Troyeville was a constituency in the Transvaal Province of South Africa, which existed from 1910 to 1958. It covered a part of the inner eastern suburbs of Johannesburg, centred on the suburb of Troyeville. Throughout its existence it elected one member to the House of Assembly and one to the Transvaal Provincial Council.
Franchise notes When the Union of South Africa was formed in 1910, the electoral qualifications in use in each pre-existing colony were kept in place. In the Transvaal Colony, and its predecessor the South African Republic, the vote was restricted to white men, and as such, elections in the Transvaal Province were held on a whites-only franchise from the beginning. The franchise was also restricted by property and education qualifications until the 1933 general election, following the passage of the Women's Enfranchisement Act, 1930 and the Franchise Laws Amendment Act, 1931. From then on, the franchise was given to all white citizens aged 21 or over. Non-whites remained disenfranchised until the end of apartheid and the introduction of universal suffrage in 1994.
History Troyeville was a largely working-class constituency, and followed the general trend of such areas across South Africa's major cities. Its first MP, John William Quinn of the Unionist Party, left parliament in 1915, and the resulting by-election (not held until 1917) was won by Frederic Creswell, the leader of the Labour Party, who had lost his seat in Bezuidenhout at the previous general election. Creswell represented Troyeville until 1921, when he was defeated by the recently-reunited South African Party, and would represent three more constituencies through his long parliamentary career. At the 1924 election, Labour retook the seat with , who would represent Troyeville until the abolition of the constituency in 1958, after defecting to the SAP in 1933 and joining the United Party on that party's formation. Having already served intermittently in parliament starting in 1914, Kentridge retired from politics on his seat's abolition. His son, Sydney Kentridge, became a notable defence lawyer and anti-apartheid activist, defending Nelson Mandela in the 1956 Treason Trial and representing Steve Biko's family at the inquest into his death in 1978.
Members ElectionMemberParty 1910 John William Quinn Unionist 1915 1917 by Frederic Creswell Labour 1920 1921 W. S. Webber South African 1924 Labour 1929 1933 South African 1934 United 1938 1943 1948 1953 1958 Constituency abolished Schoeman, B.M. (1977). Parlementêre verkiesings in Suid-Afrika 1910-1976. Pretoria: Aktuele Publikasies. Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa (1972). "House of Assembly" (vol. 5, pp. 617–636). Cape Town: Nasionale Opvoedkundige Uitgewery (Nasou). South Africa 1980/81: Official Yearbook of the Republic of South Africa. Johannesburg: Chris van Rensburg Publications. South Africa 1983: Official Yearbook of the Republic of South Africa. Johannesburg: Chris van Rensburg Publications. Government Gazette of South Africa, No. 10751. 22 May 1987. Pretoria: Government of South Africa. Government Gazette of South Africa, No. 12109. 20 September 1989. Pretoria: Government of South Africa.
Detailed results Elections in the 1910s
Elections in the 1920s
Elections in the 1930s
References