Merioneth (UK Parliament constituency)

Merioneth, sometimes called Merionethshire, was a constituency in North Wales established in 1542, which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the English Parliament, and later to the Parliament of Great Britain and of the United Kingdom. It was abolished for the 1983 general election, when it was largely replaced by the new constituency of Meirionnydd Nant Conwy.

Merioneth
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1542–1983
Number of members	one
Replaced by	Clwyd South West and Meirionnydd Nant Conwy

Overview

Boundaries

The constituency consisted of the historic county of Merionethshire. Merioneth was always an almost entirely rural constituency, rocky and mountainous with grazing the only useful agricultural activity that could be pursued; quarrying was its other main economic mainstay. It was also a strongly Welsh-speaking area (a parliamentary paper in 1904 listed that just 6.2% of the population could only speak English, lower than in any other county in Wales), and by the 19th century was a stronghold of non-conformist religion.

Establishment

Like the rest of Wales, Merioneth was given the right to representation by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542, and first returned an MP to the Parliament of 1542; however, unlike all the other Welsh counties, Merioneth had no towns sufficiently important in the 16th century to merit borough status, so the county MP was its only representative. The MP was chosen by the first past the post electoral system – when there was a contest at all, which was almost unheard of before the second half of the 19th century.

Franchise and political influences before the Reform Act

As in other county constituencies, the franchise until 1832 was defined by the Forty Shilling Freeholder Act, which gave the right to vote to every man who possessed freehold property within the county valued at £2 or more per year for the purposes of land tax; it was not necessary for the freeholder to occupy his land, nor even in later years to be resident in the county at all. Nevertheless, the electorate was small, probably only a few hundred, though the lack of contested elections make it impossible to be sure: at the 1774 election, the only one to go to a poll in the 18th century, exactly 600 votes were cast. By way of comparison, the population at the time of the 1831 census was about 34,500.

For more than a century before the Reform Act, Merioneth's representation was almost entirely monopolised by the Vaughan family of Corsygedol – they and the Wynns of Wynnstay, who supported them, were the two leading families of the county and the expense of a contested election was presumably seen as futile by any potential opposition candidates. When a magnate from outside the county, The Earl of Powis, did intervene in 1774, his candidate was roundly defeated. Since the Vaughans were not aligned with any of the great aristocratic interests of the rest of Wales, and were generally regarded as maintaining their independence, there was little partisan interest in dislodging them.

Survival as a constituency with low population

Although the franchise was somewhat extended under the Great Reform Act, Merioneth's registered electorate at the first post-Reform election was only 580. However, it seems that this considerably under-represented those who were eligible, and more voters could be induced to register by vigorous campaigning. The Liberation Society, a body aiming to maximise the non-conformist vote to achieve disestablishment of the church, was active in Merioneth and a number of other Welsh counties in the 1850s and 1860s, and between the elections of 1859 and 1865 Merioneth's electorate rose by 50%, from 1,091 to 1,527. But there was also a dramatic rise in the electorate between 1835 and 1837 (from 698 to 1,336), which is less easy to explain. Nevertheless, even with these occasional peaks, Merioneth was a small constituency by Welsh – let alone English – standards.

By the time of the 1911 census, the population of Merioneth was 46,849, and in other circumstances it would have been too small to survive as a separate constituency, but the physical geography meant that the inconvenience which would be caused to voters and MPs alike by combining it with a neighbouring county outweighed any arguments for mathematical equality of representation. In 1929, the first election at which all adult men and women had the vote, Merioneth's electorate was under 29,000, and it had fallen even further (to 27,619) by the time of the final (1979) election before the constituency was abolished, even with the extension of the franchise to 18- to 21-year-olds in the 1960s.

Political character after the 1860s

The gentry returned unopposed as MPs in Merioneth's deferential days had usually been Conservatives. At the 1850 general election, the sitting member, W.W.E. Wynne of Peniarth, was challenged by the Liberal, David Williams. In an election characterised by allegations of coercion against the nonconformist tenantry, Wynne held the seat by a small majority. In 1865, Wynne stood down, and was succeeded as Conservative candidate by his son, W.R.M. Wynne. Against some expectations, he held the seat with a slightly reduced majority, and this was attributed by Ieuan Gwynedd Jones to 'a sense of terror' that had struck the mainly nonconformist tenant farmers.[1] In 1868, following the extension of the franchise, Wynne withdrew rather than face another contest which he was likely to lose.[2] With the introduction of the secret ballot, Merioneth became one of the safest Liberal seats in Wales – mainly the effect of the high number of workers in the slate and limestone quarries round Ffestiniog and Corwen. With the foundation of the Labour Party, the seat became less safe, but the Liberals held it through the first half of the 20th century, losing it to Labour, when Emrys Roberts was defeated by T.W. Jones. The Liberals remained the main challengers until the 1960s. However, with the emergence of Plaid Cymru as a political force, Merioneth was natural territory for the nationalists: they overtook the Liberals for second place behind Labour in 1970, and then Dafydd Elis-Thomas captured the seat at the February 1974 election, one of the first two seats the party had won at a general election. They retained it comfortably in October 1974 and 1979.

