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Post by swanarcadian on May 1, 2018 19:54:51 GMT
Originally Halifax MB 1848-1889 before achieving County Borough status.
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Post by swanarcadian on Jun 25, 2018 21:24:20 GMT
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colinjg
Member
Living in the Past
Posts: 269
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Post by colinjg on Jul 20, 2018 9:46:13 GMT
Results of interwar Halifax elections can also be found in:
Sam Davies and Bob Morley County Borough Elections in England and Wales , 1919-1938: A Comparative Analysis Volume 4: Exeter - Hull Ashgate, 2013, 715pp
Halifax features as chapter 6, pages 343-414. By-election results are not included; results for postponed polls are not included.
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Post by swanarcadian on Jun 23, 2020 17:55:15 GMT
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Post by David J. Glanfield on Jul 29, 2020 10:53:05 GMT
Halifax County Borough Some notes about the 1945 Municipal Elections
A recent publication* argued that Labour underperformed during the interwar Halifax municipal elections because (i) three large but underpopulated rural wards (Illingworth, Northowram and Warley) had a disproportionate share of councillors and Labour never won seats in these wards; (ii) the Conservatives and Liberals operated an anti-Labour pact; (iii) Labour were placed at a disadvantage at election times through a lack of cars to take voters to the poll (borough elections were held on the 1st November every year unless that date fell upon a Sunday and the election would then take place on the 2nd November, given the season some voters were reluctant to exercise their franchise in inclement weather or dark evenings, furthermore there were fewer polling stations than today); (iv) the relative prosperity of Halifax, its nonconformist heritage and growing number of owner-occupiers did not provide fertile territory for a party of the left; and (v) the restrictions upon the local government franchise depressed the extent of the Labour vote (ratepayers and their spouses were entitled to vote and if they paid business rates in another ward they could cast a vote there as well, family members living at home and occupiers of furnished accommodation were by-and-large not entitled to vote at local elections and hence the municipal burgess roll contained fewer names than the parliamentary register).
Labour had first won the single-member Halifax parliamentary constituency at a by-election in July 1928 and had held the seat until the National government landslide in 1931. (James Parker was the first Labour MP for Halifax, elected in 1906, however the constituency had then returned two members and Labour and the Liberals had fought the seat – one candidate apiece – on an anti-Tory pact). The Conservative MP for Halifax, Gilbert Gledhill, had been re-elected in 1935 but with a vastly reduced majority and the constituency was now within the first fifty seats that Labour would hope to gain should they progress at the next election.
Despite (or perhaps because of) Winston Churchill visiting the constituency during the campaign Dryden Brook captured the Halifax seat for Labour at the 1945 General Election by 10,781 votes. An impressive victory but the swing to Labour locally and Brook’s majority were in line with national trends. Gilbert Gledhill narrowly beat Liberal Arthur Gelder to second-place. Gelder recorded the highest increase in the Liberal share of the vote in comparable constituencies (three-way contests and Liberal candidate in third place).
The Liberals had dominated Halifax municipal elections during the interwar years having continually held the largest number of seats (and sometimes an outright majority) in the council chamber. Labour only managed to claim second-place in the chamber from 1932 to 1935 otherwise they were the third-place party at municipal level in Halifax however Labour did increase their number of councillors and aldermen from eight in 1918 to 18 when the last municipal contests were fought in 1938 before the wartime electoral truce.
From 1939 until the November 1945 elections local electoral strengths were frozen – Liberals 23, Conservatives 19 and Labour 18. Vacancies when they occurred were filled via co-option to the council.
