Battersea North (UK Parliament constituency)

Battersea North
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
County	County of London, then Greater London
1918–1983
Seats	One
Created from	Battersea
Replaced by	Battersea

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. 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. However the wards of the borough were redrawn in 1949 prior to the next general election in 1950. 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.

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. 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

Election		Member	Party
	1918	Richard Morris	Liberal
	1922	Shapurji Saklatvala	Communist
	1923	Henry Hogbin	Liberal
	1924	Shapurji Saklatvala	Communist
	1929	William Sanders	Labour
	1931	Arthur Marsden	Conservative
	1935	William Sanders	Labour
	1940 by-election	Francis Douglas	Labour
	1946 by-election	Douglas Jay	Labour
1983		constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1910s

General election 1918: Battersea North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Liberal	Richard Morris	11,231	66.6
	Labour	Charlotte Despard	5,634	33.4
Majority			5,597	33.2
Turnout			16,865	43.7
	Liberal win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

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

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Battersea North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Arthur Marsden	18,688	55.5	+24.7
	Labour	William Sanders	11,985	35.6	−2.2
	Communist	Shapurji Saklatvala	3,021	8.9	−9.7
Majority			6,703	19.9	N/A
Turnout			33,694	67.6	−2.1
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General election 1935: Battersea North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William Sanders	17,596	58.7	+23.1
	Conservative	Arthur Marsden	12,393	41.3	−14.1
Majority			5,203	17.4	N/A
Turnout			29,989	63.5	−4.1
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+18.6

Elections in the 1940s

1940 Battersea North by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Francis Douglas	9,947	92.6	+33.9
	Independent	E.C. Joyce	791	7.4	New
Majority			9,156	85.2	+67.8
Turnout			10,738	25.1	−38.4
	Labour hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1945: Battersea North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Francis Douglas	14,070	73.9	+15.2
	Conservative	John Serocold Paget Mellor	4,969	26.1	−15.2
Majority			9,101	47.8	+30.4
Turnout			19,039	71.1	+15.6
	Labour hold		Swing

1946 Battersea North by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Douglas Jay	11,329	68.9	−5.0
	Conservative	B A Shattock	4,858	29.6	+3.5
	Ind. Labour Party	Hugo Dewar	240	1.5	New
Majority			6,471	39.3	−8.5
Turnout			16,427	55.4	−15.7
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Battersea North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Douglas Jay	24,762	69.57	−4.33
	Conservative	Martin Madden	9,084	25.52	−0.58
	Liberal	Edward Richter Handscombe	1,090	3.06	New
	Communist	John Mahon	655	1.84	New
Majority			15,678	44.05
Turnout			35,591	80.7	+9.6
	Labour hold		Swing	−3.75

General election 1951: Battersea North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Douglas Jay	25,882	72.53	+2.96
	Conservative	Ian Percival	9,905	27.47	+1.95
Majority			16,077	45.06	+1.01
Turnout			35,787	80.24	−0.46
	Labour hold		Swing	+0.51

General election 1955: Battersea North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Douglas Jay	20,980	70.73	−1.80
	Conservative	Ian Percival	8,058	27.17	−0.30
	Independent	Eric Fenner	622	2.10	New
Majority			12,922	43.56	−1.50
Turnout			29,660	69.35	−10.89
	Labour hold		Swing	−1.1

General election 1959: Battersea North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Douglas Jay	19,595	67.84	−2.89
	Conservative	Robert Taylor	9,289	32.16	+4.99
Majority			6,533	35.68	−7.88
Turnout			28,884	70.56	+1.21
	Labour hold		Swing	−3.94

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Battersea North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Douglas Jay	14,930	63.71	−4.13
	Conservative	Robert Taylor	5,847	24.95	−7.21
	Liberal	Stephen R Jakobi	2,187	9.33	New
	Communist	Gladys M Easton	471	2.01	New
Majority			9,083	38.76	+3.08
Turnout			23,435	65.72	−4.84
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.54

General election 1966: Battersea North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Douglas Jay	15,522	72.12	+8.41
	Conservative	C Peter M Davidson	5,350	24.86	−0.09
	Communist	Gladys M Easton	650	3.02	+1.01
Majority			10,172	47.26	+8.50
Turnout			21,522	63.21	−2.51
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.24

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Battersea North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Douglas Jay	11,621	65.51	−6.61
	Conservative	Anthony V Bradbury	4,927	27.77	+2.91
	Liberal	Hester M G Smallbone	1,012	5.70	New
	Communist	D Welsh	179	1.01	−2.01
Majority			6,694	37.74	−9.52
Turnout			17,739	58.69	−3.52
	Labour hold		Swing	−6.15

General election February 1974: Battersea North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Douglas Jay	18,503	58.79	−6.72
	Conservative	Simon Randall	8,080	25.67	−2.10
	Liberal	John Savile	4,683	14.88	+9.18
	Communist (ML)	Carol Reakes	208	0.66	New
Majority			10,423	33.12	−4.62
Turnout			31,474	70.72	+12.03
	Labour hold		Swing	−2.31

General election October 1974: Battersea North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Douglas Jay	17,161	62.22	+3.43
	Conservative	Simon J C Randall	6,019	21.82	−3.85
	Liberal	C R Williams	3,048	11.05	−3.43
	National Front	R Friend	1,250	4.53	New
	Communist (ML)	Carol Reakes	102	0.37	−0.29
Majority			11,142	40.40	+7.28
Turnout			27,580	61.56	−9.16
	Labour hold		Swing	+3.64

General election 1979: Battersea North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Douglas Jay	15,384	56.22	−6.00
	Conservative	P Phillips	9,358	33.22	+11.40
	Liberal	W Brown	2,021	7.18	−3.87
	National Front	Michael Salt	772	2.74	−1.79
	Workers (Leninist)	A Lavelle	104	0.37	New
	Workers Revolutionary	P Clay	47	0.17	New
	Community Party	J Harwell	30	0.11	New
Majority			6,746	23.00	−17.40
Turnout			27,716	67.98	+6.42
	Labour hold		Swing	−8.70

References

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