# Croydon South (historic UK Parliament constituency)

    This seat should not be confused with the current Croydon South constituency
Croydon South was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system.
It was created for the 1918 general election when the County Borough of Croydon had grown so the Croydon seat was split into two seats.
In 1974 the seat was redrawn and renamed Croydon Central; following the 1965 addition of Purley and Coulsdon to the London Borough of Croydon in 1974 a fresh seat of Croydon South was created to the south predominantly from East Surrey rather than from the historic Croydon South.
It did not exist from 1950 to 1955 as an east–west division of the town was chosen instead. Its voters elected twice Labour candidates, for the 1945 and 1966 Parliaments when the Labour Party received strong majorities, and at all other elections elected Conservative candidates.

## Boundaries

| Dates | Local authority | Maps | Wards |
| 1918-1950 | County Borough of Croydon | | Central, East, South, and West. |
| 1955-1974 | County Borough of Croydon | | Addington, Broad Green, Central, Shirley, South, and Waddon. |
In 1965, local government in Greater London was re-organised. This constituency was contained entirely within the new London Borough of Croydon from 1965, but new Constituency Boundaries would not take effect until 1974.

## Members of Parliament
### MPs 1918–1950

| Election | Name | Party | Notes |
| 1918 | Ian Malcolm | Conservative | previously MP for Croydon |
| 1919 by-election | Allan Smith | Conservative | |
| 1923 | William Mitchell-Thomson | Conservative | |
| 1932 by-election | Herbert Williams | Conservative | |
| 1945 | David Rees-Williams | Labour | |
| 1950 | constituency abolished | constituency abolished | constituency abolished |
From 1950 to 1955 the seat was divided into Croydon East and Croydon West.

### MPs 1955–1974

| Election | Name | Party |
| 1955 | Richard Thompson | Conservative |
| 1966 | David Winnick | Labour |
| 1970 | Richard Thompson | Conservative |
| Feb 1974 | constituency abolished | constituency abolished |

## Election results
### Elections in the 1910s

General election 1918: Croydon South :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| C | Unionist | Ian Malcolm | 17,813 | 71.8 | |
| | Labour | H.T. Muggeridge | 7,006 | 28.2 | |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 10,807 | 43.6 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 24,819 | 55.0 | |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 45,115 | | |
| | Unionist win (new seat) | Unionist win (new seat) | Unionist win (new seat) | Unionist win (new seat) | Unionist win (new seat) |
| C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government. ||||||
1919 Croydon South by-election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| C | Unionist | Allan Smith | 11,777 | 55.2 | −16.6 |
| | Liberal | Howard Houlder | 9,573 | 44.8 | New |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 2,204 | 10.4 | −33.2 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 21,350 | 45.5 | −9.5 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 46,900 | | |
| | Unionist hold | Unionist hold | Swing | N/A | |
| C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government. ||||||

### Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Croydon South :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Unionist | Allan Smith | 15,356 | 47.3 | −24.5 |
| | Labour | H.T. Muggeridge | 8,942 | 27.5 | −0.7 |
| | Liberal | Thomas Dobson | 8,183 | 25.2 | N/A |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 6,414 | 19.8 | −23.8 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 32,481 | 66.4 | +11.4 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 48,904 | | |
| | Unionist hold | Unionist hold | Swing | −11.9 | |
General election 1923: Croydon South :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Unionist | William Mitchell-Thomson | 14,310 | 45.5 | −1.8 |
| | Labour | H.T. Muggeridge | 9,926 | 31.6 | +4.1 |
| | Liberal | Wynne Cemlyn-Jones | 7,208 | 22.9 | −2.3 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 4,384 | 13.9 | −5.9 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 31,444 | 63.4 | −3.0 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 49,634 | | |
| | Unionist hold | Unionist hold | Swing | −3.0 | |
General election 1924: Croydon South :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Unionist | William Mitchell-Thomson | 23,734 | 64.6 | +19.1 |
| | Labour | H.T. Muggeridge | 12,979 | 35.4 | +3.8 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 10,755 | 29.2 | +15.3 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 36,713 | 72.0 | +8.6 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 50,964 | | |
| | Unionist hold | Unionist hold | Swing | +7.7 | |
General election 1929: Croydon South :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Unionist | William Mitchell-Thomson | 23,258 | 49.2 | −15.4 |
| | Labour | E.W. Wilton | 13,793 | 29.2 | −6.2 |
| | Liberal | Albert Sigismund Elwell-Sutton | 10,218 | 21.6 | New |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 9,465 | 20.0 | −9.2 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 47,269 | 67.4 | −4.6 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 70,107 | | |
| | Unionist hold | Unionist hold | Swing | −4.6 | |

