West Monmouthshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Western Monmouthshire
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1885–1918
Seats	one
Created from	Monmouthshire
Replaced by	Abertillery, Bedwellty and Ebbw Vale

Western Monmouthshire (also known as the Western Division of the County of Monmouth) was a parliamentary constituency in Monmouthshire, Wales. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

History

The constituency was created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 for the 1885 general election. It was abolished for the 1918 general election.

Boundaries

The constituency (shown in pink) within Monmouthshire

The constituency was defined as comprising the "Sessional Division of Bedwellty (except the Parishes of Bedwas and Mynyddislwyn)", and thus constituted the following civil parishes: ^[1]

• Abertillery
• Aberystruth (including part of Ebbw Vale)
• Bedwellty (including Manmoel, Rhymney, Tredegar and part of Ebbw Vale)

On abolition by the Representation of the People Act 1918, West Monmouthshire's area was divided between three constituencies: Abertillery, Bedwellty and Ebbw Vale.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Marshall Warmington	Liberal
	1895	Sir William Harcourt	Liberal
	1904	Thomas Richards	Liberal
	1910		Labour
	1918	constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1885: West Monmouthshire ^{[2] [3]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Marshall Warmington	6,730	83.4
	Conservative	Benjamin Francis Williams [4]	1,341	16.6
Majority			5,389	66.8
Turnout			8,071	82.6
	Liberal win (new seat)

General election 1886: West Monmouthshire ^{[2] [3]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Marshall Warmington	Unopposed
	Liberal hold

Elections in the 1890s

General election 1892: West Monmouthshire ^{[2] [3]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Marshall Warmington	7,019	80.5	N/A
	Conservative	William Herbert Meredyth [5]	1,700	19.5	New
Majority			5,319	61.0	N/A
Turnout			8,719	77.5	N/A
Registered electors			11,251
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

Harcourt

General election 1895: West Monmouthshire ^{[2] [6] [3]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Vernon Harcourt	7,243	78.7	-1.8
	Conservative	William Edwin Williams	1,956	21.3	+1.8
Majority			5,287	57.4	−3.6
Turnout			9,199	80.2	+2.7
Registered electors			11,475
	Liberal hold		Swing	-1.8

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: West Monmouthshire ^{[2] [6] [3]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Vernon Harcourt	5,976	71.3	-7.4
	Conservative	Iltyd William Henry Gardner	2,401	28.7	+7.4
Majority			3,575	42.6	-14.8
Turnout			8,377	75.1	-5.1
Registered electors			11,150
	Liberal hold		Swing	-7.4

Cockburn

1904 West Monmouthshire by-election ^{[2] [3]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Lib-Lab	Thomas Richards	7,995	70.4	-0.9
	Tariff Reform	John Cockburn	3,360	29.6	New
Majority			4,635	40.8	-1.8
Turnout			11,355	75.1	0.0
Registered electors			15,127
	Lib-Lab hold		Swing

Thomas Richards

General election 1906: West Monmouthshire ^{[2] [3]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Lib-Lab	Thomas Richards	Unopposed
	Lib-Lab hold

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: West Monmouthshire ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Thomas Richards	13,295	81.4	N/A
	Conservative	John Cameron	3,045	18.6	New
Majority			10,250	62.8	N/A
Turnout			16,340	80.1	N/A
Registered electors			20,399
	Labour gain from Lib-Lab		Swing	N/A

General election December 1910: West Monmouthshire ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Thomas Richards	Unopposed
	Labour hold

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;

• Labour: Thomas Richards
• Unionist:

References

1. Seventh Schedule to the Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885 (48 & 49 Vict c.23)
2. National Liberal Federation; Liberal Central Association (1908). "Monmouthshire, West". The Liberal Year Book for 1908. London. pp. 310–311. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
3. Craig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885-1918. London: Macmillan Press. ISBN   9781349022984.
4. "The General Election" . The Morning Post . 28 November 1885. p. 2. Retrieved 4 December 2017– via British Newspaper Archive.
5. Rees, Ivor Thomas (2004). Hopkins, Tony (ed.). "Whatever happened to young William? The short political career of W. H. Meredyth". Gwent Local History (97): 63. hdl:10107/1340775.
6. Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1901
7. Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1916

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "M" (part 3)