Barry (UK Parliament constituency)

Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1950–1983

Barry
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
1950–1983
Seats	one
Created from	Llandaff and Barry
Replaced by	Cardiff South & Penarth and Vale of Glamorgan

Barry was a parliamentary constituency in Glamorgan (later South Glamorgan), Wales which 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 voting system.

The constituency was created for the 1950 general election, and abolished for the 1983 general election. The majority of the electorate (61%) passed to the new Vale of Glamorgan constituency where they formed a majority (76.8%) of this seat. The district of Penarth which formed 23.6% of the constituency joined the majority of the Cardiff SE seat to form the new Cardiff South and Penarth.

Boundaries

1950–1955: The Borough of Barry, and the Rural District of Cardiff.

1955–1974: The Borough of Barry, and the Rural District of Cardiff except the parts of the parishes of Lisvane and Radyr added to the County Borough of Cardiff by the Cardiff Extension Act 1950.

1974–1983: The Borough of Barry, the Urban District of Penarth, and the Rural District of Cardiff except the parish of Van.

Members of Parliament

	Member	Party
1950	Dorothy Rees	Labour
1951	Sir Raymond Gower	Conservative
1983	constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Barry
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Dorothy Rees	20,770	44.5	*N/A*
	Conservative	M Evans	19,745	42.3	N/A
	Liberal	John Emlyn-Jones	6,180	13.2	N/A
Majority			1,025	2.2	N/A
Turnout			46,695	86.0	N/A
Registered electors			54,298
	Labour win (new seat)

General election 1951: Barry
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Raymond Gower	24,715	51.7	+9.4
	Labour	Dorothy Rees	23,066	48.3	+3.8
Majority			1,649	3.4	N/A
Turnout			47,781	86.8	+0.8
Registered electors			55,022
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General election 1955: Barry
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Raymond Gower	27,085	57.9	+6.2
	Labour	Dan Jones	19,722	42.1	−6.2
Majority			7,363	15.8	+12.4
Turnout			46,807	83.6	−3.2
Registered electors			56,003
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1959: Barry
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Raymond Gower	30,313	59.3	+1.4
	Labour	Dengar Evans	20,790	40.7	−1.4
Majority			9,523	18.6	+2.8
Turnout			51,103	84.9	+1.3
Registered electors			60,206
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Barry
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Raymond Gower	28,600	54.0	−5.3
	Labour	David Marquand	24,334	46.0	+5.3
Majority			4,266	8.0	−10.6
Turnout			52,934	82.3	−2.6
Registered electors			64,319
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1966: Barry
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Raymond Gower	27,957	51.3	−2.7
	Labour	Jeffrey Thomas	26,563	48.7	+2.7
Majority			1,394	2.6	−5.4
Turnout			54,520	83.6	+1.3
Registered electors			65,194
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Barry
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Raymond Gower	31,957	53.8	+2.5
	Labour	John Allison	23,286	39.2	−9.5
	Plaid Cymru	Ogwen Williams	4,200	7.1	N/A
Majority			8,671	14.6	+12.0
Turnout			59,443	79.2	−4.4
Registered electors			74,958
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election February 1974: Barry
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Raymond Gower	25,326	44.4	−6.1
	Labour	John Brooks	19,779	34.7	−8.2
	Liberal	J. Lloyd	10,048	17.6	N/A
	Plaid Cymru	V. Wynne-Williams	1,924	3.4	−2.3
Majority			5,547	9.7	−4.9
Turnout			57,077	82.3	+3.1
Registered electors			69,356
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election October 1974: Barry
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Raymond Gower	23,360	43.0	−1.4
	Labour	John Brooks	20,457	37.6	+2.9
	Liberal	J. Lloyd	8,764	16.1	−1.5
	Plaid Cymru	V. Wynne-Williams	1,793	3.3	−0.1
Majority			2,903	5.4	−4.3
Turnout			54,374	77.7	−4.6
Registered electors			69,992
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1979: Barry
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Raymond Gower	30,720	50.9	+7.9
	Labour	P.P. Stead	21,928	36.3	−1.3
	Liberal	W.N. Berritt	6,105	10.1	−6.0
	Plaid Cymru	A.J. Dixon	1,281	2.1	−1.2
	National Front	E.R. Kerton	312	0.5	N/A
Majority			8,792	14.6	+9.2
Turnout			60,349	80.3	+2.6
Registered electors			75,127
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 1)
^ Craig, F. W. S. (1971). British parliamentary election results 1950-1970 (1 ed.). Chichester: Political Reference Publications. ISBN 9780900178023. Page 577
"Politics Resources". Election February 1974. Politics Resources. 28 February 1974. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
"Politics Resources". Election October 1974. Politics Resources. 10 October 1974. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
"Politics Resources". Election 1979. Politics Resources. 3 May 1979. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2021.

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v t e Cardiff constituencies
Current UK	Cardiff East Cardiff North Cardiff South and Penarth Cardiff West
Current Senedd	Cardiff Central Cardiff North Cardiff South and Penarth Cardiff West
Historic UK	Cardiff (1542–1918) Cardiff Central (1918–1950) Cardiff Central (1983–2024) Cardiff East (1918–1950) Cardiff South (1918–1950) Llandaff and Barry (1918–1950) Cardiff South East (1950–1983) Cardiff North West (1974–1983)

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