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Paddington North was a Parliamentary constituency in London which returned one Member of Parliament. It was a compact and mixed residential area which included some grand mansion blocks of flats, large runs of typical London terraced houses, and some areas of working class housing. The area moved slowly down the social scale during its existence and the construction of large amounts of social housing following the Second World War made what had been a Conservative-inclined marginal seat into a reasonably safe Labour one.

Boundaries

The constituency was originally made up by the northern part of Paddington Parish. In the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 it was defined as the number 2 ward of the Parish. Although Paddington had four wards, they had been drawn up thirty years before and the number 2 ward had by the mid-1880s the majority of the electorate of the parish.

In the boundary changes in 1918, the constituency was refashioned as the northern part of the Metropolitan Borough of Paddington. The Borough had incorporated an area formerly included in a detached part of Chelsea parish at Kensal Town, and further population expansion made the north of the Borough even more densely packed, so a shift of the boundary was required. In the end, it was decided to include the whole of the Harrow Road, Queen's Park and Maida Vale wards of Paddington, together with part of the Church ward north of the Harrow Road and Little Venice canal basin.

In the boundary changes of 1948, the constituency's boundaries did not change but the Church ward had been divided along the same line as the previous Parliamentary boundary with the part in Paddington North named as the Town ward.

Description

In contrast to the southern division of Paddington, the area was almost entirely residential. When first drawn up in 1885, the development of Maida Vale had not yet been completed and parts remained agricultural fields.

Up to 1918 the constituency included Paddington railway station and the Paddington canal basin, together with St Mary's Hospital. The south-east of the constituency included some Edgware Road frontage which included the Metropolitan Theatre of Varieties music hall, a famous entertainment centre which was open for almost all of the time that the constituency was in existence. Between the Harrow Road and the canals of Little Venice was a densely packed area developed in the 1840s around the older St. Mary's Church and its churchyard. This area included Paddington Green and some homes and was the origin of the settlement of Paddington.

North of the canal and stretching up Maida Vale itself were situated large detached houses with gardens. At the start of the constituency's existence most were occupied by a single family, but as time went on the families took in lodgers and eventually split their homes into flats. Along Maida Vale, the 1930s saw the building of new mansion blocks, a type of housing that already predominated along Elgin Avenue and some of the other streets from the time they were first built (typically, the first decade of the twentieth century).

The constituency descended the social scale as one travelled to the west, with the houses becoming smaller and more cheaply-built; Shirland Road was the approximate boundary of the two zones. Between the canal and the Harrow Road above Little Venice was an area around Westbourne Square (actually triangular) which quickly became slumland, although this was not typical of the area north of the canal. Much of this area was lost to Paddington South in 1918. Further up Harrow Road, the homes were typical of London terraces. One unusual feature was J. Welford's dairies, built on the corner of Shirland Road and Elgin Avenue in the 1880s and one of the most distinctive buildings of the area.

Following the boundary revisions of 1918, the constituency included the area of Queen's Park ward of Paddington Borough Council which had previously been a detached part of Chelsea. This area was developed from the 1870s explicitly as housing for the working class, by the Artizans, Labourers, and General Dwellings Company. They built modestly-sized two storey homes which were rented out to the skilled working-class, many of whom were railway employees at Paddington station and its associated goods yard.

Changes and redevelopment

With the area being encircled by London, there came to be an economic motive for demolishing some of the existing low-density housing and rebuilding at higher densities for the working class. In 1937 the Church Commissioners built Dibden House containing some 200 flats for social rents at the top of Maida Vale. Following the Second World War there was a great deal of development of large social housing in the constituency. The first large development was John Aird Court and Fleming Court, built by the Labour-controlled Paddington Borough Council adjacent to the Harrow Road by Paddington Green in 1948.

The largest redevelopment took place along Maida Vale itself and was undertaken by the London County Council from 1959 to 1964. The area was rebuilt as an estate of mid-rise and high-rise flats (three 21-storey tower blocks were built north of Elgin Avenue). At the same time, the Church Commissioners also built the Stuart Tower on the corner of Maida Vale and Sutherland Avenue for private ownership. Further north along Carlton Vale the LCC built low rise flats. The southern end of the constituency saw a great deal of demolition in order to build the Marylebone flyover and rebuild the Harrow Road.

