Kensington South (UK Parliament constituency)

Kensington South was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Kensington district of west London. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Kensington South in the Metropolitan area 1885-1918
Kensington South in the Parliamentary County of London 1918-50
Kensington South in the Parliamentary County of London 1950-74
Kensington Metropolitan Borough wards in 1916
Kensington South
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
1885–February 1974
Number of membersone
Replaced byKensington
Created fromChelsea

The constituency was created for the 1885 general election, and abolished for the February 1974 general election. In every postwar election until its abolition, it was the safest Conservative seat (excluding Northern Irish constituencies) in the country.

Members of Parliament
ElectionMemberParty
1885 Sir Algernon Borthwick Conservative
1895 by-election Lord Warkworth (known as Earl Percy from 1899) Conservative
1910 Lord Claud Hamilton Conservative
1918 Sir William Davison Conservative
1945 by-election Richard Law Conservative
1950 Sir Patrick Spens Conservative
1959 William Roots Conservative
1968 by-election Sir Brandon Rhys-Williams Conservative
Feb 1974 constituency abolished

Boundaries

Prior to 1885, the area was originally part of the Chelsea constituency. Following the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, the new Kensington South seat was a single-member constituency consisting of all of the parliamentary borough of Kensington south of the Uxbridge Road.

Following boundary changes under the Representation of the People Act 1918, the constituency was defined as consisting of the Royal Borough of Kensington wards of Brompton, Earl's Court, Holland, Queen's Gate, and Redcliffe.

In the 1950 redistribution, Brompton ward was transferred to the Chelsea constituency. The constituency was thus now defined as consisting of the Royal Borough of Kensington wards of Earl's Court, Holland, Queen's Gate, and Redcliffe. It then remained unchanged until its abolition in 1974.

In 1965, under major local government boundary changes, the London County Council area was absorbed by the new Greater London Council, and the constituency was included in a new London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. This did not affect parliamentary boundaries for another nine years, however.

In the 1974 redistribution, this constituency disappeared. Earl's Court and Redcliffe wards became part of the redrawn Chelsea constituency, while Holland and Queen's Gate wards became part of the new Kensington constituency.

Election results

Elections in the 1880s
General election 1885: Kensington, South[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Algernon Borthwick 4,602 68.3
Liberal Montagu Hughes Cookson 2,138 31.7
Majority 2,464 36.6
Turnout 6,740 76.1
Registered electors 8,859
Conservative win (new seat)
General election 1886: Kensington, South[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Algernon Borthwick 4,156 80.3 +12.0
Liberal Henry Fearnside Speed 1,022 19.7 -12.0
Majority 3,134 60.6 +24.0
Turnout 5,178 58.4 −17.7
Registered electors 8,859
Conservative hold Swing +12.0

Elections in the 1890s
General election 1892: Kensington, South[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Algernon Borthwick Unopposed
Conservative hold
General election 1895: Kensington, South[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Algernon Borthwick Unopposed
Conservative hold
By-election: 28 November 1895[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Henry Percy Unopposed
Conservative hold

Elections in the 1900s
General election 1900: Kensington, South[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Henry Percy Unopposed
Conservative hold
General election 1906: Kensington, South[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Henry Percy 4,835 74.9 N/A
Liberal Edward O'Malley 1,624 25.1 New
Majority 3,211 49.8 N/A
Turnout 6,459 70.0 N/A
Registered electors 9,223
Conservative hold Swing N/A

Elections in the 1910s
General election January 1910: Kensington, South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Claud Hamilton 5,771 81.6 +6.7
Liberal G.S. MacIlwaine 1,301 18.4 -6.7
Majority 4,470 63.2 +13.4
Turnout 9,159 77.2 +7.2
Conservative hold Swing
General election December 1910: Kensington, South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Claud Hamilton 5,093 83.1 +1.5
Liberal George Rodhouse Reid 1,033 16.9 -1.5
Majority 4,060 66.2 +3.0
Turnout 9,159 66.9 -10.3
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1918: Kensington South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
C Unionist William Davison 10,693 66.8 −16.3
National Ernest Makins 5,306 33.2 New
Majority 5,387 33.6 −32.6
Turnout 15,999 51.8 −15.1
Registered electors 30,888
Unionist hold Swing −16.3
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s
General election 1922: Kensington South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist William Davison 15,760 76.0 +9.2
Independent * Ferdinand Cavendish-Bentinck 4,964 24.0 New
Majority 10,796 52.0 +18.4
Turnout 20,724 58.1 +6.3
Registered electors 35,684
Unionist hold Swing +9.2

*Cavendish-Bentinck was incorrectly labelled by the media as a National Liberal but corrected this label as 'anti-Conservative'.

