It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system.

The constituency was created by the Representation of the People Act 1918 for the 1918 general election.

By the time of the next major redistribution of parliamentary seats, which took effect in 1950, East Ham had been re-warded.

The constituency then comprised Castle, Central, Greatfield, South and Wall End wards.

In the 1974 redistribution the constituency was abolished and its area included in the new Newham North East seat.