Battersea South was a parliamentary constituency, originally in the County of London and later in Greater London. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the UK Parliament (using first-past-the-post voting).

It was created for the 1918 general election, when the former Battersea constituency was divided in two and the Clapham constituency was reduced in size, losing both of its Battersea wards of the four in total. Battersea South was abolished for the 1983 general election, when the bulk of its territory was reunited with Battersea North to form a new Battersea seat. The south of its area formed a new Tooting seat.

Boundaries

Battersea South in London 1918-50

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

Battersea South in London 1950-74

1918–1950: The Metropolitan Borough of Battersea wards of Bolingbroke, Broomwood, St John, Shaftesbury, and Winstanley.

1950–1974: The Metropolitan Borough of Battersea wards of Bolingbroke, Broomwood, Lavender, Nightingale, St John, Shaftesbury, Stormont, and Thornton.

1974–1983: The London Borough of Wandsworth wards of Balham, Earlsfield, Fairfield, Nightingale, and Northcote.

The seat was created by the Representation of the People Act 1918. When seats were redistributed by the Representation of the People Act 1948 the boundaries of the constituency were altered to contain only four wards, and Winstanley ward was transferred to Battersea North.^[1] However the wards of the borough were redrawn in 1949 prior to the next general election in 1950.^[2] 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.^[3][4]

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.^[5] The Shaftesbury and St John's wards were transferred to Battersea North, while the redrawn constituency incorporated areas previously in the Clapham and Putney seats. These boundaries were used until abolition.^[4]

The constituency was abolished in 1983. Most of its area (Balham, Fairfield and Northcote wards) went to the recreated Battersea seat, with part (Earlsfield and Nightingale wards) passing to Tooting.^[5]

Members of Parliament

Election results

Election in the 1920s

General election 1929: Battersea South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William Bennett	18,113	43.9	+1.6
	Unionist	Harry Selley	17,695	42.8	-14.9
	Liberal	William J. West	5,516	13.3	N/A
Majority			418	1.1	N/A
Turnout			41,324	72.5
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing

1929 Battersea South by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William Bennett	11,789	45.5	+3.2
	Unionist	Harry Selley	11,213	43.4	-14.3
	Liberal	Vivian Albu	2.858	11.1	New
Majority			576	2.1	N/A
Turnout			25,557	57.7
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing

Curzon

General election 1924: Battersea South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Francis Curzon	19,588	57.7	+5.7
	Labour	Albert Winfield	14,371	42.3	-5.7
Majority			5,217	15.4	+11.4
Turnout			33,959
	Unionist hold		Swing

General election 1923: Battersea South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Francis Curzon	14,558	52.0	−9.5
	Labour	Albert Winfield	13,440	48.0	+9.5
Majority			1,118	4.0	−19.0
Turnout			27,998
	Unionist hold		Swing	−9.5

General election 1922: Battersea South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Francis Curzon	17,685	61.5	−6.7
	Labour	Albert Winfield	11,050	38.5	+23.8
Majority			6,635	23.0	−30.5
Turnout			28,735
	Unionist hold		Swing	−15.2

Election in the 1910s

Lynch

General election 1918: Battersea South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Unionist	Francis Curzon	15,670	68.2
	Labour	Arthur Lynch	3,383	14.7
	Liberal	Joseph William Molden	2,273	9.9
	Independent	John Ernest Philip Jenkin*	1,657	7.2
Majority			12,287	53.5
Turnout			22,983	53.4
	Unionist win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

* Jenkin was supported by and possibly the nominee of the local National Federation of Discharged and Demobilized Sailors and Soldiers branch.

References

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