Pontypool (UK Parliament constituency)

Pontypool
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
1918–1983
Seats	one
Created from	North Monmouthshire and South Monmouthshire
Replaced by	Torfaen

Pontypool was a county constituency in the town of Pontypool 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 voting system.

The constituency was created for the 1918 general election, and was replaced with Torfaen for the 1983 general election. This was to correspond with the name and area of the Torfaen local authority created in 1974. The Torfaen constituency contained the whole of the old Pontypool seat, adding just 247 electors from Monmouth.

Boundaries

1918–1950: The Urban Districts of Abersychan, Blaenavon, Llanfrechfa Upper, Llantarnam, Panteg, and Pontypool.

1950–1983: The Urban Districts of Blaenavon, Cwmbran, and Pontypool.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1918	Thomas Griffiths	Labour
	1935	Arthur Jenkins	Labour
	1946 by-election	Granville West	Labour
	1958 by-election	Leo Abse	Labour
1983		constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1910s

General election 1918: Pontypool
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Thomas Griffiths	8,438	39.0
C	Unionist	Leonard Wilkinson Llewelyn	7,021	32.5
	Liberal	Reginald McKenna	6,160	28.5
Majority			1,417	6.5
Turnout			21,619	72.1
	Labour win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Pontypool
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Thomas Griffiths	11,198	40.6	+1.6
	Unionist	Thomas George Jones	8,654	31.4	−1.1
	Liberal	Robert Connell	7,733	28.0	−0.5
Majority			2,544	9.2	+2.7
Turnout			27,585	85.0	+12.9
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.3

General election 1923: Pontypool
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Thomas Griffiths	13,770	50.6	+10.0
	Liberal	S.J. Robins	13,444	49.4	+21.4
Majority			326	1.2	−8.0
Turnout			27,214	81.6	−3.4
	Labour hold		Swing	-5.7

General election 1924: Pontypool
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Thomas Griffiths	15,378	52.6	+2.0
	Unionist	Lionel Beaumont-Thomas	13,831	47.4	New
Majority			1,547	5.2	+4.0
Turnout			29,209	84.5	+2.9
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1929: Pontypool
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Thomas Griffiths	17,805	51.5	−1.1
	Liberal	Geoffrey Crawshay	12,581	36.4	New
	Unionist	Gwilym Rowlands	4,188	12.1	−35.4
Majority			5,224	15.1	+9.9
Turnout			34,574	84.6	+0.1
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Pontypool
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Thomas Griffiths	18,981	56.34	+4.8
	National Liberal	Thomas Keens	14,709	43.66	+7.3
Majority			4,272	12.68	−2.4
Turnout			33,690	81.99	−2.6
Registered electors			41,090
	Labour hold		Swing	-1.25

General election 1935: Pontypool
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Arthur Jenkins	22,346	67.92	+11.58
	Conservative	Leonard Caplan	10,555	32.08	−11.58
Majority			11,791	35.84	+23.16
Turnout			32,901	78.55	−3.44
	Labour hold		Swing	+11.58

Elections in the 1940s

General election 1945: Pontypool
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Arthur Jenkins	27,455	77.28	+9.36
	Conservative	John Gabriel Weeple	8,072	22.72	−9.36
Majority			19,383	54.56	+18.72
Turnout			35,527	77.17	−1.38
	Labour hold		Swing	+9.36

1946 Pontypool by-election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Granville West	23,359	74.09	−3.19
	Conservative	P. Welch	8,170	25.91	+3.19
Majority			15,189	48.17	−6.39
Turnout			31,529
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Pontypool
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Granville West	28,267	72.25	−5.03
	Conservative	Arthur Russell	6,616	16.91	−5.81
	Liberal	Ernest Aneurin Robert Mathias	4,240	10.84	New
Majority			21,651	55.34	+0.78
Turnout			39,123	84.78	+7.61
	Labour hold		Swing	+0.39

General election 1951: Pontypool
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Granville West	29,553	75.74	+3.49
	Conservative	Aylwin O Hewitt	9,464	24.26	+7.35
Majority			20,089	51.49	−3.85
Turnout			39,017	84.29	−0.49
	Labour hold		Swing	-1.93

