Bermondsey (UK Parliament constituency)

Bermondsey
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
1885–1918
Number of members	one
Replaced by	Bermondsey West and Rotherhithe
Created from	Southwark
1950–1983
Replaced by	Southwark and Bermondsey
Created from	Bermondsey West and Rotherhithe

Bermondsey was a borough constituency centred on the Bermondsey district of South London, England. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Election were held using the first-past-the-post voting system.

Bermondsey in the Metropolitan Board of Works area 1885-1918

The constituency was created for the 1885 general election and abolished for the 1918 general election, when its territory was represented by two new constituencies: Rotherhithe and Bermondsey West.

A new Bermondsey constituency was created for the 1950 general election, and abolished for the 1983 election, when it was largely replaced by the new Southwark and Bermondsey constituency.

Bermondsey in the Parliamentary County of London 1950-74

A map showing the wards of Bermondsey Metropolitan Borough as they appeared in 1916

History

The 1983 by-election was one of the most bitterly contested by-elections in the United Kingdom as it involved Bob Mellish, the retired Labour MP, running a highly personal and homophobic campaign against the Labour candidate, Peter Tatchell. The result was the election of Simon Hughes as a Liberal in a former Labour stronghold.

Boundaries

1974-1983: The London Borough of Southwark wards of Abbey, Bricklayers, Browning, Cathedral, Chaucer, Dockyard, Riverside, and Rotherhithe.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1885–1918

	Member^[1]	Party^[2]
1885	James Edwin Thorold Rogers	Liberal
1886	Alfred Lafone	Conservative
1892	Reuben Vincent Barrow	Liberal
1895	Alfred Lafone	Conservative
1900	Henry John Cockayne Cust	Conservative
1906	George Joseph Cooper	Liberal
1909 by-election	John Molesworth Thomas Dumphreys	Conservative
1910	Harold James Glanville	Liberal
1918	Constituency abolished: see Rotherhithe and Bermondsey West

MPs 1950–1983

	Member	Party
1950	Bob Mellish	Labour
1983 by-election	Simon Hughes	Liberal
1983	constituency abolished: see Southwark and Bermondsey

Election results

Elections 1885-1918

George Cooper

General Election January 1906
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Dr George Joseph Cooper	4,775	61.3	+13.2
	Conservative	Henry John Cockayne-Cust	3,016	38.7	-13.2
Majority			1,759	22.6	26.4
Turnout				73.4
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+13.2

Spencer Hughes

Bermondsey by-election, 1909^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	John Molesworth Thomas Dumphreys	4,278	47.5
	Liberal	Spencer Leigh Hughes	3,291	36.6
	Labour	Alfred Salter	1,435	15.9	n/a
Majority			987	10.9
Turnout				73.6
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing

Harold Glanville

General Election January 1910
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Harold James Glanville	5,477	54.9	+18.3
	Conservative	John Molesworth Thomas Dumphreys	4,508	45.1	-2.4
Majority			969	9.8	20.7
Turnout				82.4	+8.8
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+10.4

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: Bermondsey^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Robert Joseph Mellish	26,018	76.9
	Conservative	F Warwick	5,964	17.6
	Liberal	Bridget Elizabeth Talbot	1,852	5.5
Majority			20,054	59.3
Turnout				79.7
	Labour win

General Election 1951: Bermondsey
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Robert Joseph Mellish	26,267	78.85
	Conservative	Ralph Manders	5,265	15.81
	Liberal	Harry Ball Wilson	1,779	5.34
Majority			21,002	63.05
Turnout				78.22
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Bermondsey
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Robert Joseph Mellish	21,709	76.75
	Conservative	Catherine Orr-Ewing	4,309	15.23
	Liberal	Harry Ball Wilson	1,554	5.49
	Ind. Labour Party	H Stanley Birkett	715	2.53
Majority			17,400	61.51
Turnout				69.51
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1959: Bermondsey
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Robert Joseph Mellish	20,528	76.84
	Conservative	Kenneth Payne	6,187	23.16
Majority			14,341	53.68
Turnout				70.45
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1964: Bermondsey
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Robert Joseph Mellish	17,481	79.28
	Conservative	Jeremy GLM Porter	4,568	20.72
Majority			12,913	58.57
Turnout				63.28
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1966: Bermondsey
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Robert Joseph Mellish	16,605	80.63
	Conservative	Jeremy GLM Porter	3,990	19.37
Majority			12,615	61.25
Turnout				60.91
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: Bermondsey
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Robert Joseph Mellish	13,908	76.92
	Conservative	George HJ Nicholson	4,172	23.08
Majority			9,736	53.85
Turnout				52.91
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election February 1974: Bermondsey
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Robert Joseph Mellish	24,847	68.62
	Conservative	Howard Emerson Flight	6,126	16.92
	Liberal	C Hewittson	3,751	10.36
	National Front	G Davey	1,485	4.10
Majority			18,721	51.70
Turnout				65.95
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election October 1974: Bermondsey
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Robert Joseph Mellish	22,875	73.37
	Conservative	Howard Emerson Flight	4,294	13.77
	Liberal	Thomas Taylor	2,520	8.08
	National Front	G Davey	1,488	4.77
Majority			18,581	59.60
Turnout				56.42
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1979: Bermondsey
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Robert Joseph Mellish	19,338	63.6	−9.8
	Conservative	Alexander Duma	7,582	24.9	+11.1
	Liberal	Thomas Taylor	2,072	6.8	−1.3
	National Front	James Sneath	1,175	3.9	−0.9
	Workers Revolutionary	Anthony Moore	239	0.8	N/A
Majority			11,756	38.7	−20.9
Turnout			30,406	59.3	-2.9
	Labour hold		Swing	−10.5

