1919 Carmarthenshire County Council election

1919 Carmarthenshire County Council election

All 53 seats to Carmarthenshire County Council 27 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party Liberal Conservative Labour Seats won 0/53 0/53 0/53   Fourth party Fifth party   Party Independent Liberal Unionist Seats won 1/51 0/51
Council control after election TBD

An election to the Carmarthenshire County Council was held in March 1919.^[1] It was preceded by the 1913 election and followed by the 1922 election.

The elections were less politicised than in the pre-war era, with more candidates being elected without any declared political affiliations. The non-political nature of the contests was emphasized by the traditionally Conservative Carmarthen Journal, which had long opposed the politicized nature of local authority elections.^[1] Other publications, however, included political affiliations in their coverage of the results.^[2][3]

There were no boundary changes.

22 of the 53 divisions were uncontested, with the majority of the unopposed returns being in the rural parts of the county.^[1]

A greater proportion of the sitting members were challenged than had been the case in most pre-war contests and a number of prominent members were defeated including Mervyn Peel, former Conservative candidate for East Carmarthenshire, at Llangadog. In Carmarthen, the Rev. Andrew Fuller Mills was defeated by an ex-serviceman.^[1]

In Llanelli, D.C. Parry, a Liberal member of the Council since its formation, was defeated by Gwendoline Trubshaw, who received the support of the Discharged and Demobilised Soldiers' and Sailors' Association.^[2]

Other contests in Llanelli town and in the surrounding areas saw significant support for the Labour party, which captured a number of seats, building on the strong result achieved by Dr J.H. Williams at the General Election the previous year.

In some cases there is an ambiguity in the sources over the party affiliations and this is explained below in relation to individual ward contests where relevant.

The aldermen who retired at the election were

Lord Dynevor captured the seat previously held by J. Towyn Jones MP.

In pre-war contests, Joseph Roberts had stood as a Labour candidate.

Thomas Thomas received the support of the Trades and Labour Council. However, he was regarded as a Liberal candidate in most quarters.

In addition to the 53 councillors the council consisted of 17 county aldermen. Aldermen were elected by the council, and served a six-year term.

The following aldermen stood down at the election. None of them stood at the election and were re-elected at the statutory meeting.^[4] Labour councillor Dr J.H. Williams gave notice that he would propose that, in future, all aldermen should seek re-election to the Council before retaining their seats on the aldermanic bench.

• Rev William Davies, Llandeilo
• David Evans, Whitland
• William Griffiths, Llanelli
• Thomas Jones, Llanelli
• W.N. Jones, Ammanford
• Rev E.B. Lloyd, Bwlchnewydd
• John Lloyd, Abegwili
• James Phillips, St Clears
• J. Lloyd Thomas, Feryside