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 Cape Colony had implemented a “colour-blind” franchise known as the Cape Qualified Franchise, which included all adult literate men owning more than £75 worth of property (controversially raised from £25 in 1892), and this initially remained in effect after the colony became the Cape Province. As of 1908, 22,784 out of 152,221 electors in the Cape Colony were “Native or Coloured”. Eligibility to serve in Parliament and the Provincial Council, however, was restricted to whites from 1910 onward.
The first challenge to the Cape Qualified Franchise came with the Women's Enfranchisement Act, 1930 and the Franchise Laws Amendment Act, 1931, which extended the vote to women and removed property qualifications for the white population only – non-white voters remained subject to the earlier restrictions. In 1936, the Representation of Natives Act removed all black voters from the common electoral roll and introduced three “Native Representative Members”, white MPs elected by the black voters of the province and meant to represent their interests in particular. A similar provision was made for Coloured voters with the Separate Representation of Voters Act, 1951, and although this law was challenged by the courts, it went into effect in time for the 1958 general election, which was thus held with all-white voter rolls for the first time in South African history. The all-white franchise would continue until the end of apartheid and the introduction of universal suffrage in 1994.[1]
Throughout its existence, Woodstock was a compact, urbanised and largely working-class constituency. In its early days, it was a marginal seat between the Unionist Party and Labour, the latter of which briefly held the seat in 1920 and 1921 – however, Labour MP Isaac Purcell switched allegiance to the South African Party (for which he had previously contested the seat in 1915) ahead of the 1921 general election, and was re-elected. In 1924, the constituency was briefly abolished, its territory divided between Cape Town-Hanover Street and Salt River, but in 1929 it returned. In its second iteration, Woodstock became a safe seat for the United Party, which faced only Communist opposition in 1943 and an independent candidate in 1948. In 1953, the seat was abolished, with most of its voters transferred to neighbouring Cape Town Castle.[2][3]
