Carmarthen (UK Parliament constituency)

Carmarthen
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
Preserved county	Dyfed
Major settlements	Carmarthen, Ammanford, Llandeilo
1918–1997
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Carmarthen East & Dinefwr and Carmarthen West & South Pembrokeshire
1542–1918
Number of members	One
Type of constituency	Borough constituency

Carmarthen (Welsh: Caerfyrddin) was the name of a parliamentary constituency in Wales which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom between 1542 and 1997. At its abolition in 1997 it was replaced, partly by the new Carmarthen East and Dinefwr constituency and partly by Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire.

History

Because the seat contained mining areas in the valley of the River Gwendraeth (until the 1980s), much countryside and a high proportion of Welsh speakers, it was fertile territory for the Labour Party, the Conservatives and Plaid Cymru alike. Although the Conservatives never won the seat, they came within 1200 votes of doing so in 1983.

Carmarthen is notable as the first constituency to elect a Plaid Cymru MP, Gwynfor Evans, at a 1966 by-election. Evans was later involved in one of the closest General Election results ever in February 1974, when he lost to the Labour candidate by only three votes.^[1]^[2] The constituency also shot to fame in the following election in October 1974 as the only seat in the country to see its turnout rise on that of February 1974.

Boundaries

Carmathenshire showing boundaries for 1885–1918

Until 1832, it was a borough constituency consisting of the town of Carmarthen. Between 1832 and 1918 it was a district of boroughs constituency, consisting of Carmarthen itself and Llanelli, and was sometimes called "The Carmarthen Boroughs".

In 1918, the borough was abolished, but the name was transferred to one of the divisions of the county of Carmarthenshire. The constituency was made up of the whole of the county of Carmarthenshire except for the urban area around Llanelli. Notable towns were Carmarthen itself, Ammanford and Llandeilo.

In 1997, the Boundary Commission for Wales recommended an extra seat for Dyfed.^[3] This led to the seat being split two to one between Carmarthen East & Dinefwr and Carmarthen West & South Pembrokeshire.^[4]

Members of Parliament

MPs 1542–1640

Parliament	Member
1542	Gruffydd Williams^[5]
1545	Gruffydd Williams^[5]
1547	Thomas Phaer^[5]
1553 (Mar)	William Parry^[5]
1553 (Oct)	Gruffydd Hygons^[5]
1554 (Apr)	William Aubrey^[5]^[6]
1554 (Nov)	John Parry^[5]
1555	William Wightman^[5]
1558	John Vaughan^[5]
1559	John Parry^[7]
1563	John Morgan^[7]
1571	?John Vaughan^[7]
1572	Thomas Wigmore^[7]
1584	John Puckering, sat for Bedford replaced 1584 by Edward Donne Lee^[7]
1586	Edward Donne Lee^[7]
1588	Gelly Meyrick^[7]
1593	Sir Thomas Baskerville^[7]
1597	Henry Vaughan^[7]
1601	Walter Rice^[7]
1604–1611	Sir Walter Rice
1614	William Thomas
1621	Henry Vaughan
1624	Henry Vaughan
1626	Henry Vaughan
1628	Henry Vaughan
1629–1640	No Parliaments summoned

1640–1832

Election		Member^[8]	Party
	1640 (Apr)	Francis Lloyd	Royalist
	1640 (Nov)	Francis Lloyd	Royalist
February 1644		Lloyd disabled from sitting – seat vacant
	1646	William Davies
December 1648		Davies not recorded as sitting after Pride's Purge
1653		Carmarthen was not represented in the Barebones Parliament or the First or Second Parliaments of the Protectorate
	January 1659	David Morgan
May 1659		Not represented in the restored Rump
	April 1660	Arthur Annesley
	1661	Hon. John Vaughan
	1679	Altham Vaughan
	1685	Richard Vaughan
	1725	James Phillips
	1727	Arthur Bevan
	1741	Sir John Philipps
	1747	Thomas Mathews
	1751	Griffith Philipps
	1761	The Earl Verney
	1768	Griffith Philipps
	1774	John Adams
	1780	George Philipps
	1784	John George Philipps
	May 1796	Magens Dorrien Magens^[9]
	November 1796	John George Philipps
	1803	Sir William Paxton
	1806	Vice-Admiral George Campbell
	1813	John Frederick Campbell
	1821	John Jones