General election 1955: Pontypool
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Granville West	26,372	72.91	−2.83
	Conservative	Aylwin O Hewitt	9,800	27.09	+2.83
Majority			16,572	45.81	−5.68
Turnout			36,172	77.09	−7.20
	Labour hold		Swing	-2.83

1958 Pontypool by-election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Leo Abse	20,000	68.49	−4.42
	Conservative	Paul S Thomas	6,273	21.48	−5.61
	Plaid Cymru	Benjamin CL Morgan	2,927	10.02	New
Majority			13,727	47.01	+1.2
Turnout			29,200	61.7	−15.4
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1959: Pontypool
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Leo Abse	26,755	70.08	−2.83
	Conservative	Paul S Thomas	8,903	23.32	−3.77
	Plaid Cymru	Benjamin CL Morgan	2,519	6.60	N/A
Majority			17,852	46.76	+0.95
Turnout			38,177	80.45	+3.36
	Labour hold		Swing	+0.47

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Pontypool
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Leo Abse	27,852	74.57	+4.49
	Conservative	Paul D Mendel	8,169	21.87	−1.45
	Communist	W Edward Jones	1,329	3.56	New
Majority			19,683	52.70	+5.94
Turnout			37,350	77.77	−2.68
Registered electors			48,024
	Labour hold		Swing	+2.97

General election 1966: Pontypool
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Leo Abse	27,909	77.05	+2.48
	Conservative	Peter T James	7,418	20.48	−1.39
	Communist	W Edward Jones	897	2.48	−1.08
Majority			20,491	56.57	+3.87
Turnout			36,224	75.40	−2.37
Registered electors			48,040
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.94

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Pontypool
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Leo Abse	27,402	70.70
	Conservative	W Mather Bell	8,869	22.88
	Plaid Cymru	Harri Webb	2,053	5.30	New
	Communist	Brian Watkinson	435	1.12
Majority			18,533	47.82
Turnout			38,759	71.94
	Labour hold		Swing

General election February 1974: Pontypool
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Leo Abse	25,133	59.68	−11.02
	Liberal	Ernest Aneurin Robert Mathias	7,668	18.21	New
	Conservative	Wellesley Theodore Octavius Wallace	7,497	17.80	−5.08
	Plaid Cymru	Roger David Tanner	1,318	3.13	−2.17
	Communist	Graham Robert Williams	498	1.18	−0.06
Majority			17,465	41.47	−6.35
Turnout			42,114	77.01	+5.07
	Labour hold		Swing

General election October 1974: Pontypool
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Leo Abse	25,381	63.40	+3.72
	Conservative	Robert John Moreland	6,686	16.70	−1.10
	Liberal	Ernest Aneurin Robert Mathias	5,744	14.35	−3.86
	Plaid Cymru	Roger David Tanner	2,223	5.55	+2.42
Majority			18,695	46.70	+5.23
Turnout			40,034	72.66	−3.35
	Labour hold		Swing	+2.41

General election 1979: Pontypool
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Leo Abse	27,751	61.93	−1.47
	Conservative	Tom Sackville	10,383	23.17	+6.47
	Liberal	Ernest Aneurin Robert Mathias	5,508	12.29	−2.06
	Plaid Cymru	William James Hyde	1,169	2.61	−2.94
Majority			17,368	38.76	−7.94
Turnout			44,811	78.36	+5.70
	Labour hold		Swing	-3.97

References

^ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
‘LLEWELYN, Sir Leonard Wilkinson’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2016; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014; online edn, April 2014 accessed 18 Sept 2017
^ Etholiadau'r ganrif 1885-1997, Beti Jones
Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1931". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1935". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1945". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1950". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1951". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1955". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
"1958 By Election Results". Archived from the original on 25 June 2012. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1959". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1964". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 29 June 2017. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1966". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1970". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
^ "'Pontypool', Feb 1974 - May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results February 1974". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 27 January 2015. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results October 1974". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 8 May 2015. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1979". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 23 March 2016.

External links

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

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