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Post by Andrew_S on Mar 17, 2018 16:54:46 GMT
Professor Thrasher sent me an email a few days ago with some interesting information about the Elections Centre website. I'll post it here: "I've been adding and up-dating the www.electionscentre.co.uk website with stuff that your readers might find of interest.
I've added material relating to local council by-elections (not my work but someone else's who for the moment wishes to remain anonymous)
www.electionscentre.co.uk/?page_id=3933
I've also up-dated the councils compositions data up to and including the situation (as we understand it since these data are ALWAYS open to dispute/discusssion) post May 2017. Councils are now organised in descending order of year which i think most people will find more intuitive
www.electionscentre.co.uk/?page_id=3825
I've also up-dated the summary data for both the 2016 and 2017 local elections
www.electionscentre.co.uk/?page_id=3490
and finally, this is a call for volunteers with an interest in local electoral history. Our database currently includes every London council election since 1889. The former county boroughs are also included for the period 1945-1972. But we've not yet incorporated the results for the smaller non-county boroughs, Abergavenny to Yeovil. There are circa 300 of these councils in the post-war, pre-1973 period. However, we've now begun the task of compiling these data and the spreadsheets for each separate year (no elections in 1948) can be found here:
www.electionscentre.co.uk/?page_id=3953
A lot of the data are there but there's also lots of gaps. so if any of your many subscribers have their own data and are willing to share it with us then this is their opportunity to expand the coverage of local election statistics." |
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Post by alexrichards on Mar 21, 2018 23:52:19 GMT
I've got a spreadsheet with the entire electoral history of Long Eaton going back to 1895 if that's of interest.
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Post by Penddu on Feb 17, 2019 5:18:29 GMT
I've got a spreadsheet with the entire electoral history of Long Eaton going back to 1895 if that's of interest. A contender for political anorak of the year? |
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Georg Ebner
Non-Aligned
Roman romantic reactionary Catholic
Posts: 9,796 
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Post by Georg Ebner on Feb 25, 2019 0:09:06 GMT
Unfortunately they still don't provide the 2018-data, do they?
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Post by casualobserver on Apr 6, 2019 20:42:33 GMT
Unfortunately they still don't provide the 2018-data, do they? It would currently be even more interesting if they'd provide the 2019 results |
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Post by polaris on Apr 12, 2019 15:09:36 GMT
The pre-1964 results for the London County Council and metropolitan boroughs were fascinating- AFAIK they have never been available on the internet before.
I hadn't realised how tiny some of the boroughs were, e.g. Shoreditch and Finsbury combined formed a single parliamentary constituency.
But at the same time there were some huge wards with as many as nine councillors, which could make for lopsided and volatile results in some councils.
One quirk I noticed was the Liberal strength in Bethnal Green which persisted until the early 1950s. So when the Liberals burst on to the scene in Tower Hamlets in the eighties they were actually drawing on a local tradition.
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Post by Pete Whitehead on Apr 12, 2019 15:18:53 GMT
The pre-1964 results for the London County Council and metropolitan boroughs were fascinating- AFAIK they have never been available on the internet before. I hadn't realised how tiny some of the boroughs were, e.g. Shoreditch and Finsbury combined formed a single parliamentary constituency. But at the same time there were some huge wards with as many as nine councillors, which could make for lopsided and volatile results in some councils. One quirk I noticed was the Liberal strength in Bethnal Green which persisted until the early 1950s. So when the Liberals burst on to the scene in Tower Hamlets in the eighties they were actually drawing on a local tradition. Yes although their initial breakthrough occurred in 1978 and it was in the Bow area where they did not have a previous tradition |
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Post by finsobruce on Apr 12, 2019 17:19:43 GMT
The pre-1964 results for the London County Council and metropolitan boroughs were fascinating- AFAIK they have never been available on the internet before. I hadn't realised how tiny some of the boroughs were, e.g. Shoreditch and Finsbury combined formed a single parliamentary constituency. But at the same time there were some huge wards with as many as nine councillors, which could make for lopsided and volatile results in some councils. One quirk I noticed was the Liberal strength in Bethnal Green which persisted until the early 1950s. So when the Liberals burst on to the scene in Tower Hamlets in the eighties they were actually drawing on a local tradition. The Liberal strength in Bethnal Green was down to Percy Harris, Liberal MP for Bethnal Green SW from 1922-45.
