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.

Its first member was Labour's Will(iam) Thorne who won with an impressive 94.9% of the popular vote, a record for an English parliamentary seat held to this day.

As a consequence Plaistow was abolished as a separate constituency by the Representation of the People Act 1948 and went out of existence at the 1950 general election.

[1] In 1950 the territory of this division was transferred to form part of the West Ham South constituency.

The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected;