The previous electoral redistribution was undertaken in 1875 for the 1875–1876 election. In the six years since, New Zealand's European population had increased by 65%. In the 1881 electoral redistribution, the House of Representatives increased the number of European representatives to 91. The number of Māori electorates was held at four. The House further decided that electorates should not have more than one representative, which led to 35 new electorates being formed, including Christchurch North, and two electorates that had previously been abolished to be recreated. This necessitated a major disruption to existing boundaries. The boundaries of the Christchurch North electorate were Bealey Avenue in the north, Fitzgerald Avenue in the east, Worcester Street in the south, and Park Terrace in the west. The electorate thus comprised the northern half of what is now considered the central city. The civic offices in Worcester Street were used as the polling station for the 1881 election, and George Leslie Lee acted as the returning officer. The 1981 census had shown that the North Island had experienced further population growth, and three additional general seats were created through the 1983 electoral redistribution, bringing the total number of electorates to 95. The South Island had, for the first time, experienced a population loss, but its number of general electorates was fixed at 25 since the 1967 electoral redistribution. More of the South Island population was moving to Christchurch, and two electorates were abolished, while two electorates were recreated. In the North Island, six electorates were newly created, three electorates were recreated, and six electorates were abolished.
It was held by three Premiers or Prime Ministers, Julius Vogel, Sidney Holland and Mike Moore. Henry Thomson, a former Mayor of Christchurch, was the electorate's first representative in. Thomson retired at the and was succeeded by Julius Vogel, who beat John Crewes. Vogel returned to England in 1888, never to return to New Zealand, and his resignation became effective in early 1889. Edward Wingfield Humphreys won the resulting 1889 by-election and served until the end of the parliamentary term in the following year. For the election, a number of Christchurch electorates were amalgamated to form the three-member electorate. Humphreys came fifth in that election and was thus unsuccessful.