Harris was helped by the problems in the local Labour party whose first councillor, mayor and candidate in 1922 and 1923, John Joseph Vaughan was also a member of the Communist party. Vaughan was then expelled from Labour and the local party disaffiliated. Vaughan stood as a Communist in 1924 and with no Labour candidate came within 212 votes of winning. In 1929 he stood instead in Manchester Miles Platting where he had an abysmal result, giving over the candidacy to another perennial Communist candidate Robert Dunstan whose vote, though well down on Vaughan's was more than the difference between Harris and the Labour candidate who finished second.
yellowperil will be interested to know that Harris's first candidacy was in Ashford in 1906.
Harris won a wartime by-election in Harborough in 1916, but lost in 1918. He was an LCC councillor in Bethnal Green from 1907 until 1934. His book "Forty years in and out of parliament" is worth a read. I have a copy if anyone would be interested in extracts!
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Post by yellowperil on Apr 12, 2019 18:34:35 GMT
The pre-1964 results for the London County Council and metropolitan boroughs were fascinating- AFAIK they have never been available on the internet before. I hadn't realised how tiny some of the boroughs were, e.g. Shoreditch and Finsbury combined formed a single parliamentary constituency. But at the same time there were some huge wards with as many as nine councillors, which could make for lopsided and volatile results in some councils. One quirk I noticed was the Liberal strength in Bethnal Green which persisted until the early 1950s. So when the Liberals burst on to the scene in Tower Hamlets in the eighties they were actually drawing on a local tradition. The Liberal strength in Bethnal Green was down to Percy Harris, Liberal MP for Bethnal Green SW from 1922-45.
Harris was helped by the problems in the local Labour party whose first councillor, mayor and candidate in 1922 and 1923, John Joseph Vaughan was also a member of the Communist party. Vaughan was then expelled from Labour and the local party disaffiliated. Vaughan stood as a Communist in 1924 and with no Labour candidate came within 212 votes of winning. In 1929 he stood instead in Manchester Miles Platting where he had an abysmal result, giving over the candidacy to another perennial Communist candidate Robert Dunstan whose vote, though well down on Vaughan's was more than the difference between Harris and the Labour candidate who finished second.
yellowperil will be interested to know that Harris's first candidacy was in Ashford in 1906.
Harris won a wartime by-election in Harborough in 1916, but lost in 1918. He was an LCC councillor in Bethnal Green from 1907 until 1934. His book "Forty years in and out of parliament" is worth a read. I have a copy if anyone would be interested in extracts!
That Ashford result in 1906 was fairly remarkable- the best result by a mile for Liberals in Ashford apart from Roderick Kedward's actual win in 1931. Of course 1906 was a special year for the Liberals nationally, but some of it must be down to the candidate having something rather special. Fairly remarkable to span such different areas as Ashford, Harborough and Bethnal Green. The Ashford constituency in those days was deeply rural including Romney Marsh. |
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Post by greenhert on Apr 12, 2019 18:37:24 GMT
The pre-1964 results for the London County Council and metropolitan boroughs were fascinating- AFAIK they have never been available on the internet before. I hadn't realised how tiny some of the boroughs were, e.g. Shoreditch and Finsbury combined formed a single parliamentary constituency. But at the same time there were some huge wards with as many as nine councillors, which could make for lopsided and volatile results in some councils. One quirk I noticed was the Liberal strength in Bethnal Green which persisted until the early 1950s. So when the Liberals burst on to the scene in Tower Hamlets in the eighties they were actually drawing on a local tradition. The Liberal strength in Bethnal Green was down to Percy Harris, Liberal MP for Bethnal Green SW from 1922-45.
Harris was helped by the problems in the local Labour party whose first councillor, mayor and candidate in 1922 and 1923, John Joseph Vaughan was also a member of the Communist party. Vaughan was then expelled from Labour and the local party disaffiliated. Vaughan stood as a Communist in 1924 and with no Labour candidate came within 212 votes of winning. In 1929 he stood instead in Manchester Miles Platting where he had an abysmal result, giving over the candidacy to another perennial Communist candidate Robert Dunstan whose vote, though well down on Vaughan's was more than the difference between Harris and the Labour candidate who finished second.
yellowperil will be interested to know that Harris's first candidacy was in Ashford in 1906.
