1931 Carmarthenshire County Council election

1931 Carmarthenshire County Council election

← 1928 1934 →
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 1931.^[1] It was preceded by the 1928 election and followed by the 1934 election.

The Independent group remained the majority grouping on the Council. In the Llanelli area the potential for Labour to win further ground was complicated by the appearance of Communist Party candidates.

There was one boundary change, namely the division of the existing Llandybie ward into two divisions, each of which was won by Labour.

Only a minority of the 53 divisions were contested. 53 councillors were elected.

Boundary Change

Boundary Change

Joe Howells stood as an Independent against the official Labour candidate and won by a very narrow margin.

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. Following the elections the following nine aldermen were elected. Eight were retiring aldermen (some of whom had not fought an election for many years) while Joseph Roberts had been re-elected in Llanelly Division 3.^[2]

• T.R. Jones, Cross Hall
• James Phillips, St Clears
• Philip Phillips, Pencraig
• W.R. Rogers, Closyfran
• Rev William Thomas, Llanboidy
• David Davies, Rhyblid
• John Thomas, Llanelli
• Joseph Roberts, Llanelli
• W.N.Jones, Ammanford

In addition, W.D. Davies, recently re-elected unopposed for the Llanegwad division, was elevated to the aldermanic bench following the death of L.N. Powell.^[2]

A by-election was scheduled for March 1931 following the elevation of W.D. Davies to the aldermanic bench. B. Davies of Glancothi was elected unopposed in his place.^[3]

A by-election was held in April due to the elevation of Joseph Roberts to the aldermanic bench. Strong objections were raised in the local press to the prospect of several Independent candidates contesting the vacancy,^[4] and these fears were realised when Labour candidate Percy Evans headed the poll with around a third of the votes cast.^[5] Gomer Thomas, chosen as an official candidate by the Ratepayers' Association, polled only 89 votes.

A by-election was held in December 1932 following the elevation of Edward James to the aldermanic bench. Henry Morris, a mamber of Whitland RDC for 28 years, was elected by a narrow majority^[6]