Swansea District before 1885 also known as Swansea District of Boroughs was a

borough constituency In the United Kingdom (UK), each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one member to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons. Within the United Kingdom there are five bodies with members elected by ...

. It was represented in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

. It elected one

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) by the

first past the post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

system of election.

Overview

The seat was created for the 1832 general election, and abolished for the 1918 general election. Swansea District was a strongly Liberal constituency, dominated by the tinplate and steel industries, together with coal.

Boundaries

Upon its creation in 1832 it comprised five small boroughs:

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

Neath Neath (; cy, Castell-nedd) is a market town and Community (Wales), community situated in the Neath Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot County Borough, Wales. The town had a population of 50,658 in 2011. The community of the parish of Neath had a po ...

Aberavon Aberavon ( cy, Aberafan) is a town and community in Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales. The town derived its name from being near the mouth of the river Afan, which also gave its name to a medieval lordship. Today it is essentially a distri ...

Kenfig Kenfig ( cy, Cynffig) is a village and former borough in Bridgend, Wales. It is situated inland on the north bank of the Bristol Channel, and just south-west of the M4 motorway. To the east is the town of Bridgend, at approximately , and the c ...

and

Loughor Loughor () ( cy, Casllwchwr) is a Welsh town in the City and County of Swansea, within the Historic counties of Wales, historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales. It lies on the estuary of the River Loughor. The town has a community (Wales), ...

. A small increase in their limits occurred in 1868. In 1885, the seat was split into two, with the central part of Swansea borough forming the Swansea Town constituency, and the northern part of Swansea borough centred on

Morriston Morriston (; cy, Treforys ) is a Community (Wales), community in the City and County of Swansea, Wales and falls within the Morriston (electoral ward), Morriston ward. It is the largest community in Swansea county. Morriston is sometimes ref ...

, together with the four smaller boroughs, forming the seat Swansea District. The first member after 1885 was Henry Vivian, who had represented Glamorgan county 1857–1885.

Members of Parliament

*''Constituency created'' (1832)

Electoral history

Elections in the 1830s

Elections in the 1840s

Elections in the 1850s

Vivian's death caused a by-election.

Elections in the 1860s

Elections in the 1870s

Elections in the 1880s

In 1886, Vivian briefly joined the Liberal Unionists but was nevertheless returned unopposed and returned to the Gladstonian fold soon after the election.

Elections in the 1890s

In 1893, when he was elevated to the peerage becoming Lord Swansea, he was succeeded by the Morriston tinplate owner, William Williams. Williams served for only two years before being replaced in 1895 by Brynmor Jones. Jones had strong nonconformist connections but his political career was undistinguished and he concentrated on his legal career. see page 12.

Elections in the 1900s