Harris won a wartime by-election in Harborough in 1916, but lost in 1918. He was an LCC councillor in Bethnal Green from 1907 until 1934. His book "Forty years in and out of parliament" is worth a read. I have a copy if anyone would be interested in extracts!
What is less well-known about Percy Harris is that his great-grandson, Matthew Taylor, also became a Liberal (later Liberal Democrat) MP, for Truro/Truro & St Austell (a world away from Bethnal Green & Bow!) |
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Post by finsobruce on Apr 12, 2019 19:16:42 GMT
The Liberal strength in Bethnal Green was down to Percy Harris, Liberal MP for Bethnal Green SW from 1922-45.
Harris was helped by the problems in the local Labour party whose first councillor, mayor and candidate in 1922 and 1923, John Joseph Vaughan was also a member of the Communist party. Vaughan was then expelled from Labour and the local party disaffiliated. Vaughan stood as a Communist in 1924 and with no Labour candidate came within 212 votes of winning. In 1929 he stood instead in Manchester Miles Platting where he had an abysmal result, giving over the candidacy to another perennial Communist candidate Robert Dunstan whose vote, though well down on Vaughan's was more than the difference between Harris and the Labour candidate who finished second.
yellowperil will be interested to know that Harris's first candidacy was in Ashford in 1906.
Harris won a wartime by-election in Harborough in 1916, but lost in 1918. He was an LCC councillor in Bethnal Green from 1907 until 1934. His book "Forty years in and out of parliament" is worth a read. I have a copy if anyone would be interested in extracts!
That Ashford result in 1906 was fairly remarkable- the best result by a mile for Liberals in Ashford apart from Roderick Kedward's actual win in 1931. Of course 1906 was a special year for the Liberals nationally, but some of it must be down to the candidate having something rather special. Fairly remarkable to span such different areas as Ashford, Harborough and Bethnal Green. The Ashford constituency in those days was deeply rural including Romney Marsh. I'll get the book off the shelf and see if there is an interesting passage about Ashford for you, YP.
Standing all over the country was not at all unusual until relatively recently. Nowadays it would be very difficult to get away with politically, at least for the "main" parties.
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Post by finsobruce on Apr 15, 2019 7:20:25 GMT
As promised here is a rundown of Percy Harris's experience as a Liberal candidate in Ashford in 1906.
The background to Harris becoming the candidate was his decision after returning from New Zealand to enrol in evening classes at the London School of Economics under Professor Hewins. Hewins was looking for people to work with him on studies of all the "colonies" and asked Harris to undertake work on NZ. Unfortunately, Harris records that Hewins had "become infected by the tarrif reform virus" and he turned him down. However this brought him to the attention of Herbert Gladstone then Liberal Chief Whip who eventually persuaded him to take on the candidacy at Ashford. The choice was probably not unconnected with the fact that Gladstone had a home in the constituency and didn't want the embarrassment of not having a candidate in place at an election that promised a great Liberal triumph. Harris describes the Liberal organisation at this time as "totally moribund" and says that the seat had not been contested by his party for a long time, although the Liberals had only missed 1895 and 1900. He got around mainly by bicycle and notes that the constituency included good hop and wheat growing areas, and in Ashford itself the works of the South Eastern railway. The boilers were being built by the firm of Goldsmith, father and son and Goldsmith senior was the secretary of the Liberal Association. A position , he noted that the same man still held in 1945! He notes that the Weald had a "strong nonconformist and protestant tradition" and attended the unveiling at Staplehurst of a memorial to the martyrs of the reign of Queen Mary. He was amazed that 2,000 people made the journey on foot - although if he had consulted his election results he would have found that although the Liberals did not stand against the Tories in 1900 an "Independent Protestant" candidate did and polled almost thirty per cent of the vote. During the campaign he met Henry James and had one of his meetings chaired by a local farmer named John Bull, who claimed to be a Liberal but declared loudly that he supported a "good big duty" on corn. The local landowner who had moved from the Liberals to the Liberal Unionists some time previously, conned Harris into not campaigning in certain villages on the "promise" that he also would not do so. This was a lie of course and on polling day Harris noted that all voters in the village were driven to the polls in the Lord's car. Lady so and so had already been round the village and told anyone thinking of voting Liberal that they would be regarded as the enemy of the noble lord and herself. As yellowperil has noted Harris came close to winning, and the man himself maintained that he was defeated by plural voting, with many out voters arriving from other parts of the country. On election day he was driven around in a coach and four. There is no mention of a loud hailer.  The local doctor confined Mrs Harris (who was expecting their first child) to bed for fear of miscarriage - it turned out he was Chair of the local Conservative Association! |
