1920 Cardiff City Council election

Local election in Cardiff, Wales April 2022 The 1920 Cardiff City Council election was held on Monday 1 November 1920 to elect councillors to Cardiff City Council in Cardiff, Glamorgan, Wales. It took place on the same day as many other local elections in Wales and England. This was the second annual all-Cardiff elections since the 1914-18 Great War. The previous elections were in November 1919 and the next annual all-Cardiff elections were to take place in November 1921. The election saw campaigning to stop the Labour Party repeating its successes of November 1919. Background Cardiff County Borough Council had been created in 1889. Cardiff became a city in 1905. Elections to the local authority were held annually, though not all council seats were included in each contest, because the three councillors in each ward stood down for election in three-yearly rotation. Ten seats in ten electoral wards were up for election in November 1920. The council consisted of 30 councillors who were elected by the town's voters and ten aldermen who were elected by the councillors.B. W. Row, F. G. Squire Cardiff 1889-1974 - The Story of the County Borough 1974 14–16 The Corporation of Cardiff, City Hall, Cardiff The previous all-Cardiff elections in 1919 had seen significant gains of seats for the Labour Party and Ex-Servicemen candidates.26 Labour gains - Features of South Wales Elections https://newspapers.library.wales/view/4111059/4111062 South Wales Weekly Post 6 8 November 1919 Welsh Newspapers Online Overview of the result In November 1920 contests took place in eight of the ten Cardiff electoral wards. The two retiring Conservative Party councillors in the Central and South wards were elected unopposed.South Wales Elections - Results of the Poll - Labour's Heavy Defeat At Cardiff The Western Mail 2 November 1920 6 The Western Mail was partisan in South Wales, having campaigned for two months to stop the Labour "extremists" from repeating their successes of 1919. In the Canton, Grangetown, Riverside, Roath and Splott wards the Conservative and Liberal parties came together to put forward a joint candidate, so as to not split the vote.Your Vote Wanted Today - Large Issues At Stake In Elections - South Wales - Cardiff Must Defeat The Extremists The Western Mail 1 November 1919 4 The Liberal-Conservative Coalition candidates won by substantial majorities over Labour in four of the five wards in which they stood. In contrast, Labour's Herbert Hiles won against the Coalition candidate (who was the retiring member) in the Splott ward. The only other sitting candidate (a Liberal) to lose their seat was in the Park ward, where the Conservatives won the contest. Turnout was substantially up on 1919 (42.4%) with 55.1% turning up to vote in November 1920. Women voters often outnumbered men, in some wards by 2 to 1. Council composition Following the November 1919 election the balance on the city council was 17 Liberal, 15 Conservative, 4 Labour, 3 Ex-Servicemen, 1 Independent. Cardiff Council - Balance Of Power Transferred South Wales Echo 3 November 1919 5 In 1920 Labour increased their number by one, as did the Independents. Four previously Liberal/Conservative members were elected as, or were replaced by 'Coalition' members. Ward results Adamsdown Adamsdown ward 1920 Independent politician Edward Curran 1,389 Labour Party (UK) William Williams 1,247 Curran had stood unsuccessfully for the Liberal Party in the Cardiff South UK parliamentary constituency for the 1918 General Election. Canton Canton ward 1920 Con-Lib Coalition W. B. Francis * 3,195 Labour Party (UK) Alfred Marsh 1,653 Cathays Cathays ward 1920 Liberal Party (UK) W. R. Williams 2,983 Labour Party (UK) T. R. Morgan 1,989 Central Retiring Conservative Party councillor re-elected unopposed. Grangetown Grangetown ward 1920 Con-Lib Coalition H. W. Bruton 2,154 Labour Party (UK) J. H. Rogers 1,638 Park Park ward 1920 Conservative Party (UK) Edmund Charles Willmott 2,484 Liberal Party (UK) William Charles * 2,141 Labour Party (UK) D. J. Skelly 1,249 Riverside Riverside ward 1920 Con-Lib Coalition John Daniel * 2,808 Labour Party (UK) Roderick Hughes 682 Ex-Servicemen Barnett Janner 562 Roath Roath ward 1920 Con-Lib Coalition A. J. Howells * 3,540 Labour Party (UK) John W. Pickles 1,424 South Retiring Conservative Party councillor re-elected unopposed. Splott Splott ward 1920 Labour Party (UK) Herbert Hiles 2,295 Con-Lib Coalition Frederick Dash 2,187 * = 'retiring' ward councillor for re-election References collapsed collapsed Cardiff Category:Council elections in Cardiff Category:1920s in Cardiff