University of Wales (UK Parliament constituency)

University of Wales
Former university constituency for the House of Commons
1918–1950

University of Wales was a university constituency electing one member to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, from 1918 to 1950. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP), elected under the first-past-the-post voting system.

Boundaries

This university constituency was created by the Representation of the People Act 1918. It was abolished in 1950 by the Representation of the People Act 1948.

The constituency was not a physical area. Its electorate consisted of the graduates of the University of Wales.

Unlike many other university constituencies, University of Wales never elected a Conservative MP, instead regularly electing Liberal MPs.

The constituency returned one Member of Parliament.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member[1]	Party	Notes
	1918	Rt Hon. Herbert Lewis	Coalition Liberal
	1922	Thomas Arthur Lewis	National Liberal	died 18 July 1923
	1923	George Maitland Lloyd Davies	Christian Pacifist	Joined the Labour Party in February 1924
	1924		Labour
	1924	Ernest Evans	Liberal	appointed County Court Judge in 1943
	1943 by-election	William John Gruffydd	Liberal
	1950	University constituencies abolished

Elections

The elections in this constituency took place using the first past the post electoral system. In university seats, in this period, the polls were open for five days and voting did not take place on the polling day for the territorial constituencies.

Elections of the 1910s

Herbert Lewis

General election 1918: University of Wales

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Liberal	Herbert Lewis	739	80.8
	Labour	Millicent Mackenzie	176	19.2
Majority			563	61.6
Turnout			915	85.8
	Liberal win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections of the 1920s

• After the fall of the coalition government in 1922, the former Coalition Liberals contested elections as the National Liberal Party.

T.A. Lewis

General election 1922: University of Wales

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	Thomas Arthur Lewis	487	39.5	–41.3
	Liberal	Ellis Ellis-Griffith	451	35.9	−44.9
	Labour	Olive Wheeler	309	24.8	+5.6
Majority			46	3.6	−58.0
Turnout			1,247	87.2	+1.4
	National Liberal hold		Swing

• Seat vacant at the dissolution of Parliament, following the death of Lewis on 18 July 1923

General election 1923: University of Wales

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Christian Pacifist	George Maitland Lloyd Davies	570	35.7	New
	Liberal	Joseph Jones	560	35.1	−0.8
	Independent Liberal	John Edwards	467	29.2	New
Majority			10	0.6	N/A
Turnout			1.597	83.1	−4.1
	Christian Pacifist gain from Liberal

Ernest Evans

General election 1924: University of Wales

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Ernest Evans	1,057	59.4	+24.3
	Labour	George Maitland Lloyd Davies	721	40.6	New
Majority			336	18.6	N/A
Turnout			1,778
	Liberal gain from Christian Pacifist		Swing

General election 1929: University of Wales

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Ernest Evans	1,712	63.5	+4.1
	Labour	David W. Richards	671	24.9	New
	Unionist	Courtenay Mansel	314	11.6	New
Majority			1,041	38.6	+20.0
Turnout			2,697	74.4
	Liberal hold		Swing

Elections of the 1930s

General election 1931: University of Wales

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Ernest Evans	2,229	75.4	+11.9
	Plaid Cymru	Saunders Lewis	914	24.6	New
Majority			1,315	50.8	+12.2
Turnout			3,143	61.4	−13.0
	Liberal hold		Swing

General election 1935: University of Wales

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Ernest Evans	2,796	61.3	−9.6
	Labour	Ithel Davies	1,768	38.7	New
Majority			1,028	22.6	−19.2
Turnout			4,564	62.3	+0.9
	Liberal hold		Swing

Elections of the 1940s

General Election 1939–40: Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected;

• Liberal: Ernest Evans

University of Wales by-election, 1943

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William John Gruffydd	3,098	52.3	−9.0
	Plaid Cymru	Saunders Lewis	1,330	22.5	New
	Independent	Alun Talfan Davies	755	12.8	New
	Independent Labour	Evan Davies	634	10.7	New
	Independent Labour	Neville Lawrence Evans	101	1.7	New
Majority			1,768	29.8	+7.2
Turnout			5,918	53.4	−8.9
	Liberal hold		Swing

General election 1945: University of Wales

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William John Gruffydd	5,239	75.5	+23.2
	Plaid Cymru	Gwenan Jones	1,696	24.5	+2.0
Majority			3,543	51.0	+21.2
Turnout			6,935	58.5	+5.1
	Liberal hold		Swing

See also

• 1943 University of Wales by-election

References

1. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "U"

Sources

• British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan 1977)
• Who's Who of British members of parliament, Vol. III 1918–1945, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (The Harvester Press 1979)