Croydon
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
CountySurrey
Major settlementsCroydon, Norbury, Coulsdon
1885–1918
SeatsOne
Created fromEast Surrey (leaving its bulk, continued)
Replaced byCroydon North and Croydon South

Croydon was a constituency in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament from 1885 to 1918. As with most in its lifetime following the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, it was a seat, that elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

It was won for all but three years by the Conservative candidate, the exception being the years 1906-1909 when that party, as a fellow Unionist party against Irish Home Rule and other devolution in a spell of widespread popular decline held a general meeting endorsing instead H. O. Arnold-Forster, a Liberal Unionist. His 3.2% victory against the candidate of the rest of the Liberal Party coupled with a 20.2% performance for Labour in Croydon which coincided with a Liberal landslide — the First Asquith ministry which brought in the fundamental constitutional reform of the Parliament Act 1911 after the delay for "the People's Budget" to be implemented.[1] He died in 1909 causing a by-election and his party, with its occasional candidates in the region, no longer stood for the Croydon seat nor its north–south successors after 1918. The Labour party fielded a candidate for the second time in the 1909 by-election, polling badly, winning about a fifth of the 1906 vote; the party fielded none in the 1910 elections for this seat.

Boundaries

1885–1918: The municipal borough of Croydon.[2]

This seat was covered an area based on the town of Croydon. Croydon had been a Municipal Borough from 1883 and was to become a County Borough in 1889. By 1902, at the latest, the parliamentary and local government boroughs had the same boundaries.

The Royal Commission on London Traffic, which reported in 1906, included the borough in its definition of Greater London. It was throughout in the north-east of Surrey. Its area has been included in Greater London since 1965.

From 1918 Croydon was divided into two borough constituencies - Croydon North and Croydon South.

History

The 1906 election saw for the first time a majority of seats in London's metropolitan area align with the Liberal party; the Liberal Unionist candidate here was a compromise reached by the Conservatives and non-Home Rule for Ireland Liberals calculated to prevent a loss to a Liberal candidate.

The constituency was close enough to London and built-up enough to be considered part of a greater London or "Metropolitan" area.

A large part of the inhabitants of this constituency commuted to work in the City of London. It was however an area where attendance at Nonconformist chapels exceeded that at Anglican churches, according to the Daily News survey of 1902. By the time of the 1911 census more factories had been set up and a large artisan population had moved in so its core and north in particular was decidedly lower-income working-class.

The constituency was in general Conservative, but less strongly so than many suburban commuter seats around London. The Labour Party secured 20% of the vote, in a three-way contest, in the 1906 election.

Borough rather than a County seat

The seat being a parliamentary borough made for a lower level of election expenses permissible and the usual office/status for the returning officer.

Members of Parliament

W. Grantham
YearMemberParty
1885William GranthamConservative
1886Sidney HerbertConservative
1895Charles RitchieConservative
1906H. O. Arnold-ForsterLiberal Unionist
1909Sir Robert Hermon-HodgeConservative
1910Ian MalcolmConservative
1918 constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1880s

Jabez Balfour
General election 1885: Croydon[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative William Grantham 5,484 56.0
Liberal Jabez Balfour 4,315 44.0
Majority 1,169 12.0
Turnout 9,799 77.7
Registered electors 12,619
Conservative win (new seat)

Grantham resigned after being appointed a judge of the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice, causing a by-election.

Sydney Buxton
By-election, 27 Jan 1886: Croydon[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Sidney Herbert 5,205 53.9 -2.1
Liberal Sydney Buxton 4,458 46.1 +2.1
Majority 747 7.8 -4.2
Turnout 9,663 76.6 -1.1
Registered electors 12,619
Conservative hold Swing -2.1
General election 1886: Croydon[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Sidney Herbert Unopposed
Conservative hold

Herbert was appointed a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury, requiring a by-election.