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Post by polaris on Apr 15, 2019 9:23:12 GMT
He notes that the Weald had a "strong nonconformist and protestant tradition" and attended the unveiling at Staplehurst of a memorial to the martyrs of the reign of Queen Mary. He was amazed that 2,000 people made the journey on foot - although if he had consulted his election results he would have found that although the Liberals did not stand against the Tories in 1900 an "Independent Protestant" candidate did and polled almost thirty per cent of the vote. Religious affiliation was a major determinant of political allegiance at that time, with Liberals doing very well among nonconformists. If you read Wikipedia biographies of Liberal MPs from the early 20th century, it really stands out how many of them were Congregationalists, Methodists, Presbyterians etc. |
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Post by finsobruce on Apr 15, 2019 9:31:41 GMT
He notes that the Weald had a "strong nonconformist and protestant tradition" and attended the unveiling at Staplehurst of a memorial to the martyrs of the reign of Queen Mary. He was amazed that 2,000 people made the journey on foot - although if he had consulted his election results he would have found that although the Liberals did not stand against the Tories in 1900 an "Independent Protestant" candidate did and polled almost thirty per cent of the vote. Religious affiliation was a major determinant of political allegiance at that time, with Liberals doing very well among nonconformists. If you read Wikipedia biographies of Liberal MPs from the early 20th century, it really stands out how many of them were Congregationalists, Methodists, Presbyterians etc. It certainly was. And the 1906 election was if not dominated, hugely influenced by Tory plans to fund church schools which the nonconformists strenuously opposed.
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Post by yellowperil on Apr 15, 2019 13:37:11 GMT
Religious affiliation was a major determinant of political allegiance at that time, with Liberals doing very well among nonconformists. If you read Wikipedia biographies of Liberal MPs from the early 20th century, it really stands out how many of them were Congregationalists, Methodists, Presbyterians etc. It certainly was. And the 1906 election was if not dominated, hugely influenced by Tory plans to fund church schools which the nonconformists strenuously opposed.
Nonconformism continued to be a recognisable factor in the Wealden villages right into my time- the two villages (Egerton and Smarden) I represented between 1995 and 2003 had in the meantime become Tory strongholds for lack of any serious opposition, but as soon as it became obvious I was standing with intent, so to speak, all the old nonconformists came creeping back out of the woodwork, and in many cases demonstrating their commitment to Liberalism. Smarden had a strong Baptist tradition and in my day still had 3 lively Baptist chapels competing with each other- even now the Bethel has merged with the Zion but the Ebenezer is still aloof! Egerton still has a sturdily independent Free Church. And I have drawn attention in the past to the importance of the Quaker tradition in Ashford politics. |
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Post by finsobruce on Apr 15, 2019 14:03:17 GMT
It certainly was. And the 1906 election was if not dominated, hugely influenced by Tory plans to fund church schools which the nonconformists strenuously opposed.
Nonconformism continued to be a recognisable factor in the Wealden villages right into my time- the two villages (Egerton and Smarden) I represented between 1995 and 2003 had in the meantime become Tory strongholds for lack of any serious opposition, but as soon as it became obvious I was standing with intent, so to speak, all the old nonconformists came creeping back out of the woodwork, and in many cases demonstrating their commitment to Liberalism. Smarden had a strong Baptist tradition and in my day still had 3 lively Baptist chapels competing with each other- even now the Bethel has merged with the Zion but the Ebenezer is still aloof! Egerton still has a sturdily independent Free Church. And I have drawn attention in the past to the importance of the Quaker tradition in Ashford politics. I wonder why some villages are/were Baptist and others Methodist. Accidents of history I suppose. |
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Post by polaris on Apr 15, 2019 14:27:00 GMT
Nonconformism continued to be a recognisable factor in the Wealden villages right into my time- the two villages (Egerton and Smarden) I represented between 1995 and 2003 had in the meantime become Tory strongholds for lack of any serious opposition, but as soon as it became obvious I was standing with intent, so to speak, all the old nonconformists came creeping back out of the woodwork, and in many cases demonstrating their commitment to Liberalism. Smarden had a strong Baptist tradition and in my day still had 3 lively Baptist chapels competing with each other- even now the Bethel has merged with the Zion but the Ebenezer is still aloof! Egerton still has a sturdily independent Free Church. And I have drawn attention in the past to the importance of the Quaker tradition in Ashford politics. I wonder why some villages are/were Baptist and others Methodist. Accidents of history I suppose. Wasn't there a socio-economic element to religion - non-conformists were more likely to be working-class, whereas the Church of England was the church of the squirearchy?