* County Borough Elections in England and Wales 1919-1938, A Comparative Analysis Volume 4
There was much debate in parliament about how the cycle of local government elections should resume after the war. The Labour party favoured all councillors submitting to election in 1945 and then re-instating election by-thirds whereas the Conservatives preferred the election by-thirds method (those councillors due to retire in 1939 would seek re-election in 1945, 1940 in 1946 and so-on). Compromise prevailed although the agreement was somewhat complex - all surviving councillors who had been elected in 1936, and whose three year term of office would have terminated in November 1939, and all those councillors co-opted to a council would face immediate elections in 1945. This system of election presented three scenarios:-
(i) if one councillor was to be elected for a ward in 1945, the councillor so elected should retire in 1948. Of the two existing councillors, the one with the longer term of office will retire in 1946, and the other in 1947; (ii) if two councillors were to be elected for a ward in 1945, then the councillor not required to retire in 1945 will retire in 1946. The councillor elected in 1945 with the smaller number of votes will retire in 1947, and the other in 1948; (iii) if three councillors were elected, the one with the smallest number of votes will retire in 1946, the councillor with the next smallest will retire in 1947, with the remaining councillor retiring in 1948. (Please note that the 1948 elections were postponed until May 1949).
It was also agreed by parliament that the local government franchise from 1945 would be extended to match the parliamentary franchise. The business vote was retained but restricted to the ratepayer only and not their spouse.
Following these arrangements 26 vacancies were to be filled in the fifteen Halifax wards. A ward-by-ward eve of election audit of the councillors and their length of service reveals:-
Akroydon: two vacancies– F. Ford (Con) due to retire 1939 and T. Stott (Lab) co-opted. C. Lucas (Con) to retire 1946. Central: one vacancy – N. Barber (Lib) due to retire 1939. E. Jarvis (Lab) to retire 1946 and G. Butters (Lib) to retire 1947. Copley: two vacancies – W. Wadsworth (Lib) and H. Pickles (Con) both co-opted. H. Powney (Lab) to retire 1946. East: two vacancies – G. Wadsworth (Lib) due to retire 1939 and W. Horsley (Lib) co-opted. T. Greenwood (Con) to retire 1946. (Wadsworth won Buckrose for the Liberals at the 1945 General Election). Illingworth: one vacancy – H. Nutton (Con) co-opted. W. Lees (Con) to retire 1946 and A. Ainley (Con) to retire 1947. Kingston: one vacancy – T. Slater (Lab) co-opted. E. Sugden (Lab) to retire 1946 and J. Arguile (Lib) to retire 1947. North: two vacancies – Mrs. W. Oxley (Lab) and S. Hirst (Lab) both co-opted. G. Lucas (Con) to retire 1946. Northowram: two vacancies – R. Ambler (Lib) due to retire 1939 and E. Riley (Lib) co-opted. W. Beecham (Con) to retire 1946. Ovenden: two vacancies – W. Riley (Lib) due to retire 1939 and one vacant seat (Lab). R. Garside (Lib) to retire 1946. Pellon: two vacancies – J. Crosby (Con) and J. Drake (Con) both co-opted. A. Chown (Lab) to retire 1946. Skircoat: one vacancy – T. Spencer (Lib) due to retire 1939. E. Bower (Lib) to retire in 1946 and L. Firth (Con) to retire in 1947. South: two vacancies – G. Normanton (Con) due to retire 1939 and J. Burdock (Con) co-opted. D. Robinson (Lib) to retire in 1946. Southowram: two vacancies – J. Nicholl (Lab) due to retire 1939 and D. Brook MP (Lab) co-opted. J. Stephenson (Lab) to retire in 1946. Warley: two vacancies – J. Lumb (Lib) and W. Haigh (Lib) both co-opted councillors. A. Pickles (Lib) to retire in 1946. West: two vacancies – A. Gelder (Lib) due to retire in 1939 and J. McAndrew (Lab) co-opted. F. Hodgson (Lab) to retire in 1946.
The Conservatives would therefore be defending seven seats, Labour eight seats (including one vacant seat formally held by a councillor elected in 1937) and the Liberals eleven seats. Assuming that Labour could repeat the swing seen at the General Election they would require a net gain of at least 10 seats (plus the accompanying three extra aldermen) to win outright control of the council.
