Bedwellty (UK Parliament constituency)

Bedwellty
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
1918–1983
Seats	one
Created from	South Monmouthshire and West Monmouthshire
Replaced by	Islwyn, Caerphilly and Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney[1]

Bedwellty was a county constituency in Monmouthshire which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 until it was abolished for the 1983 general election.

It was then largely replaced by the new Islwyn constituency.

Boundaries

On its creation in 1918 the constituency consisted of the urban districts of Bedwas and Machen, Bedwellty, Mynyddislwyn and Risca and the civil parish of Rogerstone in St Mellons Rural District.^[2] These areas had previously been divided between the West Monmouthshire and South Monmouthshire constituencies.

The House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1949 removed Rogerstone into the constituency of Monmouth from 1950. Although there were substantial changes in local government boundaries in 1974, those of the constituency were not altered prior to its abolition in 1983.

The constituency was abolished by the Parliamentary Constituencies (Wales) Order 1983, which redistributed Commons seats and aligned boundaries with wards of the districts created by the Local Government Act 1972.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1918	Sir Charles Edwards	Labour
	1950	Harold Finch	Labour
	1970	Neil Kinnock	Labour
1983		constituency abolished: see Islwyn

Election results

Elections in the 1910s

Williams

General election 1918: Bedwellty^[3]^[4]^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Charles Edwards	11,730	53.56
C	Liberal	William Henry Williams	10,170	46.44
Majority			1,560	7.12
Turnout			21,900	70.79
Registered electors			30,938
	Labour win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Bedwellty^[3]^[4]^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Charles Edwards	17,270	63.02	+9.46
	Unionist	C.E. Bagram	10,132	36.98	New
Majority			7,138	26.04	+18.92
Turnout			27,402	81.21	+10.42
Registered electors			33,741
	Labour hold		Swing	+9.46

General election 1923: Bedwellty ^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Charles Edwards	17,564	67.55	+4.53
	Liberal	William Henry Williams	8,436	32.45	New
Majority			9,128	35.10	+9.06
Turnout			26,000	74.18	−7.03
Registered electors			35,051
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.53

General election 1924: Bedwellty ^[3]^[4]^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Charles Edwards	Unopposed
	Labour hold
Registered electors			35,909

General election 1929: Bedwellty ^[3]^[4]^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Charles Edwards	26,021	78.95	N/A
	Unionist	Hubert Geoffrey Griffith	6,936	21.05	New
Majority			19,085	57.90	N/A
Turnout			32,957	74.86	N/A
Registered electors			44,023
	Labour hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Bedwellty^[3]^[4]^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Charles Edwards	Unopposed
	Labour hold
Registered electors			44,432

General election 1935: Bedwellty^[3]^[4]^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Charles Edwards	Unopposed
	Labour hold
Registered electors			45,328

Elections in the 1940s

General election 1945: Bedwellty^[3]^[4]^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Charles Edwards	30,480	82.11	N/A
	Conservative	H Lewis Tett	6,641	17.89	New
Majority			23,839	64.22	N/A
Turnout			37,121	77.80	N/A
Registered electors			47,716
	Labour hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Bedwellty ^[7]^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Harold Finch	31,329	83.38	+1.27
	Conservative	RC Pitman	6,247	16.62	−1.27
Majority			25,082	66.76	+2.54
Turnout			37,576	85.49	+7.69
Registered electors			43,954
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.27

General election 1951: Bedwellty ^[7]^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Harold Finch	31,582	83.28	−0.10
	Conservative	John Smith	6,339	16.72	+0.10
Majority			25,243	66.56	−0.20
Turnout			37,921	85.37	−0.12
Registered electors			44,417
	Labour hold		Swing	-0.10

General election 1955: Bedwellty ^[7]^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Harold Finch	30,104	82.44	−0.84
	Conservative	James Scott-Hopkins	6,412	17.56	+0.84
Majority			23,692	64.88	−1.68
Turnout			36,516	81.59	−3.78
Registered electors			44,753
	Labour hold		Swing	-0.84

General election 1959: Bedwellty ^[7]^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Harold Finch	30,697	81.83	−0.61
	Conservative	Charles James Cox	6,817	18.17	+0.61
Majority			23,880	63.66	−1.22
Turnout			37,514	83.57	+1.98
Registered electors			44,890
	Labour hold		Swing	-0.61

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Bedwellty ^[7]^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Harold Finch	29,425	83.51	+1.68
	Conservative	Charles James Cox	5,810	16.49	−1.68
Majority			23,615	67.02	+3.36
Turnout			35,235	79.11	−4.46
Registered electors			44,538
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.68

General election 1966: Bedwellty ^[7]^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Harold Finch	29,723	86.25	+2.74
	Conservative	Nigel Williams	4,739	13.75	−2.74
Majority			24,984	72.50	+5.48
Turnout			34,462	76.68	−2.43
Registered electors			44,944
	Labour hold		Swing	+2.74

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Bedwellty^[7]^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Neil Kinnock	28,078	74.6	−11.6
	Conservative	Paul Marland	5,799	15.4	+1.7
	Plaid Cymru	Charles M. Davey	3,780	10.0	New
Majority			22,279	59.2	−13.3
Turnout			37,657	76.6	−0.1
Registered electors			49,157
	Labour hold		Swing	−6.7

General election February 1974: Bedwellty^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Neil Kinnock	26,664	67.06	−7.50
	Conservative	Tim Yeo	5,027	12.64	−2.76
	Liberal	R Morgan	5,020	12.63	New
	Plaid Cymru	A Moore	3,048	7.67	−2.37
Majority			21,637	54.42	−4.74
Turnout			39,759	79.90	+3.29
Registered electors			49,758
	Labour hold		Swing	-2.37

General election October 1974: Bedwellty^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Neil Kinnock	27,418	70.88	+3.82
	Conservative	Peter Brooke	4,556	11.78	−0.86
	Liberal	RG Morgan	3,621	9.36	−3.27
	Plaid Cymru	D Mogford	3,086	7.98	+0.31
Majority			22,862	59.10	+4.68
Turnout			38,681	77.08	−2.82
Registered electors			50,183
	Labour hold		Swing	-2.82

General election 1979: Bedwellty^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Neil Kinnock	28,794	71.35	+0.47
	Conservative	Robert Walter	8,358	20.71	+8.93
	Plaid Cymru	T Richards	2,648	6.56	−1.42
	Ecology	PM Rout	556	1.38	New
Majority			20,436	50.64	−8.46
Turnout			40,356	79.59	+2.51
Registered electors			50,708
	Labour hold		Swing	-4.00

References

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

Notes

1. "'Bedwellty', Feb 1974 - May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Archived from the original on 18 March 2016. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
2. Schedule 9 to the Representation of the People Act, 1918 (7 & 8 Geo. 5. C.64)
3. Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
4. "Monmouthshire Bedwellty PDivCon through time - Political Life Statistics - Total Electorate". A Vision of Britain through Time. GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
5. "Monmouthshire Bedwellty PDivCon through time - Political Life Statistics - Groupings of Political Parties". A Vision of Britain through Time. GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
6. Etholiadau'r ganrif 1885-1997, Beti Jones
7. British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973, FWS Craig
8. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1950". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 1 May 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
9. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1951". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
10. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1955". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
11. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1959". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
12. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1964". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
13. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1966". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
14. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1970". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
15. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results February 1974". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 2 May 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
16. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results October 1974". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 1 May 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
17. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1979". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 1 May 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2016.