Abolition

The constituency was finally abolished with effect from the 1983 general election, when the alignment of constituency boundaries with the revised Welsh county boundaries necessitated a change. The Boundary Commission's original proposals would have united Merioneth with English-speaking Conwy on the North Wales coast, and would almost certainly have extinguished Plaid Cymru's chances of holding the seat, but after a public enquiry much more modest changes were adopted. The bulk of the electorate formed the core of the new Meirionnydd Nant Conwy constituency, joined by only around 5,000 voters from outside the old county, while about 3,000 voters in that part of Merionethshire which had been placed in Clwyd rather than Gwynedd moved to the new Clwyd South West constituency.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1542–1640

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Parliament	Member
1542	Edward Stanley [3]
1545	Rhys Vaughan [3]
1547	Lewis ap Owen [3]
1553 (Mar)	Lewis ap Owen [3]
1553 (Oct)	John Salesbury [3]
1554 (Apr)	Lewis ap Owen [3]
1554 (Nov)	Lewis ap Owen [3]
1555
1558	Ellis Price [3]
1559 (Jan)	John Wyn ap Cadwaladr[4]
1563 (Jan)	Ellis Price [4]
1571	Hugh Owen [4]
1572	John Lewis Owen [4]
1584 (Nov)	Cadwaladr Price [4]
1586	Robert Lloyd [4]
1588 (Nov)	Robert Salusbury [4]
1593	Griffith Nanney [4]
1597 (Sep)	Thomas Myddelton [4]
1601 (Oct)	Robert Lloyd [4]
1604–1611	Sir Edward Herbert
1614	Ellis Lloyd
1621–1622	William Salisbury
1624	Henry Wynn
1625	Henty Wynn
1626	Edward Vaughan
1628–1629	Richard Vaughan
1629–1640	No Parliaments convened

MPs 1640–1983

Year		Member	Party
	April 1640	Henry Wynn
	November 1640	William Price	Royalist
	February 1644	Price disabled from sitting – seat vacant
	1646	Roger Pope
	1647	John Jones
	1653	Merioneth was not represented in the Barebones Parliament
	1654	John Vaughan
	1656	Colonel John Jones [5]
	January 1659	Lewis Owen
	May 1659	Merioneth was not represented in the restored Rump [6]
	April 1660	Edmund Meyricke
	1661	Henry Wynn
	1673	William Price
	1679	Sir John Wynn
	1681	Sir Robert Owen
	1685	Sir John Wynn
	1695	Hugh Nanney
	1701	Richard Vaughan
	1734	William Vaughan	Independent
	1768	John Pugh Pryse
	1774	Evan Lloyd Vaughan	Tory[7]
	1792	Sir Robert Vaughan	Tory[7]
	1836	Richard Richards	Conservative[7]
	1852	William Watkin Edward Wynne	Conservative
	1865	W. R. M. Wynne	Conservative
	1868	David Williams	Liberal
	1870	Samuel Holland	Liberal
	1885	Henry Robertson	Liberal
	1886	T. E. Ellis	Liberal
	1899	Owen Morgan Edwards	Liberal
	1900	Sir Osmond Williams	Liberal
	Jan 1910	Sir Henry Haydn Jones	Liberal
	1945	Emrys Roberts	Liberal
	1951	Thomas Jones	Labour
	1966	Will Edwards	Labour
	Feb 1974	Dafydd Elis-Thomas	Plaid Cymru
1983		constituency abolished: see Meirionnydd Nant Conwy

Election results

Election results since 1900

Elections in the 1830s

General election 1830: Merioneth [7][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Tory	Robert Vaughan	Unopposed
Registered electors			600
	Tory hold

General election 1831: Merioneth [7][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Tory	Robert Vaughan	Unopposed
Registered electors			600
	Tory hold

General election 1832: Merioneth [7][9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Tory	Robert Vaughan	Unopposed
Registered electors			580
	Tory hold

General election 1835: Merioneth [7][9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Robert Vaughan	Unopposed
Registered electors			698
	Conservative hold

Vaughan resigned, causing a by-election.