Elections in the 1980s

Bermondsey by-election, 1983
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Simon Hughes	17,017	57.7	+50.9
	Labour	Peter Tatchell	7,698	26.1	−37.5
	Real Bermondsey Labour	John O'Grady	2,243	7.6	N/A
	Conservative	Robert Hughes	1,631	5.5	−19.4
	National Front	James Sneath	426	1.4	−2.4
	Monster Raving Loony	David Sutch	97	0.3	N/A
	Independent Patriot	Dowager Lady Birdwood	69	0.2	N/A
	New Britain	Michael Keulemans	62	0.2	N/A
	Independent Labour	Barry Giddings	50	0.2	N/A
	Communist	Robert Gordon	50	0.2	N/A
	Ecology	George Hannah	45	0.2	N/A
	Revolutionary Communist	Fran Eden	38	0.1	N/A
	National Labour Party	Ann King	25	0.1	N/A
	United Democratic Party	Alan Baker	15	0.1	N/A
	Anti-Common Market Free Trade Party	David Wedgwood	15	0.1	N/A
	Systems Designer	Esmond Bevan	8	0.0	N/A
Majority			9,319	27.2
Turnout			29,489	57.7	−1.6
	Liberal gain from Labour		Swing

Note: Esmond Bevan made a mistake and inserted his occupation rather than politics in the nomination paper. He was an Independent Labour candidate.

References

↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 2)
↑ Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 47. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
↑ Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12357, 30 October 1909, Page 5
↑ British parliamentary election results 1950-1970, Craig, F.W.S.

Sources

Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources: UK General Elections since 1832

Historic constituencies in London

1885	Battersea Bermondsey Bethnal Green North East Bethnal Green South West Bow and Bromley Brixton Camberwell North Chelsea City of London Clapham Deptford Dulwich Finsbury Central Finsbury East Fulham Greenwich Hackney Central Hackney North Hackney South Haggerston Hammersmith Hampstead Holborn Hoxton Islington East Islington North Islington South Islington West Kennington Kensington North Kensington South Lambeth North Lewisham Limehouse Marylebone East Marylebone West Mile End Newington West Norwood Paddington North Paddington South Peckham Poplar Rotherhithe Southwark West St George St George's Hanover Square St Pancras East St Pancras North St Pancras South St Pancras West Stepney Strand Walworth Wandsworth Westminster Whitechapel Woolwich

1950	Barnet Battersea North Battersea South Bermondsey Bethnal Green Brentford and Chiswick Brixton Chelsea Cities of London and Westminster Clapham Deptford Dulwich Fulham East Fulham West Greenwich Hackney South Hammersmith North Hammersmith South Hampstead Holborn and St Pancras South Islington East Islington North Islington South West Kensington North Kensington South Lewisham North Lewisham South Lewisham West Norwood Paddington North Paddington South Peckham Poplar Putney St Marylebone St Pancras North Streatham Shoreditch and Finsbury Southwark Stepney Stoke Newington and Hackney North Vauxhall Wandsworth Central Woolwich East Woolwich West

1955	Barnet Barons Court Battersea North Battersea South Bermondsey Bethnal Green Brentford and Chiswick Brixton Chelsea Cities of London and Westminster Clapham Deptford Dulwich Fulham Greenwich Hackney Central Hammersmith North Hampstead Holborn and St Pancras South Islington East Islington North Islington South West Kensington North Kensington South Lewisham North Lewisham South Lewisham West Norwood Paddington North Paddington South Peckham Poplar Putney St Marylebone St Pancras North Shoreditch and Finsbury Southwark Stepney Stoke Newington and Hackney North Streatham Vauxhall Wandsworth Central Woolwich East Woolwich West

1974	Acton Barking Battersea North Battersea South Beckenham Bermondsey Bethnal Green and Bow Bexleyheath Brent East Brent North Brent South Brentford and Isleworth Carshalton Chelsea Chingford Chipping Barnet Chislehurst City of London and Westminster South Croydon Central Croydon North East Croydon North West Croydon South Dagenham Dulwich Ealing North Edmonton Enfield North Enfield Southgate Erith and Crayford Feltham and Heston Finchley Fulham Greenwich Hackney Central Hackney North and Stoke Newington Hackney South and Shoreditch Hammersmith North Hampstead Harrow Central Harrow East Harrow West Hayes and Harlington Hendon North Hendon South Holborn and St Pancras South Hornchurch Hornsey Ilford North Ilford South Islington Central Islington North Islington South and Finsbury Kensington Kingston-upon-Thames Lambeth Central Lewisham Deptford Lewisham East Lewisham West Leyton Mitcham and Morden Newham North East Newham North West Newham South Norwood Orpington Paddington Peckham Putney Ravensbourne Richmond Romford Ruislip-Northwood St Marylebone St Pancras North Sidcup Southall Stepney and Poplar Streatham Surbiton Sutton and Cheam Tooting Tottenham Twickenham Upminster Uxbridge Vauxhall Walthamstow Wanstead and Woodford Wimbledon Wood Green Woolwich East Woolwich West

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