Rotherhithe was a

parliamentary constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

centred on the

Rotherhithe Rotherhithe ( ) is a district of South London, England, and part of the London Borough of Southwark. It is on a peninsula on the south bank of the Thames, facing Wapping, Shadwell and Limehouse on the north bank, with the Isle of Dogs to the ea ...

district of

South London South London is the southern part of Greater London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, Lon ...

. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...

, elected by the

first past the post First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or First-preference votes, first-preference, and the cand ...

system. The constituency was created for the 1885 general election, and abolished for the 1950 general election when it became part of the revived

Bermondsey Bermondsey ( ) is a district in southeast London, part of the London Borough of Southwark, England, southeast of Charing Cross. To the west of Bermondsey lies Southwark, to the east Rotherhithe and Deptford, to the south Walworth and Peckham, ...

constituency after the

London Blitz London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe, with a population of 14.9 million. London stands on the River Tha ...

had destroyed much of the housing and substantially reduced the resident population and electorate.

Boundaries

1885–1918

The Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey wards of St Olave's, St John's, St Thomas's, St Mary, Rotherhithe and St Mary Magdalen, Bermondsey.Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1886

1918–1950

The Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey wards of St John, St Olave, Bermondsey five and six, and Rotherhithe one, two and three.

Members of Parliament

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; *Liberal: Hubert Carr-Gomm *Unionist:

Election in the 1920s

Election in the 1930s

Superintendent Mrs Norah Cecil Runge OBE in 1918

Election in the 1940s

In fiction

The constituency is portrayed in an episode ( ''A Place in the World'') of TV drama series ''Upstairs, Downstairs'' as the safe Docklands Labour seat of "Rotherhithe East" that is unsuccessfully contested by James Bellamy for the

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...

in a by-election in 1920. Location scenes were actually shot in Rotherhithe in January 1975 during the making of the episode. (In real life through 1920 Rotherhithe was a Unionist seat.)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rotherhithe (Uk Parliament Constituency) Parliamentary constituencies in London (historic) Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1885 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1950 Politics of the London Borough of Southwark