### Elections in 1930s

General election 1931: Croydon South :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | William Mitchell-Thomson | 40,672 | 80.34 | +31.14 |
| | Labour | T. Crawford | 9,950 | 19.66 | −9.52 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 30,722 | 60.69 | +40.67 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 50,622 | 68.33 | +0.91 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | +20.33 | |
1932 Croydon South by-election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Herbert Williams | 19,126 | 67.5 | −12.8 |
| | Labour | Rudolph Putnam Messel | 9,189 | 32.5 | +12.8 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 9,937 | 35.0 | −25.7 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 28,315 | 38.2 | −30.1 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | −12.8 | |
General election 1935: Croydon South :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Herbert Williams | 31,971 | 62.3 | −18.0 |
| | Labour | T Crawford | 14,900 | 29.0 | +9.3 |
| | Liberal | David William Alun Llewellyn | 4,440 | 8.7 | New |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 17,071 | 33.3 | −27.6 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 45,860 | 65.2 | −3.1 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | | |

### Elections in 1940s

General election 1945: Croydon South :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | David Rees-Williams | 27,650 | 53.4 | +24.4 |
| | Conservative | Herbert Williams | 24,147 | 46.6 | −15.7 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 3,503 | 6.8 | N/A |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 51,797 | 70.1 | +4.9 |
| | Labour gain from Conservative | Labour gain from Conservative | Swing | +20.1 | |

### Elections in 1950s

General election 1955: Croydon South :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Conservative | Richard Thompson | 27,359 | 56.98 |
| | Labour | Arthur Carr | 20,659 | 43.02 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 6,700 | 13.96 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 48,018 | 77.23 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | |
General election 1959: Croydon South :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Richard Thompson | 29,284 | 58.16 | +1.18 |
| | Labour | Frederic A Messer | 22,069 | 41.84 | –1.18 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 8,215 | 16.32 | +2.36 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 51,353 | 79.13 | +1.90 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | +1.18 | |

### Elections in 1960s

General election 1964: Croydon South :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Richard Thompson | 24,854 | 52.75 | −5.41 |
| | Labour | Tyrell Burgess | 22,265 | 47.25 | +5.41 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 2,589 | 5.50 | −10.82 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 47,119 | 74.27 | −4.86 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | –5.41 | |
General election 1966: Croydon South :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | David Winnick | 21,496 | 44.73 | −2.52 |
| | Conservative | Richard Thompson | 21,415 | 44.56 | −8.19 |
| | Liberal | W Edward P Babbs | 5,146 | 10.71 | New |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 81 | 0.17 | N/A |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 48,057 | 76.10 | +1.83 |
| | Labour gain from Conservative | Labour gain from Conservative | Swing | +2.84 | |

### Elections in 1970s

General election 1970: Croydon South :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Richard Thompson | 25,986 | 49.74 | +5.18 |
| | Labour | David Winnick | 22,283 | 42.65 | −2.08 |
| | Liberal | Michael R Lane | 3,673 | 7.03 | –3.68 |
| | Independent | C Thornton | 303 | 0.58 | New |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 3,703 | 7.09 | N/A |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 52,245 | 71.29 | −4.81 |
| | Conservative gain from Labour | Conservative gain from Labour | Swing | +3.63 | |

## Politics and history of the constituency

The seat was created in 1918 and the first MP was Ian Malcolm, who had been the MP for all of Croydon. H.T. Muggeridge, father of Malcolm Muggeridge, fought the seat for Labour four times from 1918, later becoming MP for Romford. The seat saw a by-election in 1932, won by Herbert Williams.
Croydon South had twice seen Croydon's only Labour MPs before the 1990s. David Rees-Williams held the seat from the 1945 Labour landslide until unfavourable boundary changes in 1950. David Winnick won the seat in 1966 before losing in 1970. Otherwise the seat, and indeed the rest of Croydon, had always been firm Conservative territory.
From 1950 until 1955 the seat was divided into east and west, represented by Conservatives Herbert Williams and Richard Thompson respectively.