Fordsburg (House of Assembly of South Africa constituency)

Fordsburg was a constituency in the Transvaal Province of South Africa, which existed from 1910 to 1948. It covered parts of the inner western suburbs of Johannesburg, centred on the suburb of Fordsburg. Throughout its existence it elected one member to the House of Assembly and one to the Transvaal Provincial Council.

Fordsburg
Former constituency for the South African House of Assembly
Location of Fordsburg within Johannesburg (1910)
Province	Transvaal
Electorate	9,313 (1943)
Former constituency
Created	1910
Abolished	1948
Number of members	1
Last MHA	D. C. Burnside (Lab)

Franchise notes

When the Union of South Africa was formed in 1910, the electoral qualifications in use in each pre-existing colony were kept in place. In the Transvaal Colony, and its predecessor the South African Republic, the vote was restricted to white men, and as such, elections in the Transvaal Province were held on a whites-only franchise from the beginning. The franchise was also restricted by property and education qualifications until the 1933 general election, following the passage of the Women's Enfranchisement Act, 1930 and the Franchise Laws Amendment Act, 1931. From then on, the franchise was given to all white citizens aged 21 or over. Non-whites remained disenfranchised until the end of apartheid and the introduction of universal suffrage in 1994.

History

Fordsburg was a largely working-class seat, and was closely fought between the Labour Party and various non-socialist candidates. Its first MP was a young Patrick Duncan, later a cabinet minister under Jan Smuts and Governor-General for much of the Second World War. Its long-serving Nationalist MP, Jacobus Stephanus François Pretorius, followed J. B. M. Hertzog into the United Party in 1934, and was succeeded by party colleague Ben Schoeman (later a cabinet minister for the National Party) in 1938. In 1943, it was given to Labour as part of an electoral pact between them and the UP, and former Umbilo MP D. C. Burnside held the seat until its abolition in 1948.

Members

Election		Member	Party
	1910	Patrick Duncan	Unionist
	1915
	1920	Morris Kentridge	Labour
	1921	J. S. F. Pretorius	National
	1924
	1929
	1933
	1934		United
	1938	Ben Schoeman
	1940		HNP
	1943	D. C. Burnside	Labour
	1948	Constituency abolished

Detailed results

Elections in the 1910s

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 1910 South African general election § Fordsburg.[edit]

General election 1910: Fordsburg

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Patrick Duncan	590	35.5	New
	Het Volk	F. E. T. Krause	544	32.7	New
	Labour	W. H. Andrews	520	31.3	New
	Socialist	Archie Crawford	8	0.5	New
Majority			46	2.8	N/A
	Unionist win (new seat)

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 1915 South African general election § Fordsburg.[edit]

General election 1915: Fordsburg

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Patrick Duncan	724	45.9	+10.4
	Labour	D. Dingwell	465	29.4	−1.9
	National	J. S. F. Pretorius	390	24.7	New
Majority			259	16.5	N/A
Turnout			1,579	71.4	N/A
	Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1920s

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 1920 South African general election § Fordsburg.[edit]

General election 1920: Fordsburg

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Morris Kentridge	804	45.2	+15.8
	National	J. S. F. Pretorius	592	33.3	+8.6
	Unionist	Patrick Duncan	365	20.5	−25.4
	Independent	H. M. Barendregt	19	1.1	New
Majority			212	11.9	N/A
Turnout			1,780	53.2	−18.2
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+20.6

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 1921 South African general election § Fordsburg.[edit]

General election 1921: Fordsburg

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	J. S. F. Pretorius	729	37.9	+4.6
	Labour	Morris Kentridge	647	33.6	−11.6
	South African	H. H. McLean	549	28.5	New
Majority			82	4.3	N/A
Turnout			1,925	55.9	+2.7
	National gain from Labour		Swing	+8.1

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 1924 South African general election § Fordsburg.[edit]

General election 1924: Fordsburg

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	J. S. F. Pretorius	1,412	61.5	+23.6
	South African	Harry Graumann	845	36.8	+8.3
Rejected ballots			39	1.7	N/A
Majority			567	24.7	N/A
Turnout			2,296	77.3	+21.4
	National hold		Swing	+7.7

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 1929 South African general election § Fordsburg.[edit]

General election 1929: Fordsburg

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	J. S. F. Pretorius	1,257	59.4	−2.1
	South African	H. L. Lindsay	821	38.8	+2.0
Rejected ballots			38	1.8	+0.1
Majority			436	20.6	−4.1
Turnout			2,116	73.9	−3.4
	National hold		Swing	-2.1

Elections in the 1930s

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 1933 South African general election § Fordsburg.[edit]

General election 1933: Fordsburg

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	J. S. F. Pretorius	1,379	35.6	−24.3
	Roos	G. C. V. Odendaal	1,266	32.7	New
	Independent	C. A. Lagesen	1,185	30.6	New
Rejected ballots			41	1.1	-0.7
Majority			113	2.9	N/A
Turnout			3,871	61.9	−12.0
	National hold		Swing	N/A

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 1938 South African general election § Fordsburg.[edit]

General election 1938: Fordsburg

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	United	Ben Schoeman	2,582	51.1	+15.5
	Labour	Thomas Chalmers Robertson	1,455	28.8	New
	Purified National	M. van der Ahee	972	19.2	New
Rejected ballots			43	0.9	-0.2
Majority			113	2.9	N/A
Turnout			5,052	68.6	+6.7
	United hold		Swing	N/A