Flintshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Flintshire
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
Preserved county	Flintshire
1542–1950
Number of members	One
Replaced by	East Flintshire and West Flintshire

Flintshire was a parliamentary constituency in North-East Wales which generally returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons, latterly that of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, from 1542 until it was abolished for the 1950 general election.

Boundaries

From its creation in 1542 until 1918, the constituency consisted of the historic county of Flintshire in north-east Wales. The seat should not be confused with the borough constituency of Flint or that of Flint Boroughs, which together existed from the 16th century until 1918.

In 1889 an administrative county of Flintshire was created. This formed the basis of the constituency which existed from 1918 until 1950, when the county was split between East and West divisions.

Members of Parliament

Before 1604

Parliament	Member
1545	Peter Mostyn [1]
1547	George Wood [1]
1553 (Mar)	Sir Thomas Hanmer [1]
1553 (Oct)	Robert Massey [1]
1554 (Apr)	William Mostyn [1]
1554 (Nov)	William Mostyn [1]
1555	Robert Massey [1]
1558	John Conway [1]
1559	John Griffith[2]
1562/3	George Ravenscroft [2]
1571	John Griffith [2]
1572	William Mostyn, died and replaced Feb 1577 by Thomas Mostyn [2]
1584	John Hope [2]
1586	William Ravenscroft [2]
1588	Roger Puleston [2]
1593	Thomas Hanmer [2]
1597	William Ravenscroft [2]
1601	William Ravenscroft [2]

1604–1950

Year		Member
	1604	Roger Puleston
	1614	Robert Ravenscroft
	1621	Sir Roger Mostyn
	1624	Sir John Hanmer, 1st Baronet died and replaced 1624 by Sir John Trevor
	1625	Sir John Trevor
	1626	John Salusbury
	1628	Robert Jones
	1629–1640	No Parliaments summoned
	1640	John Mostyn
	1640	John Mostyn, disabled 1643
	1646	John Trevor
	1653	Flintshire not represented in Barebones Parliament

Year	First Member	Second Member
Two members in first and second Protectorate Parliaments
1654	John Trevor	Andrew Ellice
1656	John Trevor	Sir John Glynne

Year		Name	Party
	1659	John Trevor
	1660	Kenrick Eyton
	1661	Sir Henry Conway
	1669	Sir Thomas Hanmer
	1678	Mutton Davies
	1681	Sir John Hanmer, 3rd Baronet
	1685	Sir John Conway
	1689	Sir Roger Puleston	Whig
	1695	Sir John Conway	Tory
	1701	Sir Roger Mostyn	Tory
	1702	Sir Thomas Hanmer	Tory
	1705	Sir John Conway	Tory
	1708	Sir Roger Mostyn	Tory
	1713	Sir John Conway	Tory
	1715	Sir Roger Mostyn
	1734	Sir Thomas Mostyn, 4th Baronet
	1741	Sir John Glynne
	1747	Sir Thomas Mostyn, 4th Baronet
	1758	Sir Roger Mostyn
	1796	Sir Thomas Mostyn
	1797	John Lloyd
	1799	Sir Thomas Mostyn
	1831	Edward Lloyd-Mostyn	Liberal
	1832	Edward Lloyd-Mostyn	Liberal
	1837	Sir Stephen Glynne	Conservative
	1841	Edward Lloyd-Mostyn	Liberal
	1842	Sir Stephen Glynne	Conservative
	1847	Edward Lloyd-Mostyn	Liberal
	1854	Thomas Lloyd-Mostyn	Liberal
	1861	Lord Richard Grosvenor	Liberal
	1886	Samuel Smith	Liberal
	1906	Herbert Lewis	Liberal
	1918	Thomas Henry Parry	Liberal
	1924	Ernest Handforth Goodman Roberts	Conservative
	1929	Frederick Llewellyn-Jones	Liberal
	1931		Liberal National
	1932		Liberal
	1935	Gwilym Rowlands	Conservative
	1945	Nigel Birch	Conservative
Constituency divided into East and West Flintshire in 1950

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1885: Flintshire[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Richard de Aquila Grosvenor, Rt Hon. Lord Richard Grosvenor	4,758	60.3
	Conservative	Hon. Henry Richard Howel Lloyd-Mostyn	3,132	39.7
Majority			1,626	20.6
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

Samuel Smith

Flintshire by-election, 1886[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Samuel Smith	4,248	60.8	+0.5
	Conservative	PP Pennant	2,738	39.2	-0.5
Majority			1,510	21.6	+1.0
Turnout				69.3
	Liberal hold		Swing	+0.5

General Election 1886: Flintshire[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Samuel Smith	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

Elections in the 1890s

Robert Cunliffe

General Election 1892: Flintshire[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Samuel Smith	4,597	59.4	n/a
	Liberal Unionist	Sir Robert Alfred Cunliffe	3,145	40.6	n/a
Majority			1,452	18.8	n/a
Turnout				76.8	n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

