Bow and Bromley (UK Parliament constituency)

Bow and Bromley
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
1885–1950
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Poplar
Created from	Tower Hamlets

Bow and Bromley was a constituency in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Located in the Metropolitan Borough of Poplar in London, it was created by the Redistribution of Seats Act for the 1885 general election and returned one Member of Parliament (MP) until it was abolished by the 1950 general election.

History

Bow and Bromley in the Metropolitan area from 1885 to 1918.

Bow and Bromley in the Parliamentary County of London from 1918 to 1950.

File:Poplar Met. B Ward Map 1916.svg

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

The area had been part of the former two-seat Tower Hamlets constituency, which was divided at the 1885 general election.

The constituency was marginal before 1918. The party holding the seat changed in 1886, 1892, 1895, 1906, January 1910, December 1910 and 1912. After the extension of the franchise to all adult men and some women in 1918, the seat became safely Labour from 1922.

George Lansbury was first elected in December 1910 as a Labour candidate. He was on the left of the party and was known as a pacifist and supporter of votes for women. In November 1912 Lansbury resigned his seat so he could test public opinion on women's suffrage. He lost the subsequent by-election and did not regain the seat until 1922.

Lansbury was the only member of the cabinet of the Second Labour Ministry to both remain with the party and secure re-election in the 1931 general ection. As the party leader Arthur Henderson was not in the House of Commons, Lansbury became Acting Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition. In 1932 Henderson gave up the leadership and Lansbury was elected leader in his place. He retained the leadership until 1935.

Boundaries

In 1885 the area was administered as part of The Metropolis. It was located in the Tower division, in the east of the county of Middlesex. The neighbourhoods of Bow and Bromley were combined to form a division of the parliamentary borough of Tower Hamlets. The parliamentary division was part of the East End of London. The Bromley in this seat is not the same place as Bromley, Kent after which the Bromley constituency, created in 1918, was named.

In 1889 the Tower division of Middlesex was severed from the county. It became part of the County of London. In 1900 the lower tier of local government in London was re-modelled. Bow and Bromley became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Poplar.

When a re-distribution of parliamentary seats took place in 1918, the constituency became a division of Poplar. It comprised the wards of Bow Central, Bow North, Bow South, Bow West, Bromley North East, Bromley North West, and Bromley South West.

Members of Parliament

• Constituency created (1885)

Election		Member	Party
	1885	William Robson	Liberal
	1886	Sir John Colomb	Conservative
	1892	John Macdonald	Liberal
	1895	Lionel Holland	Conservative
	1899	Walter Guthrie	Conservative
	1906	Stopford Brooke	Liberal
	January 1910	Alfred du Cros	Conservative
	December 1910	George Lansbury	Labour
	1912	Reginald Blair	Conservative
	1918		Coalition Conservative
	1922	George Lansbury	Labour
	1940 by-election	Charles Key	Labour

• Constituency abolished (1950)

Election results

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Poplar, Bow and Bromley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Charles William Key	10,982	84.1
	Conservative	C.K. Duthie	2,075	15.9
Majority			8,907	68.2
Turnout			20,817	62.7
	Labour hold		Swing	N/A

Bow and Bromley by-election, 1940: Poplar, Bow and Bromley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Charles William Key	11,594	95.8
	Communist	Isabel Brown	506	4.2
Majority			11,088	91.6
Turnout			37,324	32.4
	Labour hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1935: Poplar, Bow and Bromley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Lansbury	19,064	77.0
	Conservative	Harold Ernest Weber	5,707	23.0
Majority			13,357	54.0
Turnout			41,653	59.5
	Labour hold		Swing	+18.7

General Election 1931: Poplar, Bow and Bromley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Lansbury	16,306	58.3
	Conservative	D.L.R. Guthrie	11,642	41.7
Majority			4,664	16.6
Turnout			43,779	63.8
	Labour hold		Swing	-11.1

