1945 Leeds City Council election

The Leeds municipal elections were held on Thursday 1 November 1945.[1] Although a third of the council would ordinarily be up for election, the suspension of elections during World War II meant the council had last held elections in 1938, and with the amount of vacancies and co-options throughout near to two-thirds of the council needed electing.[2]

Labour repeated their earlier national performance and won sweeping victories across the country,[1] with Leeds no exception, picking up 40 of the 48 seats contested (with Richmond Hill going unopposed) and stealing control of the council from the Conservatives.[2][3] The Conservatives only managed eight defences, which were confined to their bastions of Far Headingley, Hyde Park, North and Roundhay, although running Labour exceptionally close in Blenheim.[2] The minor parties also failed to escape the Labour tide, as the Liberals lost both their representatives (a councillor and an alderman) and the Communists their sole councillor in Woodhouse - formally Labour, but expelled for alleged Communist sympathies.[2][3][4]

As well as the 21 gains Labour made that night, the gentlemen's agreement - signed between Labour and the Conservatives in 1930 to allocate aldermen in proportion to their councillors - further rewarded Labour with an extra five aldermen at mostly Tory expense (the other being the aforementioned Liberal) in recognition of those gains. As a result, Labour emerged with an overall majority of 42 on a turnout of 43.3%.[3]

Election result
Leeds Local Election Result 1945
Party Seats Gains Losses Net gain/loss Seats % Votes % Votes +/−
  Labour 40 21 0 +21 83.3 57.5 84,969
  Conservative 8 0 19 -19 16.7 36.9 54,551
  Liberal 0 0 1 -1 0.0 5.6 8,214

The result had the following consequences for the total number of seats on the council after the elections:[3]

Party Previous council New council
Cllr Ald Cllr Ald
Labour 37 10 58 15
Conservatives 39 15 20 11
Liberals 1 1 0 0
Communists 1 0 0 0
Total 78 26 78 26
104 104
Working majority  -4   -6   38   4 
 -10   42 

