University of Wales (UK Parliament constituency)

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

The constituency returned one Member of Parliament.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party	Notes
	1918	Rt Hon. John 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	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

General Election 1918: University of Wales
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Coalition Liberal	Rt Hon. John Herbert Lewis	739	80.8	N/A
	Labour	Mrs H.M. Mackenzie	176	19.2	N/A
Majority			563	61.6	N/A
Turnout			915	85.8	N/A
Registered electors			1,066
	Coalition Liberal gain from new seat		Swing	N/A

Elections of the 1920s

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

General Election 1922: University of Wales
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	Thomas Arthur Lewis	487	39.5	- 41.3
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Sir Ellis Ellis-Griffith, Bt	451	35.9	N/A
	Labour	Dr. Olive A. Wheeler	309	24.8	+5.6
Majority			46	3.6	-58.0
Turnout			1,247	87.2	+1.4
Registered electors			1,441
	National Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

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

Elections of the 1930s

General Election 1935: University of Wales
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Ernest Evans	2,796	61.3	-9.6
	Labour	I. Davies	1,768	38.7	N/A
Majority			1,028	22.6	-19.2
Turnout			4,564	62.3	+0.9
Registered electors			7,325
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

Elections of the 1940s

• Evans appointed a County Court Judge, 1942

By-Election 25–29 January 1943: University of Wales
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Prof. William John Gruffydd	3,098	52.3	-9.0
	Plaid Cymru	Saunders Lewis	1,330	22.5	N/A
	Independent	Alun Talfan Davies	755	12.8	N/A
	Independent Labour	Evan Davies	634	10.7	N/A
	Independent Labour	N.L. Evans	101	1.7	N/A
Majority			1,768	29.8	+7.2
Turnout			5,918	53.4	-9.0
Registered electors			11,079
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

General Election 1945: University of Wales
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Prof. William John Gruffydd	5,239	75.5	+23.2
	Plaid Cymru	Dr. Gwenan Jones	1,696	24.5	+2.0
Majority			3,543	51.0	+21.2
Turnout			6,935	58.5	+5.1
Registered electors			11,847
	Liberal hold		Swing

• Seat abolished, 1950

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

See also

• University of Wales by-election, 1943

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)