Portsmouth Central (UK Parliament constituency)

Portsmouth Central was a borough constituency in Portsmouth. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system.

Portsmouth Central
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
County	Hampshire
Major settlements	Portsmouth
1918–1950
Seats	One
Created from	Portsmouth
Replaced by	Portsmouth South, Portsmouth West and Portsmouth Langstone

History

The constituency was created for the 1918 general election, when the Representation of the People Act 1918 divided the two-member Portsmouth constituency into three new constituencies; North, South and Central. It was abolished for the 1950 general election.

Boundaries

The County Borough of Portsmouth wards of Buckland, Fratton, Kingston, St Mary, and Town Hall.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1918	Sir Thomas Bramsdon	Liberal
	1922	Frank Privett	Conservative
	1923	Sir Thomas Bramsdon	Liberal
	1924	Harry Foster	Conservative
	1929	Glenvil Hall	Labour
	1931	Ralph Beaumont	Conservative
	1945	Julian Snow	Labour
1950		constituency abolished

Elections in the 1910s

General election 1918: Portsmouth Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Bramsdon	10,929	52.2
C	Unionist	William Dupree	6,008	28.7
	Labour	Hugh Hinshelwood	4,004	19.1
Majority			4,921	23.5
Turnout			20,941	58.2
	Liberal win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Portsmouth Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Frank Privett	7,666	26.9	−1.8
	National Liberal	Thomas Fisher	7,659	26.8	New
	Liberal	Thomas Bramsdon	7,129	24.9	−27.3
	Labour	Arthur Gourd	6,126	21.4	+2.3
Majority			7	0.1	N/A
Turnout			28,580
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	N/A

General election 1923: Portsmouth Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Bramsdon	11,493	38.7	+13.8
	Unionist	Frank Privett	10,231	34.4	+7.5
	Labour	Frank Crozier	7,991	26.9	+5.5
Majority			1,262	4.3	N/A
Turnout			29,715	78.2
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing	+3.2

General election 1924: Portsmouth Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Harry Foster	14,028	46.1	+11.7
	Labour	Glenvil Hall	10,525	34.5	+7.6
	Liberal	Frank Gray	5,926	19.4	−19.3
Majority			3,503	11.6	N/A
Turnout			30,479	80.3	+2.1
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing

General election 1929: Portsmouth Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Glenvil Hall	15,153	42.4	+7.9
	Unionist	Thomas Comyn-Platt	13,628	38.1	−8.0
	Liberal	Charles Cohen	6,993	19.5	+0.1
Majority			1,525	4.3	N/A
Turnout			35,774	74.3	−6.0
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+7.9

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Portsmouth Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ralph Beaumont	24,623	62.9	+24.8
	Labour	Glenvil Hall	14,512	37.1	−5.3
Majority			10,111	25.8	N/A
Turnout			39,135
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General election 1935: Portsmouth Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ralph Beaumont	21,578	60.0	−2.9
	Labour	David Freeman	10,733	29.9	−7.2
	Liberal	Ernest James Thornley	3,612	10.1	New
Majority			10,845	30.1	+5.3
Turnout			35,923	71.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1940s

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 from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected;

• Conservative: Ralph Beaumont
• Labour: Peter R Pain

General election 1945: Portsmouth Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Julian Snow	14,745	55.3	+25.4
	Conservative	Ralph Beaumont	11,345	42.6	−17.4
	Democratic	Walter R C Foster	561	2.1	New
Majority			3,400	12.7	N/A
Turnout			26,651	73.5	+2.4
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+21.4

References

• Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "P" (part 2)