Rhondda West by-election, 1920 - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Rhondda West by-election, 1920 was a parliamentary by-election

By-election

A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....

held on 21 December 1920 for the British House of Commons constituency

United Kingdom constituencies

In the United Kingdom , each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one or more members to a parliament or assembly.Within the United Kingdom there are now five bodies with members elected by constituencies:...

of Rhondda West

Rhondda West (UK Parliament constituency)

Rhondda West was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Rhondda district of Wales. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system...

in Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

.

The seat had become vacant when the constituency's Labour

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

(MP), William Abraham

William Abraham (Welsh politician)

William "Mabon" Abraham was a Welsh trade unionist and Labour politician, and a Member of Parliament from 1885 to 1920. Although an MP for 35 years, it was as a trade unionist that Abraham is most well known...

, resigned from Parliament

Resignation from the British House of Commons

Members of Parliament sitting in the House of Commons in the United Kingdom are technically forbidden to resign. To circumvent this prohibition, a legal fiction is used...

. He had held the seat since its creation at the 1918 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1918

The United Kingdom general election of 1918 was the first to be held after the Representation of the People Act 1918, which meant it was the first United Kingdom general election in which nearly all adult men and some women could vote. Polling was held on 14 December 1918, although the count did...

, when he was returned unopposed. He had been the MP for the previous Rhondda constituency

Rhondda (UK Parliament constituency)

Rhondda is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...

from its creation for the 1885 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1885

-Seats summary:-See also:*List of MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1885*Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885–1918*Representation of the People Act 1884*Redistribution of Seats Act 1885-References:...

.

The result of the contest was a victory for the Labour candidate, William John

William John (politician)

William John was a Welsh Labour Party politician, and a Member of Parliament for thirty years.At the Rhondda West by-election, 1920, he was elected as MP for the safe Labour constituency of Rhondda West, and held the seat until he retired from the House of Commons at the 1950 general election.In...

, who won with a majority of 4,076 votes over Gwilym Rowlands

Gwilym Rowlands

Gwilym Rowlands was a Welsh Conservative Party politician.Gwilym was the son of Rowland Rowlands, who was manager of the Penygraig Colliery Company in the Rhondda Valley...

. Rowlands described himself as "Labour in the Conservative interest", but was an official Conservative Party

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

candidate.

John represented the constituency until he retired from the House of Commons at the 1950 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1950

The 1950 United Kingdom general election was the first general election ever after a full term of a Labour government. Despite polling over one and a half million votes more than the Conservatives, the election, held on 23 February 1950 resulted in Labour receiving a slim majority of just five...