One woman, Mrs Miriam Lightowler – Halifax’s first female councillor and mayor, and 14 men sat on the aldermanic bench. The following aldermen were up for re-election on the 9th November:- four Conservatives – Mrs M. Lightowler, E. Smith, F. Watkinson and N. Winter, two Labour – F. Leach and J. Oddy, one Liberal – P. Whitley. (Percival Whitley had already announced that he would not be seeking re-election as an alderman but standing instead for one of the vacant seats in East ward). The remaining eight aldermen (Conservative – A. Gledhill, Labour – F. Sharp and W. Regan, Liberals – L. Chambers, C. Holdsworth, E. Midgley, A. Muff and J. Radcliffe) were due to serve until November 1948 (extended to May 1949). A ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ between the parties prevailed in Halifax whereby each party was granted one alderman for every three councillors.
Labour, no doubt buoyed by their General Election success, nominated candidates for every vacant seat. The Conservatives nominated nine candidates. The Liberals nominated 15 candidates. The Conservatives and Liberals did not challenge each other except in Copley ward and there they nominated one candidate each for the two vacant seats. Three independents sought election – H. Coggon in Copley (he had previously served on the council as a Liberal representative for Ovenden), Miss M. Pickles in South ward and L. Ashley in Warley. Every ward saw a contest bar Southowram where Dryden Brook and Joe Nicholl were returned unopposed.
There were five woman candidates – Miss Pickles, Miss Leach (Lib) and Mrs Oxley (Lab) in North ward, Mrs Marsland (Lib) in Ovenden and Mrs Lees (Lab) in Skircoat. This was the highest ever total of female candidates. Mrs Cockroft, Chair of the Halifax Standing Committee for women was quoted in the Courier & Guardian ‘a male councillor had recently issued a challenge to women by saying that they were good talkers but poor workers…the fallacy of his statement would soon be proved.’
W. Wadsworth (Lib, Copley), G. Wadsworth (Lib, East) and W. Riley (Lib, Ovenden) did not seek re-election to the council. Harold Pickles (Con, Copley) was nominated to contest Kingston because that was where his ‘main interests lie’. The number of unopposed returns had ranged from two (1929) to 11 (1922) during the interwar period so these first post-war elections had certainly provoked interested – at least amongst the candidates and parties!
All candidates were offered space in the Halifax Courier and Guardian to present their policies to the electors. These mini election addresses make interesting reading. Just two Labour candidates mention socialism. It is not unexpected that 12 Labour candidates have manual jobs, five are clerical workers, another five insurance agents, one retired, one housewife, one author and finally the MP for Halifax. Three Conservative candidates are businessmen, three are retired, two hold manual jobs and one is an insurance broker. Two Liberal candidates are retired whilst the other 13 have a business or professional background. The independent candidates are a foundry engineer, a cashier and an insurance manager. A few snippets from the paper:- Bailey (Con, Akroydon) ‘It is a disgrace that a town the size of Halifax does not possess a swimming bath’. Ford (Con, Akroydon) ‘I have strongly pressed for the 100 per cent conversation of still existing unhealthy sanitary arrangements.’ Stott (Lab, Akroydon) ‘One of the essential needs of the ward is a playing field for the children.’ Thomas (Lab, Akroydon) ‘I have every sympathy for the well-being of the old folk.’ Barber (Lib, Central) ‘The most important question during the next ten years is the provision of houses.’ O’Rourke (Lab, Central) ‘In the matter of the public baths, Halifax is the worst town in England for its size.’ Higgins (Lab, Copley) ‘The lighting facilities of the ward require to be reviewed.’ Shotton (Lib, Copley) ‘Houses are urgently required.’ Webb (Con, Copley) ‘Local libraries and social meeting places to make life congenial.’ Horsley & Whitley (Lib, East) ‘We will work hard for more houses.’ Terry (Lab, East) ‘The slums are a disgrace.’ Mountain (Lab, Illingworth) ‘the housing problem of housing…every effort should be made to avoid a continuous built-up area.’ Nutton (Con, Illingworth) ‘I will endeavour to press forward the speedy erection of dwellings by both municipal and private enterprise.’ Pickles (Con, Kingston) ‘an all-out drive to build the maximum number of houses.’ Slater (Lab, Kingston) ‘Your housing needs cannot be satisfied if your elected representatives are not agreed in accepting the standard laid down by the Ministry.’ Brownridge (Lib, North) ‘striving to improve the conditions under which we live.’ Oxley (Lab, North) ‘Being a woman, my first consideration would be housing.’ Ambler (Lib, Northowram) ‘Municipal affairs…should not be made the subject of political party propaganda but should be dealt with on strict business lines.’ Mansley (Lab, Northowram) ‘the most urgent need is housing.’ Blackburn and Marsland (Lib, Ovenden) ‘flats for spinsters and widows, bungalows for the aged.’ Seal (Lab, Ovenden) ‘Town planning is urgent and important.’ Drake (Con, Pellon) ‘I shall push for the building of permanent houses.’ Fawcett (Lab, Pellon) ‘We need more modern schools.’ Lees (Lab, Skircoat) ‘a roof of one’s own.’ Spencer (Lib, Skircoat)’I favour stretching to the utmost all facilities for building houses.’ Burdock (Con, South) ‘To provide the greatest good for the largest number.’ Clegg and Ward (Lab, South) ‘an opportunity to complete the great Labour victory last July.’ Pickles (Ind, South) ‘of the candidates nominated…I am the only one capable of expressing the woman’s point of view.’ Camplin and Woodhead (Lab, Warley) ‘more houses for the young and old folk.’ Haigh (Lib, Warley) ‘Housing should and must have priority over public baths and bus station.’ Gelder and Lawrence (Lib, West) ‘We declare ourselves absolutely for the utmost possible progress.’ McAndrew (Lab, West) ‘ Our returning men without homes must have houses speedily.’ A general consensus for more houses in the borough as well as other amenities but debate about how this is to be achieved. Glancing through the full statements it is possible to conclude that the electors are being offered a fair choice of policies that are articulated by people from many walks of life.
The campaign was well-covered in the local press. There was an expectation of a high turnout of voters given the stimulus of the recent General Election, the extended franchise and the first opportunity to cast a municipal vote since 1938 although the continuous bad weather throughout October 1945 did not assist the candidates with their canvassing in the wards. All those aged over 21 on June 30th 1945 would be entitled to vote and 40,689 women and 30,232 men were registered. These totals included 6,267 on the Forces’ Register however the service voters would not be able to cast a postal vote (unlike the General Election) but someone could cast a proxy vote upon their behalf. There were an estimated 16,000 new electors on the register.
One letter to the Courier & Guardian lamented the lack of polling stations especially in the Highroad Well/Norton Tower area and the aggrieved correspondent had a one mile trek to the nearest station in order to cast his vote. There was some debate in the letters column of the Courier & Guardian whether a voter should cast two votes in those wards where two vacancies were being contested. Some argued that it was your democratic right to cast your full quota of votes whilst others maintained that voting only for your preferred candidate (especially if they were independent of party labels) heightened their chance of election.
The Labour party requested an extension of the polling hours (from 8am to 8pm) to 8am to 9pm. All opposing candidates were in agreement so the polls did close one hour later on 1st November. The petrol allowance was relaxed on polling day. Candidates and their agents were allowed 30 gallons for up to 5,000 electors and 50 gallons for those wards with electorates in excess of 5,000. Perhaps surprisingly the petrol allowance was not based upon the acreage of the ward.
Come 1st November the Courier & Guardian advised electors to ‘not fail to vote’, which should be ‘the motto for every citizen with a sense of his and her responsibility’. Polling was light during the early editions of the newspaper but there was an expectation that the bulk of electors would cast their votes during the evening before the polls closed at 9pm.