By-election, 27 June 1836: Merioneth [7][9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Richard Richards	501	77.0
	Whig	William Wynn	150	23.0
Majority			351	53.9
Turnout			651	82.9
Registered electors			785
	Conservative hold

General election 1837: Merioneth[7][9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Richard Richards	Unopposed
Registered electors			1,336
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1840s

General election 1841: Merioneth [9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Richard Richards	Unopposed
Registered electors			1,306
	Conservative hold

General election 1847: Merioneth [9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Richard Richards	Unopposed
Registered electors			1,180
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1850s

General election 1852: Merioneth [9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	William Watkin Edward Wynne	Unopposed
Registered electors			1,006
	Conservative hold

General election 1857: Merioneth [9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	William Watkin Edward Wynne	Unopposed
Registered electors			1,126
	Conservative hold

General election 1859: Merioneth [9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	William Watkin Edward Wynne	389	52.6	N/A
	Liberal	David Williams	351	47.4	N/A
Majority			38	5.2	N/A
Turnout			740	67.8	N/A
Registered electors			1,091
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1860s

General election 1865: Merioneth [9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	W. R. M. Wynne	610	51.3	−1.3
	Liberal	David Williams	579	48.7	+1.3
Majority			31	2.6	−2.6
Turnout			1,189	77.9	+10.1
Registered electors			1,527
	Conservative hold		Swing	−1.3

General election 1868: Merioneth [9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	David Williams	Unopposed
Registered electors			3,185
	Liberal gain from Conservative

Elections in the 1870s

Williams' death caused a by-election.

By-election, 17 January 1870: Merioneth [9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Samuel Holland	1,610	62.6	N/A
	Conservative	Charles John Tottenham[10]	963	37.4	N/A
Majority			647	25.2	N/A
Turnout			2,573	80.7	N/A
Registered electors			3,187
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1874: Merioneth [9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Samuel Holland	Unopposed
Registered electors			3,335
	Liberal hold

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1880: Merioneth [9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Samuel Holland	1,860	63.4	N/A
	Conservative	Alexander Milne Dunlop[11]	1,074	36.6	N/A
Majority			786	26.8	N/A
Turnout			2,934	82.2	N/A
Registered electors			3,571
	Liberal hold		Swing

General election 1885: Merioneth [12][13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Henry Robertson	3,784	47.9	−15.5
	Conservative	W. R. M. Wynne	2,209	28.0	−8.6
	Independent Liberal	Morgan Lloyd	1,907	24.1	N/A
Majority			1,575	19.9	−6.9
Turnout			7,900	84.6	+2.4
Registered electors			9,333
	Liberal hold		Swing	−3.5

T.E. Ellis

General election 1886: Merioneth [12][13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	T. E. Ellis	4,127	59.1	+11.2
	Conservative	John Vaughan	2,860	40.9	+12.9
Majority			1,267	18.2	−1.7
Turnout			6,987	74.9	−9.7
Registered electors			9,333
	Liberal hold		Swing	−0.9

Elections in the 1890s

General election 1892: Merioneth [12][13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	T. E. Ellis	5,175	72.8	+13.7
	Conservative	Henry Owen	1,937	27.2	−13.7
Majority			3,238	45.6	+27.4
Turnout			7,112	77.8	+2.9
Registered electors			9,137
	Liberal hold		Swing	+13.7

Ellis was appointed a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury, requiring a by-election.

By-election, 1892: Merioneth [13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	T. E. Ellis	Unopposed
	Liberal hold

General election 1895: Merioneth [12][14][13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	T. E. Ellis	5,173	69.9	−2.9
	Conservative	Charles Edward Jones Owen	2,232	30.1	+2.9
Majority			2,941	39.8	−5.8
Turnout			7,405	82.4	+4.6
Registered electors			8,983
	Liberal hold		Swing	−2.9

Ellis' death caused a by-election.

