Hackney North
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
1885–1950
Seats	one
Created from	Hackney
Replaced by	Stoke Newington and Hackney North

Hackney North was a parliamentary constituency in "The Metropolis" (later the County of London). It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

History

Elections have been held here since Simon de Montfort's Parliament in 1265 for the county constituency of Middlesex.

Under the Great Reform Act of 1832 and from then onward, Hackney formed part of the new Parliamentary Borough of Tower Hamlets. This much larger area than today's borough with that name was only divided with the creation of the two seat constituency of Hackney at the 1868 general election, comprising the large parishes of Bethnal Green and Shoreditch.^[1] This was a creation of the Second Reform Act or the officially termed Representation of the People Act, 1867. Hackney's increased democratic representation provided suffrage for the first time to working-class men but was originally intended to increase the number of seats held in the House of Commons by the Conservative Party.

The constituency was created under the Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885 when the two-member Parliamentary Borough of Hackney was split into three single-member divisions. The seat, officially the Northern Division of the Parliamentary Borough of Hackney was first contested at the 1885 general election. The constituency was abolished under the Representation of the People Act, 1948 for the 1950 general election, when it was largely replaced by the new Hackney North and Stoke Newington constituency.

Boundaries

1885–1918

In 1885 the constituency was defined as consisting of:

The Parish of Stoke Newington (previously part of the Parliamentary Borough of Finsbury)
No. 1 or Stamford Hill Ward of Hackney Parish
No. 2 or West Hackney Ward of Hackney Parish
The part of No. 5 or Hackney Ward of Hackney Parish north of the centres of Evering Road, Upper Clapton Road, and Southwold Road.^[2]

1918–1950

The Representation of the People Act 1918 redrew constituencies throughout Great Britain and Ireland. Seats in the County of London were redefined in terms of wards of the Metropolitan Boroughs that had been created in 1900. The Metropolitan Borough of Hackney was divided into three divisions, with the same names as the constituencies created in 1885. Hackney North was defined as consisting of :

Stamford Hill Ward
The part of Clapton Park Ward to the north of a line drawn along the centres of Glenarm Road, Glyn Road and Redwald Road to its junction with Maclaren Street, thence across the recreation grounds in Daubeney Road to the borough boundary at a point fifty feet north of a boundary post situate at the junction of the Waterworks River with the River Lea at Lead Mill Point.
The part of West Hackney Ward to the north and west of the centre of Shacklewell Lane.^[3]

Stoke Newington was removed from the seat, and became a separate constituency.^[3]

Redistribution

The constituency was abolished by the Representation of the People Act 1948. The Borough of Hackney and Stoke Newington jointly formed two seats, Stoke Newington and Hackney North and Hackney South. The bulk of Hackney North passed to the Stoke Newington and Hackney North seat.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Sir Lewis Pelly	Conservative
	1892 by-election	William Robert Bousfield	Conservative
	1906	Thomas Hart-Davies	Liberal
	1910	Walter Greene	Conservative
	1923	Hobbis Harris	Liberal
	1924	Sir Austin Hudson	Conservative
	1945	Henry Edwin Goodrich	Labour
1950		constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1885: Hackney North^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Lewis Pelly	3,327	53.3
	Liberal	Æneas McIntyre	2,911	46.7
Majority			416	6.6
Turnout			6,238	77.4
Registered electors			8,058
	Conservative win (new seat)

General election 1886: Hackney North^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Lewis Pelly	3,351	64.5	+11.2
	Liberal	William Hickman Smith Aubrey	1,848	35.5	-11.2
Majority			1,503	28.9	+22.3
Turnout			5,199	64.5	-12.9
Registered electors			8,058
	Conservative hold		Swing	+11.2

Elections in the 1890s

1892 Hackney North by-election^[5]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Bousfield	4,460	56.1	-8.4
	Liberal	Thomas Arrowsmith Meates	3,491	43.9	+8.4
Majority			969	12.2	-16.7
Turnout			7,951	79.0	+14.5
Registered electors			10,060
	Conservative hold		Swing	-8.4

General election 1892: Hackney South^[6]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Bousfield	4,799	59.4	−5.1
	Liberal	John M McCall	3,280	40.6	+5.1
Majority			1,519	18.8	−10.1
Turnout			8,079	80.3	+15.8
Registered electors			10,060
	Conservative hold		Swing	−5.1

General election 1895: Hackney North^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Bousfield	4,725	65.8	+6.4
	Liberal	Sylvain Mayer	2,460	34.2	-6.4
Majority			2,265	31.6	+12.8
Turnout			7,185	62.8	-17.5
Registered electors			11,444
	Conservative hold		Swing	+6.4

