Rhondda East (UK Parliament constituency)

Rhondda East
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
1918–1974 (1974)
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Rhondda
Created from	Rhondda

Rhondda East was a parliamentary constituency which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons to the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 until 1974. Along with Rhondda West it was formed by dividing the old Rhondda constituency.

History

Rhondda East was for a time a heartland of the Communist Party of Great Britain, who formed the main opposition on the Council. For a time, Annie Powell was the only Communist mayor in Britain. Harry Pollitt, General Secretary of the CPGB, narrowly failed to win the seat in 1945.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1918	David Watts-Morgan	Labour
	1933 by-election	William Mainwaring	Labour
	1959	Elfed Davies	Labour
Feb 1974		constituency abolished: see Rhondda

Election results

Elections in the 1910s

In the 1918 general election, David Watts-Morgan was elected unopposed.

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1922: Rhondda East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	David Watts-Morgan	17,146	55.0
	National Liberal	Frederick William Heale	14,025	45.0
Majority			3,121	10.0
Turnout				80.9
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1923: Rhondda East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	David Watts-Morgan	21,338	71.9	+16.9
	Unionist	Alfred John Orchard	8,346	28.1	n/a
Majority			12,992	43.8	+33.8
Turnout				74.6	−6.3
	Labour hold		Swing	n/a

In the United Kingdom general election, 1924, David Watts-Morgan was elected unopposed.

General Election 1929: Rhondda East^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	David Watts Morgan	19,010	50.2	N/A
	Liberal	Richard David Chalke	10,269	27.0	N/A
	Communist	Arthur Lewis Horner	5,789	15.2	N/A
	Unionist	John Francis Powell	2,901	7.6	N/A
Majority			8,741	23.2	N/A
Turnout				84.7	N/A
	Labour hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931: Rhondda East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	David Watts-Morgan	22,086	68.1	+17.9
	Communist	Arthur Horner	10,359	31.9	+16.7
Majority			11,727	36.2
Turnout			32,445	73.7
	Labour hold		Swing

By-election 1933: Rhondda East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	William Mainwaring	14,127	42.6	−25.5
	Communist	Arthur Horner	11,228	33.8	+1.9
	Liberal	William D. Thomas	7,851	23.6	N/A
Majority			2,899	8.8
Turnout				74.9
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1935: Rhondda East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	William Mainwaring	22,088	61.8	−6.3
	Communist	Harry Pollitt	13,655	38.2	+6.3
Majority			8,433	23.6
Turnout				80.8
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Rhondda East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	William Henry Mainwaring	16,733	48.4	−13.4
	Communist	Harry Pollitt	15,761	45.5	+7.3
	Plaid Cymru	James Kitchener Davies	2,123	6.1	N/A
Majority			972	2.9	−20.7
Turnout				82.8	+2.0
	Labour hold		Swing	−10.3

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: Rhondda East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	William Mainwaring	26,645	75.9	+26.5
	Communist	Harry Pollitt	4,463	12.7	−32.8
	Conservative	George Nicholls	2,634	7.5	N/A
	Plaid Cymru	David Davies	1,357	3.9	−2.2
Majority			22,182	63.2	+60.3
Turnout				87.5	+4.7
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1951: Rhondda East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	William Mainwaring	27,958	81.2	+5.3
	Conservative	Oliver Stutchbury	3,522	10.3	+2.8
	Communist	Idris Cox	2,948	8.6	−4.1
Majority			24,436	71.0	+ 7.8
Turnout				85.5	−2.0
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Rhondda East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	William Mainwaring	21,859	72.6	−8.6
	Communist	Annie Powell	4,544	15.1	+6.5
	Conservative	H. R. Rowlands	3,711	12.3	−2.0
Majority			17,315	57.5	−13.5
Turnout				85.5	−8.4
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1959: Rhondda East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Elfed Davies	20,565	65.2	−7.4
	Communist	Annie Powell	4,580	14.5	−0.6
	Conservative	D. H. Peace	3,629	11.5	−0.8
	Plaid Cymru	N. Williams	2,776	8.8	N/A
Majority			15,985	50.7	−6.8
Turnout				83.2	−2.3
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1964: Rhondda East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Elfed Davies	20,510	71.2	+6.0
	Communist	Annie Powell	3,385	11.8	−2.7
	Conservative	D. C. Purnell	2,548	8.9	−2.6
	Plaid Cymru	G.P. James	2,361	8.2	−0.6
Majority			17,125	59.5	+8.8
Turnout				79.5	−3.7
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1966: Rhondda East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Elfed Davies	21,567	77.4	+2.3
	Communist	Annie Powell	2,349	8.4	−3.4
	Plaid Cymru	G. P. James	2,088	7.5	−0.7
	Conservative	W. K. R. Ricketts	1,857	6.7	−2.2
Majority			19,218	69.0	+9.5
Turnout				78.5	−1.0
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: Rhondda East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Elfed Davies	19,602	68.7	−8.7
	Plaid Cymru	G.P. James	6,931	24.3	+16.7
	Conservative	R. C. Mullett	1,359	4.8	−1.9
	Communist	A. Jones	659	2.3	−6.1
Majority			12,671	44.4	−24.6
Turnout				77.4	−1.1
	Labour hold		Swing

References

↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig

Sources

Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "H" (part 3)
http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/ (Election results from 1951 to the present)
F. W. S. Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918 - 1949
F. W. S. Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1950 - 1970

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