Abertillery (UK Parliament constituency)

Abertillery was a county constituency centred on the town of Abertillery in Monmouthshire. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system of election. From 1950 up to (and including) 1970, it was the safest Labour seat in the United Kingdom.

Abertillery
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1918–1983
Number of members	one
Replaced by	Blaenau Gwent and Islwyn
Created from	West Monmouthshire

The constituency was created for the 1918 general election, and abolished for the 1983 general election.

Boundaries

The constituency consisted of the urban districts of Abercarn, Abertillery and Nantyglo and Blaina.[1]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1918	William Brace	Labour
	1920 by-election	George Barker	Labour
	1929	George Daggar	Labour
	1950 by-election	Rev Llywelyn Williams	Labour
	1965 by-election	Clifford Williams	Labour
	1970	Jeffrey Thomas	Labour
	1981		SDP
1983		constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1910s

Brace

1918 general election: Abertillery[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	William Brace	Unopposed
	Labour win (new seat)

Elections in the 1920s

Hay Morgan

1920 Abertillery by-election[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	George Barker	15,942	66.4	N/A
C	Liberal	George Hay Morgan	7,842	33.6	New
Majority			7,650	32.8	N/A
Turnout			23,784	70.8	N/A
	Labour hold		Swing	N/A
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

1922 general election: Abertillery[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	George Barker	unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Labour hold		Swing	N/A

1923 general election: Abertillery[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	George Barker	unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Labour hold		Swing	N/A

1924 general election: Abertillery[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	George Barker	unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Labour hold		Swing	N/A

1929 general election: Abertillery[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	George Daggar	20,175	64.5	N/A
	Liberal	Walter Reynallt Meredith	8,425	26.9	New
	Unionist	Peter John Feilding Chapman-Walker	2,697	8.6	New
Majority			11,750	37.6	N/A
Turnout			31,297	82.4	N/A
	Labour hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1930s

1931 general election: Abertillery[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	George Daggar	unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Labour hold		Swing	N/A

1935 general election: Abertillery[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	George Daggar	unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Labour hold		Swing	N/A

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 and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected;

• Labour: George Daggar[4]
• Conservative:

Elections in the 1940s

1945 general election: Abertillery[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	George Daggar	28,615	86.6	N/A
	National	John Hayward	4,422	13.4	New
Majority			24,193	73.2	N/A
Turnout			33,037	81.1	N/A
	Labour hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1950s

1950 general election: Abertillery[5][6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	George Daggar	29,609	87.05
	Conservative	OJ Lewis	4,403	12.95	New
Majority			25,206	74.10
Turnout			34,012	84.58
	Labour hold		Swing

1950 Abertillery by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Llywelyn Williams	24,622	86.51	−0.54
	Conservative	Richard Body	3,839	13.49	+0.54
Majority			20,783	73.02	−1.09
Turnout			28,461
	Labour hold		Swing

1951 general election: Abertillery[7][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Llywelyn Williams	29,321	86.94	−0.11
	Conservative	John Radcliffe	4,404	13.06	+0.11
Majority			24,917	73.88	−0.23
Turnout			33,725	84.04	−0.54
	Labour hold		Swing	−0.11

1955 general election: Abertillery[9][10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Llywelyn Williams	25,599	82.74	−4.20
	Conservative	Arthur G Davies	4,081	13.19	+0.13
	Welsh Nationalist	Trefor Richard Morgan	1,259	4.07	New
Majority			21,518	69.55	−4.33
Turnout			30,939	79.11	−4.93
	Labour hold		Swing	−2.17

1959 general election: Abertillery[11][12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Llywelyn Williams	26,931	85.0	+2.3
	Conservative	Ronald J Maddocks	4,740	15.0	+1.8
Majority			22,191	70.0	+0.5
Turnout			31,671	81.9	+2.8
	Labour hold		Swing	+0.3

Elections in the 1960s

1964 general election: Abertillery

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Llywelyn Williams	24,204	85.9	+0.9
	Conservative	Peter Rees	3,973	14.1	-0.9
Majority			20,231	71.8	+1.8
Turnout			28,177	75.5	-6.4
	Labour hold		Swing

1965 Abertillery by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Clifford Williams	18,256	79.0	−6.9
	Conservative	Peter Rees	3,309	14.3	+0.2
	Plaid Cymru	Edward Merriman	1,551	6.7	New
Majority			14,947	64.7	−7.1
Turnout			23,116
	Labour hold		Swing

1966 general election: Abertillery

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Clifford Williams	23,353	88.1	+2.1
	Conservative	Anthony Peter Wallis	3,151	11.9	−2.1
Majority			20,202	76.2	−4.4
Turnout			26,504	73.4	−2.1
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

1970 general election: Abertillery[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Jeffrey Thomas	22,819	81.4	−6.7
	Conservative	John E. Rendle	3,478	12.4	+0.5
	Plaid Cymru	David B. Harries	1,751	6.2	New
Majority			19,341	69.0	−7.2
Turnout			28,048	75.0	+1.6
	Labour hold		Swing

February 1974 general election: Abertillery[14][15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Jeffrey Thomas	20,068	70.3	−11.1
	Plaid Cymru	William Aneurin Richards	3,119	10.9	+4.7
	Conservative	Neil Hamilton	2,730	9.6	−2.8
	Liberal	Hugh Westcott Clark	2,632	9.2	New
Majority			16,949	59.4	−9.6
Turnout			28,549	78.6	−3.4
	Labour hold		Swing

October 1974 general election: Abertillery[14][16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Jeffrey Thomas	20,835	76.9	+5.6
	Plaid Cymru	William Aneurin Richards	2,480	9.0	−1.9
	Conservative	Pamela Joan Evelyn Larney	2,364	8.6	−1.0
	Liberal	Hugh Westcott Clark	1,779	6.5	−2.7
Majority			18,355	66.9	+7.5
Turnout			27,458	75.1	−3.5
	Labour hold		Swing

1979 general election: Abertillery[14][17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Jeffrey Thomas	21,698	76.0	+0.1
	Conservative	Ralph Tuck	4,613	16.2	+7.6
	Plaid Cymru	David Brian Harries	2,248	7.9	−1.1
Majority			17,085	59.8	−7.1
Turnout			28,559	80.2	+5.1
	Labour hold		Swing

References

1. Schedule 9 of the Representation of the People Act, 1918 (7 & 8 Geo. 5 c.64)
2. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
3. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, F W S Craig
4. Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939
5. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results February 1950". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 8 March 2017. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
7. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results October 1951". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 1 July 2017. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
9. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results May 1955". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 8 January 2018. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
11. Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results October 1959". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 1 July 2017. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
13. "UK General Election results 1970". Politics Resources. Archived from the original on 21 August 2016. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
14. "'Abertillery', Feb 1974 - May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Archived from the original on 18 March 2016. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
15. "UK General Election results February 1974". Politics Resources. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
16. "UK General Election results October 1974". Politics Resources. Archived from the original on 19 March 2012. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
17. "UK General Election results 1979". Politics Resources. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 15 March 2016.

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "A" (part 1)