Mile End (UK Parliament constituency)

Mile End
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
1885 (1885)–1950 (1950)
Number of members	one
Replaced by	Stepney
Created from	Tower Hamlets

Mile End was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Mile End district of the East End of London. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

The constituency was created for the 1885 general election, and abolished for the 1950 general election.

Boundaries

Mile End in the Metropolitan area, showing boundaries used from 1885 to 1918.

Mile End in the Parliamentary County of London, showing boundaries used from 1918 to 1950.

1885-1918: In this period the constituency was a division of the parliamentary borough of Tower Hamlets in east London. The seat was centred upon the community of Mile End including the Mile End Road, which adjoined the Charrington brewery. The brewery was headed by Spencer Charrington, MP for the area between 1885 and 1904.

Before 1885 the division was administered as part of the county of Middlesex. It formed part of The Metropolis from 1855 to 1889. In 1889 there was a change in the administrative arrangements covering the constituency, with the creation of the County of London. In 1900 London was divided into Metropolitan Boroughs. The Mile End Old Town Parish Vestry was abolished, with Mile End becoming part of the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney.

1918-1950: The constituency became a division of Stepney. The Representation of the People Act 1918 defined it as comprising four local government wards of Mile End Old Town (Centre, North, South and West) as well as the ward of Whitechapel East.

In 1945 the seat became one of only two seats in that Parliament to have a Communist MP elected. Phil Piratin had been a local activist and borough councillor.

In 1950 the constituency was abolished. Its territory became part of the Stepney seat.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Spencer Charrington	Conservative
	1905 by-election	Harry Levy-Lawson, later Viscount Burnham	Liberal Unionist
	1906	Bertram Stuart Straus	Liberal
	1910, January	Harry Levy-Lawson, later Viscount Burnham	Liberal Unionist a
	1916 by-election	Warwick Brookes	Conservative
	1918	Sir Walter Reuben Preston	Conservative b
	1923	John Scurr	Labour
	1931	William James O'Donovan	Conservative
	1935	Daniel Frankel	Labour
	1945	Phil Piratin	Communist
	1950	constituency abolished

Notes:-

• ^a The Liberal Unionist Party formally merged into the Conservative Party in 1912.
• ^b Coalition Conservative 1918-1922.

Election results

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Stepney, Mile End
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Communist	Phil Piratin	5,075	47.6
	Labour	Daniel Frankel	3,861	36.2
	Conservative	V. Motion	1,722	16.2
Majority			1,214	11.4
Turnout			16,177	65.9
	Communist gain from Labour		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1935: Stepney, Mile End
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Daniel Frankel	13,177	57.2
	Conservative	William James O'Donavan	9,859	42.8
Majority			3318	14.4
Turnout			36,294	63.5
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+13.2

General Election 1931: Stepney, Mile End
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William James O'Donavan	12,399	56.0
	Labour	John Scurr	9,738	44.0
Majority			2,661	12.0
Turnout			36,896	60.0
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+14.4

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1929: Stepney, Mile End
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Scurr	11,489	47.1
	Conservative	J.B. Dodge	7,401	30.3
	Liberal	S. Teff	5,525	22.6
Majority			4,088	16.8
Turnout			34,662	70.4
	Labour hold		Swing	-1.4

General Election 1924: Stepney, Mile End
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Scurr	8,306	48.5
	Conservative	J.B. Dodge	4,960	28.9
	Liberal	S. Teff	3,872	22.6
Majority			3,346	19.6
Turnout			24,245	70.7
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.9

General Election 1923: Stepney, Mile End
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Scurr	6,219	41.0
	Conservative	Sir Walter Reuben Preston	4,741	31.2
	Liberal	R.B. Solomon	4,215	27.8
Majority			1,478	9.8
Turnout			23,787	63.8
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+7.7

General Election 1922: Stepney, Mile End
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sir Walter Reuben Preston	6,014	41.0
	Labour	John Scurr	5,219	35.5
	Liberal	R.B. Solomon	3,457	23.5
Majority			795	5.5
Turnout			22,885	63.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	-16.3

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1918: Stepney, Mile End
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Coalition Conservative	Walter Reuben Preston	6,025	63.2
	Labour	William Devenay	2,392	25.1
	Liberal	Charles John Ough Sanders	1,119	11.7
Majority			3,633	38.1
Turnout			22,131	43.1
	Coalition Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

Mile End by-election, 1916
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Warwick Brookes	1,991	55.2
	Independent	Noel Pemberton Billing	1,615	44.8
Majority			376	10.4
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

General Election December 1910: Tower Hamlets, Mile End
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Harry Lawson Webster Levy-Lawson	2,176	50.1
	Liberal	Bertram Stuart Straus	2,170	49.9
Majority			6	0.2
Turnout
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	-0.5

General Election January 1910: Tower Hamlets, Mile End
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Harry Lawson Webster Levy-Lawson	2,332	50.6
	Liberal	Bertram Stuart Straus	2,275	49.4
Majority			57	1.2
Turnout
	Liberal Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+2.0

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1906: Tower Hamlets, Mile End
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Bertram Stuart Straus	2,295	51.4
	Liberal Unionist	Harry Lawson Webster Levy-Lawson	2,169	48.6
Majority			126	2.8
Turnout			5,419	82.4
	Liberal gain from Liberal Unionist		Swing	+2.3

Mile End by-election, 1905
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Harry Lawson Webster Levy-Lawson	2,138	50.9
	Liberal	Bertram Stuart Straus	2,060	49.1
Majority			78	1.8
Turnout			5,380	78.0
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	-14.7

General Election 1900: Tower Hamlets, Mile End
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Spencer Charrington	2,440	65.6
	Liberal	Charles Goddard Clarke	1,280	34.4
Majority			1160	31.2
Turnout			5,915	62.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	+4.5

Elections in the 1890s

General Election 1895: Tower Hamlets, Mile End
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Spencer Charrington	2,383	61.1
	Liberal	J. Haysman	1,516	38.9
Majority			867	22.2
Turnout			5,551	70.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	+7.8

General Election 1892: Tower Hamlets, Mile End
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Spencer Charrington	2,204	53.3
	Liberal	J. Haysman	1,931	46.7
Majority			273	6.6
Turnout			6,456	64.0
	Conservative hold		Swing	-8.9

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1886: Tower Hamlets, Mile End
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Spencer Charrington	2,110	62.2
	Liberal	Arnold H. White	1,281	37.8
Majority			829	24.4
Turnout			5,804	58.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	+9.7

General Election 1885: Tower Hamlets, Mile End
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Spencer Charrington	2,091	52.9
	Liberal	Ernest Hart	1,442	36.5
	Liberal	Acton Smee Ayrton	420	10.6
Majority			649	16.4
Turnout			5,804	68.1

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 (Macmillan Press, revised edition 1977)
• Social Geography of British Elections 1885-1910. by Henry Pelling (Macmillan 1967)
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "M" (part 2)