Denbigh (UK Parliament constituency)

For the 1542–1918 constituency, see Denbigh Boroughs (UK Parliament constituency).

Denbigh was a county constituency centred on the town of Denbigh in North Wales. 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 voting system.

Denbigh
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
Preserved county	Denbighshire
Major settlements	Denbigh
1918–1983
Created from	Denbigh Boroughs East Denbighshire West Denbighshire
Replaced by	Clwyd North West and Clwyd South West

The constituency was created for the 1918 general election, and abolished for the 1983 general election.

Boundaries

This was a county division of Denbighshire. In 1918 it comprised the whole of the county, except for the Municipal Borough of Wrexham and part of the Chirk Rural District, which formed the Wrexham division.

The local authorities in the Denbigh division were the Municipal Boroughs of Denbigh and Ruthin; the Urban Districts of Abergele and Pensarn, Colwyn Bay and Colwyn, Llangollen, and Llanrwst; and the Rural Districts of Llangollen, Llanrwst, Llansillin, Ruthin, St Asaph (Denbigh), and Uwchaled, part of Chirk, and the part of Glan Conway not in Caernarvonshire.

The local authorities in Denbighshire were reorganised in 1935, but that did not affect the boundaries of the parliamentary constituency.

In the redistribution which took effect in 1950, the division was redefined as comprising the Municipal Boroughs of Colwyn Bay, Denbigh, and Ruthin; the Urban Districts of Abergele, Llangollen, and Llanrwst; and the Rural Districts of Aled, Hiraethog, Ruthin, part of Ceiriog, and part of Wrexham. The same local authorities remained within the constituency in the 1974 redistribution.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1918	Sir David Davies	Coalition Liberal
	1922	John Cledwyn Davies	National Liberal 1
	1923	Ellis Davies	Liberal
	1929	Sir Henry Morris-Jones	Liberal
	1931		Liberal National 2
	1942		Independent
	1943		Liberal National 2
	1950	Garner Evans	National Liberal 2
	1959	Geraint Morgan	National Liberal 2
	1960	Geraint Morgan	Conservative 3
1983		constituency abolished

¹ A party led by David Lloyd George, which succeeded the Coalition Liberals.

² A party allied with the Conservative Party.

³ Geraint Morgan stood initially as a 'Conservative & National Liberal'.

Election results

Elections in the 1910s

John

General election 1918: Denbigh

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Liberal	David Davies	14,773	83.3
	Labour	Edward John	2,958	16.7
Majority			11,815	66.6
Turnout			17,731	58.2
	Liberal win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Denbigh ^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	John Cledwyn Davies	12,975	53.9	−29.4
	Unionist	Lesley Venetia Elizabeth Brodrick	9,138	37.9	New
	Liberal	Llewellyn G Williams	1,974	8.2	−80.1
Majority			3,837	16.0	−50.6
Turnout			24,087	76.7	+18.5
	National Liberal hold		Swing

General election 1923: Denbigh ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Ellis Davies	12,164	59.8	+51.6
	Unionist	Rhys David	8,186	40.2	+2.3
Majority			3,978	19.6	N/A
Turnout			20,350	63.6	−13.1
	Liberal gain from National Liberal		Swing	+24.8

General election 1924: Denbigh

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Ellis Davies	12,671	53.0	−6.8
	Unionist	Lesley Venetia Elizabeth Brodrick	11,250	47.0	+6.8
Majority			1,421	6.0	−13.6
Turnout			23,921	79.7	+16.1
	Liberal hold		Swing	-6.8

General election 1929: Denbigh

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Henry Morris-Jones	21,305	61.9	+8.9
	Unionist	Alan Graham	13,116	38.1	−8.9
Majority			8,189	23.8	+17.8
Turnout			34,421	79.7	0.0
	Liberal hold		Swing	+8.9

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Denbigh^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	Henry Morris-Jones	Unopposed
	National Liberal gain from Liberal
Registered electors			44,614

General election 1935: Denbigh ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	Henry Morris-Jones	17,372	50.12	N/A
	Liberal	John Cledwyn Davies	12,329	35.57	N/A
	Labour	J. R. Hughes	4,963	14.32	New
Majority			5,043	14.55	N/A
Turnout			34,664	75.10	N/A
Registered electors			46,158
	National Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

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 making preparations for an election, and by the end of that year, the following candidates had been selected:

• Liberal National: Henry Morris-Jones
• Liberal: Garner Evans
• Labour: J. R. Hughes

General election 1945: Denbigh ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	Henry Morris-Jones	17,023	41.70	−8.42
	Liberal	Garner Evans	12,101	29.64	−5.93
	Labour	William Mars-Jones	11,702	28.66	+14.34
Majority			4,922	12.06	−2.49
Turnout			40,826	74.81	−0.29
Registered electors			54,572
	National Liberal hold		Swing	-1.25

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Denbigh ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	Garner Evans	17,473	38.88	−2.82
	Liberal	Glyn Tegai Hughes	16,264	36.19	+6.55
	Labour	John G Hughes	11,205	24.93	−3.73
Majority			1,209	2.69	−9.37
Turnout			44,942	82.29	+7.48
Registered electors			54,614
	National Liberal hold		Swing	-4.69

General election 1951: Denbigh ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	Garner Evans	20,269	45.67	+6.79
	Labour	Idwal Jones	12,354	27.84	+2.91
	Liberal	Eifion Roberts	11,758	26.49	−9.70
Majority			7,915	17.83	+15.14
Turnout			44,381	82.17	−0.12
Registered electors			54,011
	National Liberal hold		Swing	+1.94

General election 1955: Denbigh ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	Garner Evans	18,312	43.18	−2.49
	Liberal	Glyn Tegai Hughes	13,671	32.24	+5.75
	Labour	Robyn Lewis	10,421	24.58	−3.26
Majority			4,641	10.94	−6.89
Turnout			42,404	79.13	−3.04
Registered electors			53,589
	National Liberal hold		Swing	-4.12

General election 1959: Denbigh ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	Geraint Morgan	17,893	41.75	−1.43
	Liberal	Glyn Tegai Hughes	13,268	30.96	−1.28
	Labour	Stanley Williams	8,620	20.11	−4.47
	Plaid Cymru	Dafydd Alun Jones	3,077	7.18	New
Majority			4,625	10.79	−0.15
Turnout			42,858	80.86	+1.73
Registered electors			53,000
	National Liberal hold		Swing	-0.08

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Denbigh ^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Geraint Morgan	17,970	41.31	−0.44
	Liberal	William BE Ellis-Jones	13,331	30.65	−0.31
	Labour	Stanley Williams	8,754	20.12	+0.01
	Plaid Cymru	Dafydd Alun Jones	3,444	7.92	+0.74
Majority			4,639	10.66	−0.13
Turnout			43,499	80.51	−0.35
Registered electors			54,032
	Conservative hold		Swing	-0.07

General election 1966: Denbigh ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Geraint Morgan	17,382	39.41	−1.90
	Liberal	Alun Talfan Davies	12,725	28.85	−1.80
	Labour	Edward Griffiths	11,305	25.63	+5.51
	Plaid Cymru	Meredith Edwards	2,695	6.11	−1.81
Majority			4,657	10.56	−0.10
Turnout			44,107	80.61	+0.10
Registered electors			54,715
	Conservative hold		Swing	-0.05

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Denbigh^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Geraint Morgan	21,246	44.6	+5.2
	Labour	Ann Clwyd	12,537	26.3	+0.7
	Liberal	Idris Hughes-Evans	8,636	18.1	−10.7
	Plaid Cymru	Edward Gwyn Matthews	5,254	11.0	+4.9
Majority			8,709	18.3	+7.7
Turnout			47,673	78.5	−2.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election February 1974: Denbigh^[13][14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Geraint Morgan	21,258	41.89	−2.68
	Liberal	David Leonard Williams	15,243	30.04	+11.92
	Labour	Emlyn Jones Sherrington	10,141	19.98	−6.32
	Plaid Cymru	Edward Gwyn Matthews	4,103	8.09	−2.93
Majority			6,015	11.85	−6.42
Turnout			50,745	80.54	+2.08
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election October 1974: Denbigh^[15][14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Geraint Morgan	18,751	38.64	−3.25
	Liberal	David Leonard Williams	14,200	29.26	−0.78
	Labour	Paul Flynn	9,824	20.24	+0.26
	Plaid Cymru	Ieuan Wyn Jones	5,754	11.86	+3.77
Majority			4,551	9.38	−2.47
Turnout			48,529	76.43	−4.11
	Conservative hold		Swing	-1.24

General election 1979: Denbigh^[16][14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Geraint Morgan	23,683	44.93	+6.29
	Liberal	David Leonard Williams	14,833	28.14	−1.12
	Labour	Huw Rhys Thomas	9,276	17.60	−2.64
	Plaid Cymru	Ieuan Wyn Jones	4,915	9.33	−2.53
Majority			8,850	16.79	+7.41
Turnout			52,707	79.98	+3.55
	Conservative hold		Swing	+3.71

See also

• Denbighshire (UK Parliament constituency) (abolished 1885)
• East Denbighshire (UK Parliament constituency) (1885–1918)
• West Denbighshire (UK Parliament constituency) (1885–1918)