By-election, 11 Aug 1886: Croydon[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Sidney Herbert Unopposed
Conservative hold

Elections in the 1890s

Sidney Herbert
General election 1892: Croydon[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Sidney Herbert 6,528 57.5 N/A
Liberal Edward William Grimwade 4,834 42.5 New
Majority 1,694 15.0 N/A
Turnout 11,362 76.6 N/A
Registered electors 14,837
Conservative hold Swing N/A

Herbert's succession to the peerage causes a by-election.

May 1895 Croydon by-election[8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Charles Ritchie Unopposed
Conservative hold

Ritchie's appointment as President of the Board of Trade causes a by-election.

July 1895 Croydon by-election[9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Charles Ritchie Unopposed
Conservative hold
Charles Ritchie
General election 1895: Croydon[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Charles Ritchie 6,876 59.7 +2.2
Liberal Christopher Clarke Hutchinson 4,647 40.3 −2.2
Majority 2,229 19.4 +4.4
Turnout 11,523 71.3 −5.3
Registered electors 16,152
Conservative hold Swing +2.2

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: Croydon[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Charles Ritchie Unopposed
Conservative hold
Stranks
General election 1906: Croydon[12]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Unionist H. O. Arnold-Forster 8,211 41.5 N/A
Liberal Henry Charles Augustus Somerset 7,573 38.3 New
Labour Repr. Cmte. Sidney Stranks 4,007 20.2 New
Majority 638 3.2 N/A
Turnout 19,791 83.0 N/A
Registered electors 23,858
Liberal Unionist hold Swing N/A
Raphael
1909 Croydon by-election[13]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Robert Hermon-Hodge 11,989 57.4 +15.9
Liberal John Raphael 8,041 38.4 +0.1
Labour Frank Smith 886 4.2 −16.0
Majority 3,948 19.0 +15.8
Turnout 20,916 79.0 −4.0
Registered electors 26,470
Conservative hold Swing +7.9

Elections in the 1910s

Hermon-Hodge
General election January 1910: Croydon[14]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Robert Hermon-Hodge 12,223 51.9 -5.5[n 1]
Liberal Arthur Lewis Leon 11,327 48.1 +9.7[n 1]
Majority 896 3.8 N/A
Turnout 23,550 86.1 +3.1
Registered electors 27,350
Conservative hold Swing +0.3
Ian Malcolm
General election December 1910: Croydon[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Ian Malcolm 11,875 53.4 +1.5
Liberal Arthur Lewis Leon 10,343 46.6 −1.5
Majority 1,532 6.8 +3.0
Turnout 22,218 81.2 −4.9
Registered electors 27,350
Conservative 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;

See also

References

  1. ↑ Murray, Bruce K. "The Politics of the ‘People's Budget’." Historical journal 16#3 (1973): 555-570.
  2. ↑ "Chap. 23. Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885". The Public General Acts of the United Kingdom passed in the forty-eighth and forty-ninth years of the reign of Queen Victoria. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode. 1885. pp. 111–198.
  3. ↑ British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  4. ↑ British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  5. ↑ British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  6. ↑ British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  7. ↑ British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  8. ↑ British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  9. ↑ British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  10. ↑ British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  11. ↑ British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  12. ↑ British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  13. ↑ British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  14. ↑ British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  15. ↑ British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
Notes
  1. 1 2 The change (swing) figures here are contrasting the by-election in the previous year, breaking with convention as the last party who stood at a General Election, some four years before, was the co-ticket of the Liberal Unionists and Conservatives, a Liberal Unionist rather than a Conservative; furthermore the Liberal Party only altered its vote between that general election and the by-election by 0.1% making use of the by-election statistics much fairer and informative to the two candidates making up the new slate/field.
  • Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)
  • British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press 1974)
  • Social Geography of British Elections 1885-1910. by Henry Pelling (Macmillan 1967)
  • Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume II 1886-1918, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (Harvester Press 1978)
  • Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume III 1919-1945, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (Harvester Press 1979)
  • Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 6)
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