On Thursday 6 December 1923, the 1923 United Kingdom general election was held in Wales, to elect all 615 members of the House of Commons, with 36 constituencies being in Wales. 35 seats represented territorial constituencies contested under the first past the post electoral system, and one additional seat represented the University of Wales which was also contested under the first past the post electoral system.
The election led to an overall drop in seats for the Conservative Party, with the Liberal Party and Labor taking seats across the United Kingdom. The election saw the formation of the first Labour Government under Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald, with the support of the reunited Liberal Party under H. H. Asquith; however, the Labour Government would only survive a year, owning to a vote of confidence the following year.
Candidates
Below is a table summarising the candidates of the 1923 general election in Wales, excluding those in the University of Wales constituency.
Affiliation CandidatesLiberal Party 31Labour Party 27Conservative Party 19Independent Liberal 1Total 78
Analysis
The Liberal Party, which had reunited on 13 November 1923 under the leadership of H. H. Asquith, increased its number of seats to 11 seats in total in Wales. The party retained Anglesey. The former National Liberal Party had gained the seat in the 1923 Anglesey by-election after the death of incumbent Independent Labour Member of Parliament Owen Thomas, and had subsequently reunited with the Liberal Party. The retention represented a gain from the previous election. The party also gained Caernarvonshire from the Labour Party and Cardiff East from the Conservative Party.
Conversely, Rhys Hopkin Morris, who was initially a member of the Liberal Party, stood in and won the seat of Cardiganshire. Morris had previous run in the seat in 1922 as a member of Liberal Party, narrowly losing it to then National Liberal member Ernest Evans. In this election, Morris ran against Evans, despite Evans returning to the Liberal Party along with all other former Liberal National Members of Parliament in Wales, surprisingly winning the seat against him. Morris would, however, return of the Liberal Party benches in 1924.
The Labour Party gained Swansea West from the Liberals, which was initially held by the dissolved National Liberal Party, representing a loss of the reunited Liberal Party. It also gained Cardiff South from the Conservative Party. Combined with this loss, the Conservatives lost a total of two seats to both Labour and the Liberal Party.
Within the University of Wales constituency, the National Liberal Party had dissolved. The Liberal Party and an Independent Liberal stood in the seat, however it was won by Christian Pacifist candidate George Davies. Davies would go on to take the Labour Party whip, despite never joining the party.
County and borough constituency results Below is a table summarising the constituency results of the 1923 general election in Wales, excluding the result in the University of Wales constituency.
+PartySeatsAggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of total (%) Total Of total (%) Change (%) 19 2 1 1 54.3 355,172 42.0 1.3 11 3 2 1 31.4 299,314 35.4 1.2 4 0 2 2 11.4 178,113 21.1 0.3 1 colspan="2" 1 2.9 12,469 1.5 Other 0 0 1 1 — 0 0.0 1.3 Total 35 0 100.0 845,068 100.0 0.0 Registered voters, and turnout 1,258,973 77.3 2.1
University of Wales result
Below is a table summarising the 1923 constituency results for seat of the University of Wales constituency. The independent candidate George Davies won the seat from the National Liberal Party, leaving the Liberal Party on a total of 11 seats, and bringing the total seats in Wales to 36.
See also 1923 United Kingdom general election in England 1923 United Kingdom general election in Scotland 1923 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland List of MPs for constituencies in Wales (1923–1924)
Notes
References