A crowd, estimated between 200 to 300 people, waited at Halifax Town Hall for the declarations. A loudspeaker system had been setup so that those outside could hear the results. It was said that those inside the building struggled to hear the figures. East ward was the first to declare at 10.20pm then followed at 10.30pm by Central ward (a Labour gain). The final result, Warley ward, was announced at 11.40pm.
Nationally there was a strong swing to Labour as they gained over 900 extra councillors. Batley, Bradford, Dewsbury, Hull, Leeds and Wakefield were now under Labour control. The BBC erroneously broadcast that Labour had gained control of Halifax. Six seats (out of the contested 24) had changed hands – five Labour gains (three from the Conservatives and two from the Liberals) and one Independent gain from the Conservatives. Amongst the victorious candidates were 14 incumbent councillors (11 of whom had been co-opted to the council during wartime truce), nine newcomers to the council and one former alderman. Five incumbent councillors were defeated. The constitution of the council, pending aldermanic elections, now comprised 23 Labour, 20 Liberals, 15 Conservatives and one Independent. This was the first time that Labour had emerged from a municipal election as the strongest group on the council. The Courier & Guardian commented that the swing to the left was not a surprise given the proximity of these elections to the General Election. The newspaper lamented that only one voter in two had bothered to vote.
The results analysed Unfortunately it is not possible to make direct comparisons with previous municipal election results because of (i) candidature patterns and (ii) unopposed returns. Voter turnout at 52% probably did decline from pre-war levels however figures are not available for the number of service proxy votes. It is possible that few of those serving overseas had made provision for a proxy to cast a ballot on their behalf at these elections. (The estimated turnout of service voters at the 1945 General Election is 60%, which is around 15% below home participation and provision was made for postal voting even for troops fighting in the Far East). Given the increased franchise and the first opportunity to cast a municipal vote in seven years it is surprising that the election did not excite more electors. Perhaps voter fatigue played a part. It is not uncommon to see turnout fall at local elections following a General Election. We should bear in mind that 52% of electors bothering to vote is impressive by today’s standard.
The Labour advance in gaining five seats and becoming the strongest party on the council is a very good performance but not ground-breaking. (The Liberals dislodged them as premier group within a year and Labour even fell back to third-place on the council by 1949). A very rough calculation of the Labour vote (versus the Anti-Labour vote) 1945 47%, 1945 General Election 46.5%, 1938 45.6%, 1937 46.7% and 1936 47.2% suggests that their support may be more static than expected. Perhaps a better guide is the number of victories – 1936 two wards (one unopposed), 1937 seven wards (two unopposed), 1938 four wards (one unopposed) and 1945 seats won in eight wards (one ward unopposed); although these figures should be treated with some caution given the number of unopposed returns.
It is difficult to see how Labour could have won outright control of Halifax in 1945. They did win East ward in 1946 in a straight fight against a Conservative candidate but their candidates fell well short of the victorious Liberals in 1945. Labour had won seats in Copley ward in the interwar period but never succeeded post-war. A reasonable shift in votes may have claimed a second seat for them in West ward but equally a smaller shift in an opposite direction would have handed Labour’s sole seat to a Liberal. Labour’s grip on Kingston ward – 54 votes – was very tenuous. The gains in Akroydon, Central, Ovenden and Pellon followed the national trend.
Labour’s success in electing candidates in seven out of the 14 contested wards with about 47% of the vote would suggest that ward boundaries were neutral for this election. The Conservatives and Liberals did not acknowledge that they were fighting the election as a pact but a perusal of the nominations suggests otherwise. This ‘pincer movement’ probably dented Labour’s successes but we cannot assume that every Tory will vote Liberal and vice versa when not offered a choice of their own party candidate. Furthermore Labour defeated the Conservative-Liberal pact in neighbouring Bradford.
