Clapham was a borough constituency in South London which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. It was created in time for the 1885 general election then altered in periodic national boundary reviews, principally in 1918, and abolished before the February 1974 general election. In its early years (until 1918) the seat was officially named Battersea and Clapham Parliamentary Borough: No. 2—The Clapham Division.
Boundaries 1885–1918: In 1885 the constituency was established as one of two divisions of a new parliamentary borough to be named Battersea and Clapham, in the northern part of the historic county of Surrey.
The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 provided the constituency, carved out of a corner of East Surrey, was to consist of:
1918–1950: In the redistribution of 1918 the seat was altered to remove half of the wards which constituted Battersea (into a new seat of Battersea South) and to instead consist of the local government wards of Clapham North and Clapham South, together with a part of Balham. As a matter of strict nomenclature it became a division of Wandsworth 'parliamentary borough'.
Local government bodies In 1889 the area was among many square miles severed from Surrey to become part of a new county, the County of London. In 1900 the lower rung of local government in London was reorganised. The constituency became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth.
In 1965 the area as it then stood for the purposes of local government became almost wholly part of the London Borough of Lambeth and of Greater London.
Members of Parliament ElectionMemberParty 1885 John Moulton Liberal 1886 John Saunders Gilliat Conservative 1892 Percy Thornton Conservative 1910 Denison Faber Conservative 1918 b-e Harry Greer Unionist 1918 Sir Arthur du Cros Unionist 1922 b-e Sir John Leigh Unionist 1945 John Battley Labour 1950 Charles Gibson Labour 1959 Alan Glyn Conservative 1964 Margaret McKay Labour 1970 Bill Shelton Conservative 1974 constituency abolished
Election results
Elections in the 1880s
Elections in the 1890s
Elections in the 1900s
Elections in the 1910s
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 July 1914, the following candidates had been selected; Unionist: Denison Faber Liberal: Joseph William MoldenWestern Daily Press 13 May 1914
Beamish was the nominee of Pemberton Billing's Vigilante Society
Beamish was supported by, and may have been the nominee, of the National Federation of Discharged and Demobilized Sailors and Soldiers
Elections in the 1920s
Elections in the 1930s
Elections in the 1940s
Elections in the 1950s
Elections in the 1960s
Anti-Common Market
Elections in the 1970s
References
Bibliography British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press 1974) Debrett’s Illustrated Heraldic and Biographical House of Commons and the Judicial Bench 1886 Debrett’s House of Commons and the Judicial Bench 1901 Debrett’s House of Commons and the Judicial Bench 1918