Rhondda West (UK Parliament constituency)

Rhondda West
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
1918–1974 (1974)
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Rhondda
Created from	Rhondda

Rhondda West was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Rhondda district of Wales. It returned one Member of Parliament 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.

History

The constituency was created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 for the 1885 general election, and abolished for the February 1974 general election.

Boundaries

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

Members of Parliament

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

Election results

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1918, Rhondda

William Abraham returned unopposed

Elections in the 1920s

Rhondda West by-election, 1920

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William John	14,035	58.5	N/A
	Coalition Conservative	Gwilym Rowlands	9,959	41.5	N/A
Majority			4,076	17.0	N/A
Turnout			23,949	70.2
	Labour hold		Swing

Rhondda West: 1922 general election

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

Rhondda West: 1923 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William John	18,206	65.4	+3.3
	Liberal	J.R. Jones	9,640	34.6	NA
Majority			8,566	30.8	6.6
Turnout			27,846	78.5	-5.2
	Labour hold		Swing	n/a

General Election 1924, Rhondda West

William John returned unopposed

General Election 1929: Rhondda West

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

Elections in the 1930s

Rhondda West: 1931 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William John	23,024	84.3	+19.2
	Communist	John Leigh Davies	4,296	15.7	NA
Majority			18,728	68.6	21.4
Turnout			27,320	66.7
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1935, Rhondda West

William John returned unopposed

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1945, Rhondda West

William John returned unopposed

Elections in the 1950s

Rhondda West: 1950 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Iorwerth Thomas	27,150	82.4	+2.1
	Conservative	J. P. Driscoll	3,632	11.0	NA
	Plaid Cymru	James Kitchener Davies	2,183	6.6	NA
Majority			23,518	71.4	21.4
Turnout			32,965	87.9
	Labour hold		Swing

Rhondda West: 1951 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Iorwerth Thomas	26,123	81.0	-1.4
	Conservative	Emrys Simons	3,635	11.3	+0.3
	Plaid Cymru	James Kitchener Davies	2,467	7.7	+1.1
Majority			22,488	69.7	-1.7
Turnout			32,225	86.4
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

Rhondda West by-election, 1967

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Trevor Alec Jones	12,373	49.0	−27.0
	Plaid Cymru	Henry V. Davies	10,067	39.9	+31.2
	Communist	Arthur True	1,723	6.8	−0.6
	Conservative	Gareth Neale	1,075	4.3	−3.6
Majority			2,306	9.1	−58.3
Turnout			25,238
	Labour hold		Swing	−29.1

Elections in the 1970s

Rhondda West: 1970 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Trevor Alec Jones	18,779	74.8
	Plaid Cymru	Henry V. Davies	3,528	14.1
	Conservative	J. D. Morgan	1,610	6.4
	Communist	Arthur True	1,201	4.8
Majority			15,251	60.7
Turnout				81.4
	Labour hold		Swing	−29.1

See also

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

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "R" (part 2)