What is remarkable is the victory of independent Mary Pickles in South ward. Independents had won seats on the council before but they had usually tacit support from the main parties. Miss Pickles had vigorously stressed her independence and her sex during the campaign. Although the Liberals did not contest the ward she must have attracted support across the board to top the poll. Thanks to her election three women now sat in the council chamber. (It should be noted that Miss Pickles decided to seek re-election as a Conservative in 1949).
There is no information about the availability of cars to take voters to the polling stations nor the make-up of the new electors enfranchised by the recent legislation so we cannot conclude either way. Whatever prevented Labour from taking outright control in 1945 certainly persisted because they never won an overall majority of council seats up to the local government reorganisation in the 1970s.
When the new council met on 9th November 1945 seven aldermen were elected to the bench. Conservatives – Miriam Lightowler, Frank Watkinson ‘the Father of the Council’ and N. Winter Labour – E. Jarvis, F. Leach, J. Oddy and J. Stephenson. Thus Labour gained two aldermen whilst the Conservatives and Liberals each lost one. It proved a wise decision for Percival Whitley to resign as an alderman and contest (and win) East ward! Aldermen Jarvis and Stephenson were sitting councillors so their elevation to the aldermanic bench necessitated by-elections in Central and Southowram wards respectively.
Councillor Joseph Stephenson was elected Mayor for the coming municipal year before being elected as an alderman. According to the Courier & Guardian ‘…new Mayor stressed the importance of housing: the only way to uplift people was by changing environment. Insanitary dwellings were still being occupied by thousands of local citizens. Halifax was planning for 3,000 new municipal houses.’
The subsequent by-elections provided one surprise with the Liberals easily gaining Central ward from Labour and therefore Norman Barber swiftly returning to the council. Labour comfortably held Southowram against a Conservative challenge. The final strengths on the council now stood at Labour 24, Liberals 21, Conservatives 14 and one independent.
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Post by David J. Glanfield on Oct 17, 2020 13:39:25 GMT
Three cheers to the BNA for uploading the edition of the Halifax Courier, 28 Nov. 1950, that provides a good summary of the ward boundary changes implemented for the 1952 borough election.
The ward electorates were scandalously out of kilter - East (1,981 electors including a fair number of business voters) up to Ovenden (9,179 electors). Illingworth's electorate was forecast to double by 1960 (16,000) unless the boundaries were soon radically revised.
The sub-committee of the Finance Committee drew up a scheme (this was later submitted to the Ministry of Health for approval; no LGBCE in those days). Compass points were out and just one name was erased - Calder replacing Copley whilst new names were born. Interestingly the scheme did not aim for immediate electoral parity but made allowance for future 'denudation' and development. The new Illingworth contained only 2,220 electors however this ward was ripe for new dwellings (both social and private) whereas Town ward (covering the old Central and East wards) had almost 6,000 electors but was earmarked for slum demolition.
These calculations were proved correct. Illingworth and Mixenden wards had the largest electorates before reorganisation in 1974. (Both wards were left intact for the inaugural Calderdale elections). Town and St. John's both 'shrivelled' as the back-to-backs were pulled down and the Burdock Way cut through the town.
It is very difficult to detect any partisan advantage in the review. Perhaps to save some cash the council decided against all-out elections in 1952. The existing councillors were alloted to the new wards even if there was no geographical connection to their old wards.