The 1960s saw the GLC redevelop the area around the junction of Elgin Avenue with Harrow Road with two 20-storey tower blocks. It decided to experiment with a new construction method called 'Indulex' with these two blocks and two others to be built in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The blocks consisted of a steel frame clad in glass-reinforced polyester.

Political history

1885

In preparation for the 1885 general election, the creation of a new division in north-west London which was potentially winnable by either the Conservatives or the Liberals excited some interest. The Conservatives were the first to select, and did so without difficulty. Lionel Louis Cohen was in his early 50s and a leading light in the City of London Conservative Association; he was also President of the Jewish Board of Guardians. Although he was a resident of Marylebone, Cohen's wife came from Paddington. Cohen had the benefit of speeches from Lord Randolph Churchill who had been selected for Paddington South.

The North Paddington Liberal Council did encounter difficulty in selecting a candidate. They sent out invitations to several likely candidates to speak to a public meeting: Henry Gladstone, younger son of Liberal Leader William Gladstone, accepted, as did Thomas Chatfeild Clarke, John Westlake QC, and Rev. William Sharman. However, Eugene Collins, whose constituency of Kinsale was being abolished, refused to participate in a contested selection. The Council eventually selected none of these: William Digby, a chartered engineer, ended up fighting the seat. Digby was a strong advocate of greater power for Indian natives.

At the start of the election, it appeared that things were not going well for the Conservatives. A public meeting in support of Lionel Cohen heard a derisive mention made of Joseph Chamberlain's promise of "three acres and a cow" for the working class, and some cheered Chamberlain wildly. When the meeting concluded the chairman put a motion of confidence in their candidate, but on hearing that few present supported it, did not ask for people to show their opposition: the crowd demanded it and voted strongly against Cohen. On Monday November 7, 1885 a 2,000-strong crowd of working men gathered in the Harrow Road to march to a meeting which denounced Cohen for supporting protectionism, although Cohen had declared his support for free trade in his election address.

At the end of the campaign an issue was made in the Jewish Chronicle of Cohen's support for the Marquess of Salisbury, who had opposed the removal of legal disabilities affecting Jews in the 1850s. Cohen insisted that his activities in the Jewish community were not party political and denounced attempts to "pit one section of Jews against another"; later the Marquess of Salisbury was himself moved to write to condemn the attempt to drag in a speech he had made nearly 30 years before. Digby received the support of the local branch of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants at a meeting held on Praed Street next to Paddington station.

As polling day approached the Conservatives became more confident of victory, believing that the Roman Catholic, Jewish and Church of England blocks of votes were likely to be solid in support of Cohen. The nonconformists were also strong in the division and so the Liberals were also reporting confidence. On polling day it turned out that the Conservatives had the majority, although with a lead of only 685, the seat was evidently not safe.

1886

As an election loomed in June 1886, Lionel Cohen declared his intention to fight the seat again. Almost simultaneously, William Digby announced that he would not be a candidate again. The Paddington North Liberals therefore invited John Kempster, who had fought Enfield at the 1885 election, to be their candidate. Kempster was a Director of the Artizans, Labourers, and General Dwellings Company Ltd and therefore a popular man among the working class in the constituency.

At this election, the Irish vote switched sides: having backed the Conservatives in 1885 during a temporary alliance over opposition to the Liberal budget, Gladstone's announcement of his support for home rule for Ireland led to strong support for the Liberals. The Irish vote in Paddington North was sizable and Cohen's denunciation of home rule together with Kempster's support for it had its effect in reducing the impact of a strong national trend towards the Conservatives. Cohen was re-elected with a 911 vote majority.

1887

In 1887 Lionel Cohen was taken ill with pleurisy while on holiday in Nice. He returned to Britain to recuperate, but was thought by his doctor to have returned to work too early. He died of coronary thrombosis on June 26, 1887, thereby forcing a byelection. Paddington North Conservatives quickly (on June 28) invited John Aird to defend the seat. Aird had nearly 40 years of experience as a public works contractor and engineer, and was a Paddington local; Aird accepted. Paddington North Liberals chose Edmund Routledge, a member of the Routledge publishing family.

