092	64.6	+5.5
	Liberal	Ambrose Pomeroy	2,246	35.4	-5.5
Majority			1,846	29.2	+11.0
Turnout			6,338	69.0	-1.1
Registered electors			9,188
	Conservative hold		Swing	+5.5

Elections in the 1900s[edit]

General election 1900: Rotherhithe ^[2]^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Macdona	3,938	62.6	-2.0
	Liberal	Thomas Hart-Davies	2,356	37.4	+2.0
Majority			1,582	25.2	-4.0
Turnout			6,294	65.8	-3.2
Registered electors			9,559
	Conservative hold		Swing	-2.0

General election 1906: Rotherhithe ^[2]^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Hubert Carr-Gomm	4,192	59.8	+22.4
	Conservative	John Macdona	2,821	40.2	-22.4
Majority			1,371	19.6	N/A
Turnout			7,013	80.6	+14.8
Registered electors			8,700
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+22.4

Elections in the 1910s[edit]

General election January 1910: Rotherhithe ^[2]^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Hubert Carr-Gomm	4,474	55.6	-4.2
	Conservative	Assheton Pownall	3,570	44.4	+4.2
Majority			904	11.2	-8.4
Turnout			8,044	84.3	+3.7
	Liberal hold		Swing	-4.2

General election December 1910: Rotherhithe ^[2]^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Hubert Carr-Gomm	4,030	57.1	+1.5
	Conservative	Assheton Pownall	3,026	42.9	-1.5
Majority			1,004	14.2	+3.0
Turnout			7,056	74.0	-10.3
	Liberal hold		Swing	+1.5

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 July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

Liberal: Hubert Carr-Gomm
Unionist:

General election 1918: Rotherhithe ^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Unionist	John Lort-Williams	5,639	50.0	+7.1
	Liberal	Hubert Carr-Gomm	3,889	34.5	-22.6
	Labour	Will Godfrey	1,750	15.5	New
Majority			1,750	15.5	N/A
Turnout			25,088	45.1	-28.9
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+14.8
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Election in the 1920s[edit]

General election 1922: Rotherhithe
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	John Lort-Williams	6,749	36.5	-13.5
	Labour	Charles Diamond	6,703	36.3	+21.8
	Liberal	Hubert Carr-Gomm	5,034	27.2	-7.3
Majority			46	0.2	-15.3
Turnout			29,166	63.4	+18.3
	Unionist hold		Swing	-17.6

General election 1923: Rotherhithe
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ben Smith	9,019	48.0	+11.7
	Unionist	John Lort-Williams	5,741	30.5	-6.0
	Liberal	Richard Hazleton	4,035	21.5	-5.7
Majority			3,278	17.5	N/A
Turnout			29,457	63.8	+0.4
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+8.8

General election 1924: Rotherhithe
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ben Smith	12,703	60.3	+12.3
	Unionist	Charles Garfield Lott Du Cann	8,375	39.7	+9.2
Majority			4,328	20.6	+3.1
Turnout			29,906	70.5	+6.7
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.5

General election 1929: Rotherhithe
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ben Smith	14,664	61.6	+1.3
	Unionist	Gurney Braithwaite	4,594	19.3	-20.4
	Liberal	Dora West	4,556	19.1	New
Majority			10,070	42.3	+21.7
Turnout			36,133	65.9	-0.6
	Labour hold		Swing	+10.8

Election in the 1930s[edit]

General election 1931: Rotherhithe
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Norah Runge	11,666	50.3	+31.0
	Labour	Ben Smith	11,536	49.7	-11.9
Majority			130	0.6	N/A
Turnout			36,111	64.3	-1.6
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+21.4

General election 1935: Rotherhithe
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ben Smith	14,416	59.7	+10.0
	Conservative	Norah Runge	9,751	40.3	-10.0
Majority			4,665	19.4	N/A
Turnout			33,899	71.3	+7.0
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+10.0

Election in the 1940s[edit]

General election 1945: Rotherhithe
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ben Smith	9,741	79.1	+19.4
	Conservative	Norah Runge	2,577	20.9	-19.4
Majority			7,164	58.2	+38.8
Turnout			18,098	68.1	-3.2
	Labour hold		Swing	+19.4

1946 Rotherhithe by-election^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bob Mellish	7,265	65.0	-14.1
	Liberal	Edward Martell	2,821	25.3	New
	Conservative	Frederick Burden	1,084	9.7	-11.2
Majority			4,444	39.7	-18.5
Turnout			11,170	50.9	-17.2
	Labour hold

In fiction[edit]

The constituency is portrayed in an episode (A Place in the World) of TV drama series Upstairs, Downstairs as the safe Docklands Labour seat of "Rotherhithe East" that is unsuccessfully contested by James Bellamy for the Conservatives in a by-election in 1920. Location scenes were actually shot in Rotherhithe in January 1975 during the making of the episode. (In real life through 1920 Rotherhithe was a Unionist seat.)

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1886
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h British Parliamentary Election Results 1885–1918, FWS Craig
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f The Liberal Year Book, 1907
^ ^a ^b Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1901
^ ^a ^b Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1916
^ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, FWS Craig
^ The Times, 19 November 1946

External links[edit]

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

[ReferenceC-1] Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1886

[ReferenceA-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h British Parliamentary Election Results 1885–1918, FWS Craig

[ReferenceB-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f The Liberal Year Book, 1907

[ReferenceD-4] Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1901

[ReferenceE-5] Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1916

[6] British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, FWS Craig

[7] The Times, 19 November 1946

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