History
The area had been part of the former two-seat Tower Hamlets constituency, which was divided at the 1885 general election.
The constituency was marginal before 1918. The party holding the seat changed in 1886, 1892, 1895, 1906, January 1910, December 1910 and 1912. After the extension of the franchise to all adult men and some women in 1918, the seat became safely Labour from 1922.
George Lansbury was first elected in December 1910 as a Labour candidate. He was on the left of the party and was known as a pacifist and supporter of votes for women. In November 1912 Lansbury resigned his seat so he could test public opinion on women's suffrage. He lost the subsequent by-election and did not regain the seat until 1922.
Lansbury was the only member of the cabinet of the Second Labour Ministry to both remain with the party and secure re-election in the 1931 general ection. As the party leader Arthur Henderson was not in the House of Commons, Lansbury became Acting Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition. In 1932 Henderson gave up the leadership and Lansbury was elected leader in his place. He retained the leadership until 1935.
Read more about this topic: Bow And Bromley (UK Parliament Constituency)
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