1899 Merionethshire by-election[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Owen Morgan Edwards	Unopposed
	Liberal hold

Elections in the 1900s

Osmond Williams

General election 1900: Merioneth [12][14][13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Osmond Williams	Unopposed
	Liberal hold

General election 1906: Merioneth [12][13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Osmond Williams	Unopposed
	Liberal hold

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: Merioneth [15][13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Henry Haydn Jones	6,065	76.4	N/A
	Conservative	Robert John Morris	1,873	23.6	N/A
Majority			4,192	52.8	N/A
Turnout			7,938	84.8	N/A
Registered electors			9,365
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

General election December 1910: Merioneth [15][13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Henry Haydn Jones	Unopposed
	Liberal hold

General Election 1914/15:

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

• Liberal: Henry Haydn Jones
• Unionist: Sam Thompson[16]

General election 1918: Merioneth [17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Henry Haydn Jones	Unopposed
	Liberal hold

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Merioneth [17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Henry Haydn Jones	9,903	58.3	N/A
	Labour	John Jones Roberts	7,070	41.7	N/A
Majority			2,833	16.6	N/A
Turnout			16,973	77.1	N/A
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1923: Merioneth [18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Henry Haydn Jones	11,005	60.5	+2.2
	Labour	John Jones Roberts	7,181	39.5	-2.2
Majority			3,824	21.0	+4.4
Turnout				80.2	+3.1
	Liberal hold		Swing	+2.2

General election 1924: Merioneth[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Henry Haydn Jones	9,228	47.8	-12.7
	Labour	John Jones Roberts	6,393	33.1	-6.4
	Conservative	Robert Vaughan	3,677	19.1	N/A
Majority			2,835	14.7	-6.3
Turnout			19,298	83.9	+2.7
	Liberal hold		Swing

General election 1929: Merioneth [19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Henry Haydn Jones	11,865	48.3	+0.5
	Labour	John Jones Roberts	7,980	32.5	-0.6
	Conservative	Charles Phibbs	4,731	19.3	+0.2
Majority			3,885	15.8	+1.1
Turnout			24,576	85.2	+1.3
	Liberal hold		Swing	+0.6

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Merioneth[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Henry Haydn Jones	9,756	40.8	+7.5
	Labour	James Henry Howard	7,807	32.6	+0.1
	Conservative	Charles Phibbs	6,372	26.6	+7.3
Majority			1,949	8.1	-7.7
Turnout			23,935	82.6	-2.6
	Liberal hold		Swing

General election 1935: Merioneth[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Henry Haydn Jones	9,466	40.0	-0.8
	Labour	Thomas Jones	8,317	35.2	+2.6
	Conservative	Charles Phibbs	5,868	24.8	-1.8
Majority			1,149	4.9	-3.2
Turnout			23,651	81.6	-1.0
	Liberal hold		Swing

A General election was due to take place before the end of 1940, but was postponed due to the Second World War. By the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected to contest this constituency;

• Liberal Party: Henry Haydn Jones
• Labour Party: Thomas Jones

Elections in the 1940s

General election 1945: Merioneth [20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Emrys Roberts	8,495	35.8	-4.2
	Labour	Huw Morris Jones	8,383	35.4	+0.2
	Conservative	Craig Parry Hughes	4,374	18.5	-6.3
	Plaid Cymru	Gwynfor Evans	2,448	10.3	N/A
Majority			112	0.4	-4.5
Turnout				82.2	+0.6
	Liberal hold		Swing	-2.2

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Merioneth[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Emrys Roberts	9,647	38.8
	Labour	O Parry	8,577	34.5
	Conservative	John Francis Williams-Wynne	4,374	18.5
	Plaid Cymru	Gwynfor Evans	2,754	11.0
Majority			1,070	4.3
Turnout				88.8
	Liberal hold		Swing

General election 1951: Merioneth[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Thomas Jones	10,505	43.0
	Liberal	Emrys Roberts	9,457	38.6
	Conservative	Geraint Morgan	4,505	18.4
Majority			1,048	4.3
Turnout				87.3
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing

General election 1955: Merioneth[22][23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Thomas Jones	9,056	38.3
	Liberal	Henry Evans Jones	6,374	26.9
	Plaid Cymru	Gwynfor Evans	5,243	22.1
	National Liberal	John V Jenkins	3,001	12.7
Majority			2,682	11.3
Turnout			23,674
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1959: Merioneth[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Thomas Jones	9,095	40.7
	Liberal	Ben Jones	8,119	36.3
	Plaid Cymru	Gwynfor Evans	5,127	23.0
Majority			976	4.4
Turnout			22,341
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Merioneth[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Thomas Jones	8,420	38.37
	Liberal	Richard O Jones	7,171	32.68
	Plaid Cymru	Elystan Morgan	3,697	16.85
	Conservative	A E Campbell L Jones-Lloyd	2,656	12.10
Majority			1,249	5.69
Turnout			21,944	83.15
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1966: Merioneth[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	William Edwards	9,628	44.17
	Liberal	Edward Gwyn Jones	7,733	35.47
	Plaid Cymru	Ieuan Lewis Jenkins	2,490	11.42
	Conservative	A E Campbell L Jones-Lloyd	1,948	8.94
Majority			1,895	8.69
Turnout			21,799	85.84
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Merioneth[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	William Edwards	8,861	39.76
	Plaid Cymru	Dafydd Wigley	5,425	24.34
	Liberal	Emlyn Thomas	5,034	22.59
	Conservative	D Elgan H Edwards	2,965	13.30
Majority			3,436	15.42
Turnout			22,285	84.24
	Labour hold		Swing

