Westminster St George's (UK Parliament constituency)

Westminster St George's
Westminster St George's
Former Borough constituency; for the House of Commons
County	County of London
1885–1950
Seats	One
Created from	Westminster
Replaced by	Cities of London and Westminster

Westminster St George's, originally named St George's, Hanover Square, was a parliamentary constituency in Central 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 system of election.

History[edit]

The constituency was created under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, and was then named "St George Hanover Square" after the parish of the same name.

It was renamed in 1918 as "Westminster St George's", and abolished in 1950.

Boundaries[edit]

St George Hanover Square in the Metropolitan area 1885–1918

St George's in the Parliamentary County of London 1918–50

1885–1918[edit]

From 1885 to 1918, when the constituency was known as St George Hanover Square, it was defined as being coterminous with the civil parish of the same name.^[1] In 1900 the parish was included for local government purposes in the area of the Metropolitan Borough of Westminster. This did not affect the name or boundaries of the constituency until 1918.^[2]

1918–1950[edit]

The Boundary Commission report of 1918 (Cd. 8756), at Schedule-Part II no. 78, defined the constituency as the following wards of the Metropolitan Borough of Westminster:

Conduit: A small ward running from the top of Regent Street down through Hanover Square, the eastern side of Berkeley Square, and down to the Ritz on Piccadilly.
Grosvenor: Covering the whole of Mayfair and the northern half of Hyde Park.
Hamlet of Knightsbridge: The southern half of Hyde Park, together with Knightsbridge and part of the museums area north of South Kensington including the Royal Albert Hall.
Knightsbridge St. George's: The area of Belgravia.
Victoria: A very large ward running from Buckingham Palace south to include Victoria Station, and Pimlico.

The constituency also included "the part of the Charing Cross Ward which lies to the south and west of a line drawn from the ward boundary at the centre of Wellington Arch, along the middle of Constitution Hill, thence along the middle of the road to the north and east of the Queen Victoria Memorial, thence along the middle of Spur Road to boundary of St. Margaret Ward". This area included the remainder of the grounds of Buckingham Palace which were not in the Victoria Ward, but contained no electors. The boundary commissioners proposals were enacted by Schedule 9 of the Representation of the People Act 1918.

Members of Parliament[edit]

	Member	Party
1885	Lord Algernon Percy	Conservative
1887	George Goschen	Liberal Unionist
1893	George Goschen	Conservative
1900	Hon. Heneage Legge	Conservative
1906	Hon. Alfred Lyttelton	Liberal Unionist
1912	Hon. Alfred Lyttelton	Unionist
1913	Sir Alexander Henderson	Unionist
1916	Sir George Reid	Unionist
1918	Sir Newton Moore	Unionist
1918	Walter Long	Unionist
1921	James Erskine	Anti-Waste League/Independent Conservative
1923	James Erskine	Unionist
1929	Sir Laming Worthington-Evans	Unionist
1931	Duff Cooper	Conservative
1945	Arthur Howard	Conservative
1950	constituency abolished

Elections[edit]

Elections in the 1880s[edit]

General election 1885: St George's, Hanover Square^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Algernon Percy	5,256	67.7
	Liberal	Walter Phillimore	2,503	32.3
Majority			2,753	35.4
Turnout			7,759	73.9
Registered electors			10,500
	Conservative win (new seat)

General election 1886: St George's, Hanover Square^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Algernon Percy	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

Percy's resignation caused a by-election.

By-election, 9 Feb 1887: St George's, Hanover Square^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	George Goschen	5,702	78.7	*New*
	Liberal	James Haysman	1,545	21.3	New
Majority			4,157	57.4	N/A
Turnout			7,247	65.4	N/A
Registered electors			11,079
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1890s[edit]

General election 1892: St George's, Hanover Square^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	George Goschen	Unopposed
	Liberal Unionist hold

Goschen was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty, requiring a by-election.

