Swansea District (UK Parliament constituency)

Swansea District
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
1832–1918
Number of members	one
Replaced by	Aberavon and Neath
Created from	Glamorgan

Swansea District or Swansea District of Boroughs was a borough constituency. It was represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Overview

The constituency was created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 for the 1885 general election, and abolished for the 1918 general election. Swansea District was a strongly Liberal constituency, dominated by the tinplate and steel industries, together with coal.

Boundaries

Upon its creation in 1832 the constituency comprised five separate boroughs, Swansea, Neath, Aberavon, Kenfig and Loughor. There were some minor boundary changes in 1868 but the composition of the constituency in terms of boroughs remained the same until 1885.

In 1885, the constituency was split into two, with the central part of Swansea borough forming the Swansea Town constituency, and the northern part of Swansea borough centred on Morriston, together with the four smaller boroughs, forming a constituency which retained Swansea District as its name.

History

Liberal employers initially held sway over the seat. The first member, Sir Hussey Vivian, had previously represented Glamorgan County since 1857.

General Election 1885: Swansea District Electorate

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Henry Hussey Vivian	unopposed
	Liberal win (new seat)

In 1886, Vivian briefly joined the Liberal Unionists but was nevertheless returned unopposed and returned to the Gladstonian fold soon after the election.

General Election 1886: Swansea District Electorate

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Sir Henry Hussey Vivian	unopposed
	Liberal Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing

In 1893 he was succeeded by the Morriston tinplate owner, William Williams. Williams served for only two years before being replaced in 1895 by Brynmor Jones. Jones had strong nonconformist connections but his political career was undistinguished and he concentrated on his legal career.

Members of Parliament

• Constituency created (1832)

Election		Member	Party
	1832	John Henry Vivian	Liberal
	1855 by-election	Lewis Llewelyn Dillwyn	Liberal
	1885	Sir Henry Hussey Vivian	Liberal
	1886		Liberal Unionist
	1887		Liberal
	1893 by-election	William Williams	Liberal
	1895	Sir David Brynmor Jones	Liberal
	1915 by-election	Thomas Jeremiah Williams	Liberal
1918		constituency abolished

Sources

• Encyclopædia Britannica 11th Edition
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 6)