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: Hackney North^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Bousfield	5,005	67.3	+1.5
	Liberal	Herbert Wilberforce	2,437	32.7	−1.5
Majority			2,568	34.6	+3.0
Turnout			7,442	63.4	+0.6
Registered electors			11,747
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.5

General election 1906: Hackney North^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Hart-Davies	4,655	51.2	+18.5
	Conservative	William Bousfield	4,431	48.8	−18.5
Majority			224	2.4	N/A
Turnout			9,086	80.2	+16.8
Registered electors			11,334
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+18.5

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: Hackney North^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Walter Greene	5,620	54.1	+21.3
	Liberal	Thomas Hart-Davies	4,773	45.9	-21.3
Majority			847	8.2	N/A
Turnout			10,393	88.2	+8.0
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+21.4

General election December 1910: Hackney North^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Walter Greene	5,290	56.2	+2.1
	Liberal	William Arthur Addinsell	4,126	43.8	-2.1
Majority			1,164	12.4	+4.2
Turnout			9,416	79.9	-8.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	+2.1

General election 14 December 1918: Hackney North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Unionist	Walter Greene	9,873	70.6	+14.4
	Liberal	Wright Burrows	4,119	29.4	−14.4
Majority			5,754	41.2	+28.8
Turnout			13,992	50.2	−29.7
Registered electors			27,871
	Unionist hold		Swing	+14.4
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Hackney North ^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Walter Greene	13,002	60.8	−9.8
	Liberal	Philip Guedalla	8,387	39.2	+9.8
Majority			4,615	21.6	−19.6
Turnout			21,389	63.5	+13.3
Registered electors			33,706
	Unionist hold		Swing	−9.8

General election 1923: Hackney North^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Harris	11,177	54.0	+14.8
	Unionist	Walter Greene	9,523	46.0	−14.8
Majority			1,654	8.0	N/A
Turnout			20,700	61.2	−2.3
Registered electors			33,825
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing	+14.8

General election 1924: Hackney North^[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Austin Hudson	11,975	47.5	+1.5
	Liberal	John Harris	7,181	28.4	−25.6
	Labour	Stella Churchill	6,097	24.1	New
Majority			4,794	19.1	N/A
Turnout			25,253	74.2	+13.0
Registered electors			34,012
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+12.9

General election 1929: Hackney North^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Austin Hudson	11,199	35.7	−11.8
	Labour	Frank Bowles	10,333	32.9	+8.8
	Liberal	John Harris	9,844	31.4	+3.0
Majority			866	2.8	−16.3
Turnout			31,376	68.6	−5.6
Registered electors			45,722
	Unionist hold		Swing	−10.3

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Hackney North^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Austin Hudson	20,545	69.5	+33.8
	Labour	Frank Bowles	9,022	30.5	-2.4
Majority			11,523	38.9	+36.1
Turnout			29,567
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1935: Hackney North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Austin Hudson	15,000	51.9	-17.6
	Labour	Frank Bowles	13,920	48.1	+17.6
Majority			1,080	3.8	-35.1
Turnout			28,920
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1940s

General election 1945: Hackney North^[14]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Henry Goodrich	17,337	65.0	+16.9
	Conservative	Austin Hudson	5,771	21.7	-30.2
	Liberal	Doreen Gorsky	3,546	13.3	New
Majority			11,566	43.3	N/A
Turnout			26,654
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

References

Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "H" (part 1)

^ Representation of the People Act 1867, Schedule C, New Boroughs formed by Division of the Borough of the Tower Hamlets
^ Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885, C. 23., Sixth Schedule, Divisions of boroughs. Number, names, contents, and boundaries of divisions.
^ ^a ^b Representation of the People Act 1918 c.64, Ninth Schedule: Redistribution of Seats
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Craig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885-1918. London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 9781349022984.
^ "Election Intelligence. North Hackney-Result". The Times. 12 May 1892. p. 6.
^ "The General Election. The Polls". The Times. 7 July 1892. p. 6.
^ "Progress Of The General Election". The Times. 20 January 1910. p. 6.
^ "Progress Of The General Election". The Times. 7 December 1910. p. 7.
^ British parliamentary election results, 1918-1949 by FWS Craig
^ "The General Election: First Returns, Polling In The Boroughs, Liberal Gains". The Times. 7 December 1923. p. 6.
^ "The General Election: First Returns, Polling In The Boroughs". The Times. 30 October 1924. p. 6.
^ "The General Election: First Returns, Polling In The Boroughs". The Times. 31 May 1929. p. 6.
^ "The General Election: First Returns, Polling In The Boroughs". The Times. 28 October 1931. p. 6.
^ "UK general election results 1945". Political Science Resources. University of Keele. Retrieved 25 April 2009.

Historic constituencies in London

1885

1918