Ceredigion (UK Parliament constituency)

Boundaries

The boundaries of this constituency mirror almost exactly those of the county of Ceredigion.

Proposed constituency changes

Under proposed constituency boundary changes announced in September 2016, ahead of the then 2024 general election, the seat's boundaries were to be extended. The seat, which has the proposed name of Ceredigion and North Pembrokeshire, includes all of the current Ceredigion constituency, the northern part of the current Preseli Pembrokeshire constituency, a small part of Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire around the village of Dre-fach Felindre, as well the south-western part of Montgomeryshire around Llanidloes.

History

Ceredigion, formerly known by the anglicised version of its name as Cardiganshire, was first enfranchised in 1536 when King Henry VIII incorporated Wales within England. The county was given one member, who was to be elected by each person who owned property of a sufficient value. In addition the inhabitants of Cardigan, Aberystwyth, Adpar and Lampeter were given the right to elect one MP between them, with the vote restricted to the Freemen. The general election of 1715 saw the return of Lewis Pryse, who was expelled from the House of Commons in the following year for refusing to attend the House to take oaths of loyalty to King George I after the Jacobite rising, with which he sympathised.

Reformed elections

From 1832 the Reform Act changed the electoral system so that householders of homes worth over £10 were enfranchised in the boroughs. The Borough constituency was still dominated by the Loveden-Pryse family based in Gogerddan who were supporters of the Liberals; Pryse Pryse held the seat unopposed from 1818 until his death in 1849, except for the 1841 election when he narrowly retained the seat after a controversial contest. The Cardiganshire county constituency, however, was dominated by the Powell family of Nanteos who were Conservatives. William Edward Powell held the seat from 1816 until shortly before his death in 1854. By agreement between the followers of Gogerddan and Nanteos, neither challenged the others' nomination and as a result there were no contested elections in the county until 1859.

Following Powell's retirement, the representation fell to Ernest Vaughan of Trawscoed, whose politics were Conservative.

The county saw its first contest in the 1859 general election when Colonel W.T.R. Powell of Nanteos sought to re-establish the family's claim to the county seat. He was opposed by Arthur Saunders-Davies of Pentre but prevailed by a narrow margin. Both candidates held conservative views but Powell sat as a Liberal-Conservative.

However, the era where Nanteos could claim the seat were numbered, and Sir Thomas Lloyd of Bronwydd was mooted as a potential Liberal candidate at the 1854 by-election, and again at the General Elections of 1857 and 1859.

By the 1865 general election, Powell had indicated some twelve months prior to the election that he would retire and Lloyd of Bronwydd was selected as the Liberal candidate. However, when Powell reversed his decision, Lloyd issued an address stating that he would not oppose the sitting member. The result was that both Henry Richard and David Davies offered themselves as candidates. A selection meeting was arranged to be held at Aberaeron, but shortly before this took place, Powell announced his retirement. Lloyd now stated that he would now fight the seat after all and Richard withdrew in his favour. David Davies, however, did not withdraw and came within 361 votes of victory.

Lloyd transferred to the borough in the 1868 election when the seat was captured by Swansea industrialist, E.M. Richards. This election is often regarded as a landmark when tenant farmers allegedly refused to follow patterns of age-old deference and vote in line with the wishes of their landlords. Following this election there were claims of intimidation by Conservative landlords and a national fund was set up to support those purportedly evicted from their farms. In reality, however, Richards' victory owed much to the support of the powerful Pryse family of Gogerddan.

In 1874, the Conservative candidate Thomas Edward Lloyd of Coedmore captured the seat for the Conservatives, defeating Richards by 215 votes. The result was greeted with disbelief in Liberal ranks, particularly since the introduction of the secret ballot was expected to have favoured the Liberals. However, the Conservatives had chosen a candidate who was popular in his locality and not been involved in conflicts with his tenants. The Liberals were also caught unprepared for the contest, with Lloyd's candidature kept secret until nomination day. Much capital was also made of the fact that Lloyd was a Cardiganshire man, in contrast to Richards, a Swansea industrialist. The result was reversed in 1880 although there were close contests for the county thereafter, on a slightly widened franchise.

Single constituency

In a redistribution of seats for the 1885 general election, the borough constituency was abolished and absorbed into the county. This brought into the county seat the more radical politics of urban voters in the boroughs of Aberystwyth, Cardigan, Lampeter and Adpar. More significantly, the further widening of the franchise in 1884 added between five and six thousand new voters to the register by extending the pattern of household suffrage to the counties. The majority of these voters would have been tenant farmers, the more prosperous agricultural labourers, and householders in small towns or large villages such as Tregaron, Aberaeron, New Quay, Aberporth, Tal-y-bont and Borth, which had not been part of the old Cardigan Boroughs constituency. The impact of the widening of the franchise and boundary changes was to increase the electorate from 5,026 in 1883 to 12,308 by 1886. It was assumed that these changes would make the county a reasonably safe bet for the Liberal Party and that supporters of Gladstone would be comfortably returned at every election. These structural changes to the political arrangements of the county were also taking place against wider social and economic developments which affected all aspects of Cardiganshire life. Traditional industries were in decline, agriculture was increasingly in crisis and it was becoming increasingly difficult for a still-increasing population to earn a living within their native parishes and communities. As a result, there were two major consequences. Firstly there was a significant population shift as a result of emigration, in the majority of cases to the south Wales valleys. Secondly, the great landed estates of the county, which had for so long dominated the politics of the county, were in many cases heavily in debt. This second factor contributed to the loss of landowner influence in the politics of the county, a trend that became very apparent at the first elections to the Cardiganshire County Council.

Initially, the predictions that Gladstonian Liberals would dominate county politics were realised, in 1885, David Davies was elected to represent the constituency with a majority of 2,323 (24.2%) on a turnout of 78%, heavily defeating the Conservative, Matthew Vaughan Davies. Although David Davies was no public speaker, he drew substantial support in Cardiganshire as a generous benefactor of the new university college at Aberystwyth and also through his links with Calvinistic Methodism, which had over 13,000 members in the county. Allied to this was a particularly effective Liberal association which paid close attention to the registration of voters.

Main article: David Davies (industrialist)

In 1886, however, Davies broke with Gladstone over home rule for Ireland in 1886 and a number of his associates such as Robert J. Davies, Cwrtmawr followed him into the Liberal Unionist camp. He sought re-election as a Liberal Unionist but lost by 9 votes to William Bowen Rowlands, who was the Gladstonian candidate. This election split the Liberal Party in Cardiganshire and the election was hotly contested with almost all the landowners, including those previously regarded as having Liberal sympathies, supporting Davies. He also received the support of several prominent Liberals, especially from his own Methodist denomination. The result of the election was largely attributed to the influence of nonconformist ministers over their congregations, although the more effective canvassing of supporters by the Liberal Association was also identified as an important factor.

Even though Bowen Rowlands's victory was by the closest of margins it was a decisive moment in the political history of Cardiganshire. It proved that a Gladstonian Liberal candidate, even an Anglican with strong Irish Nationalist sympathies, could triumph in Cardiganshire even against the resources and religious connections of a candidate such as David Davies. Although Liberal Unionism continued to be championed by a relatively small group, led by the journalist Henry Tobit Evans, who published a newspaper, Y Brython, at Lampeter, most of the leading Liberals who had defected to Davies eventually returned to the fold, in some cases to contest the 1889 County Council elections. The demise of Liberal Unionism was confirmed at the 1892 general election when, William Jones, a self-made Birmingham draper who had a small estate in Cardiganshire and was a member of the Cardiganshire County Council ran with the support of Joseph Chamberlain. Chamberlain had sponsored a number of Nonconformist unionist candidates in Wales in the hope of capitalising upon perceived antipathy towards Irish Nationalism. Despite spending heavily and producing a farmer evicted at the 1868 Election on his platform, Jones was heavily defeated by Bowen Rowlands. Rowlands served until 1895.

