 The creation of the constituency was recommended by the Boundary Commission in a report issued in 1917, and formally created by the Representation of the People Act 1918.It came into existence at the 1918 general election.As the borough of Southwark had only 67,279 electors on 15 October 1946, the relevant date for the subsequent Boundary Commission review, the borough was only entitled to a single Member of Parliament.