Islington West
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
1885–1950
Seats	one
Created from	Finsbury
Replaced by	Islington South West

Islington West was a borough constituency in the Metropolitan Borough of Islington, in North London.

It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 until it was abolished for the 1950 general election. Elections were held using the first past the post voting system.

Boundaries

1918–1950: The Metropolitan Borough of Islington wards of Lower Holloway and Thornhill.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Richard Chamberlain	Liberal
	1886	Richard Chamberlain	Liberal Unionist
	1892	Thomas Lough	Liberal
	1918	Sir George Elliott	Unionist
	1922	James Despencer-Robertson	Unionist
	1923	Frederick Montague	Labour
	1931	Patrick Donner	Conservative
	1935	Frederick Montague	Labour
	1947	Albert Evans	Labour
1950		constituency abolished: see Islington South West

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1885: Islington West ^[1]^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Richard Chamberlain	3,470	60.6
	Conservative	George Danford Thomas^[3]	2,256	39.4
Majority			1,214	21.2
Turnout			5,726	78.7
Registered electors			7,276
	Liberal win (new seat)

General election 1886: Islington West ^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Richard Chamberlain	2,793	65.0	+25.6
	Liberal	William Archibald Macdonald^[4]	1,501	35.0	−25.6
Majority			1,292	30.0	N/A
Turnout			4,294	59.0	−19.7
Registered electors			7,276
	Liberal Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+25.6

Elections in the 1890s

General election 1892: Islington West ^[1]^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Lough	3,385	56.0	+21.0
	Liberal Unionist	Richard Chamberlain	2,655	44.0	−21.0
Majority			730	12.0	N/A
Turnout			6,040	72.2	+13.2
Registered electors			8,365
	Liberal gain from Liberal Unionist		Swing	+21.0

General election 1895: Islington West ^[5]^[1]^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Lough	3,494	53.5	−2.5
	Liberal Unionist	George Barham	3,031	46.5	+2.5
Majority			463	7.0	−5.0
Turnout			6,525	72.9	+0.7
Registered electors			8,950
	Liberal hold		Swing	−2.5

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: Islington West ^[5]^[1]^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Lough	3,178	50.1	−3.4
	Liberal Unionist	F H Medhurst	3,159	49.9	+3.4
Majority			19	0.2	−6.8
Turnout			6,337	69.8	−3.1
Registered electors			9,074
	Liberal hold		Swing	−3.4

General election 1906: Islington West ^[2]^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Lough	4,116	53.2	+3.1
	Liberal Unionist	F H Medhurst	3,618	46.8	−3.1
Majority			498	6.4	+6.2
Turnout			7,734	83.8	+14.0
Registered electors			9,229
	Liberal hold		Swing	+3.1

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: Islington West ^[6]^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Lough	3,768	51.7	−1.5
	Liberal Unionist	Savile Crossley	3,514	48.3	+1.5
Majority			254	3.4	−3.0
Turnout			7,282	85.2	+1.4
Registered electors			8,544
	Liberal hold		Swing	−1.5

General election December 1910: Islington West ^[7]^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Lough	3,549	54.3	+2.6
	Conservative	William George Black	2,985	45.7	−2.6
Majority			564	8.6	+5.2
Turnout			6,534	76.5	−8.7
Registered electors			8,544
	Liberal hold		Swing	+2.6

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 the July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

Liberal: Thomas Lough
Unionist:

General election 1918: Islington West ^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Unionist	George Elliott	4,996	45.4	−0.3
	Liberal	Thomas Lough	2,616	23.7	−30.6
	Labour	John Thomas Sheppard	2,300	20.9	New
	NFDDSS	Ernest Miles Taylor	1,105	10.0	New
Majority			2,380	21.7	N/A
Turnout			11,017	42.1	−34.6
Registered electors			26,197
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+15.2
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Islington West ^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	James Despencer-Robertson	7,335	38.9	−6.5
	Liberal	Henry Mills	6,643	35.3	+11.6
	Labour	W. J. Lewington	4,856	25.8	+4.9
Majority			692	3.6	−18.1
Turnout			18,834	57.5	+15.4
Registered electors			32,775
	Unionist hold		Swing	−9.1

General election 1923: Islington West ^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Frederick Montague	7,955	41.4	+15.6
	Unionist	James Despencer-Robertson	5,829	30.3	−8.6
	Liberal	Joseph William Molden	5,443	28.3	−7.0
Majority			2,126	11.1	N/A
Turnout			19,227	57.7	+0.2
Registered electors			33,351
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+12.1

General election 1924: Islington West ^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Frederick Montague	10,174	45.3	+3.9
	Unionist	James Despencer-Robertson	9,499	42.3	+12.0
	Liberal	Joseph William Molden	2,780	12.4	−15.9
Majority			675	3.0	−8.1
Turnout			22,453	67.2	+9.5
Registered electors			33,427
	Labour hold		Swing	−4.1

General election 1929: Islington West ^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Frederick Montague	13,768	55.2	+9.9
	Unionist	James Despencer-Robertson	6,921	27.7	−14.6
	Liberal	David Eifion Puleston Evans	4,267	17.1	+4.7
Majority			6,847	27.5	+24.5
Turnout			24,956	60.2	−7.0
Registered electors			41,466
	Labour hold		Swing	+12.3

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Islington West ^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Patrick Donner	14,487	59.22
	Labour	Frederick Montague	9,977	40.78
Majority			4,510	18.44	N/A
Turnout			24,464	58.00
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General election 1935: Islington West ^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Frederick Montague	11,340	55.00
	Conservative	Frederick Ponsonby	9,280	45.00
Majority			2,060	10.00	N/A
Turnout			20,620	52.63
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election 1939–40

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected;

Labour: Frederick Montague^[9]
Conservative: ET Hope
Liberal: WC Woodroofe ^[10]

Elections in the 1940s

General election 1945: Islington West ^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Frederick Montague	11,496	73.8	+18.8
	Conservative	E.T. Hope	4,090	26.2	-18.8
Majority			7,406	47.6	+37.6
Turnout			25,926	60.1	+7.5
	Labour hold		Swing	+18.8

1947 Islington West by-election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Albert Evans	8,760	57.2	-16.6
	Conservative	Tom Howard	4,084	26.6	+0.4
	Liberal	Edwin Malindine	2,459	16.0	New
	Independent	L.J. Wildman	33	0.2	New
Majority			4,676	30.6	-17.0
Turnout			29,859	51.4	-8.7
	Labour hold		Swing	-8.5

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f The Liberal Year Book, 1907
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Craig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885–1918. London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 9781349022984.
^ "The General Election". London Evening Standard. 30 November 1885. p. 3. Retrieved 2 December 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "Mr W. A. MacDonald M.P. On Ireland". Exeter and Plymouth Gazette. 18 December 1886. p. 3. Retrieved 2 December 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ ^a ^b Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1901
^ ^a ^b Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1916
^ British Parliamentary Election Results 1885–1918, FWS Craig
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, FWS Craig
^ Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939
^ The Liberal Magazine, 1939

Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "I"

Historic constituencies in London

1885

1918