Cardiff Central (1918–1950 UK Parliament constituency)

For the Cardiff Central constituency from 1983 to 2024, see Cardiff Central (UK Parliament constituency).

Cardiff Central was a borough constituency^{[n 1]} in the city of Cardiff. 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 system.

Cardiff Central
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
1918–1950
Seats	one
Created from	Cardiff
Replaced by	Cardiff North and Cardiff West

A similarly named Cardiff Central constituency, covering a different area of Cardiff, was created in 1983.

Boundaries

Wards of Cardiff, 1890

1918–1950: The County Borough of Cardiff wards of Canton, Cathays, Central, and Riverside.

The constituency spanned either side of the River Taff. It was abolished in 1950, with Cathays and Central becoming part of the new Cardiff North division, while Canton and Riverside became part of the new Cardiff West division.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1918–1950

Election		Member[1][2]	Party
	1918	James Childs Gould	Unionist
	1924	Lewis Lougher	Unionist
	1929	Ernest Bennett	Labour
	1931		National Labour
	1945	George Thomas	Labour
	1950	constituency abolished

Elections

Elections 1918–1945

Elections in the 1910s

General election 1918: Cardiff Central^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	James Childs Gould*	8,542	41.1	N/A
	Labour	James Edmunds	4,663	22.4	N/A
	Liberal	George Frederick Forsdike	4,172	20.1	N/A
	Ind. Unionist	Robert Hughes	3,419	16.4	N/A
Majority			3,879	18.7	N/A
Turnout			20,839[4][a]	57.0	N/A
Registered electors			36,557
	Unionist win (new seat)

• coupon issued but withdrawn.

The Unionist vote was split and, though Robert Hughes managed to save his £150 deposit, he did not turn up to hear the results.^[4]

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Cardiff Central^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	James Childs Gould	13,885	50.0	+8.9
	Labour	James Edmunds	8,169	29.4	+7.0
	Liberal	Charles Fletcher Sanders	5,732	20.6	+0.5
Majority			5,716	20.6	+1.9
Turnout			27,786	74.4	+17.5
Registered electors			37,326
	Unionist hold		Swing	+1.0

General election 1923: Cardiff Central^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	James Childs Gould	10,261	38.4	−11.6
	Labour	James Edmunds	8,563	32.0	+2.6
	Liberal	Ieuan Watkins Evans	7,923	29.6	+9.0
Majority			1,698	6.4	−14.2
Turnout			26,747	71.4	−3.0
Registered electors			37,444
	Unionist hold		Swing	-7.1

General election 1924: Cardiff Central^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Lewis Lougher	14,537	49.7	+11.3
	Labour	David Pole	9,864	33.8	+1.8
	Liberal	Aneurin Edwards	4,805	16.5	−13.1
Majority			4,673	15.9	+9.5
Turnout			29,206	76.8	+5.4
Registered electors			38,026
	Unionist hold		Swing	+4.8

General election 1929: Cardiff Central^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ernest Bennett	14,469	39.1	+5.3
	Unionist	Lewis Lougher	12,903	34.9	−14.8
	Liberal	Barnett Janner	9,623	26.0	+9.5
Majority			1,566	4.2	N/A
Turnout			36,995	78.2	+1.4
Registered electors			47,282
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+10.1

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Cardiff Central^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Labour	Ernest Bennett	24,120	69.2	N/A
	Labour	Edward Archbold	10,758	30.8	−8.3
Majority			13,362	38.4	N/A
Turnout			34,878	72.6	−5.6
Registered electors			48,065
	National Labour gain from Labour		Swing

General election 1935: Cardiff Central^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Labour	Ernest Bennett	16,954	51.5	−17.7
	Labour	John Dugdale	12,094	36.8	+6.0
	Liberal	William Glanville Brown	3,863	11.7	N/A
Majority			4,860	14.7	−23.7
Turnout			32,911	68.7	−3.9
Registered electors			47,912
	National Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1940s

General election 1939–40: another general election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected;

• National Labour: Ronald Wingate
• Labour: John Ramage

General election 1945: Cardiff Central^[3][5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	T. George Thomas	16,506	49.1	+12.3
	Conservative	Charles Stuart Hallinan	11,982	35.7	N/A
	Liberal	Peter Hopkin Morgan	5,121	15.2	+3.5
Majority			4,524	13.4	N/A
Turnout			33,609	72.3	+3.6
Registered electors			46,505
	Labour gain from National Labour		Swing

See also

• List of parliamentary constituencies in Wales

Notes

1. A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)

1. "42 bad papers and one paper unaccounted for"