Created from Battersea Replaced by Battersea, Tooting | Number of members 1 | |
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County County of London, then Greater London | ||
Battersea South was a parliamentary constituency, originally in the County of London and later in Greater London. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first-past-the-post voting system.
Contents
It was created for the 1918 general election, when the former Battersea constituency was divided in two. It was abolished for the 1983 general election, when most of its territory was reunited with Battersea North to form the new Battersea constituency.
Boundaries
1918-1950: The Metropolitan Borough of Battersea wards of Bolingbroke, Broomwood, St John, Shaftesbury, and Winstanley.
1950-1974: The Metropolitan Borough of Battersea wards of Bolingbroke, Broomwood, Lavender, Nightingale, St John, Shaftesbury, Stormont, and Thornton.
1974-1983: The London Borough of Wandsworth wards of Balham, Earlsfield, Fairfield, Nightingale, and Northcote.
The seat was created by the Representation of the People Act 1918. When seats were redistributed by the Representation of the People Act 1948 the boundaries of the constituency were altered to contain only four wards, and Winstanley ward was transferred to Battersea North. However the wards of the borough were redrawn in 1949 prior to the next general election in 1950. Accordingly, changes were made under the House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1949. Of the 16 new wards, eight were included in each of the Battersea North and South constituencies.
In 1965 Battersea became part of the London Borough of Wandsworth. This, however made no immediate change to the parliamentary constituencies. It was not until the general election of February 1974 that the constituency boundaries were altered. The Shaftesbury and St John's wards were transferred to Battersea North, while the redrawn constituency incorporated areas previously in the Clapham and Putney seats. These boundaries were used until abolition.
The constituency was abolished in 1983. Most of its area (Balham, Fairfield and Northcote wards) went to the recreated Battersea seat, with part (Earlsfield and Nightingale wards) passing to Tooting.