Once Rowlands's intention not to stand again was known, Matthew Vaughan Davies of Tan-y-Bwlch, who had been the Conservative candidate in the seat in 1885, but who had subsequently joined the Liberal Party, emerged as a contender for the nomination and was eventually chosen by a delegate conference, defeating Wynford Phillips by 160 votes to 111. The choice of Vaughan Davies was controversial and was strongly opposed by the Aberystwyth-based Cambrian News on the basis of his former association with the Conservative Party. Indeed, the paper went as far as to equate the division with that of 1886. There is no doubt that the choice of Vaughan Davies created deep divisions in the Liberal ranks. However, despite these divisions he saw off a strong Conservative candidate by a comfortable if reduced majority.

Matthew Vaughan-Davies was the longest serving MP for the constituency, holding it from 1895 to 1921. His closest electoral call came in the 'Khaki election' of 1900 when he had a majority of 781 (9.4%) over J.C. Harford of Falcondale. Thereafter, Vaughan Davies was comfortably returned at each election but the vitality of the Liberal Association was in serious decline. During this time the Cambrian News had tempered its opposition to him and grudgingly admitted that Vaughan-Davies had won friends and supporters by his adherence to Liberal policies.

By 1914 the Liberal Association was heavily dependent on Vaughan Davies's role as treasurer to keep it going. In the meantime, Vaughan Davies remained on poor terms with prominent Liberals, including John Gibson, editor of the Cambrian News until his death in 1915.

Like most Welsh Liberals, he supported David Lloyd George in the split in the Liberal Party, and not H. H. Asquith, and was therefore returned unopposed as a Coalition Liberal in 1918.

Liberal infighting (1921–1950)

In many ways the Liberals had become the new elite in Cardiganshire by the time of the First World War. This was demonstrated in 1919 when John Humphreys Davies, the nonconformist squire of Cwrtmawr, was appointed Principal of the University College, Aberystwyth, at the expense of Thomas Jones, who was championed by Lord Davies of Llandinam, grandson of David Davies.

With Vaughan Davies known to be a supporter of Lloyd George, it was natural that Lloyd George looked to him to boost his support in the House of Lords and awarded him a peerage in the New Years' Honours list in 1921. Although he would have preferred to be called 'Lord Ceredigion', the Garter King of Arms refused this as an inappropriate title for a Baron, and so Vaughan Davies took his title from the River Ystwyth which ran past his home. The peerage created a vacancy in a historically Liberal seat and the Asquithites decided to take the Lloyd Georgeites on in their 'backyard' in what became a memorable by-election.

Ernest Evans, who asserted on his election posters that he was 'THE Liberal candidate', was a Barrister from Aberystwyth and had been Private Secretary to Lloyd George himself, and therefore had the blessing of the Coalition and official support from the Conservatives. A number of possible Asquithian Liberal candidates were approached to contest the seat against Evans and eventually the choice fell upon W. Llewelyn Williams who was sponsored by the Asquithite 'Welsh Liberal Federation'. No other candidate stood and in the straight fight, Evans won with a majority of 3,590 (14.6%).

Evans held on as a 'National Liberal' (as Lloyd George's supporters called themselves) in the 1922 general election but with a slim majority of 515 votes (2.0%) over Rhys Hopkin Morris.

The sudden shotgun merger of the two factions in the Liberal Party led to Evans getting the official approval of the unified party for the 1923 election. However, the Conservatives decided to fight and this deprived him of their votes. Hopkin Morris decided to fight again as an unofficial Liberal and won with a 5,078 vote majority. Hopkin Morris was lucky to survive the 1924 election, a disaster for the Liberals, by being returned unopposed.

The first Labour Party candidate stood against Rhys Hopkin Morris at the 1931 general election and polled 24% of the vote in a straight fight against Morris, who had a 13,752 (52.0%) majority.