By-election, 29 Jun 1895: St George's, Hanover Square^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Goschen	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

General election 1895: St George's, Hanover Square^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Goschen	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1900s[edit]

General election 1900: St George's, Hanover Square^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Heneage Legge	3,852	75.1	*N/A*
	Liberal	William Everitt	1,278	24.9	New
Majority			2,574	50.2	N/A
Turnout			5,130	52.2	N/A
Registered electors			9,820
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1906: St George's, Hanover Square^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Heneage Legge	4,264	66.1	−9.0
	Liberal	Manmath Chandra Mallik	2,191	33.9	+9.0
Majority			2,073	32.2	−18.0
Turnout			6,455	69.0	+16.8
Registered electors			9,359
	Conservative hold		Swing	−9.0

1906 by-election: St George's, Hanover Square^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Alfred Lyttelton	Unopposed
	Liberal Unionist hold

Elections in the 1910s[edit]

General election January 1910: St George's, Hanover Square^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Alfred Lyttelton	5,383	78.6	+12.5
	Liberal	Mackenzie Bell	1,469	21.4	−12.5
Majority			3,914	57.2	+25.0
Turnout			6,852	76.5	+7.5
Registered electors			8,954
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	+12.5

General election December 1910: St George's, Hanover Square^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Alfred Lyttelton	4,398	78.7	+0.1
	Liberal	Mackenzie Bell	1,188	21.3	−0.1
Majority			3,210	57.4	+0.2
Turnout			5,586	62.4	−14.1
Registered electors			8,954
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	+0.1

1913 by-election: St George's, Hanover Square^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Alexander Henderson	Unopposed
	Unionist hold

1916 by-election: St George's, Hanover Square^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	George Reid	Unopposed
	Unionist hold

1918 by-election: St George's, Hanover Square^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Newton Moore	Unopposed
	Unionist hold

General election 1918: Westminster St George's
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Unionist	Walter Long	10,453	90.2	+11.5
	Liberal	Mackenzie Bell	1,140	9.8	−11.5
Majority			9,313	80.4	+23.0
Turnout			11,593	39.9	−22.5
	Unionist hold		Swing	+11.5
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s[edit]

1921 Westminster St George's by-election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Anti-Waste League	James Erskine	7,244	57.5	*New*
C	Unionist	Herbert Jessel	5,356	42.5	-47.7
Majority			1,888	15.0	N/A
Turnout			12,600	39.8	-0.1
	Anti-Waste League gain from Unionist		Swing	N/A
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

General election 1922: Westminster St George's
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ind. Unionist	James Erskine	11,252	55.9	*New*
	Unionist	Leslie Wilson	7,559	37.6	-52.6
	Liberal	Mary Sophia Allen	1,303	6.5	-3.3
Majority			3,693	18.3	N/A
Turnout			20,114	62.2	+21.3
	Ind. Unionist gain from Anti-Waste League		Swing

General election 1923: Westminster St George's
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Unionist	James Erskine	Unopposed
Registered electors
	Unionist gain from Ind. Unionist		Swing

General election 1924: Westminster St George's
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Unionist	James Erskine	Unopposed
Registered electors
	Unionist hold		Swing

General election 1929: Westminster St George's
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Laming Worthington-Evans	22,448	78.1	*N/A*
	Labour	Joseph George Butler	6,294	21.9	New
Majority			16,154	56.2	N/A
Turnout			28,742	53.3	N/A
	Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1930s[edit]

1931 Westminster St George's by-election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Duff Cooper	17,242	59.9	-18.2
	Ind. Conservative	Ernest Petter	11,532	40.1	New
Majority			5,710	19.8	-36.4
Turnout			28,774	53.1	-0.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

1931 general election: Westminster St George's^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Duff Cooper	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

General election 1935: Westminster St George's
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Duff Cooper	25,424	84.6	+6.5
	Labour	Anne Fremantle	4,643	15.4	-6.5
Majority			20,781	69.2	+13.0
Turnout			30,067	55.2	+1.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1940s[edit]

General election 1945: Westminster St George's
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Arthur Howard	13,086	67.2	-17.4
	Common Wealth	Wilfred Brown	5,314	27.3	New
	Independent	Dorothy Crisp	1,069	5.5	New
Majority			7,772	39.9	-29.3
Turnout			19,469	57.2	+2.0
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

References[edit]

Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 1)
F. W. S. Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1885 – 1918
F. W. S. Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918 – 1949

^ "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.
^ London Government Act 1899, Schedule 1
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ Craig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885–1918. London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 9781349022984.
^ Election results 1931 PoliticsResources

[1] "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.

[2] London Government Act 1899, Schedule 1

[craig1885-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ Craig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885–1918. London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 9781349022984.

[4] Election results 1931 PoliticsResources

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