The Hague I was created as a provisional single-member district in 1848, and included the neighbourhoods A through K and a part of the neighbourhood S in the municipality of The Hague, as well as the neighbouring municipalities of 's-Gravenzande, Loosduinen and Monster.[1] It was abolished again in 1850, when it merged with the district of The Hague II to form the two-member district of The Hague. The district was reconstituted in 1897, when The Hague was split into three single-member districts. This district comprised the southeastern third of what was then the municipality of The Hague, including what is today the southern half of Centrum and small parts of Laak and Escamp.[2][3]
Due to the area's urban development in the late 19th and early 20th century, The Hague I's electorate grew substantially during its second iteration, from 5,025 in 1897 to 16,470 to 1917.[4]
Willem Boreel van Hogelanden was elected in the district of The Hague I in the inaugural 1848 election. Though political parties did not exist at this time, Boreel is classified as a "pragmatic" liberal.
During its second iteration, The Hague I was a contested seat. The district elected the Anti-Revolutionary Johannes Krap in 1897, and he was narrowly re-elected in 1901, leading his second-round opponent with just eight votes. In 1905, however, he lost re-election to Joseph Limburg, a Free-thinking Democrat. Limburg in turn failed to be re-elected in 1909, when Kornelis ter Laan, a member of the Social Democratic Workers' Party, won the district, defeating Krap in the second round. Ter Laan was easily re-elected in 1913 and in 1917, representing the district until its abolition in 1918 and becoming its longest-serving representative.
↑De Jong, Ron; Van der Kolk, Henk; Voerman, Gerrit (2011). Verkiezingen op de kaart 1848-2010: Tweede Kamerverkiezingen vanuit geografisch perspectief[Elections on the map 1848-2010: House of Representative elections from a geographic perspective] (in Dutch). Utrecht: Uitgeverij Matrijs. ISBN9789053454374.
