Ilford (UK Parliament constituency)

Ilford was a borough constituency in what is now the London Borough of Redbridge in eastern Greater London. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was created for the 1918 general election, and abolished for the 1945 general election, when it was replaced by the new Ilford North and Ilford South constituencies.

Ilford
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
1918–1945
Seats	one
Created from	Romford
Replaced by	Ilford North and Ilford South

Boundaries

Ilford in Essex 1918-45

Members of Parliament

Year		Member	Party
	1918	Peter Griggs	Unionist
	1920	Fredric Wise	Unionist
	1928	George Hamilton	Unionist
	1937	Geoffrey Hutchinson	Conservative
	1945	constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1910s

General election 1918: Ilford^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Unionist	Peter Griggs	15,870	66.8
	Labour	Herbert Dunnico	4,621	19.5
	Liberal	Thomas Hamilton Garside	3,261	13.7
Majority			11,249	47.3
Turnout			23,752	58.3
	Unionist win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

1920 Ilford by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Coalition Unionist	Fredric Wise	15,612	54.4	−12.4
	Labour	Joseph King	6,577	22.9	+3.4
	Liberal	John Thompson	6,515	22.7	+9.0
Majority			9,035	31.5	−15.8
Turnout			28,704	66.2	+7.9
	Coalition Unionist hold		Swing	+4.0

• endorsed by Coalition Government

General election 1922: Ilford^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Fredric Wise	14,071	44.4	−22.4
	Liberal	John Thompson	7,625	24.0	+10.3
	Labour	Augustus West	5,414	17.1	−2.4
	Ind. Unionist	Frederick C. Bramston	4,610	14.5	New
Majority			6,446	20.4	−26.9
Turnout			31,720	70.5	+12.2
	Unionist hold		Swing	-5.6

General election 1923: Ilford ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Fredric Wise	14,136	44.4	0.0
	Liberal	John Morris	11,965	37.5	+13.5
	Labour	Dan Chater	5,775	18.1	+1.0
Majority			2,171	6.9	−13.5
Turnout			31,876	64.8	−5.7
	Unionist hold		Swing	-6.8

General election 1924: Ilford ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Fredric Wise	22,825	58.4	+14.0
	Labour	Dan Chater	8,460	21.7	+3.6
	Liberal	John Morris	7,780	19.9	−17.6
Majority			14,365	36.7	+29.8
Turnout			39,065	74.8	+10.0
	Unionist hold		Swing	+5.2

Comyns Carr

1928 Ilford by-election^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	George Hamilton	18,269	44.8	−13.6
	Liberal	Arthur Comyns Carr	13,621	33.4	+13.5
	Labour	Charles Robin de Gruchy	8,922	21.9	+0.2
Majority			4,648	11.4	−25.3
Turnout			40,812	67.5	−7.3
	Unionist hold		Swing	-13.6

General election 1929: Ilford^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	George Hamilton	24,414	42.4	−16.0
	Liberal	Arthur Comyns Carr	21,267	36.9	+17.0
	Labour	Charles Robin de Gruchy	11,952	20.7	+0.8
Majority			3,147	5.5	−31.2
Turnout			57,633	73.6	−1.2
	Unionist hold		Swing	-3.1

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Ilford^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Hamilton	43,737	67.2	+34.8
	Labour	Percy Astins	12,173	18.7	−2.0
	Liberal	Russell Thomas	9,179	14.1	−22.8
Majority			31,564	48.5	+43.0
Turnout			65,089	71.9	−1.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	+18.4

General election 1935: Ilford^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Hamilton	43,208	63.1	−4.1
	Labour	Percy Astins	25,241	36.9	+18.2
Majority			17,967	26.2	−22.3
Turnout			68,449	64.0	−7.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	-11.1

1937 Ilford by-election^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Geoffrey Hutchinson	25,533	61.2	−1.9
	Labour	James Ranger	16,214	38.8	+1.9
Majority			9,319	22.4	−3.8
Turnout			41,747	37.3	−26.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	-1.9

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;

• Conservative: Geoffrey Hutchinson
• Labour: James Ranger^[10]
• British Union: Louise Ann King

In popular culture

In Series 3, Episode 6 of the popular BBC mockumentary programme The Thick of It, Senior Advisor to Secretary of State Nicola Murray, Glenn Cullen, tells his co-worker Oliver Reader that he is awaiting the verdict on whether he makes the longlist for potential Labour Party candidates for the fictional Ilford East parliamentary constituency.