1832–1918: Carmarthen Boroughs

	Member^[8]	Party
1832	Hon. William Yelverton	Whig
1835	David Lewis	Conservative
1837	David Morris	Whig
1859	David Morris	Liberal
1864	William Morris	Liberal
1868	(Sir) John Cowell-Stepney^[10]	Liberal
1874	Charles William Nevill	Conservative
1876	(Sir) Arthur Cowell-Stepney^[11]	Liberal
1878 by-election	Benjamin Thomas Williams	Liberal
1882 by-election	John Jones Jenkins	Liberal
1886	Sir Arthur Cowell-Stepney	Liberal
1892	Evan Rowland Jones	Liberal
1895	Sir John Jones Jenkins	Liberal Unionist
1900	Alfred Davies	Liberal
1906	William Llewelyn Williams	Liberal

1918–1997: county constituency

	Member^[8]	Party
1918	John Hinds	Coalition Liberal
1923	Sir Ellis Ellis-Griffith	Liberal
1924 by-election	Alfred Mond	Liberal
1926	Alfred Mond	Conservative
1928 by-election	William Nathaniel Jones	Liberal
1929	Daniel Hopkin	Labour
1931	Richard Thomas Evans	Liberal
1935	Daniel Hopkin	Labour
1941 by-election	Ronw Moelwyn Hughes	Labour
1945	Rhys Hopkin Morris	Liberal
1957 by-election	Megan Lloyd-George	Labour
1966 by-election	Gwynfor Evans	Plaid Cymru
1970	Gwynoro Jones	Labour
Oct. 1974	Gwynfor Evans	Plaid Cymru
1979	Roger Thomas	Labour
1987	Alan Wynne Williams	Labour
1997	constituency abolished: see Carmarthen East & Dinefwr and Carmarthen West & South Pembrokeshire

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1885 Carmarthen Boroughs^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Sir John Jones Jenkins	2,884	69.2
	Conservative	John Simmons Tregoning	1,281	30.8
Majority			1,603	38.4
Turnout				77.1
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1886 Carmarthen Boroughs^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Sir Arthur Cowell-Stepney	2,120	52.8
	Liberal Unionist	Sir John Jones Jenkins	1,898	47.2
Majority			222	5.6
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

Elections in the 1890s

General Election 1892 Carmarthen Boroughs^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Evan Rowland Jones	2,412	52.4
	Liberal Unionist	Sir John Jones Jenkins	2,187	47.6
Majority			225	4.8
Turnout				87.0
	Liberal hold		Swing

Lewis Morris was Liberal candidate but retired before the poll.^[13]

General Election 1895 Carmarthen Boroughs^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Unionist	Sir John Jones Jenkins	2,443	50.5
	Liberal	Evan Rowland Jones	2,391	49.5
Majority			52	1.0
Turnout
	Liberal Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1900 Carmarthen Boroughs^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Alfred Davies	2,837	58.1
	Liberal Unionist	Sir John Jones Jenkins	2,047	41.9
Majority			790	16.2
Turnout				87.9
	Liberal gain from Liberal Unionist		Swing

W.L. Williams

General Election 1906 Carmarthen Boroughs^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	William Llewelyn Williams	3,902	68.3
	Liberal Unionist	Hon. Vere Brabazon Ponsonby	1,808	31.7
Majority			2,094	36.6
Turnout				91.2
	Liberal hold		Swing

Elections in the 1910s

General Election January 1910: Carmarthen Boroughs^[14]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	William Llewelyn Williams	4,197	68.1
	Liberal Unionist	Viscount Tiverton	1,965	31.9
Majority			2,232	36.2
Turnout				91.0
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election December 1910 Liberal: William Llewelyn Williams elected unopposed.

