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Durban Greyville was a constituency in the Natal Province of South Africa, which existed from 1910 to 1938. Named for the Greyville area of central Durban, it covered the northern part of the CBD including the area around Durban Station. Throughout its existence it elected one member to the House of Assembly.
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. The franchise used in the Natal Colony, while theoretically not restricted by race, was significantly less liberal than that of the Cape, and no more than a few hundred non-white electors ever qualified. In 1908, an estimated 200 of the 22,786 electors in the colony were of non-European descent, and by 1935, only one remained. By 1958, when the last non-white voters in the Cape were taken off the rolls, Natal too had an all-white electorate. 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, which remained the case until the end of apartheid and the introduction of universal suffrage in 1994.
History
Like the rest of Durban, Durban Greyville was a largely English-speaking seat. After electing an independent in its first election, it was won by the South African Labour Party in a 1912 by-election, and would become a stronghold for the party. This was aided by the separation of its northern, more middle-class parts to form the Stamford Hill constituency in 1920. Its MP from 1912 until 1929 was Tommy Boydell, who served as Minister of Labour in J. B. M. Hertzog’s coalition government and was defeated along with several other Labour MPs in the 1929 election. Its final MP, J. G. Derbyshire, was affiliated with the federalist Natal Home Rule Party. In the 1938 redistribution, it was largely merged into the recreated seat of Durban Central.
Location of Durban Greyville within Durban (1910)