Newport (Monmouthshire) (UK Parliament constituency)

Newport
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
1918–1983
Number of members one
Replaced by Newport East and Newport West
Created from Monmouth Boroughs

Newport was a borough constituency in Monmouthshire from 1918 to 1983. 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 system.

The constituency was created by the Representation of the People Act 1918 and abolished with the creation of the Newport East and Newport West constituencies. The Representation of the People Act enfranchised the county borough of Newport as a parliamentary borough returning one member. Previously, the borough was represented as part of the Monmouth Boroughs constituency, which also covered Monmouth and Usk.

Members of Parliament

ElectionMemberParty
1918 Lewis Haslam Coalition Liberal
1922 by-election Reginald George Clarry Conservative
1929 James Walker Labour
1931 Sir Reginald George Clarry Conservative
1945 by-election Ronald Bell Conservative
1945 Peter Freeman Labour
1956 by-election Sir Frank Soskice Labour
1966 Roy Hughes Labour
1983 constituency abolished: see Newport East and Newport West

Election results

Elections in the 1910s

Lewis Haslam
General Election 1918
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal 14,080 56.4 N/A
Labour John William Bowen 10,234 41.0 N/A
Independent Democrat Bertie Pardoe-Thomas 647 2.6 N/A
Majority 3,846 15.4 N/A
Turnout 62.2 N/A
Liberal win (new seat)

Elections in the 1920s

Newport by-election, 1922
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Reginald George Clarry 13,515 40.00 N/A
Labour John William Bowen 11,425 33.8 -7.2
Liberal William Lynden Moore 8,841 26.2 -30.2
Majority 2,090 6.2 N/A
Turnout 79.2 17
Unionist gain from Coalition Liberal Swing N/A
General Election 1922
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Reginald George Clarry 19,019 54.3 +14.3
Labour John William Bowen 16,000 45.7 +11.9
Majority 3,019 8.6 +2.4
Turnout 82.1 +2.9
Unionist hold Swing
General Election 1923
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Reginald George Clarry 14,424 39.5 -14.8
Labour John William Bowen 14,100 38.6 -7.1
Liberal H. Davies 8,015 21.9 N/A
Majority 324 0.9 -7.7
Turnout 85.2 +3.1
Unionist hold Swing
General Election 1924
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Reginald George Clarry 20,426 52.8 +13.3
Labour John William Bowen 18,263 47.2 +9.6
Majority 2,163 5.6 +4.7
Turnout 85.7 +0.5
Unionist hold Swing
General Election 1929
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour James Walker 18,653 39.5 -7.7
Unionist Reginald George Clarry 15,841 33.5 -19.3
Liberal Samuel Immanuel Cohen 12,735 27.0 N/A
Majority 2,812 6.0 +0.4
Turnout 83.8 -1.9
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Reginald George Clarry 27,829 59.1 +25.6
Labour James Walker 19,238 40.9 +1.4
Majority 8,591 18.2 N/A
Turnout 47,067 82.5 -1.3
Conservative gain from Labour Swing +12.0
General Election 1935
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Reginald George Clarry 23,300 51.7 −7.4
Labour Peter Freeman 21,755 48.3 +7.4
Majority 1,545 3.4 −14.8
Turnout 45,055 79.4 -3.1
Conservative hold Swing −7.4

Elections in the 1940s

Newport by-election, 1945
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Ronald McMillan Bell 16,424 54.5 2.8
Ind. Labour Party Robert Edwards 13,722 45.5 N/A
Majority 2,702 9.0 +5.6
Turnout 40,146 50.0 -29.4
Conservative hold Swing +1.4
General Election 1945
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Peter Freeman 23,845 54.2 N/A
Conservative Lt-Com. Ronald McMillan Bell 14,754 33.6 -20.9
Liberal Maj. William Robert Crawshay 5,362 12.2 N/A
Majority 9,091 20.6 N/A
Turnout 43,961 72.8 22.8
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Peter Freeman 31,858 51.0 -3.2
Conservative Ivor Thomas 21,866 35.0 +1.4
Liberal William John Owen 8,761 14.0 +1.8
Majority 9,992 16.0 -4.6
Turnout 87.9 +15.1
Labour hold Swing
General Election 1951
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Peter Freeman 32,883 52.8 +1.8
Conservative Thomas Esmôr Rhys Rhys-Roberts 24,166 38.8 +3.8
Liberal William John Owen 5,247 8.4 -5.6
Majority 8,717 14.0 -2.0
Turnout 86.3 -1.6
Labour hold Swing
General Election 1955
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Peter Freeman 31,537 53.7 +0.9
Conservative Donald Stewart Box 27,177 46.3 +7.5
Majority 4,360 7.4 -6.6
Turnout 81.6 -4.7
Labour hold Swing
Newport by-election, 1956
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Frank Soskice 29,205 56.3 +2.6
Conservative Donald Stewart Box 20,720 39.9 -5.4
Plaid Cymru Emrys Pugh Roberts 1,978 3.8 N/A
Majority 8,485 16.3 +8.9
Turnout 51,903
Labour hold Swing +4.0
General Election 1959
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Sir Frank Soskice 31,125 53.1 -3.2
Conservative Anthony D. Arnold 27,477 46.9 +7.0
Majority 3,648 6.2 -10.1
Turnout 81.6
Labour hold Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1964
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Sir Frank Soskice 31,962 57.5 +4.4
Conservative Peter Temple-Morris 23,649 42.5 -4.4
Majority 8,313 15.0 +8.8
Turnout 79.0 -3.1
Labour hold Swing
General Election 1966
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Royston John Hughes 32,098 59.8 +2.3
Conservative Peter Temple-Morris 21,599 40.2 -2.3
Majority 10,499 19.6 +4.6
Turnout 78.8 -0.2
Labour hold Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Royston John Hughes 30,132 55.7 -4.1
Conservative Anthony D. Arnold 22,005 40.7 +0.5
Plaid Cymru A. Robert Vickery 1,997 3.7 N/A
Majority 10,499 15.0 -4.6
Turnout 75.5 -3.3
Labour hold Swing
General Election February 1974
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Royston John Hughes 29,384 48.8 -6.9
Conservative G. Price 18,002 29.9 -10.8
Liberal J. H. Morgan 11,868 19.7 -2.7
Plaid Cymru P. Cox 936 1.6 -2.1
Majority 11,382 18.9 +3.9
Turnout 81.0 +5.5
Labour hold Swing
General Election October 1974
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Royston John Hughes 30,069 53.0 +4.2
Conservative G. A. L. Price 16,253 28.6 -1.3
Liberal J. H. Morgan 9,207 16.2 -3.5
Plaid Cymru G. Lee 1,216 2.1 +0.5
Majority 13,816 14.4 +5.5
Turnout 75.6 -4.4
Labour hold Swing
General Election 1979
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Royston John Hughes 30,919 51.7 -1.3
Conservative G. G. Davies 21,742 36.3 +7.6
Liberal A. Lambert 6,270 10.5 -5.7
National Front G. R. Woodward 484 0.8 N/A
Plaid Cymru A. Robert Vickery 473 0.8 -1.3
Majority 9,177 15.3 -9.1
Turnout 79.7 +4.1
Labour hold Swing

See also

Sources