In 1932, Morris left Parliament temporarily (he was later to return as MP for Carmarthen) when he was appointed as a Metropolitan Police magistrate. The byelection on 22 September 1932 saw the first three-way fight between the parties, but was won by Owen Evans for the Liberals. Like many of the Liberal MPs he had been a barrister. Evans died shortly before the 1945 general election, but the seat was easily held by his successor Roderic Bowen. Unusually the Labour vote actually fell in percentage terms compared with the previous election despite the Labour landslide in the country at large.

Labour challenge (1950–1972)

Labour established itself as the main challenger to the Liberals at the 1950 general election in a three-way contest, and the Conservatives opted out of the contest thereafter until 1964. This was partly a move to keep the seat from going Labour. Plaid Cymru first fought the seat in 1959 and kept their deposit (just, with 12.8% of the vote).

With a four-way contest involving the Conservatives and Plaid Cymru at the 1964 general election, and a national swing to Labour, Roderic Bowen suffered a precipitate decline in his share of the vote to only 38.4%; he was re-elected with a majority of 2,219 (7.4%) over Labour. After the death of the Speaker in 1965, Bowen accepted the offer to become a Deputy Speaker, which prevented him from speaking on behalf of his constituency. For the 1966 election, Labour selected Elystan Morgan who had been a member of Plaid Cymru until 1964; with a further national swing and Morgan making a credible bid for the Welsh-speaking vote, Labour won the seat by 523 votes.

1974 onwards

In boundary changes in 1983, the constituency was merged with a northern area of Pembrokeshire and also took a Welsh version of its name, becoming known as Ceredigion and Pembroke North.

Ceredigion was recreated for the 1997 election as it reverted to its former borders, having lost the part of North Pembrokeshire in boundary changes.

Mark Williams, first elected in 2005, was the first non-Welsh speaking Member of Parliament elected to represent the constituency since Bowen Rowlands (MP from 1886 until 1892, who declared at a meeting in Aberystwyth when adopted as candidate that he could not speak Welsh). At the 2010 general election, he received a massive increase in his vote, polling over 50% of the votes cast and raising his majority from 219 to 8,324 over the Plaid Cymru candidate, Penri James.

In 2015, Williams suffered a decline of over 14% in his vote share, in common with other Liberal Democrat incumbents across the UK. However, after a campaign which made national headlines due to prior controversial comments by both the Plaid Cymru and Labour candidates, Plaid Cymru were unable to capitalise as their vote share went down slightly. The Conservative vote also declined, while UKIP, Labour and the Greens all improved on their 2010 performance. Williams retained the seat to become the only Liberal Democrat MP in Wales, and one of only eight across the UK.

In 2017, Williams lost his seat to Ben Lake by 104 votes (0.2%). Labour moved from fifth to third in the seat and were roughly 3,000 votes behind Williams and Lake, their best result in Ceredigion since 1997, and the Tories fell to fourth but increased their vote by more than 3,000. The 29.2% won by Plaid Cymru in 2017 was the lowest winning vote share of the election and the only seat won with less than 30% of the vote. At the 2019 General Election Lake substantially increased both his majority and vote share, with the Liberal Democrats falling to third place.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1541–1640

MPs after 1640

Short Parliament

• 1640: James Lewis

Long Parliament

• 1640–1644: Walter Lloyd (Royalist) – disabled to sit, 5 February 1644
• 1646–1648: Sir Richard Pryse, 1st Baronet – excluded in Pride's Purge, December 1648

Cardiganshire was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament

First Protectorate Parliament

• 1654–1655: Col. James Philipps
• 1654–1655: Rev. Jenkin Lloyd

Second Protectorate Parliament

• 1656: Col. James Philipps
• 1656–1658: Col. John Clark
• 1656–1658: James Lewis

