Pembrokeshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with Pembroke (UK Parliament constituency).

Pembrokeshire (Welsh: Sir Benfro) was a parliamentary constituency based on the county of Pembrokeshire in Wales. 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.

Pembrokeshire
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
Preserved county	Dyfed
Major settlements	Haverfordwest, Milford Haven, Pembroke Dock, Tenby
1536–1997
Seats	One
Replaced by	Carmarthen West & South Pembrokeshire and Preseli Pembrokeshire

History

The Laws in Wales Act 1535 (26 Hen. 8. c. 26) provided for a single county seat in the House of Commons for each of twelve historic Welsh counties (including Pembrokeshire) and two for Monmouthshire. Using the modern year, starting on 1 January, these parliamentary constituencies were authorised in 1536. In practice, the first known Knights of the Shire from Wales (as Members of Parliament from county constituencies were known before the nineteenth century) may not have been elected until 1545.

The Act contains the following provision, which had the effect of enfranchising the shire of Pembroke.

And that for this present Parliament, and all other Parliaments to be holden and kept for this Realm, one Knight shall be chosen and elected to the same Parliaments for every of the Shires of Brecknock, Radnor, Mountgomery and Denbigh, and for every other Shire within the said Country of Dominion of Wales;

Before the Reform Act

During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century the representation of the county was subject to a series of contests between the Owen family of Orielton, who supported the Whig interest, and the Philipps family of Picton Castle.^[1]

The Great Reform Act to the First World War

During this period the seat was largely held by the Conservatives who held off the Liberal challenge which was so apparent in other parts of Wales. When Lord Emlyn inherited the title Earl of Cawdor in 1860 the seat was held until 1866 by George Lort Phillips. He was succeeded by James Bevan Bowen of Llwyngwair who stood down in favour of Sir John Scourfield in 1868. Scourfield died in 1876 and Bowen once again became the county member. In 1880, however, he was defeated by William Davies and the Liberals held the seat until 1918.

The Twentieth Century

The constituency was abolished for the 1997 general election, when its territory was divided between the new constituencies of Preseli Pembrokeshire and Carmarthen West & South Pembrokeshire. Up to 1950 it was generally considered a Liberal seat, although won by the Conservatives on some occasions. From 1950 it was regarded as a fairly safe Labour seat. However, the Conservatives won the seat in 1970 when the sitting Labour MP Desmond Donnelly left the party and formed The Democratic party. Donnelly lost the seat but polled well. In subsequent elections the Conservative vote held up, tending to suggest that Donnelly had held the seat with large majorities for Labour based on his own popularity as much as being the Labour candidate.

Boundaries

The constituency was established with the boundaries of the county of Pembrokeshire, but by the time of abolition Fishguard and Northern Pembrokeshire had been joined to the neighbouring Cardigan (UK Parliament constituency) constituency to form Ceredigion and Pembroke North, which was captured by Plaid Cymru in 1992. This left Pembrokeshire with the major towns of Haverfordwest, Milford Haven, Pembroke Dock and Tenby.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1545–1601

Parliament	Member
1542	Thomas Jones[2]
1545	John Wogan[2]
1547	Sir Thomas Jones[2]
1553 (Mar)	?
1553 (Oct)	Sir John Wogan[2]
1554 (Apr)	Arnold Butler[2]
1554 (Nov)
1555	?Richard Cornwall[2]
1558	Thomas Cathern[2]
1559 (Jan)	William Philipps[3]
1562–1563	Sir John Perrot[3]
1571	John Wogan[3]
1572	William Philipps, died 1573, replaced 1576 by John Wogan , died 1581, replaced 1584 by Sir Thomas Perrot[3]
1584 (Nov)	Thomas Revell[3]
1586
1588 (Oct)	George Devereux[3]
1593	Sir Thomas Perrot[3]
1597 (Sep)	Sir Gelly Meyrick[3]
1601	John Philipps[3]

