South Glamorganshire (UK Parliament constituency)

South Glamorganshire
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1885–1918
Seats	one
Created from	Glamorganshire
Replaced by	Llandaff and Barry, Ogmore and Pontypridd

South Glamorganshire was a parliamentary constituency in Glamorganshire, 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.

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Overview

The constituency was created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 for the 1885 general election. Of all the Glamorgan seats created by the 1885 redistribution, South Glamorgan was the only one where the Liberal Party could not be assured of victory. The Bute and Dunraven families exercised a powerful influence. The mining areas in the north of the constituency, including the lower reaches of the Rhondda, and the cosmopolitan town of Barry were strongly Liberal but these were juxtaposed against the conservatism of the Vale of Glamorgan and the genteel settlements of Penarth and Llandaff.^[1]

The constituency was abolished for the 1918 general election.

Boundaries

Created in the redistribution of seats in 1885 from the old Glamorganshire constituency which had been in existence since 1541, the seat covered a wide area that included Bridgend, Porthcawl, Coity, Ewenny, Ogmore, Llanharry, Llanharan, Llantwit Major, Dinas Powis, Pendoylan, Bonvilston, Barry, Penarth, Tonyrefail, Pontyclun and Beddau, and areas which are now part of Cardiff (including St Fagans, Radyr, Whitchurch, Llanishen and Lisvane). Cowbridge and Llantrisant were excluded from South Glamorganshire, being contributory boroughs of Cardiff District of Boroughs constituency.

The constituency was scrapped in the next redistribution of seats that took place in 1918.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Arthur Williams	Liberal
	1895	Windham Wyndham-Quin	Conservative
	1906	William Brace	Liberal
	1909	William Brace	Labour
1918		constituency abolished

History

Major Wyndham-Quin

From 1885 until 1895 the seat was held by the Liberals but in 1895 it was captured by a Conservative landowner, who held the seat with a reduced majority in 1900.

William Brace

In 1903, South Glamorgan became the focus of an internal battle within the Liberal Party around whether a labour representative should become the candidate. Although the miners composed only a fifth of the electorate, the claims of William Brace, vice president of the South Wales Miners Federation were also championed by the dockworkers of Barry. Following the intervention of the Liberal Chief Whip, Brace was duly chosen and won the seat in 1906.^[2] He held it until its abolition in 1918.

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1885: South Glamorganshire ^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Arthur John Williams	3,945	54.1
	Conservative	John Dillwyn-Llewelyn	3,351	45.9
Majority			594	8.2
Turnout			7,296	82.9
Registered electors			8,806
	Liberal win (new seat)

General election 1886: South Glamorganshire ^[3]^[5]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Arthur John Williams	3,497	61.6	+7.5
	Liberal Unionist	James Mowatt	2,177	38.4	-7.5
Majority			1,320	23.2	+15.0
Turnout			5,674	64.4	-18.5
Registered electors			8,806
	Liberal hold		Swing	+7.5

Elections in the 1890s

General election 1892: South Glamorganshire ^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Arthur John Williams	4,743	55.4	-6.2
	Conservative	Morgan Morgan	3,825	44.6	+6.2
Majority			918	10.8	-12.4
Turnout			8,568	68.6	+4.2
Registered electors			12,481
	Liberal hold		Swing	-6.2

General election 1895: South Glamorganshire ^[3]^[6]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Windham Wyndham-Quin	5,747	53.9	+9.3
	Liberal	Arthur John Williams	4,922	46.1	-9.3
Majority			825	7.8	N/A
Turnout			10,669	75.0	+6.4
Registered electors			14,227
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+9.3

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: South Glamorganshire ^[3]^[6]^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Windham Wyndham-Quin	6,841	52.0	−1.9
	Liberal	Walter H. Morgan	6,322	48.0	+1.9
Majority			519	4.0	−3.8
Turnout			13,163	73.2	−1.8
Registered electors			17,979
	Conservative hold		Swing	−1.9

General election 1906: South Glamorganshire ^[3]^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Lib-Lab	William Brace	10,514	63.3	+15.3
	Conservative	Windham Wyndham-Quin	6,096	36.7	−15.3
Majority			4,418	26.6	N/A
Turnout			16,610	80.9	+7.7
Registered electors			20,541
	Lib-Lab gain from Conservative		Swing	+15.3

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: South Glamorganshire ^[9]^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William Brace^[10]	11,612	61.0	-2.3
	Conservative	Lewis Morgan	7,411	39.0	+2.3
Majority			4,201	22.0	-4.6
Turnout			19,023	82.9	+2.0
	Labour hold		Swing	+2.3

General election December 1910: South Glamorganshire ^[7]^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William Brace^[10]	10,190	58.4	-2.6
	Conservative	Lewis Morgan	7,252	41.6	+2.6
Majority			2,938	16.8	-5.2
Turnout			17,442	76.0	-6.9
	Labour hold		Swing	+2.6

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: William Brace
Liberal Roland Philipps
Unionist: Frank Gaskell^[11]

References

^ Morgan 1960, p. 10.
^ Morgan 1991, p. 209.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f The Liberal Year Book, 1907
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Craig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885-1918. London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 9781349022984.
^ The Constitutional Year Book, 1904
^ ^a ^b Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1901
^ ^a ^b The Times House of Commons Guide 1910, 1911, 1919, Politico's Publishing Page 101 1911 Section
^ ^a ^b The Times House of Commons Guide 1910, 1911, 1919, Politico's Publishing Page 92 1910 Section
^ ^a ^b Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1916
^ ^a ^b Although some sources described Brace as a Liberal or Lib-Lab candidate, the lengthy discussion in Roy Gregory, The Miners and British Politics shows that he stood as a Labour Party candidate in both 1910 elections, and was surprised not to face a Liberal Party opponent in December.
^ Western Mail 5 September 1914

Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "G" (part 1)

Sources

Books and Journals

Morgan, Kenneth O. (1960). "Democratic Politics in Glamorgan, 1884-1914". Morgannwg. 4: 5–27.
Morgan, Kenneth O (1991). Wales in British Politics 1868–1922 (3rd ed.). Cardiff: University of Wales Press. ISBN 0708311245.

This page was last edited on 13 February 2024, at 00:36

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