Battersea North was a parliamentary constituency in the Metropolitan Borough of Battersea, and then the London Borough of Wandsworth, in 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 voting system.

It was created for the 1918 general election, when the former Battersea constituency was divided in two. It was abolished for the 1983 general election, when it was reunited with most of Battersea South to form the new Battersea constituency.

Boundaries

Battersea North in London 1918-50

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

Battersea North in London 1950-74

1918–1950: The Metropolitan Borough of Battersea wards of Church, Latchmere, Nine Elms, and Park.

1950–1974: The Metropolitan Borough of Battersea wards of Church, Latchmere, Newtown, Nine Elms, Park, Queenstown, Vicarage, and Winstanley.

1974–1983: The London Borough of Wandsworth wards of Latchmere, Queenstown, St John's, St Mary's Park, and Shaftesbury.

The constituency was created by the Representation of the People Act 1918.^[1] When seats were redistributed by the Representation of the People Act 1948 the seat was redefined as consisting of five wards by the addition of the Winstanley ward, transferred from Battersea South.^[2] However the wards of the borough were redrawn in 1949 prior to the next general election in 1950.^[3] Accordingly, changes were made under the House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1949. Of the 16 new wards, eight were included in each of the Battersea North and South constituencies.^[4][5]

In 1965 Battersea became part of the London Borough of Wandsworth. This, however made no immediate change to the parliamentary constituencies. It was not until the general election of February 1974 that the constituency boundaries were altered. St John's and Shaftesbury wards were transferred from Battersea South.^[6] These boundaries were used until abolition.

The constituency was abolished for the election of 1983, and was subsumed by the new Battersea seat, where it formed 61.5% of the total constituency (with the addition of Balham, Fairfield and Northcote wards from Battersea South).

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Battersea North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Shapurji Saklatvala	11,311	50.5	+17.1
	National Liberal	Henry Hogbin	9,290	41.6	New
	Liberal	Vivian Claude Albu	1,756	7.9	-58.7
Majority			2,021	9.4	N/A
Turnout			22,357
	Labour gain from National Liberal		Swing

Henry Hogbin

General election 1923: Battersea North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Henry Hogbin	12,527	50.4	+42.5
	Labour	Shapurji Saklatvala	12,341	49.6	−0.9
Majority			186	0.8	N/A
Turnout			24,868	61.9
	Liberal gain from Labour		Swing	+4.9

General election 1924: Battersea North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Communist	Shapurji Saklatvala	15,096	50.9	New
	Constitutionalist	Henry Hogbin	14,554	49.1	New
Majority			542	1.8	N/A
Turnout			29,650	73.1	+12.2
	Communist gain from Liberal		Swing

General election 1929: Battersea North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William Sanders	13,265	37.8	New
	Unionist	Arthur Marsden	10,833	30.8	New
	Communist	Shapurji Saklatvala	6,554	18.6	−32.3
	Liberal	Thomas Patrick Brogan	4,513	12.9	New
Majority			2,432	7.0	N/A
Turnout			35,165	69.7	−3.4
	Labour gain from Communist		Swing

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 1)