West Carmarthenshire (UK Parliament constituency)

West Carmarthenshire
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1885–1918
Number of members	one
Created from	Carmarthenshire

West Carmarthenshire was a parliamentary constituency in Wales which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

It was created for the 1885 general election, when the old two-member Carmarthenshire constituency was divided into two new single-member seats: East Carmarthenshire and West Carmarthenshire, both of which were in turn abolished for the 1918 general election.

Boundaries

The constituency included the Sessional Divisions of Carmarthen, Llanboidy, Llanfihangel-ar-Arth, Newcastle Emlyn, and St Clears, and parts of the Sessional Divisions of Llandilo and Llandovery.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Walter Rice Howell Powell	Liberal
	1889	John Lloyd Morgan	Liberal
	1910, December	John Hinds	Liberal
1918		constituency abolished

History

Elections in the 1880s

At the first election in 1885, the two sitting member for the former constituency of Carmarthenshire faced each other. The Conservative candidate, Viscount Emlyn, although most of his family property lay in the eastern part of the county, calculated that his chances there would be negligible given the growing i austral population which had been a key factor in the triumph of the Liberal candidate, Edward Sartoris at the 1868 General Election. He was opposed by the Liberal W.R.H. Powell, himself a former Conservative supporter who had first declared his support for the Liberals at the 1874 election. Powell won a decisive victory.

General Election 1885 West Carmarthenshire[1] Electorate 9,969
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Walter Rice Howell Powell	4,568	60.8	n/a
	Conservative	Viscount Emlyn	2,942	39.2	n/a
Majority			1,626	21.6	n/a
Turnout				75.3	n/a
	Liberal win (new seat)

By the next election the following year, Emlyn had retired from the fray, and Powell won an even more decisive victory.

General Election 1886 West Carmarthenshire[2] Electorate 9,969
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Walter Rice Howell Powell	4,181	68.6
	Liberal Unionist	Sir James Clarke Lawrence	1,916	31.4
Majority			2,265	37.2
Turnout				61.2
	Liberal hold		Swing

The 1889 by-election

Powell died in 1889. After a short campaign he was succeeded by John Lloyd Morgan who comfortably won the by-election.^[3]

West Carmarthenshire by-election, 1889[4] Electorate 9,379
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Lloyd Morgan	4,252	62.7
	Conservative	Hugh Henry John Williams-Drummond	2,533	37.3
Majority			1,719	25.4
Turnout				72.3
	Liberal hold		Swing

Elections in the 1890s

Morgan was returned unopposed in 1890.

General Election 1892 West Carmarthenshire[5] Electorate 9,262
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Lloyd Morgan	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

In 1895, the Conservatives had their best result in the history the constituency, even though their candidate, W.J. Buckley of Llanelli, was some distance short of victory.

General Election 1895 West Carmarthenshire[6] Electorate 9,097
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Lloyd Morgan	4,143	57.2	n/a
	Liberal Unionist	W J Buckley	3,103	42.8	n/a
Majority			1,040	14.4	n/a
Turnout				79.7	n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1900 West Carmarthenshire[7] Electorate 9,338
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Lloyd Morgan	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

General Election 1906 West Carmarthenshire[8] Electorate 9,150
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Lloyd Morgan	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

West Carmarthenshire by-election, 1908
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Lloyd Morgan	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

The General Elections of 1910

Lloyd Morgan was opposed for the first time for fifteen years at the first General Election of 1910. His opponent, a Welsh-speaking barrister from Manchester, fought a vigorous campaign but made little impression.

General Election January 1910 West Carmarthenshire[9] Electorate 9,433
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Lloyd Morgan	5,684	73.4	n/a
	Conservative	John William Jones Cremlin	2,059	26.6	n/a
Majority			3,625	46.8	n/a
Turnout				82.1	n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

Later that year it was announced that Morgan was being made a judge and would not contest the second General Election.^[10] Six candidates contested the nomination, including Sir Owen Philipps, who had latterly stood down as member for Pembroke Boroughs, and Courtenay Mansel. The final choice was between John Hinds, a native of Carmarthen who was now a successful businessman in London and Henry Jones-Davies, who was both a prominent member of Carmarthenshire County Council and brother-in-law of the late Liberal politician, Tom Ellis. Jones-Davies had led throughout the Hinds won the final ballot by 188 votes against 186.^[11]

At the election that followed, Hinds was opposed by Jones Cremlyn, who was once again the Conservative candidate. It was suggested at one stage that the Rev Arthur Fuller Mills of Carmarthen, chairman of Carmarthenshire County Council, would contest the seat as an independent but the rumour proved unfounded.^[12] Jones Cremlyn fought vigorous campaign, which was enthusiastically supported by the Carmarthen Journal and addressed meetings throughout the constituency, travelling from village to village by motor car.^[13]

General Election December 1910 West Carmarthenshire[14] Electorate 9,433
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Hinds	5,076	71.4
	Conservative	John William Jones Cremlin	2,036	28.6
Majority			3,040	42.8
Turnout				75.4
	Liberal hold		Swing

Following the election, a Carmarthen Journal editorial complained about the dominance of the Liberals in the constituency and the means by which nonconformist ministers sustained them.^[15]

General Election 1914/15:

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

• Liberal: John Hinds
• Unionist: Alfred Stephens^[16]

References