History
From 1832 until 1885 it was a two-member constituency, but its representation was reduced to one Member of Parliament under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885. For the 1997 general election, it was merged with part of the former Woolwich constituency to form the Greenwich and Woolwich seat.
Its history is dominated by the area's strong maritime tradition. Its most prominent claim to fame was as the seat of William Ewart Gladstone between 1868 and 1880, and it also achieved prominence in the 1987 Greenwich by-election, when the SDP won a surprise victory.
Read more about this topic: Greenwich (UK Parliament Constituency)
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“We may pretend that we’re basically moral people who make mistakes, but the whole of history proves otherwise.”
—Terry Hands (b. 1941)
“In the history of the human mind, these glowing and ruddy fables precede the noonday thoughts of men, as Aurora the sun’s rays. The matutine intellect of the poet, keeping in advance of the glare of philosophy, always dwells in this auroral atmosphere.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Psychology keeps trying to vindicate human nature. History keeps undermining the effort.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)