Croydon South (historic UK Parliament constituency)

Croydon South was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system.

This seat should not be confused with the current Croydon South constituency
Croydon South
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
CountySurrey until 1965, then Greater London
1955–1974 (1974)
Number of membersOne
Replaced byCroydon Central (bulk)
Croydon South (small portion)
Created fromCroydon East and Croydon West
1918–1950
Number of membersOne
Type of constituencyBorough constituency
Replaced byCroydon East and Croydon West
Created fromCroydon

It was created for the 1918 general election when the County Borough of Croydon had grown so the Croydon seat was split into two seats.

In 1974 the seat was redrawn and renamed Croydon Central; following the 1965 addition of Purley and Coulsdon to the London Borough of Croydon in 1974 a fresh seat of Croydon South was created to the south predominantly from East Surrey rather than from the historic Croydon South.

It did not exist from 1950 to 1955 as an east/west division of the town was chosen instead. Its voters elected twice Labour candidates, for the 1945 and 1966 Parliaments when the Labour Party received strong majorities, and at all other elections elected Conservative candidates.

Boundaries

1918-1950: The County Borough of Croydon wards of Central, East, South, and West.

1955-1974: The County Borough of Croydon wards of Addington, Broad Green, Central, Shirley, South, and Waddon.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1918–1950
ElectionNamePartyNotes
1918 Ian Malcolm Conservative previously MP for Croydon
1919 by-election Allan Smith Conservative
1923 William Mitchell-Thomson Conservative
1932 by-election Herbert Williams Conservative
1945 David Rees-Williams Labour
1950 constituency abolished

From 1950 to 1955 the seat was divided into Croydon East and Croydon West.

MPs 1955–1974
ElectionNameParty
1955 Richard Thompson Conservative
1966 David Winnick Labour
1970 Richard Thompson Conservative
Feb 1974 constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1910s
1918 General Election[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
C Unionist Ian Malcolm 17,813 71.8 N/A
Labour H.T. Muggeridge[2] 7,006 28.2 N/A
Majority 10,807 43.6 N/A
Turnout 24,819 55.0 N/A
Registered electors 45,115
Unionist win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.
1919 Croydon South by-election [3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
C Unionist Allan Smith 11,777 55.2 −16.6
Liberal Howard Houlder 9,573 44.8 New
Majority 2,204 10.4 −33.2
Turnout 21,350 45.5 −9.5
Registered electors 46,900
Unionist hold Swing N/A
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s
1922 General Election [4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Unionist Allan Smith 15,356 47.3 −24.5
Labour H.T. Muggeridge 8,942 27.5 −0.7
Liberal Thomas Dobson 8,183 25.2 New
Majority 6,414 19.8 −23.8
Turnout 32,481 66.4 +11.4
Registered electors 48,904
Unionist hold Swing −11.9
1923 General Election [5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Unionist William Mitchell-Thomson 14,310 45.5 −1.8
Labour H.T. Muggeridge 9,926 31.6 +4.1
Liberal Wynne Cemlyn-Jones 7,208 22.9 −2.3
Majority 4,384 13.9 −5.9
Turnout 31,444 63.4 −3.0
Registered electors 49,634
Unionist hold Swing −3.0
1924 General Election [6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Unionist William Mitchell-Thomson 23,734 64.6 +19.1
Labour H.T. Muggeridge 12,979 35.4 +3.8
Majority 10,755 29.2 +15.3
Turnout 36,713 72.0 +8.6
Registered electors 50,964
Unionist hold Swing +7.7
General election 1929: Croydon South [7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Unionist William Mitchell-Thomson 23,258 49.2 −15.4
Labour E.W. Wilton 13,793 29.2 −6.2
Liberal Albert Sigismund Elwell-Sutton 10,218 21.6 New
Majority 9,465 20.0 −9.2
Turnout 47,269 67.4 −4.6
Registered electors 70,107
Unionist hold Swing −4.6

Elections in 1930s
General election 1931: Croydon South
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative William Mitchell-Thomson 40,672 80.34
Labour T. Crawford 9,950 19.66
Majority 30,722 60.69
Turnout 50,622 68.33
Conservative hold Swing
1932 Croydon South by-election
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Herbert Williams 19,126 67.5 −12.8
Labour Rudolph Putnam Messel 9,189 32.5 +12.8
Majority 9,937 35.0 −25.7
Turnout 28,315 38.2 −30.1
Conservative hold Swing −12.8
General election 1935: Croydon South
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Herbert Williams 31,971 62.3 -18.0
Labour T Crawford 14,900 29.0 +9.3
Liberal David William Alun Llewellyn 4,440 8.7 New
Majority 17,071 33.3 -27.6
Turnout 45,860 65.2 -3.1
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in 1940s
General election 1945: Croydon South
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour David Rees-Williams 27,650 53.4 +24.4
Conservative Herbert Williams 24,147 46.6 −15.7
Majority 3,503 6.8 N/A
Turnout 51,797 70.1 +4.9
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

Elections in 1950s
General election 1955: Croydon South[8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Richard Thompson 27,359 56.98
Labour Arthur Carr 20,659 43.02
Majority 6,700 13.96
Turnout 48,018 77.23
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1959: Croydon South [9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Richard Thompson 29,284 58.16
Labour Frederic A Messer 22,069 41.84
Majority 8,215 16.32
Turnout 51,353 79.13
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in 1960s
General election 1964: Croydon South
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Richard Thompson 24,854 52.75
Labour Tyrell Burgess 22,265 47.25
Majority 2,589 5.49
Turnout 47,119 74.27
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1966: Croydon South
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour David Winnick 21,496 44.73
Conservative Richard Thompson 21,415 44.56
Liberal W Edward P Babbs 5,146 10.71 New
Majority 81 0.17
Turnout 48,057 76.10
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

Elections in 1970s
General election 1970: Croydon South
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Richard Thompson 25,986 49.74
Labour David Winnick 22,283 42.65
Liberal Michael R Lane 3,673 7.03
Independent C Thornton 303 0.58
Majority 3,703 7.09
Turnout 52,245 71.29
Conservative hold Swing

Politics and history of the constituency

The seat was created in 1918 and the first MP was Ian Malcolm, who had been the MP for all of Croydon. H.T. Muggeridge, father of Malcolm Muggeridge, fought the seat for Labour four times from 1918, later becoming MP for Romford. The seat saw a by-election in 1932, won by Herbert Williams.

Croydon South had twice seen Croydon's only Labour MPs before the 1990s. David Rees-Williams held the seat from the 1945 Labour landslide until unfavourable boundary changes in 1950. David Winnick won the seat in 1966 before losing in 1970. Otherwise the seat, and indeed the rest of Croydon, had always been firm Conservative territory.

From 1950 until 1955 the seat was divided into east and west, represented by Conservatives Herbert Williams and Richard Thompson respectively.

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References
  1. F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949
  2. Debrett's House of Commons 1922
  3. F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949
  4. F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949
  5. F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949
  6. F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949
  7. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
  8. The Times' Guide to the House of Commons. 1955.
  9. 1959 Assembla.com

Sources
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