MPs 1601–1832

Election		Member[4]	Party
	1604	Alban Stepney
	1614	Sir John Wogan
	1620
	1624	Sir James Perrott
	1625	Sir John Wogan
	1626
	1628
	1640 (Apr)
	1640 (Nov)	Sir John Wogan, died 1644 replaced by ?
	1645	Arthur Owen
	1648	?
	1653	Not represented in Barebones Parliament
	1654	Sir Erasmus Philipps, 3rd Baronet Arthur Owen
	1656	James Philipps John Clark
	1659	Sir Erasmus Philipps, 3rd Baronet
	1660	Arthur Owen	Whig
	1678	John Owen
	1679	Sir Hugh Owen, Bt
	1681	William Wogan	Tory
	1685	William Barlow
	1689	Sir Hugh Owen, Bt	Whig
	1695	Sir Arthur Owen, Bt
	1705	Wirriot Owen
	1710	John Barlow	Tory
	1715	Sir Arthur Owen, Bt
	1727	John Campbell
	1747	Sir William Owen, Bt
	1761	Sir John Philipps, Bt
	1765	Sir Richard Philipps, Bt
	1770	Sir Hugh Owen, Bt
	1786	The Lord Milford	Whig[5]
	1812	Sir John Owen, Bt	Tory[5]

MPs 1832–1997

Election		Member[4]	Party
	1832	Sir John Owen	Tory[5]
	1841	Lord Emlyn	Conservative[5]
	1861 b-e	George Lort Phillips	Conservative
	1866 b-e	James Bevan Bowen
	1868	Sir John Scourfield
	1876 b-e	James Bevan Bowen
	1880	William Davies	Liberal
	1892	William Rees-Davies
	1898 b-e	John Philipps
	1908 b-e	Walter Roch
	1918	Sir Evan Davies Jones	Coalition Liberal
	1922	Gwilym Lloyd George	National Liberal
	1923		Liberal
	1924	Charles Price	Unionist
	1929	Gwilym Lloyd George	Liberal
	1950	Desmond Donnelly	Labour
	1968		Independent
	1969		Democratic Party
	1970	Nicholas Edwards	Conservative
	1987	Nicholas Bennett
	1992	Nick Ainger	Labour
	1997	constituency abolished

Elections

Pembrokeshire election history

Elections in the 1830s

General election 1830: Pembrokeshire^[5][6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Tory	John Owen	Unopposed
Registered electors			>3,000
	Tory hold

General election 1831: Pembrokeshire^[5][6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Tory	John Owen	1,949	51.3
	Whig	Robert Fulke Greville	1,850	48.7
Majority			99	2.6
Turnout			3,799
Registered electors			>3,000
	Tory hold

Owen's elected was declared void on petition, causing a by-election.

By-election, 24 October 1831: Pembrokeshire^[5][6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Tory	John Owen	1,531	51.8	+0.5
	Whig	Robert Fulke Greville	1,423	48.2	−0.5
Majority			108	3.6	+1.0
Turnout			2,954
Registered electors			>3,000
	Tory hold		Swing	+0.5

General election 1832: Pembrokeshire^[5][7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Tory	John Owen	Unopposed
Registered electors			3,700
	Tory hold

General election 1835: Pembrokeshire^[5][7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	John Owen	Unopposed
Registered electors			3,664
	Conservative hold

General election 1837: Pembrokeshire^[5][7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	John Owen	Unopposed
Registered electors			3,706
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1840s

General election 1841: Pembrokeshire^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Campbell	Unopposed
Registered electors			3,663
	Conservative hold

General election 1847: Pembrokeshire^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Campbell	Unopposed
Registered electors			3,479
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1850s

General election 1852: Pembrokeshire^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Campbell	Unopposed
Registered electors			3,132
	Conservative hold

General election 1857: Pembrokeshire^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Campbell	Unopposed
Registered electors			2,784
	Conservative hold

General election 1859: Pembrokeshire^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Campbell	Unopposed
Registered electors			2,700
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1860s

Campbell succeeded to the peerage, becoming Earl Cawdor and causing a by-election.