General election 1923: Kensington South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist William Davison Unopposed
Unionist hold
General election 1924: Kensington South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist William Davison Unopposed
Unionist hold
General election 1929: Kensington South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist William Davison 28,049 66.9 N/A
Liberal Hugh Seely 7,570 18.0 New
Independent Unionist Rayner Goddard 6,354 15.1 New
Majority 20,479 48.9 N/A
Turnout 41,973 59.5 N/A
Registered electors 70,593
Unionist hold Swing N/A

Elections in the 1930s
General election 1931: Kensington South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative William Davison Unopposed N/A N/A
Conservative hold Swing N/A
General election 1935: Kensington South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative William Davison 38,297 88.9 N/A
Labour Charles Henry Hartwell 4,779 11.1 New
Majority 33,518 77.8 N/A
Turnout 69,520 62.0 N/A
Conservative hold Swing N/A

Elections in the 1940s
General election 1945: Kensington South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative William Davison 22,166 69.8 -19.1
Labour Patricia Strauss 6,014 18.9 +8.8
Liberal Francis N Beaufort-Palmer 3,586 11.3 New
Majority 16,152 50.9 -26.9
Turnout 46,727 67.9 +5.9
Conservative hold Swing
By-election, 20 November 1945
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Richard Law 15,846 81.7 +11.9
Liberal Lancelot Spicer 3,559 18.3 +7.0
Majority 12,287 68.4 +17.5
Turnout 52,750 36.8 -29.1
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1950s
General election 1950: Kensington South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Patrick Spens 32,870 73.1 +3.3
Labour Marcel Philip Picard 8,002 17.8 -1.1
Liberal John Frankenburg 4,079 9.1 -2.2
Majority 24,868 55.3 +4.4
Turnout 63,319 71.0 +3.1
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1951: Kensington South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Patrick Spens 34,592 79.5 +6.4
Labour Michael Clynes Parker 8,894 20.5 +2.7
Majority 25,698 59.0 +5.7
Turnout 63,419 68.6 -2.4
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1955: Kensington South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Patrick Spens 32,051 82.5 +3.0
Labour Marjorie Macrae Crane 6,804 17.5 -3.0
Majority 25,247 65.0 +6.0
Turnout 62,724 62.0 -6.6
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1959: Kensington South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative William Roots 26,606 74.3 -8.2
Liberal Gurth Hoyer-Millar 4,666 13.0 New
Labour Ivor Richard 4,525 12.6 -4.9
Majority 21,940 61.3 -3.7
Turnout 58,023 61.7 -0.3
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1960s
General election 1964: Kensington South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative William Roots 21,668 68.0 -3.3
Labour Barrington J Stead 5,300 16.6 +4.0
Liberal Anthony A W Dix 4,916 15.4 +2.4
Majority 16,368 51.3 -10.0
Turnout 56,157 56.8 -3.9
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1966: Kensington South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative William Roots 21,050 65.1 -2.9
Labour Jonathan V Rosenhead 6,419 19.8 +3.2
Liberal Thomas Kellock 4,871 15.1 -0.3
Majority 14,631 45.3 -6.0
Turnout 55,660 58.1 +1.3
Conservative hold Swing
By-election of 14 March 1968[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Brandon Rhys-Williams 16,489 75.5 +10.4
Liberal Thomas Kellock 2,742 12.6 -2.5
Labour Clive Bradley (executive) 1,874 8.6 -11.2
Independent Sinclair Eustace 675 3.1 New
Independent William Gold 59 0.3 New
Majority 13,747 62.9 +17.6
Turnout 21,839 40.0 -18.1
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1970s
General election 1970: Kensington South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Brandon Rhys-Williams 21,591 75.7 +10.6
Labour Faith M Bridges 6,928 24.3 +4.5
Majority 14,663 51.4 +6.1
Turnout 57,182 49.9 -8.2
Conservative hold Swing

References
  1. Craig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885-1918. London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 9781349022984.
  2. https://web.archive.org/web/20090821022708/http://www.by-elections.co.uk/68.html
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