Third Protectorate Parliament

• 1659: Col. James Philipps

Elections

Elections in the 19th century

Elections in the 1830s

|reg. electors =

|reg. electors =

|reg. electors = 1,184

|reg. electors = 1,352

|reg. electors = 1,788

Elections in the 1840s

|reg. electors = 2,060

|reg. electors = 2,278

Elections in the 1850s

|reg. electors = 2,235

|reg. electors =

|reg. electors = 2,723

|reg. electors = 2,586

Elections in the 1860s

|reg. electors = 3,520

|reg. electors = 5,115

Elections in the 1870s

|reg. electors= 4,438

Elections in the 1880s

|reg. electors = 4,882

|reg. electors = 12,308

|reg. electors = 12,308

Elections in the 1890s

|reg. electors = 13,155

|reg. electors =

Rowlands is appointed Recorder of Swansea, requiring a by-election.

|reg. electors = 12,994

Elections in the 20th century

Elections in the 1900s

|reg. electors = 13,299

|reg. electors = 13,215

Elections in the 1910s

|reg. electors = 13,333

|reg. electors =

|reg. electors = 30,368

Elections in the 1920s

|reg. electors = 30,751

|reg. electors = 32,695

|reg. electors = 32,881

|reg. electors = 33,314

|reg. electors = 38,704

Elections in the 1930s

|reg. electors = 39,206

|reg. electors = 39,206

|reg. electors = 39,851

Elections in the 1940s

|reg. electors = 41,597

Elections in the 1950s

|reg. electors = 44,627

|reg. electors = 41,977

|reg. electors = 39,902

|reg. electors = 38,878

Elections in the 1960s

|reg. electors = 37,964

|reg. electors = 37,553

Elections in the 1970s

|reg. electors = 40,226

|reg. electors = 42,752

|reg. electors = 43,052

|reg. electors = 45,555

For 1983, 1987 and 1992; see Ceredigion and Pembroke North

Elections in the 1990s

|reg. electors = 54,378

Elections in the 21st century

Elections in the 2000s

|reg. electors = 55,025

|reg. electors = 56,125

|reg. electors = 53,776

Elections in the 2010s

|reg. electors = 59,882

|reg. electors = 54,242

|reg. electors = 52,889 Of the 52 rejected ballots:

• 41 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for.
• 11 voted for more than one candidate.

|reg. electors = 56,250 Of the 117 rejected ballots:

• 87 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for.
• 30 voted for more than one candidate.