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1929: Bow and Bromley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Lansbury	20,119	69.4	+7.8
	Unionist	Albert William Goodman	8,852	30.6	-7.8
Majority			11,267	38.8	+15.6
Turnout			43,834	66.1	-6.0
	Labour hold		Swing	+7.8

General Election 1924: Bow and Bromley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Lansbury	15,740	61.6
	Conservative	H.A. Hill	9,806	38.4
Majority			5,934	23.2
Turnout			35,446	72.1
	Labour hold		Swing	-7.2

General Election 1923: Bow and Bromley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Lansbury	15,336	68.8	+4.7
	Unionist	Irving James Albery	6,941	31.2	-4.7
Majority			8,395	37.6	+9.4
Turnout			34,975	63.7	-6.2
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.7

General Election 1922: Poplar, Bow and Bromley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Lansbury	15,402	64.1
	Conservative	Geoffrey E. Duveen	8,626	35.9
Majority			6,776	28.2
Turnout			34,383	69.9
	Labour hold		Swing	+16.8

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1918: Poplar, Bow and Bromley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Coalition Conservative	Reginald Blair	8,109	49.7
	Labour	George Lansbury	7,248	44.3
	Liberal	Mark Dalton	988	6.0
Majority			861	5.4
Turnout			33,436	48.9
	Coalition Conservative hold		Swing	-2.4

Bow and Bromley by-election, 1912

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Reginald Blair	4,042	55.1
	Independent Labour	George Lansbury	3,291	44.9
Majority			751	10.2
Turnout
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+10.7

General Election December 1910: Tower Hamlets, Bow and Bromley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Lansbury	4,315	55.6
	Liberal Unionist	Leopold Charles Maurice Stennett Amery	3,452	44.4
Majority			683	9.0
Turnout
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+9.8

General Election January 1910: Tower Hamlets, Bow and Bromley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alfred du Cros	3,695	41.9
	Labour	George Lansbury	2,955	33.5
	Liberal	Stopford William Wentworth Brooke	2,167	24.6
Majority			740	8.4
Turnout
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1906: Tower Hamlets, Bow and Bromley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Stopford William Wentworth Brooke	4,596	53.6
	Conservative	Arthur Philip du Cros	3,974	46.4
Majority			622	7.2
Turnout			10,545	81.3
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+16.9

General Election 1900: Tower Hamlets, Bow and Bromley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Walter Guthrie	4,403	63.3
	Social Democratic Federation	George Lansbury	2,558	36.7
Majority			1,845	26.6
Turnout			11,278	61.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	-3.3

Elections in the 1890s

Bow and Bromley by-election, 1899

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Walter Guthrie	4,238	66.6
	Liberal	Harold Spender	2,123	33.4
Majority			2,115	33.2
Turnout			11,401	55.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	+8.9

General Election 1895: Tower Hamlets, Bow and Bromley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Lionel Raleigh Holland	4,339	57.7
	Liberal	John Archibald Murray Macdonald	3,178	42.3
Majority			1,161	15.4
Turnout			10,588	71.0
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+10.4

General Election 1892: Tower Hamlets, Bow and Bromley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Archibald Murray Macdonald	4,072	52.7
	Conservative	Sir John Charles Ready Colomb	3,649	47.3
Majority			423	5.4
Turnout			10,687	72.2
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+8.0

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1886: Tower Hamlets, Bow and Bromley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Charles Ready Colomb	2,967	55.3
	Liberal	William Snowdon Robson	2,396	44.7
Majority			571	10.6
Turnout			8,887	60.3
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+10.8

General Election 1885: Tower Hamlets, Bow and Bromley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Snowdon Robson	3,419	55.5
	Conservative	John Charles Ready Colomb	2,738	44.5
Majority			681	11.0
Turnout			8,887	69.3

References

• Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (The Macmillan Press 1974)
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (The Macmillan Press 1977)
• Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume III 1919-1945, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (The Harvester Press 1976)
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 4)