Southwark (UK Parliament constituency)

Southwark
Former borough constituency
for the House of Commons
CountyLondon
1295–1885
SeatsTwo
Created fromSurrey (part of)
Replaced byBermondsey
Rotherhithe
Southwark West
19501974 (1974)
SeatsOne
Created fromSouthwark Central, Southwark North and Southwark South East
Replaced byBermondsey (abolished 1983)
Peckham (abolished 1997)
Dulwich (absorbed small parts) (abolished 1997)
Southwark in London, 1868–85
Southwark in London, 1950–74

Southwark (/ˈsʌðərk/ SUDH-ərk)[1] was a constituency centred on the Southwark district of South London. It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the English Parliament from 1295 to 1707, to the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and to the UK Parliament until its first abolition for the 1885 general election. A seat of the same name, covering a smaller area than the last form of the earlier seat in the west of the original and beyond its boundaries to the southwest, was created in 1950 and abolished in 1974.

In its last creation the seat's broad electorate heavily supported the three successive Labour candidates, who won Southwark with a majority of greater than 36% of the votes cast at its eight elections – an extremely safe seat.

  1. ^ "Southwark", in The Columbia Lippincott Gazetteer of the World (1952), New York: Columbia University Press.