Notes

References

Sources

References

1. "Ceredigion: Usual Resident Population, 2011". Office for National Statistics.
2. (August 2017). "Electoral roll: Electors and attainers, by National Assembly for Wales constituency". StatsWales.
3. (28 June 2023). "2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituencies - The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituencies in Wales". [[Boundary Commission for Wales]].
4. (19 September 2016). "Ceredigion could return to south constituency boundary". Cambrian News.
5. (September 2016). "2018 Review of Parliamentary Constituencies — Initial Proposals Report". Boundary Commission for Wales.
6. "Members expelled from the House of Commons since the Restoration". demon.co.uk.
7. (17 February 1854). "Editorial [untitled]". Welshman.
8. (27 March 1857). "Editorial [untitled]". Welshman.
9. (22 April 1859). "Editorial [untitled]". Welshman.
10. (13 February 1874). "Liberal Defeat in Cardiganshire (editorial).". Cambrian News.
11. (5 February 1874). "The Cardiganshire Election (editorial)". South Wales Daily News.
12. (14 February 1874). "The Conservative Victory in Cardiganshire (editorial).". Aberystwyth Observer.
13. Morgan. "Cardiganshire Politics".
14. Morgan. "Cardiganshire Politics".
15. Morgan. "Cardiganshire Politics".
16. (26 June 1886). "Meeting in support of Mr D. Davies". Aberystwyth Observer.
17. Morgan. "Cardiganshire Politics".
18. (17 July 1886). "Cardiganshire Election and its lessons (editorial)". Aberystwyth Observer.
19. Morgan. "Cardiganshire Politics".
20. (4 July 1895). "Representation of Cardiganshire. Selection of Liberal Candidate".
21. (5 July 1895). "The Contest in Cardiganshire (editorial)". Cambrian News.
22. (4 July 1895). "The Liberal Split (editorial)". Aberystwyth Observer.
23. (5 October 1900). "The Two Cardiganshire Candidates (editorial)". Cambrian News.
24. Morgan. "Cardiganshire Politics".
25. Morgan. "Cardiganshire Politics".
26. Morgan. "Cardiganshire Politics".
27. (3 July 1886). "The County Election". Aberystwyth Observer.
28. (9 April 2015). "Election 2015: 'Baptism of fire' for Plaid candidate". BBC News.
29. (10 April 2015). "Election 2015: Candidate suggested cars be damaged". BBC News.
30. "Ceredigion 1997–".
31. {{Rayment-hc. c. 2. (February 2015)
32. Expelled the House 23 March 1716 for failing to attend to take an oath of loyalty.
33. (1845). "The Parliaments of England, from 1st George I., to the Present Time. Vol II: Oxfordshire to Wales Inclusive". Simpkin, Marshall, & Co..
34. "Cardiganshire".
35. (11 May 1859). "Cardiganshire County Election". Eddowes's Journal, and General Advertiser for Shropshire, and the Principality of Wales.
36. (28 November 1868). "Nomination Day at Cardigan". [[Carmarthen Weekly Reporter]].
37. (1977). "British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885". Macmillan Press.
38. The Liberal Year Book, 1907
39. Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1886
40. (11 Jul 1892). "How Mr W Jones Holds His Meetings". South Wales Daily News.
41. Craig, F. W. S. (1974). British parliamentary election results 1885-1918 (1 ed.). London and Basingstoke: The Macmillan Press Ltd. {{ISBN. 9780333169032. Page 471
42. Craig, F. W. S. (1969). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (1 ed.). Glasgow: Political Reference Publications. {{ISBN. 0-900178-019. Page 550
43. Craig, F. W. S. (1971). British parliamentary election results 1950-1970 (1 ed.). Chichester: Political Reference Publications. {{ISBN. 9780900178023. Page 569
44. (28 February 1974). "Politics Resources". Politics Resources.
45. (10 October 1974). "Politics Resources". Politics Resources.
46. (3 May 1979). "Politics Resources". Politics Resources.
47. "Election Data 1997". [[Electoral Calculus]].
48. (7 June 2001). "BBC NEWS > Ceredigion". BBC News.
49. Boothroyd, David. "Results of Byelections in the 1997-2001 Parliament".
50. "Election Data 2001". [[Electoral Calculus]].
51. (7 June 2001). "BBC NEWS > Ceredigion". BBC News.
52. "Election Data 2005". [[Electoral Calculus]].
53. "Ceredigion parliamentary constituency - Election 2005". BBC News.
54. "Election Data 2010". [[Electoral Calculus]].
55. link. (9 June 2011 Cyngor Sir Ceredigion County Council – candidates Ceredigion)
56. [https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/election2010/results/constituency/w24.stm Ceredigion] BBC Election – Ceredigion
57. "Election Data 2015". [[Electoral Calculus]].
58. "Ceredigion parliamentary constituency - Election 2015". BBC News.
59. (6 June 2017). "General Election 2017: Who will people in Aberystwyth vote for?".
60. "Ceredigion Parliamentary constituency". [[BBC]].
61. "Results".
62. Ceredigion, Plaid-. (26 April 2017). "Very pleased to announce that Ben Lake is the Plaid Cymru #Ceredigion candidate for the general election. #Plaid17 #ProtectWales #GE17pic.twitter.com/80jBsT3JIi".
63. "Ceredigion's MP reacts to surprise news of snap General Election".
64. Society}}{{Dead link, People's Printing Press. (November 2018). "Dinah Mulholland".
65. "Loony Party Candidates".
66. "Voting & Elections".
67. "Ceredigion parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". BBC News.