By-election, 19 January 1861: Pembrokeshire^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Lort Phillips	1,194	54.9	N/A
	Liberal	Hugh Owen	979	45.1	New
Majority			215	9.8	N/A
Turnout			2,173	77.4	N/A
Registered electors			2,809
	Conservative hold

General election 1865: Pembrokeshire^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Lort Phillips	Unopposed
Registered electors			3,797
	Conservative hold

Phillips' death caused a by-election.

By-election, 26 November 1866: Pembrokeshire^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Bevan Bowen	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

General election 1868: Pembrokeshire^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Scourfield	Unopposed
Registered electors			4,690
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1870s

General election 1874: Pembrokeshire^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Scourfield	Unopposed
Registered electors			4,621
	Conservative hold

Scourfield's death caused a by-election.

1876 Pembrokeshire by-election^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Bevan Bowen	1,882	53.9	N/A
	Liberal	William Davies	1,608	46.1	New
Majority			274	7.8	N/A
Turnout			3,490	76.9	N/A
Registered electors			4,621
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1880: Pembrokeshire^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Davies	2,185	55.7	N/A
	Conservative	Charles Philipps	1,737	44.3	N/A
Majority			448	11.4	N/A
Turnout			3,922	77.6	N/A
Registered electors			5,052
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	N/A

General election 1885: Pembrokeshire^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Davies	4,999	57.2	+1.5
	Conservative	Charles Philipps	3,738	42.8	−1.5
Majority			1,261	14.4	+3.0
Turnout			8,737	80.3	+2.7
Registered electors			10,883
	Liberal hold		Swing	+1.5

General election 1886: Pembrokeshire^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Davies	4,099	50.7	−6.5
	Conservative	Charles Philipps	3,983	49.3	+6.5
Majority			116	1.4	−13.0
Turnout			8,082	74.3	−6.0
Registered electors			10,883
	Liberal hold		Swing	−6.5

Elections in the 1890s

Rees Davies

General election 1892: Pembrokeshire^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Rees-Davies	4,800	56.5	+5.8
	Conservative	Charles Philipps	3,701	43.5	−5.8
Majority			1,099	13.0	+11.6
Turnout			8,501	78.0	+3.7
Registered electors			10,895
	Liberal hold		Swing	+5.8

General election 1895: Pembrokeshire^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Rees-Davies	4,550	53.4	−3.1
	Conservative	Arthur Picton Saunders-Davies	3,970	46.6	+3.1
Majority			580	6.8	−6.2
Turnout			8,520	76.6	−1.4
Registered electors			11,119
	Liberal hold		Swing	−3.1

Davies resigned after being appointed Attorney general of the Bahamas, requiring a by-election.

Wynford Philipps

1898 Pembrokeshire by-election^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Philipps	5,070	59.8	+6.4
	Conservative	Hugh Campbell	3,406	40.2	−6.4
Majority			1,664	19.6	+12.8
Turnout			8,476	76.6	0.0
Registered electors			11,061
	Liberal hold		Swing	+6.4

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: Pembrokeshire^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Philipps	Unopposed
	Liberal hold

General election 1906: Pembrokeshire^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Philipps	5,886	69.3	N/A
	Conservative	John Lort-Williams	2,606	30.7	New
Majority			3,280	38.6	N/A
Turnout			8,492	75.0	N/A
Registered electors			11,322
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

Walter Roch

1908 Pembrokeshire by-election^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Walter Roch	5,465	62.4	−6.9
	Conservative	John Lort-Williams	3,293	37.6	+6.9
Majority			2,172	24.8	−13.8
Turnout			8,758	77.3	+2.3
Registered electors			11,331
	Liberal hold		Swing	−6.9

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: Pembrokeshire^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Walter Roch	6,135	65.1	−4.2
	Conservative	Edward Marlay Samson	3,291	34.9	+4.2
Majority			2,844	30.2	−8.4
Turnout			9,426	80.2	+5.2
Registered electors			11,750
	Liberal hold		Swing	−4.2