Carmarthen District by-election, 1912^[14]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	William Llewelyn Williams	3,836	58.6	-9.5
	Conservative	Henry Coulson Bond	2,555	39.1	+7.2
	Independent Labour	F G Vivian	149	2.3	n/a
Majority			1,281	19.5	16.7
Turnout				89.8
	Liberal hold		Swing	-8.3

General Election 1918 Liberal: John Hinds elected unopposed.

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1922: Carmarthen
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	National Liberal	John Hinds	12,530	41.8	n/a
	Unionist	Hon. George William Reginald Victor Coventry	8,805	29.4	n/a
	National Farmers' Union	Daniel Johns	4,775	15.9	n/a
	Liberal	H. Llewelyn-Williams	3,847	12.8	n/a
Majority			3,725	12.4	n/a
Turnout			29,957	82.7	n/a
	National Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

General Election 1923: Carmarthen ^[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Rt Hon Sir Ellis Jones Ellis-Griffith	12,988	45.1	+32.3
	Unionist	Sir Alfred Stephens	8,677	30.1	+0.7
	Labour	Rowland Williams	7,132	24.8	n/a
Majority			4,311	15.0	27.4
Turnout				78.3	-4.4
	Liberal gain from National Liberal		Swing	n/a

Sir Alfred Mond

Carmarthen by-election, 1924^[16]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Sir Alfred Moritz Mond	12,760	44.0	-1.1
	Labour	Rev. Edward Teilo Owen	8,351	28.8	+4.0
	Unionist	Sir Alfred Stephens	7,896	27.2	-2.9
Majority			4,409	15.2
Turnout				78.9
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1924: Carmarthen
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Sir Alfred Moritz Mond	17,281	68.5
	Labour	Rev. Edward Teilo Owen	7,953	31.5
Majority			9,328	37.0
Turnout				67.9
	Liberal hold		Swing

Carmarthen by-election, 1928
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	William Nathaniel Jones	10,201	35.5
	Labour	Daniel Hopkin	10,154	35.4
	Unionist	Sir Courtenay Cecil Mansel	8,361	29.1
Majority			47	0.1
Turnout			30,316	76.6
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1929: Carmarthen
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Daniel Hopkin	15,130	38.2
	Liberal	William Nathaniel Jones	14,477	36.6
	Unionist	Hon. John Bonynge Coventry	9,961	25.2
Majority			653	1.6
Turnout
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931: Carmarthen
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Richard Thomas Evans	15,532	39.5
	Labour	Daniel Hopkin	14,318	36.5
	Conservative	Delme William Campbell Davies-Evans	9,434	24.0
Majority			1,214	3.1
Turnout			39,284	84.5
	Liberal gain from Labour		Swing

General Election 1935: Carmarthen
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Daniel Hopkin	18,146	47.5
	Liberal	Richard Thomas Evans	12,911	33.8
	Conservative	Edward Orlando Kellett	7,177	18.8
Majority			5,235	13.7
Turnout			38,234	79.3
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing

Elections in the 1940s

Carmarthen by-election, 1941 Labour: Moelwyn Hughes elected unopposed.

General Election 1945: Carmarthen^[17]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Rhys Hopkin Morris	19,783	51.7
	Labour	Ronw Moelwyn Hughes	18,504	48.3
Majority			1,279	3.3
Turnout			38,286	76.1
	Liberal gain from Labour		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: Carmarthen:^[18]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Rhys Hopkin Morris	24,472	50.2	-1.48
	Labour	Arwyn Lynn Ungoed-Thomas	24,285	49.8	+1.48
Majority			187	0.4	-2.96
Turnout			48,759	83.4	+7.3
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1951: Carmarthen^[19]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Rhys Hopkin Morris	25,632	50.46	+0.27
	Labour	David Owen	25,165	49.54	-0.65
Majority			467	0.92	+0.54
Turnout			5,0795	86.52	+3.09
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Carmarthen^[20]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Rhys Hopkin Morris	24,410	49.49	-0.97
	Labour	Jack Evans	21,077	42.73	-6.81
	Plaid Cymru	Jennie Eirian Davies	3,835	7.78
Majority			3,333	6.76	+5.84
Turnout			49,320	85.10	-1.42
	Liberal hold		Swing

