Croydon (UK Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with Electoral district of Croydon.

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.

Croydon
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
County	Surrey
Major settlements	Croydon, Norbury, Coulsdon
1885–1918
Seats	One
Created from	East Surrey (leaving its bulk, continued)
Replaced by	Croydon North and Croydon South

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

Year		Member	Party
	1885	William Grantham	Conservative
	1886	Sidney Herbert	Conservative
	1895	Charles Ritchie	Conservative
	1906	H. O. Arnold-Forster	Liberal Unionist
	1909	Sir Robert Hermon-Hodge	Conservative
	1910	Ian Malcolm	Conservative
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;

• Unionist: Ian Malcolm
• Liberal:

See also

• List of former United Kingdom Parliament constituencies

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. 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)