General election December 1910: Pembrokeshire^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Walter Roch	5,682	65.5	+0.4
	Conservative	Edward Marlay Samson	2,989	34.5	−0.4
Majority			2,693	31.0	+0.8
Turnout			8,671	73.8	−6.4
Registered electors			11,750
	Liberal hold		Swing	+0.4

General Election 1914–15:

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

• Liberal: Walter Roch
• Unionist: Edward Marlay Samson^[9]

General election 1918: Pembrokeshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Liberal	Evan Davies Jones	19,200	69.8	+4.3
	Labour	Ivor Gwynne	7,712	28.0	New
	Christian Socialist	Griffith Bowen Thomas	597	2.2	New
Majority			11,488	41.8	+10.8
Turnout			27,509	64.3	−9.5
Registered electors			42,808
	Liberal hold		Swing
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

G. Lloyd George

General election 1922: Pembrokeshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	Gwilym Lloyd George	21,569	69.0	N/A
	Labour	William James Jenkins	9,703	31.0	+3.0
Majority			11,866	38.0	N/A
Turnout			31,272	71.7	+7.4
Registered electors			43,631
	National Liberal gain from Liberal		Swing	N/A

General election 1923: Pembrokeshire ^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Gwilym Lloyd George	13,173	38.3	−30.7
	Unionist	Charles Price	11,682	34.0	New
	Labour	William James Jenkins	9,511	27.7	−3.3
Majority			1,491	4.3	−33.7
Turnout			34,366	77.9	+6.2
Registered electors			44,134
	Liberal hold		Swing	−13.7

General election 1924: Pembrokeshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Charles Price	14,575	40.4	+6.4
	Liberal	Gwilym Lloyd George	13,045	36.2	−2.1
	Labour	William James Jenkins	8,455	23.4	−4.3
Majority			1,530	4.2	N/A
Turnout			36,075	80.2	+2.3
Registered electors			44,980
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+4.3

General election 1929: Pembrokeshire ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Gwilym Lloyd George	19,050	41.8	+5.6
	Unionist	Charles Price	14,235	31.3	−9.1
	Labour	William James Jenkins	12,235	26.9	+3.5
Majority			4,815	10.5	N/A
Turnout			45,520	83.8	+3.6
Registered electors			54,302
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing	+7.4

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Pembrokeshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	*Gwilym Lloyd George	24,606	55.71
	Conservative	Charles Price	19,560	44.29
Majority			5,046	11.42
Turnout			44,166	79.88
	Liberal hold		Swing

• opposed to National Government.

General election 1935: Pembrokeshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Gwilym Lloyd George	16,734	37.41
	Conservative	George Edmund Allison	15,660	35.01
	Labour	William James Jenkins	12,341	27.59	New
Majority			1,074	2.40
Turnout			44,735	79.13
	Liberal 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;

• Liberal: Gwilym Lloyd George
• Labour: William James Jenkins

General election 1945: Pembrokeshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	*Gwilym Lloyd George	22,997	50.18
	Labour	Wilfred Fienburgh	22,829	49.82
Majority			168	0.36
Turnout			45,826	72.29
	Liberal hold		Swing

• Supported the National Government. The Liberal Party had left the war coalition.

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Pembrokeshire^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Desmond Donnelly	25,550	50.1	+1.3
	National Liberal	Gwilym Lloyd George	25,421	49.9	N/A
Majority			129	0.2	N/A
Turnout			50,971	83.2	+10.9
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing

General election 1951: Pembrokeshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Desmond Donnelly	25,994	48.4	−1.7
	Conservative	Frederick Farey-Jones	16,968	31.6	−18.3
	Liberal	Dyfrig Hughes Pennant	10,688	19.9	New
Majority			9,026	16.8	+16.6
Turnout			53,650	86.0	+2.8
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1955: Pembrokeshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Desmond Donnelly	27,002	51.5	+3.1
	Independent	William L. Davies	25,410	48.5	New
Majority			1,592	3.0	−13.8
Turnout			52,412	84.0	−2.0
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1959: Pembrokeshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Desmond Donnelly	27,623	52.9	+1.4
	Conservative	Henry Graham Partridge	22,301	42.8	New
	Plaid Cymru	Waldo Williams	2,253	4.3	New
Majority			5,322	10.1	+7.1
Turnout			52,177	83.6	−0.4
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Pembrokeshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Desmond Donnelly	23,926	47.23
	Conservative	Henry Graham Partridge	15,340	30.28
	Liberal	Alan Coulthard	9,679	19.11	New
	Plaid Cymru	Dyfrig Thomas	1,717	3.39
Majority			8,586	16.95
Turnout			50,662	81.46
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1966: Pembrokeshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Desmond Donnelly	23,852	48.15
	Conservative	Francis Michael Fisher	17,921	36.17
	Liberal	Owain Glyn Williams	5,308	10.71
	Plaid Cymru	Jack Sheppard	2,460	4.97
Majority			5,931	11.98
Turnout			49,541	79.76
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Pembrokeshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nicholas Edwards	19,120	34.73
	Labour	Gordon Parry	17,889	32.49
	Democratic Party	Desmond Donnelly	11,824	21.48	New
	Plaid Cymru	Wynne Samuel	3,681	6.69
	Liberal	David Wynford Thomas	3,541	4.62
Majority			1,231	2.24	N/A
Turnout			56,145	77.85
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General election February 1974: Pembrokeshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nicholas Edwards	22,268	38.25
	Labour	Gordon Parry	20,789	35.71
	Liberal	Patrick Edwin Charles Jones	12,340	21.20
	Plaid Cymru	R. B. Davies	2,820	4.84
Majority			1,479	2.54
Turnout			58,217	81.44
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election October 1974: Pembrokeshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nicholas Edwards	23,190	40.47
	Labour	Gordon Parry	22,418	39.12
	Liberal	Patrick Edwin Charles Jones	9,116	15.91
	Plaid Cymru	R. B. Davies	2,580	4.50
Majority			772	1.35
Turnout			57,304	79.53
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1979: Pembrokeshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nicholas Edwards	30,483	49.16
	Labour	Alan Evans	23,015	37.11
	Liberal	Richard Livsey	6,249	10.08
	Plaid Cymru	R. Dawe	1,573	2.54
	Ecology	B. Kingzett	694	1.12	New
Majority			7,468	12.05
Turnout			62,014	81.31
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1983: Pembrokeshire^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nicholas Edwards	24,860	46.88
	Labour	Alan Griffiths	15,504	29.23
	SDP	John Pullin	10,983	20.71
	Plaid Cymru	Osi Rhys Osmond	1,073	2.02
	Ecology	David Hoffman	478	0.90
	Independent	G. S. Phillips	136	0.26	New
Majority			9,356	17.65
Turnout			53,034	76.12
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1987: Pembrokeshire^[14][15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nicholas Bennett	23,314	41.0	−5.9
	Labour	Bryan Rayner	17,614	31.0	+1.8
	Liberal	Patrick Jones	14,832	26.1	+5.4
	Plaid Cymru	Osi Rhys Osmond	1,119	1.9	−0.1
Majority			5,700	10.0	−6.6
Turnout			56,879	80.8	+2.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1992: Pembrokeshire^[16][17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Nick Ainger	26,253	43.3	+12.3
	Conservative	Nicholas Bennett	25,498	42.0	+1.0
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Berry	6,625	10.9	−15.2
	Plaid Cymru	Conrad L. Bryant	1,627	2.7	+0.8
	Green	Roger W. Coghill	484	0.8	New
	Anti-Federalist League	R. M. Stoddart	158	0.3	New
Majority			755	1.3	N/A
Turnout			60,645	82.9	+2.1
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+5.6