Carmarthen by-election, 1957
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Lady Megan Arfon Lloyd George	23,679	47.3
	Liberal	John Morgan Davies	20,610	41.2
	Plaid Cymru	Jennie Eirian Davies	5,741	11.5
Majority			3,069	6.1
Turnout			43,726	87.4
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing

General Election 1959: Carmarthen^[21]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Lady Megan Arfon Lloyd George	23,399	47.89	+5.16
	Liberal	Alun Talfan Davies	16,766	34.32	-15.17
	Conservative	JB Evans	6,147	12.58
	Plaid Cymru	Hywel Heulyn Roberts	2,545	5.21
Majority			6,633	13.58	+6.82
Turnout			48,855	85.42	+0.32
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1964: Carmarthen^[22]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Lady Megan Arfon Lloyd George	21,424	45.5	-2.4
	Liberal	Alun Talfan Davies	15,210	32.3	-2.0
	Plaid Cymru	Gwynfor Richard Evans	5,495	11.7	+6.4
	Conservative	Mrs. HE Protheroe-Beynon	4,996	10.6	-2.0
Majority			6,214	13.2	-0.4
Turnout			47,122	84.4	-0.9
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1966: Carmarthen^[23]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Lady Megan Arfon Lloyd George	21,221	46.17	+0.7
	Liberal	D Hywel Davies	11,988	26.08	-6.2
	Plaid Cymru	Gwynfor Richard Evans	7,416	16.14	+4.5
	Conservative	Simon James Day	5,338	11.61	+1.0
Majority			9,233	20.09	+6.9
Turnout			45,960	82.6	-1.9
	Labour hold		Swing

Carmarthen by-election, 1966
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Plaid Cymru	Gwynfor Evans	16,179	39.0
	Labour	Gwilym Prys Prys-Davies	13,743	33.1
	Liberal	D Hywel Davies	8,650	20.8
	Conservative	Simon James Day	2,934	7.1
Majority			2,436	5.9
Turnout
	Plaid Cymru gain from Labour		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: Carmarthen^[24]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Gwynoro Glyndwr Jones	18,719	38.0
	Plaid Cymru	Gwynfor Richard Evans	14,812	30.1
	Liberal	Hywel Gruffydd E Thomas	10,707	21.7
	Conservative	Lloyd Harvard Davies	4,975	10.1
Majority			3,907	7.9
Turnout			49,214	83.5
	Labour gain from Plaid Cymru		Swing

General Election February 1974: Carmarthen^[25]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Gwynoro Glyndwr Jones	17,165	34.3
	Plaid Cymru	Gwynfor Richard Evans	17,162	34.3
	Liberal	DO Jones	9,698	19.4
	Conservative	Bill Newton Dunn	6,037	12.1
Majority			3	0.01%
Turnout				83.5
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election October 1974: Carmarthen^[26]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Plaid Cymru	Gwynfor Richard Evans	23,325	45.1
	Labour	Gwynoro Glyndwr Jones	19,685	38.1
	Liberal	David Roderick Owen-Jones	5,393	10.4
	Conservative	Robert Antony Hayward	2,962	5.7
	British Candidate	Edward .B Jones	342	0.7
Majority			3,640	7.0
Turnout			51,704	85.6
	Plaid Cymru gain from Labour		Swing

General Election, 1979: Carmarthen^[27]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Roger Gareth Thomas	18,667	35.9
	Plaid Cymru	Gwynfor Richard Evans	16,689	32.0
	Conservative	Nigel M. Thomas	12,272	23.6
	Liberal	Richard Clement Charles Thomas	4,186	8.0
	National Front	Charlie Grice	149	0.3
	New Britain	EJ Clarke	126	0.2
Majority			1,978	3.8
Turnout			52,086	84.4
	Labour gain from Plaid Cymru		Swing

