Finsbury East (UK Parliament constituency)

Finsbury East
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
1885–1918
Number of members	one
Replaced by	Finsbury
Created from	Finsbury

Finsbury East was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Finsbury district of North London. 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.

The constituency was created when the two-member Finsbury constituency was divided by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 for the 1885 general election. It was abolished for the 1918 general election, when it was replaced by a new single-member Finsbury constituency.

The area was a predominantly working class district. Business and industry gradually expanded into Finsbury from the City to the south, during the period when this constituency existed. Pelling points out that there were 384 non-resident voters, out of an electorate of 6,140 in 1888.

During the early part of the period the working man and secularist, James Rowlands, was the Liberal standard bearer in the seat. He contested the seat as a Liberal-Labour candidate (i.e. an official Liberal candidate with a Trade Union background). Rowlands lost to Conservative businessman James Bigwood in 1885 by 20 votes (when the Liberals secured a national majority of seats). However Rowlands won in 1886 with a majority of 61 (when most nominees of the split Liberal Party fared disastrously at the polls). This was the only seat the Gladstonian Liberals gained in the London metropolitan area in 1886. Pelling suggests that a section of the local Liberals may have abstained in the first election, because of the candidates views and background but were motivated to vote in 1886 due to the importance of the Home Rule issue. Rowlands was re-elected in 1892 by a majority of 290, but was defeated in 1895 when there was a Conservative majority of 270.

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