Rhondda West (UK Parliament constituency)

Rhondda West was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Rhondda district of 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. Along with Rhondda East it was formed by dividing the old Rhondda constituency.

Rhondda West
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
1918–1974 (1974)
Seats	One
Created from	Rhondda and Mid Glamorganshire
Replaced by	Rhondda

History

The constituency was created for the 1918 general election, and abolished for the February 1974 general election.

Boundaries

Throughout its existence the constituency included the towns of Treorchy and Tonypandy.

1918–1974: The Urban District of Rhondda first, second, third, fourth, and fifth wards, and part of the sixth.^[1]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1918	William Abraham	Labour
	1920 by-election	William John
	1950	Iorwerth Thomas
	1967 by-election	Alec Jones
	Feb 1974	constituency abolished: see Rhondda

Election results

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1918, Rhondda

William Abraham returned unopposed

General election 1918: West Rhondda

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William Abraham	Unopposed
Registered electors
	Labour win (new seat)

Elections in the 1920s

1920 Rhondda West by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William John	14,035	58.5	N/A
C	Unionist	Gwilym Rowlands	9,959	41.5	New
Majority			4,076	17.0	N/A
Turnout			23,949	70.2	N/A
	Labour hold		Swing	N/A
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

General election 1922: Rhondda West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William John	18,001	62.1	+3.6
	Unionist	Gwilym Rowlands	10,990	37.9	−3.6
Majority			7,011	24.2	+7.2
Turnout			28,991	83.7	+13.5
	Labour hold		Swing	+3.6

General election 1923: Rhondda West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William John	18,206	65.4	+3.3
	Liberal	John Robert Jones	9,640	34.6	New
Majority			8,566	30.8	+6.6
Turnout			27,846	78.5	−5.2
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1924, Rhondda West

William John returned unopposed

General election 1924: West Rhondda

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William John	Unopposed
Registered electors
	Labour hold

General election 1929: Rhondda West^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William John	23,238	65.1	N/A
	Liberal	Moelwyn Hughes	9,247	25.9	New
	Unionist	Wilfred Augustus Prichard	3,210	9.0	New
Majority			13,991	39.2	N/A
Turnout			35,695	86.7	N/A
	Labour hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Rhondda West^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William John	23,024	84.3	+19.2
	Communist	John Leigh Davies	4,296	15.7	New
Majority			18,728	68.6	+21.4
Turnout			27,320	66.7	−20.0
Registered electors			40,950
	Labour hold		Swing	+19.2

General election 1935: Rhondda West^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William John	Unopposed
	Labour hold
Registered electors			41,032

Elections in the 1940s

General election 1945: Rhondda West^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William John	Unopposed
	Labour hold
Registered electors			39,652

This was the last occasion in the United Kingdom when a seat saw a walkover at a general election outside Northern Ireland and not as a result of a by-election; the other being Liverpool Scotland. Both seats returned a Labour MP unopposed in the 1945 general election.

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Rhondda West^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Iorwerth Thomas	27,150	82.37	N/A
	Conservative	JP Driscoll	3,632	11.02	New
	Plaid Cymru	James Kitchener Davies	2,183	6.62	New
Majority			23,518	71.35	N/A
Turnout			32,965	87.94	N/A
Registered electors			37,484
	Labour hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1951: Rhondda West^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Iorwerth Thomas	26,123	81.06	−1.31
	Conservative	E Simons	3,635	11.02	0.00
	Plaid Cymru	James Kitchener Davies	2,467	7.66	+1.04
Majority			22,488	69.78	−1.57
Turnout			32,225	86.36	−1.58
Registered electors			37,315
	Labour hold		Swing	-0.79

General election 1955: Rhondda West^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Iorwerth Thomas	21,288	73.80	−7.26
	Plaid Cymru	Glyndwr Powell James	4,424	15.34	+7.68
	Conservative	Charles PT Burke	3,134	10.86	−0.16
Majority			16,864	58.46	−11.32
Turnout			28,846	80.25	−6.11
Registered electors			35,943
	Labour hold		Swing	-7.47

General election 1959: Rhondda West^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Iorwerth Thomas	21,130	71.99	−1.81
	Plaid Cymru	Glyndwr Powell James	4,978	16.96	+1.62
	Conservative	Francis Pym	3,242	11.05	+0.19
Majority			16,152	55.03	−3.43
Turnout			29,350	85.20	+4.95
Registered electors			34,450
	Labour hold		Swing	-1.72

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Rhondda West^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Iorwerth Thomas	20,713	79.3	+7.3
	Conservative	Norman Lloyd-Edwards	2,754	10.5	−0.5
	Plaid Cymru	Henry Victor Davies	2,668	10.2	−6.8
Majority			17,959	68.8	+13.8
Turnout			26,135	80.7	−4.5
Registered electors			32,401
	Labour hold		Swing	+3.89

General election 1966: Rhondda West^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Iorwerth Thomas	19,060	76.12	−3.13
	Plaid Cymru	Henry Victor Davies	2,172	8.67	−1.54
	Conservative	Bryan Sandford-Hill	1,955	7.81	−2.73
	Communist	Arthur True	1,853	7.40	New
Majority			16,888	67.45	−1.29
Turnout			25,040	80.28	−0.38
Registered electors			31,189
	Labour hold		Swing	-0.80

By-election 1967: Rhondda West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alec Jones	12,373	49.0	−27.1
	Plaid Cymru	Henry Victor Davies	10,067	39.9	+31.2
	Communist	Arthur True	1,723	6.8	−0.6
	Conservative	Gareth Neale	1,075	4.3	−3.5
Majority			2,306	9.1	−58.3
Turnout			25,238	82.2	−1.9
	Labour hold		Swing	−29.1

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Rhondda West^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alec Jones	18,779	74.8	−1.3
	Plaid Cymru	Henry Victor Davies	3,528	14.1	+5.4
	Conservative	John D. Morgan	1,610	6.4	−1.4
	Communist	Arthur True	1,201	4.8	−2.6
Majority			15,251	60.7	−6.7
Turnout			25,118	81.4	+1.1
Registered electors			30,854
	Labour hold		Swing	−3.4

See also

• 1920 Rhondda West by-election
• 1967 Rhondda West by-election

External links

• Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "R" (part 2)