General Election 1895: Flintshire[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Samuel Smith	4,376	52.7	-6.7
	Conservative	Henry Richard Lloyd Howard	3,925	47.3	+6.7
Majority			451	5.4	-13.4
Turnout				78.4	+1.6
	Liberal hold		Swing	-6.7

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1900: Flintshire[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Samuel Smith	4,528	53.6	+0.9
	Conservative	Henry Richard Lloyd Howard	3,922	46.4	-0.9
Majority			606	7.2	+1.8
Turnout				78.4
	Liberal hold		Swing	+0.9

Herbert Lewis

General Election 1906: Flintshire[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Herbert Lewis	6,294	63.8	+10.2
	Conservative	A. Harold Edwards	3,572	36.2	-10.2
Majority			2,722	27.6	+20.4
Turnout				83.0	+4.6
	Liberal hold		Swing	+10.2

Elections in the 1910s

General Election January 1910: Flintshire[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Herbert Lewis	6,610	59.7	-4.1
	Conservative	Henry Richard Lloyd Howard	4,454	40.3	+4.1
Majority			2,156	19.4	-8.2
Turnout				86.6
	Liberal hold		Swing	-4.1

General Election December 1910: Flintshire[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Herbert Lewis	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

General Election 1914/15: Another General Election was due to take place before the end of 1915. From 1914, the parties had been making preparations for an election, and by the end of that year, the following candidates had been selected:

• Liberal: Rt Hon. John Herbert Lewis
• Unionist: D. F. Pennant^[12]

The constituency was then merged with Flint Boroughs.

Thomas Parry

General Election 1918: Flintshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Henry Parry*	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

* endorsed by the Coalition Government.

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1922: Flintshire [13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	Thomas Henry Parry	16,854	44.2	n/a
	Unionist	Austin Ellis Lloyd Jones	15,080	39.6	n/a
	Labour	David Gwynfryn Jones	6,163	16.2	n/a
Majority			1,774	4.6	n/a
Turnout				79.4	n/a
	National Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

General Election 1923: Flintshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Henry Parry	19,609	56.8	+12.6
	Unionist	Ernest Handforth Goodman Roberts	14,926	43.2	+3.6
Majority			4,683	13.6	+9.0
Turnout				69.4	-10.0
	Liberal hold		Swing	+4.5

General Election 1924: Flintshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Ernest Handforth Goodman Roberts	19,054	46.4	+3.2
	Liberal	Thomas Henry Parry	14,169	34.5	-22.3
	Labour	David Gwynfryn Jones	7,821	19.1	n/a
Majority			4,885	11.9	25.5
Turnout				80.2	+10.8
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+12.7

General Election 1929: Flintshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Frederick Llewellyn-Jones	24,012	43.0	+8.5
	Unionist	Ernest Handforth Goodman Roberts	19,536	35.0	-11.4
	Labour	Cyril O Jones	12,310	22.0	+2.9
Majority			4,476	8.0	19.9
Turnout				81.3	+1.1
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing	+10.0

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931: Flintshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal National	Frederick Llewellyn-Jones	40,405	71.4
	Labour	Miss F Edwards	16,158	28.6
Majority			24,247	42.8
Turnout				77.9
	Liberal National hold		Swing

General Election 1935: Flintshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gwilym Rowlands	26,644	44.9	n/a
	Liberal	John Emlyn Emlyn-Jones	16,536	27.9
	Labour	Cyril O Jones	16,131	27.2
Majority			10,108	17.0
Turnout				76.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1939/40: Another General Election was due to take place before the end of 1940. From 1939 the parties had been preparing for an election, and by the end of that year, the following candidates had been selected:

• Conservative: Gwilym Rowlands
• Liberal: Dr. Herbert Mostyn Lewis^[14]
• Labour: WJ Rees

General Election 1945: Flintshire [15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Lt-Col. Evelyn Nigel Chetwode Birch	27,800	38.8
	Labour	Eirene Lloyd Jones	26,761	37.4
	Liberal	John William Hughes	17,007	23.8
Majority			1,039	1.5
Turnout			71,568	76.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

1. "History of Parliament". History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 2011-11-27.
2. "History of Parliament". History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 2011-11-27.
3. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
4. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
5. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
6. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
7. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
8. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
9. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
10. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
11. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
12. Cheshire Observer 1 Aug 1914
13. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
14. The Liberal Magazine, 1939
15. Political resources.net

Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.

• W R Williams The Parliamentary History of the Principality of Wales

Further reading

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "F"
• Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1977]. British parliamentary election results 1832–1885 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 525. ISBN 0-900178-26-4.
• Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1974]. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 476. ISBN 0-900178-27-2.
• Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 555. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.