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Post by David J. Glanfield on Oct 23, 2020 9:22:20 GMT
Halifax CB electorates (February 1974):-
Akroydon 3279 Calder 5054 Illingworth 7004 Kingston 4020 Lee Mount 4775 Mixenden 6369 Northowram 4305 Ovenden 4686 Park 3467 Pellon 3754 St John's 1793 Skircoat 4409 Southowram 3486 Town 2887 Warley 4533
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Post by David J. Glanfield on Oct 23, 2020 9:33:27 GMT
The 1952 (Local Government) electorates:-
Akroydon 4965 Calder 5367 Illingworth 2889 Kingston 4821 Lee Mount 5725 Mixenden 2649 Northowram 3911 Ovenden 5018 Park 5241 Pellon 5658 St John's 5597 Skircoat 4446 Southowram 4562 Town 5688 Warley 3996
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Post by David J. Glanfield on Oct 26, 2020 18:29:13 GMT
An odd situation arose in 1955 when Alderman Joe Nicholl was selected to be the next mayor of Halifax. His term on the aldermanic bench was due to expire after the borough elections. These elections brought gains for the Tories and they were underrepresented on the bench. (The formula used by the parties was one alderman for every three councillors). Before the election Con (13 councillors, 3 aldermen), Lab (18 councillors, 6 aldermen) and Lib (13 councillors, 6 aldermen). One councillor had been expelled from the Labour group for attending a (Soviet) Peace Conference. She did not seek re-election. After the election the Tories had 17 councillors (Labour 15 and the Libs stood still on 13). The eight aldermen up for re-election were six Libs, one Tory and Joe Nicholl (Lab). Two Liberal aldermen said that they would resign from the council and this reduced their strenghth on the bench to four. What to do about Ald. Nicholl? The Tories said that they were prepared to offer him a seat on the bench for one year providing that place reverted to them. Labour declined that offer. No satisfactory solution could be reached so Joe lost his seat on the bench. That did not prevent him becoming mayor because at that time a council could appoint a mayor who was not a member. Mr Joe Nicholl, Esq became the Mayor of Halifax in May 1955 and the council then numbered 61 members. There is more...Cllr John Taylor (Lab, Akroydon) resigned from the council in early 1956 and Joe was returned unopposed in the subsequent by-election. Joe returned to the aldermanic bench in November 1956 following the death of Ald. John Oddy. He resigned from the council in February 1958 and died, aged 70, on December 20th 1958. (Obit: www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003295/19581222/075/0005). There had been two previous occasions when Halifax council had chosen a mayor from outside their ranks but a vacancy had been quickly found via a by-election. (https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003295/19550520/092/0006).
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Post by David J. Glanfield on Feb 15, 2021 13:06:13 GMT
Liberal victories in Halifax 1952-72:- (Black=unopposed/no Conservative opponent, Gold=Conservative opponent). It was always denied that there was a Tory-Liberal pact for the Halifax municipal elections but the candidature pattern/Liberal victories suggest otherwise. Calder ward - arrangement of Con fighting in two of the three years and the Libs in the other year. George Hackett defected to the Conservatives just before his term expired in 1967 and he was re-elected under his new colours. Kingston ward - the safe Liberal ward bar a surprise Tory win in 1960. The Libs could withstand Tory candidates in this ward. Lee Mount ward - safe Labour ward that fell to the Libs in their nadir years of 1968/69. Mixenden ward - Lib challenge led by local chemist Dick Deadman, who later defected to Labour before seeking a route back to the Lib Dems. Northowram ward - strong Lib presence in this ward and they could win against Conservatives from the 1960s onwards. (Support melted upon reorganisation in 1974). Park ward - another ward with a shared Lib/Con contest pattern. The Libs fell away as low-cost housing was bulldozed or bought by Asians. Pellon ward - a Lib stronghold in its day and rarely contested by the Conservatives. My relative was the last Lib councillor for this ward. The ward was later represented by Dick Deadman (as Labour). Town ward - almost certain that there was a Con/Lib arrangement here until it stopped and Lib support fizzled away. Warley ward - a redoubtable Lib ward until it wasn't and within a few years a Tory stronghold.
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Post by David J. Glanfield on May 27, 2021 20:20:12 GMT
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Post by David J. Glanfield on Dec 30, 2021 9:52:09 GMT
CB composition 1896-1913:- Copied from 'The Rising Sun of Socialism'.
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