Elections in the 1980s

General Election, 1983: Carmarthen^[28]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Roger Gareth Thomas	16,459	31.57%
	Conservative	Nigel M. Thomas	15,305	29.36%
	Plaid Cymru	Gwynfor Evans	14,099	27.05%
	SDP–Liberal Alliance	Joan Colin	5,737	11.01%
	Ecology	Brian Kingzett	374	0.72%
	BNP	Charlie Grice	154	0.3%
Majority			1,154	2.21%
Turnout			52,126	82.13%
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election, 1987: Carmarthen^[29]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Alan Wynne Williams	19,128	35.37
	Conservative	Rod Richards	14,811	27.39
	Plaid Cymru	Hywel Teifi Edwards	12,457	23.03
	SDP–Liberal Alliance	Gwynoro Glyndwr Jones	7,203	13.32
	Green	Graham Edwin Oubridge	481	0.89
Majority			4,317	7.98
Turnout			54,080	82.88
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1992: Carmarthen^[30]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Alan Wynne Williams	20,879	36.6	+1.3
	Plaid Cymru	Hywel Rhodri Glyn Thomas	17,957	31.5	+8.5
	Conservative	Stephen J. Cavenagh	12,782	22.4	−5.0
	Liberal Democrat	Mrs Juliana M.J. Hughes	5,353	9.4	−3.9
Majority			2,922	5.1	−2.9
Turnout			56,971	82.7	−0.1
	Labour hold		Swing	−3.6

Notes and references

↑ BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/vote2001/results_constituencies/constituencies/128.stm. Missing or empty |title= (help)
↑ The BBC article quoted above says that it was the second closest General Election result since the Second World War. But the Winchester general election result of 1997 was closer.
↑ C. Rallings & M. Thrasher, The Media Guide to the New Parliamentary Constituencies, p.12 (Plymouth: LGC Elections Centre, 1995)
↑ C. Rallings & M. Thrasher, The Media Guide to the New Parliamentary Constituencies, p.202 (Plymouth: LGC Elections Centre, 1995)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "History of Parliament". History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 2011-11-26.
↑ Watkin, Thomas Glyn (January 2008). "Aubrey, William (c.1529–1595)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online edition, subscription required). Oxford University Press. Retrieved 2008-02-24.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "History of Parliament". History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 2011-11-26.
1 2 3 Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 2)
↑ On petition, Magens was found not to have been duly elected, and his opponent Phillips was seated in his place
↑ Created a baronet, 1871
↑ Succeeded to baronetcy, 1877
1 2 3 4 5 6 British parliamentary election results, 1885–1918 (Craig)
↑ ‘MORRIS, Sir Lewis’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2015; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014 ; online edn, April 2014 accessed 23 April 2015
1 2 Craig, F. W. S. (1974). British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (1 ed.). London: Macmillan.
↑ Etholiadau'r ganrif 18885-1997, Beti Jones
↑ F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949, p551
↑ http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge45/i05.htm
↑ http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge50/i05.htm
↑ http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge51/i05.htm
↑ http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge55/i05.htm
↑ http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge59/i05.htm
↑ http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge64/i05.htm
↑ http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge66/i05.htm
↑ http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge70/i05.htm
↑ http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge74a/i05.htm
↑ http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge74b/i05.htm
↑ http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge79/i05.htm
↑ http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge83/i05.htm
↑ http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge87/i05.htm
↑ "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 6 Dec 2010.

Sources

Robert Beatson, A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807)
D Brunton & D H Pennington, Members of the Long Parliament (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954)
Cobbett's Parliamentary history of England, from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the year 1803 (London: Thomas Hansard, 1808)
The Constitutional Year Book for 1913 (London: National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associations, 1913)
F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885 (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989)
J Holladay Philbin, Parliamentary Representation 1832 – England and Wales (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965)

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