Ward results
Armley & Wortley[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Joseph Wilkinson 3,477 80.9
Labour Joseph Bissell 3,473
Labour Annie Marlow 3,464
Conservative Joseph Hiley 823 19.1
Majority 2,641 61.7
Turnout 4,300
Beeston[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Wilfred Webster 4,083 51.3
Conservative Joseph Moorhouse 2,995 37.7
Liberal Ms Rowena Richardson 874 11.0
Majority 1,088 13.7
Turnout 7,952
Blenheim[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Albert Smith 2,206 50.5
Conservative Sydney Webster 2,163 49.5
Majority 43 1.0
Turnout 4,369
Bramley[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Ernest Kavanagh 4,960 55.6
Conservative James Reginald Herbert Greaves 2,913 32.6
Liberal Fred Plews 1,052 11.8
Majority 2,047 23.0
Turnout 8,925
Burmantofts[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour William Jackson 2,440 80.0
Labour Thomas McKellar 2,408
Conservative John Claude Bidgood 610 20.0
Conservative George Hedley Monkman 585
Majority 1,798 60.0
Turnout 3,050
Central[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour William Spence 2,194 69.1
Conservative Philip Kay Stead 983 30.9
Majority 1,211 38.2
Turnout 3,177
Cross Gates & Temple Newsam[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour William Lunn 5,701 57.5
Labour Richard Thomas 5,485
Conservative Herbert Adamson 4,207 42.5
Conservative Morris Tomlinson 3,907
Majority 1,278 15.0
Turnout 9,908
East Hunslet[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Frederic Naylor 2,807 68.0
Labour Robert Peart 2,608
Liberal Alfred Kennedy 1,318 32.0
Liberal Albert Hope 1,169
Majority 1,290 36.0
Turnout 4,125
Far Headingley[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Ernest Osborne 5,607 66.8
Conservative John William Richardson Hargrave 5,540
Labour David Beevers 2,791 33.2
Labour Ms. Irene Morley Clayden 2,730
Majority 2,749 33.6
Turnout 8,398
Farnley & Wortley[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Leonard Wood Wilkinson 4,802 65.5
Labour Charles Victor Woods 4,636
Conservative John Francis Power 2,533 34.5
Conservative Frank Carter 2,397
Majority 2,103 31.0
Turnout 7,335
Harehills[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Ms. Alice Jolley 4,700 60.7
Labour Kenneth Arthur Muir 4,374
Conservative James Walker Booth 2,199 28.4
Conservative George Astle 2,142
Liberal Thomas Edmund Hodgson 839 10.8
Liberal Arthur Gerald Shackleton 675
Majority 2,175 32.3
Turnout 7,738
Holbeck North[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Cornelius Fitzgerald 1,152 76.5
Labour James William Veitch 1,138
Liberal Walter Holdsworth 354 23.5
Liberal Gilbert Whittaker Storey 331
Majority 784 53.0
Turnout 1,506
Holbeck South[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Joseph Thomas Dickinson 3,010 69.3
Labour William Maldwyn Jones 2,934
Conservative Harold Stanley Jowett 767 17.7
Liberal Wilfred Ernest Hopper 568 13.1
Liberal Bertie Morris Turner 489
Majority 2,167 51.6
Turnout 4,345
Hunslet Carr & Middleton[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Charles Jenkinson 6,652 80.1
Labour James Edward Hodkinson 6,424
Conservative Andrew William Colin Cumming 1,657 19.9
Majority 4,767 60.1
Turnout 8,309
Hyde Park[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Percy Horner Hutchinson 3,497 57.2
Conservative Frederic Walker 3,397
Labour Ms. Annie Margaret Maud Happold 2,620 42.8
Labour Herbert Kemp 2,424
Majority 777 14.3
Turnout 6,117 47.6
Kirkstall[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Marshall Clegg 4,978 58.5
Labour George Clifford Bell 4,885
Conservative Archibold Caton Scarr 2,701 31.7
Conservative Charles Lockwood Turnbull 2,569
Liberal Arthur Lawrence Braithwaite Childe 834 9.8
Liberal Frederic Melville Fisher 718
Majority 2,184 26.7
Turnout 8,513
Mill Hill & South[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Ms. Gertrude Bray 1,387 57.0
Labour Harry Holdsworth 1,380
Conservative Herbert Preston Peacock 1,048 43.0
Conservative Alfred Edward Weaver 1,032
Majority 332 13.9
Turnout 2,435
North[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Edward John Loy Wooler 5,213 57.5
Conservative Ms. Dorothy Murphy 4,967
Labour Ms. Lillian Hammond 2,605 28.7
Labour Norman Davy 2,477
Liberal Winifred Francis Underhill 1,247 13.8
Liberal Albert Edward Marshall 1,238
Majority 2,362 28.8
Turnout 9,065
Osmondthorpe[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Ms. May Firth 3,817 76.0
Labour Fred Potter 3,781
Conservative Albert Edward Baker 1,204 24.0
Conservative Herbert Reginald Stott 1,143
Majority 2,577 52.0
Turnout 5,021
Potternewton[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Charles Benjamin Bradley 3,381 56.6
Labour Karl Cyril Cohen 3,197
Labour Barnet Weinrib 3,121
Conservative James Thomas Mulley 2,595 43.4
Conservative Charles Henry Driver 2,587
Conservative Eldon Jenkins Fenton 2,518
Majority 526 13.2
Turnout 5,976
Richmond Hill[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Willie Fowler Unopposed N/A N/A
Roundhay[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Francis Eric Tetley 5,661 62.1
Conservative Alexander Ayrton Watt 5,257
Labour Ms. Ivy Veitch 3,462 37.9
Labour William Merritt 3,434
Majority 1,795 24.1
Turnout 9,123
Upper Armley[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Ernest Blackburn 3,738 59.0
Labour John Herbert Underwood 3,729
Labour William Bramham 3,719
Conservative Ms. Jenny Wormald 2,598 41.0
Conservative Edward Dean Glover 2,528
Conservative Matthew Farey 2,421
Majority 1,121 18.0
Turnout 6,336
West Hunslet[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Harold Watson 3,725 71.0
Conservative Percival Arthur Woodward 960 18.3
Liberal George Petch 560 10.7
Majority 2,765 52.7
Turnout 5,245
Westfield[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour William Villiers Stoner 1,551 74.1
Labour Ms. Edith Youngman 1,528
Conservative Ms. Mabel Burton 541 25.9
Conservative Stanley Hodgson Doyle 527
Majority 987 48.3
Turnout 2,092
Woodhouse[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Ms. Mary Pearce 2,730 62.4
Conservative George Sydney Taylor 1,076 24.6
Liberal Ernest Lightowler 568 13.0
Majority 1,654 37.8
Turnout 4,374

References
  1. "Labor Gains Widen in British Returns". The New York Times. 3 November 1945. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
  2. "Municipal results: Leeds". The Yorkshire Post. 2 November 1945.
  3. Sharpe, L.J. (1967). Voting in cities: the 1964 borough elections.
  4. Johnson, C. (1946). The End of Socialism: The Reflections of a Radical.
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