The major issue was still home rule for Ireland. The Liberals felt that they had done too little to promote and defend their policy in 1886 and determined to remedy the deficiency. At the same time, Routledge also said that he believed Ireland under home rule should continue to send MPs to the United Kingdom Parliament. This commitment was enough for George Trevelyan, a leading member of the Liberal Unionists to send him a letter of support: there was still hope at the time of the byelection of a reunion of the Liberal Party. However, the Marquess of Hartington, another Liberal Unionist, endorsed Aird.

Late in the campaign, and on polling day a rumour circulated that Aird's company was a large employer of foreign labour to enable it to compete against British firms. The rumour appears to have been false. The election result showed that the situation in North Paddington had shifted to the Liberals since 1886, but not enough to endanger the Conservatives' hold on the seat.

1892

The Liberals had hopes of winning the general election of 1892, having rebuilt their strength after the split of 1886. Paddington North Liberals adopted Thomas Terrell, a barrister who had trained as an analytical chemist and also wrote novels and had stood in Devonport in 1885. Terrell started his attempt to dislodge Aird early, and held large public meetings outlining the Gladstone "London Programme". This campaign was populist and attacked landlords for failing to financially support government institutions in the capital.

Terrell attracted support from the Paddington Local Option Union, which campaigned for temperance and legal restrictions on alcohol sales to be imposed by local authorities. However when the Local Option Union circulated a pamphlet attacking Aird, the senior members of the Local Option Union whose names were attached protested that they had not approved it, and it had to be withdrawn. Although Terrell managed to improve on the performance at the 1887 byelection, he was still 310 votes short of winning.

1895

The 1895 election happened suddenly. The Paddington North Liberals fell back on a local candidate: their chairman G.H. Maberly. On April 25, 1895 he was presented (by Dr John Clifford, a local Baptist Minister) with a silver tray and a framed address in honour of his service and invited to be the next Liberal candidate. Maberly was reluctant due to personal difficulties with the work, but at a meeting on June 27 he accepted. Maberly's name was similar to that of Major-General Moberly who sat on the London School Board from Paddington but was a Conservative: Moberley pointed this out at the end of the campaign.

Aird strongly attacked the record of the previous Liberal government whose resignation had forced the election, which he insisted had spent too much time discussing abstract constitutional ideas and too little time discussing "constructive social reform". He supported a moderate move towards women's suffrage, whereby a widow or spinster (if a householder) could vote. In line with the national trend, Aird increased his majority to just under 1,000.

1900

For the 1900 election, Wilfrid Fordham was unanimously adopted as Liberal candidate. He was a young barrister and nephew of Sir Wilfrid Lawson, Liberal MP for Cockermouth, with whom he shared his politics: his two main policies in the election were opposition to the South African war and support for temperance. Aird was readopted and attacked the Liberals for adopting socialistic policies which would hurt trade; he supported the government on its approach in South Africa.

Aird also supported conciliation in industry in order to avoid strike action. Local labour interest was however on the side of Fordham, who received the endorsement of the Shop Assistants' Union after giving favourable answers to questions. Fordham's spirited campaign however failed to fit with the priorities of the voters, who increased Aird's majority.

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Members of Parliament

• 1885 – 1887: Lionel Cohen, Conservative
• 1887 – 1906: Sir John Aird, Bt., Conservative
• 1906 – 1910: Leo Chiozza Money, Liberal
• 1910 – 1918: Arthur Strauss, Conservative
• 1918 – 1929: Sir William Perring, Conservative
• 1929 – 1945: Brendan Bracken, Conservative
• 1945 – 1946: Sir Noel Mason-Macfarlane, Labour
• 1946 – 1953: William Field, Labour
• 1954 – 1969: Ben Parkin, Labour
• 1969 – 1974: Arthur Latham, Labour

1: Returned as a supporter of the Lloyd George coalition in 1918.

Elections

Following the death of Lionel Cohen:

Boundary and suffrage changes occurred at this point

Suffrage changes occurred at this point

Following the resignation of Sir Noel Mason-Macfarlane:

Following the resignation of William Field:

Following the death of Ben Parkin:

References

• British Parliamentary Election Results by F. W. S. Craig
• Boundary Commission reports

• United Kingdom Parliamentary constituencies (historic)