The parliamentary borough of Finsbury was a constituency of the House of Commons of the UK Parliament from 1832 to 1885, and from 1918 to 1950. The constituency was first created in 1832 as one of seven two-seat "metropolis" parliamentary boroughs (five in southeast Middlesex and two in northeast Surrey) other than the two which already existed: Westminster and the City of London; the latter until 1885 retained an exceptional four seats. Finsbury was directly north of the City of London and was smaller than the Finsbury division of the Ossulstone hundred but took in land of Holborn division (hundred division) to its southwest in pre-introduction changes by Boundary Commissioners. It included Finsbury, Holborn, Moorfields, Clerkenwell, Islington, Stoke Newington and historic St Pancras (later mainly known as Camden Town). The 1918 constituency corresponded to the smaller Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury (Finsbury, Moorfields, Clerkenwell, and St Luke's, Islington); it was a seat, thus electing a single member, fulfilling a longstanding aim of Chartism which underscored the 1832 reforms.
History 1832–1885 two-member constituency / parliamentary borough The original constituency was created by the Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832, which carried into effect the redistribution of parliamentary seats under the Reform Act 1832.
It was originally proposed that the constituency would comprise the entire Finsbury Division and a number of adjoining parishes in the Holborn Division of Ossulstone, one of the hundreds of Middlesex. The commissioners appointed under the Boundaries Act decided to exclude the northern part of the Finsbury Division, which extended as far as Friern Barnet, some nine miles from London and a largely rural area. They could find no natural boundary to separate "the Rural from the Town District" and suggested that the dividing line should run through the northern section of Islington, following limits of relatively recently founded Church of England parishes. The seat as eventually created included the whole of Islington, however.
The parliamentary borough was defined in Schedule O of the Boundaries Act as: The several Parishes of Saint Luke, Saint George the Martyr, St Giles in the Fields, Saint George Bloomsbury, Saint Mary Stoke Newington, and St. Mary, Islington; the several Liberties or Places of Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden, Ely Rents, Ely Place, the Rolls, Glass House Yard, and the Charterhouse; Lincoln's Inn and Gray's Inn; the Parish of St. James and St. John Clerkenwell, except that Part thereof which is situate to the North of the Parish of Islington; those Parts of the respective Parishes of Saint Sepulchre and Saint Andrew Holborn and of Furnivals Inn and Staple Inn respectively, which are situated without the Liberty of the City of London.
The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 divided the constituency, by then highly populated, into seven new single member constituencies. Four were divisions of a new Parliamentary Borough of Islington; while the Finsbury Parliamentary Borough was divided into three, named Central Division, East Division and Holborn Division.
1918–1950 seat
The Representation of the People Act 1918 created a new single-member Finsbury Parliamentary borough in the County of London, identical to the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury. In 1950, it was merged with the neighbouring borough of Shoreditch to become Shoreditch and Finsbury.
Members of Parliament
MPs 1832–1885 The parliamentary borough returned two members of parliament Election First member First party Second member Second party 1832 Robert Grant Whig Robert Spankie Whig 1834 by-election Thomas Slingsby Duncombe Radical 1835 Thomas Wakley Radical 1852 Thomas Challis Radical 1857 William Cox Whig 1859Liberal Morton Peto Liberal 1861 by-election William Cox Liberal 1865 William McCullagh Torrens Liberal Sir Andrew Lusk Liberal 1885 constituency abolished: see Finsbury Central, Finsbury East and Holborn
MPs 1918–1950 The borough was a single-member constituency. ElectionMemberParty 1918 Martin Archer-Shee Unionist 1923 George Gillett Labour 1931 National Labour 1935 George Woods Labour 1945 John Platts-Mills Labour 1948 Labour Independent Group 1950 constituency abolished
Elections Elections in the 1910s
Elections in the 1920s
Elections in the 1930s
General Election 1939–40
Another general election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected; Labour: George WoodsReport of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939 National Labour: Frederick Burden
Elections in the 1940s
Elections in the 1880s
Elections in the 1870s
Elections in the 1860s
Caused by Duncombe's death.
Elections in the 1850s
Elections in the 1840s
Elections in the 1830s
Caused by Grant's appointment as Governor of Bombay
References
Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832 (2 & 3 Will. 4 c.64) Representation of the People Act 1918 (7 & 8 Geo. 5 c.64) Youngs, F. A., Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol.1, Southern England, London, 1979