Although I believe also that a lot of self-made men and industrialists were non-conformists too (some having gone into industry because the traditional professions like the law and the higher military ranks were closed to them).
Though I wouldn't know why some opted for different varieties of nonconformism. Maybe just down to which preacher arrived in town first?
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Post by alexrichards on Apr 19, 2019 13:38:43 GMT
I've got a spreadsheet with the entire electoral history of Long Eaton going back to 1895 if that's of interest. A contender for political anorak of the year?
If nothing else it gives a fascinating look into the turnout figures for the period. To give the example of Sawley Road ward (which was created in 1913 and lasted until 1972 with no change in the boundaries)
1913: 69.7% (1,131 votes. electorate: 1,623)
1919: 37.7% (1,059 votes. electorate: 2,810)
1920: 42.6% (1,314 votes. electorate: 3,088)
1921: 60.9% (1,896 votes. electorate: 3,115)
1922: 53% (data not given)
1923: 46.4% (1,478 votes. electorate: 3,183)
1924: 41.7% (1,335 votes. electorate: 3,200)
1925: Turnout figures not given
1926: 49.5% (1,601 votes. electorate: 3,235)
1927: 46% (data not given)
1928: 32% (data not given)
1929: 46.1% (1,402 votes. electorate: 3,040)
1930: 39% (data not given)
1931: Turnout figures not given
1932: 44.3% (1,385 votes. electorate: 3,124)
1933: Turnout figures not given
1934: 46.4% (1,368 votes. electorate: 2,948)
1935: 43% (data not given)
1936: 39% (data not given)
1937: 39% (data not given)
1938: Turnout figures not given*
1939: Turnout figures not given
*You can practically hear the editor just giving up at this point.
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Post by timrollpickering on Apr 19, 2019 14:46:48 GMT
One quirk I noticed was the Liberal strength in Bethnal Green which persisted until the early 1950s. So when the Liberals burst on to the scene in Tower Hamlets in the eighties they were actually drawing on a local tradition. The Liberal strength in Bethnal Green was down to Percy Harris, Liberal MP for Bethnal Green SW from 1922-45. Harris's victory in 1935 was, I think, the last time the Liberals won a Westminster seat in the LCC area until the 1983 Bermondsey by-election. After his Westminster defeat in 1945 he was returned for the LCC in 1946, holding his seat until his death and the balance of power after the 1949 elections. He had a final shot at the (now merged) Bethnal Green seat in 1950 but came second again. Roy Douglas took over the candidacy in 1951 and held second place but slipped to third in 1955. Despite staying in third until the mid 1970s the Liberals contested the seat at every subsequent general election, something that didn't happen in many places, even those where they'd had a post war victory. |
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Post by finsobruce on Apr 19, 2019 14:55:03 GMT
The Liberal strength in Bethnal Green was down to Percy Harris, Liberal MP for Bethnal Green SW from 1922-45. Harris's victory in 1935 was, I think, the last time the Liberals won a Westminster seat in the LCC area until the 1983 Bermondsey by-election. After his Westminster defeat in 1945 he was returned for the LCC in 1946, holding his seat until his death and the balance of power after the 1949 elections. He had a final shot at the (now merged) Bethnal Green seat in 1950 but came second again. Roy Douglas took over the candidacy in 1951 and held second place but slipped to third in 1955. Despite staying in third until the mid 1970s the Liberals contested the seat at every subsequent general election, something that didn't happen in many places, even those where they'd had a post war victory. That would be the Roy Douglas who wrote the History of the Liberal Party 1895-1970?
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The local doctor confined Mrs Harris (who was expecting their first child) to bed for fear of miscarriage - it turned out he was Chair of the local Conservative Association! 