In the 1887 electoral redistribution, although the Representation Commission was required through the Representation Act 1887 to maintain existing electorates "as far as possible", rapid population growth in the North Island required the transfer of three seats from the South Island to the north.
[4] The 1941 New Zealand census had been postponed due to World War II, so the 1946 electoral redistribution had to take ten years of population growth and movements into account.
At the end of the parliamentary term in 1890, Peacock retired and the Ponsonby electorate was abolished.
[6] The electorate was re-established for the 1946 election, and it was represented by Ritchie Macdonald of the Labour Party for its existence until its abolition in 1963.
Both the Social Credit and Communist Party candidates for Ponsonby in 1960 likewise contested Grey Lynn in 1963.