Battersea North (UK Parliament constituency)

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Battersea North was a parliamentary constituency in the then Metropolitan Borough of Battersea in South London. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

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

The constituency was created by the Representation of the People Act 1918 and was initially composed of four wards of the metroplitan borough: Church, Latchmere, Nine Elms and Park. 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. From 1950 to 1974 Battersea North consisted of Church, Latchmere, Newtown, Nine Elms, Park, Queenstown, Vicarage and Winstanley wards.

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 1974 that the constituency boundaries were altered. Renamed Wandsworth, Battersea North, the seat was defined as consisting of five wards of the London Borough: Latchmere, Queenstown, St John's, St Mary's Park and Shaftesbury. Shaftesbury and St John's were transferred from Battersea South. These boundaries were used until abolition.

Members of Parliament

Year		Member	Party
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1918	Richard Morris	Coalition Liberal
style="background-color: Template:Communist Party of Great Britain/meta/color" |	1922	Shapurji Saklatvala	Communist
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1923	Henry Cairn Hogbin	Liberal
style="background-color: Template:Communist Party of Great Britain/meta/color" |	1924	Shapurji Saklatvala	Communist
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1929	William Stephen Saunders	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1931	Arthur Marsden	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1935	William Stephen Saunders	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1940	Francis Douglas	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1946	Douglas Jay	Labour
1983		Constituency abolished: see Battersea

Election results

1918 General Election: Battersea North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	Richard Morris	11,311
	Labour	Mrs Despard	5,634
Majority			5,597
	National Liberal win (new seat)

1922 General Election: Battersea North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Communist	Shapurji Saklatvala	11,311
	National Liberal Party (UK)	H C Hogbin	9,200
	Liberal	V C Albu	1,756
Majority			2,021
	Communist gain from National Liberal		Swing

1923 General Election: Battersea North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	H C Hogbin	12,527
	Communist	Shapurji Saklatvala	12,341
Majority			186
Turnout
	Liberal gain from Communist		Swing

1924 General Election: Battersea North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Communist	Shapurji Saklatvala	15,096
	Liberal	H C Hogbin	14,554
Majority			542
Turnout
	Communist gain from Liberal		Swing

1929 General Election: Battersea North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William Stephen Saunders	13,265
	Conservative	Commander Arthur Marsden	10,833
	Communist	Shapurji Saklatvala	6,334
	Liberal	T P Brogan	4,513
Majority			2,432
Turnout
	Labour gain from Communist		Swing

1931 General Election: Battersea North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Commander Arthur Marsden	18,688
	Labour	William Stephen Saunders	11,985
	Communist	Shapurji Saklatvala	3,021
Majority			6,703
Turnout			33,694
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

1935 General Election: Battersea North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William Stephen Saunders	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%

William Saunders resigned in 1940, leading to a by-election.

Battersea North by-election, 1940

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Francis Douglas	9,947	92.6	33.9
	Independent	E.C. Joyce	791	7.4	N/A
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	F C R Douglas	14,070	73.9
	Conservative	J G W Paget	4,969	26.1
Majority			9,101	47.8
Turnout
	Labour hold		Swing

F C R Douglas was appointed Governor of Malta, leading to a by-election.

Battersea North by-election, 1946

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Douglas Jay	11,329
	Conservative	B A Shattock	4,858
	Ind. Labour Party	Hugo Dewar	240
Majority			6,471
Turnout				61
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1950: Battersea North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	D Jay	24,762	69.57	−4.33
	Conservative	M Madden	9,084	25.52	−0.58
	Liberal	E R Handscombe	1,090	3.06	N/A
	Communist	J Mahon	655	1.84	N/A
Majority			15,678	44.05
Turnout				80.7
	Labour hold		Swing	-3.75

General Election 1951: Battersea North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	D P T Jay	25,882	72.53	2.96
	Conservative	W I Percival	9,905	27.47	1.95
Majority			16,077	45.05	1.00
Turnout				80.24	−0.46
	Labour hold		Swing	2.96

References

• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages