Montgomeryshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Montgomeryshire () was a constituency in Wales represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament.

Created in 1542, it elected one Member of Parliament (MP), formerly known as the knight of the shire, by the first-past-the-post system of election. It was abolished following the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies prior to the 2024 general election and replaced by Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr.

The Montgomeryshire Senedd constituency was created with the same boundaries in 1999 (as an Assembly constituency).

Boundaries and political history

The seat was based on the ancient county of Montgomeryshire, in the principal area of Powys. One of Britain's most rural and isolated constituencies, Montgomeryshire elected Liberal or Liberal-affiliated candidates from 1880, until a Conservative victory in the 1979 general election. In the 1983 general election it was the only seat in England and Wales where a sitting Conservative MP was unseated, while nationally the party's seat majority increased. However, in 2010, the Conservatives won and held the seat in 2015 and 2017, with an increased majority. The seat was officially known as Montgomery before 1997. At the time of its abolition, Montgomeryshire was the only seat in Wales never to have elected a Labour MP.

Until 1918 this seat, in common with many others, contained an enclaved seat, which comprised the boroughs of Montgomery, Llanfyllin, Llanidloes, Newtown and Welshpool. This seat survived the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 which abolished many similar seats. The seat was finally abolished in 1918 and absorbed into the wider Montgomeryshire seat.

Under proposed constituency boundary changes announced in September 2016, ahead of the next general election, the seat was to be partitioned, the northern half including Welshpool to be merged with Clwyd South to form a new seat of South Clwyd and North Montgomeryshire; most of the southern including Newtown was to be merged with the Brecon and Radnor seat to form a seat renamed as Brecon, Radnor and Montgomery, and the wards of Llanidloes and Blaen Hafren merged into the Ceredigion constituency which would form part of a new seat called Ceredigion and North Pembrokeshire. However, the general elections of 2017 and 2019 were fought on existing boundaries.

Abolition

The constituency was abolished as part of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies and under the June 2023 final recommendations of the Boundary Commission for Wales for the 2024 United Kingdom general election. The entire constituency became part of the new Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr.

Members of Parliament

1542–1604

{| class="wikitable"

!Parliament!!Member

|1542|| James Leche

|1545|| Humphrey Lloyd

|1562–1563|| Edward Herbert I!!Party

|1604–1611

|William Herbert

|1614

|William Herbert

|1621–1622

| William Herbert

|1624

| William Herbert

|1624–1629

|William Herbert

|1640

|Richard Herbert

|1640–1642

|John Pryce

|1642

|colspan="2"|Seat vacant from 12 September 1642, when Pryce was disabled from sitting

|1647

| Edward Vaughan

|1648

|colspan="2"|Seat vacant after Vaughan was excluded in Pride's Purge

|1653

|colspan="2"|Not separately represented in the Barebones Parliament

|rowspan="2"|1654–1655 (two members)

|Charles Lloyd

|John Pryce

|rowspan="2"|1656–1658 (two members)

|Charles Lloyd

|Hugh Pryce

|1659

| Edward Vaughan

|1660

|John Purcell

|1661

| Edward Vaughan

|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |

|1661 by-election

|Hon. Andrew Newport

|Conservative

|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |

|1679

|Edward Vaughan

|Conservative

|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |

|1719

|Hon. Price Devereux

|Conservative

|1740

|Robert Williams

|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |

|1741

|Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn

|Conservative

|1742

|Robert Williams

|1747

|Edward Kynaston

|1772

|Watkin Williams

|1774

|William Mostyn Owen

|1795

|Francis Lloyd

|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |

|1799

|rowspan=2|Charles Williams-Wynn

|Tory

|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |

|1834

|Conservative

Caused by Williams-Wynn's death.

Elections in the 1950s

Elections in the 1980s

In 1983 this was Labour's worst performance in Wales and the only seat where Labour won less than 12.5% and lost their £150 deposit. The threshold for retaining deposits was lowered to 5% in 1985.

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 21st century

Elections in the 2000s

1 This is the same David Rowlands who contested Montgomeryshire as an Independent in 1983. Not the similarly named David Rowlands who contested Monmouth at the same election.

Elections in the 2010s

1 The David Rowlands who stood here is different from the David Rowlands who stood in Newport East at this election for UKIP.

Of the 213 rejected ballots:

156 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for.