Rotherhithe (UK Parliament constituency) facts for kids
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Rotherhithe was a special area in South London that used to elect its own representative to the UK Parliament. This representative is called a Member of Parliament (MP). An MP's job is to speak for the people in their area in the House of Commons. This is where laws are made for the whole country.
The Rotherhithe area was set up as a constituency for the first time in the 1885 general election. It stopped being a separate constituency in the 1950 general election. After that, it became part of the Bermondsey constituency.
Contents
What is a Parliamentary Constituency?
A parliamentary constituency is like a special voting district. People living in that district vote for one person to represent them in Parliament. The person who gets the most votes wins. This system is called "first past the post."
Rotherhithe's Borders Over Time
The exact borders of the Rotherhithe constituency changed a little over the years. These borders decide which streets and neighbourhoods belong to the constituency.
1885 to 1918 Borders
During this time, Rotherhithe included several parts of the Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey. These were the areas known as St Olave's, St John's, St Thomas's, St Mary, Rotherhithe, and St Mary Magdalen, Bermondsey.
1918 to 1950 Borders
Later, the borders changed slightly. The constituency then included the Bermondsey wards of St John, St Olave, Bermondsey five and six, and Rotherhithe one, two and three.
People Who Represented Rotherhithe
The people listed below were the Members of Parliament (MPs) for Rotherhithe. They were elected to represent the area in the House of Commons.
| Election | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1885 | Charles Hamilton | Conservative | |
| 1892 | John Macdona | Conservative | |
| 1906 | Hubert Carr-Gomm | Liberal | |
| 1918 | John Lort-Williams | Unionist | |
| 1923 | Ben Smith | Labour | |
| 1931 | Norah Runge | Conservative | |
| 1935 | Ben Smith | Labour | |
| 1946 b-e | Bob Mellish | Labour | |
| 1950 | Constituency abolished | ||
Election Results Overview
Elections were held regularly to choose the MP for Rotherhithe. Different political parties competed for the seat.
Elections in the 1880s
In the first election in 1885, Charles Hamilton from the Conservative Party won. He won again in 1886.
Elections in the 1890s
The Conservative Party continued to win in the 1890s. John Macdona became the MP in 1892 and won again in 1895.
Elections in the 1900s
John Macdona won again for the Conservatives in 1900. However, in 1906, the Liberal Party's Hubert Carr-Gomm won the seat. This was a big change for Rotherhithe.
Elections in the 1910s
Hubert Carr-Gomm held the seat for the Liberal Party in both the January and December 1910 elections. In the 1918 election, John Lort-Williams from the Unionist Party won, taking the seat from the Liberals.
Elections in the 1920s
John Lort-Williams held the seat for the Unionists in 1922 by a very small number of votes. In 1923, Ben Smith from the Labour Party won, marking a new era for the constituency. He won again in 1924 and 1929.
Elections in the 1930s
In 1931, Norah Runge from the Conservative Party won the seat, but Ben Smith won it back for Labour in 1935.
Elections in the 1940s
Ben Smith continued to be the MP for Rotherhithe, winning the 1945 general election. After he stepped down, a special election (called a by-election) was held in 1946. Bob Mellish from the Labour Party won this by-election. He was the last MP for Rotherhithe before the constituency was abolished in 1950.
Rotherhithe in Fiction
The Rotherhithe constituency was even featured in a TV show! In an episode of the old TV drama series Upstairs, Downstairs called A Place in the World, there's a fictional "Rotherhithe East" constituency. In the show, a character named James Bellamy tries to win this seat for the Conservative Party in a by-election in 1920, but he doesn't succeed. The real-life Rotherhithe was actually a Unionist seat around 1920. Some scenes for the episode were filmed in Rotherhithe in 1975.