General election February 1974: Merioneth[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Plaid Cymru	Dafydd Elis-Thomas	7,823	34.61
	Labour	William Edwards	7,235	32.01
	Liberal	IAE Jones	4,153	18.37
	Conservative	RR Owen	3,392	15.01
Majority			588	2.60
Turnout			22,603	85.26
	Plaid Cymru gain from Labour		Swing

General election October 1974: Merioneth[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Plaid Cymru	Dafydd Elis-Thomas	9,543	42.49
	Labour	William Edwards	6,951	30.95
	Liberal	Richard O Jones	3,454	15.38
	Conservative	RR Owen	2,509	11.17
Majority			2,592	11.54
Turnout			22,457	84.02
	Plaid Cymru hold		Swing

General election 1979: Merioneth[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Plaid Cymru	Dafydd Elis-Thomas	9,275	40.8	-1.7
	Conservative	Robert Harvey	5,365	23.6	+12.5
	Labour	RH Jones	5,332	23.5	+7.4
	Liberal	JH Parsons	2,752	12.1	-3.3
Majority			3,910	17.2	+5.7
Turnout			22,724	83.4	-0.6
	Plaid Cymru hold		Swing

References

1. Jones 1981, p. 86.
2. Jones 1981, p. 163.
3. "History of Parliament". Retrieved 30 August 2011.
4. "History of Parliament". Retrieved 30 August 2011.
5. Jones, brother-in-law of Oliver Cromwell, was summoned to the new Upper House for the second session of the Parliament, but no replacement as Merioneth's MP was elected
6. Although Jones was still alive in 1659, he is not listed as one of those who sat as a member of the restored Rump
7. Stooks Smith, Henry (1845). The Parliaments of England, from 1st George I., to the Present Time. Vol II: Oxfordshire to Wales Inclusive. London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co. pp. 194–195. Retrieved 6 May 2020 – via Google Books.
8. Escott, Margaret. "Merioneth". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
9. Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885 (e-book)|format= requires |url= (help) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.
10. "Colonel Tottenham". North Wales Chronicle. 21 December 1878. p. 4. Retrieved 6 January 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
11. "Merionethshire". Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer. 2 April 1880. p. 5. Retrieved 4 December 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
12. The Liberal Year Book, 1907
13. Craig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885–1918. London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 9781349022984.
14. Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1901
15. Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1916
16. Liverpool Echo 21 Feb 1914
17. British parliamentary election results, 1918–1949, FWS Craig
18. Etholiadau'r ganrif 1885–1997, Beti Jones
19. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, FWS Craig
20. "Politicsresources.net – Official Web Site ✔".
21. "Politicsresources.net – Official Web Site ✔".
22. "Politicsresources.net – Official Web Site ✔".
23. The Times' Guide to the House of Commons. 1955.

Sources

• The BBC/ITN Guide to the New Parliamentary Constituencies (Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services, 1983)
• Cobbett's Parliamentary history of England, from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the year 1803 (London: Thomas Hansard, 1808)
• Matthew Cragoe, Culture, Politics, and National Identity in Wales 1832–1886 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004)
• F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885 (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989)
• F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949 (Glasgow: Political Reference Publications, 1969)
• Jones, Ieuan Gwynedd (1981). Explorations and Explanations. Essays in the Social History of Victorian Wales. Llandysul: Gomer. ISBN 0850886449.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Lewis Namier & John Brooke, The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1754-1790 (London: HMSO, 1964)
• J E Neale, The Elizabethan House of Commons (London: Jonathan Cape, 1949)
• Henry Pelling, Social Geography of British Elections 1885–1910 (London: Macmillan, 1967)
• J Holladay Philbin, Parliamentary Representation 1832 – England and Wales (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965)
• Robert Waller, The Almanac of British Politics (1st edition, London: Croom Helm, 1983)
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "M" (part 2)