1925 Glamorgan County Council election

The twelfth election to Glamorgan County Council, south Wales, took place in March 1925. It was preceded by the 1922 election and followed by the 1928 election.

Overview of the Result

Having lost its majority at the 1922 elections, Labour regained control of the County Council by winning seven seats.^[1]

Boundary Changes

There were no boundary changes at this election.

Candidates

16 councillors were returned unopposed.^[2]

Of the eleven retiring aldermen, nine sought re-election. Seven of their number were returned unopposed; these included the chairman of the County Council, Daniel Daniels (Lib, Dulais Valley) after the sitting Labour councillor stood down in his favour.

Contested Elections

The pattern of contests was similar to 1922, although Labour contested some seats that it had not previously stood.^[3]

Three retiring aldermen faced opposition. Rev D.H. Williams (Lib, Barry) faced a Labour opponent and the seat had been held by Labour since a 1919 by-election. W.H. Davies (Lab, Gower) faced an Independent opponent and in Caerphilly the sitting Independent stood down in favour of Joseph Howells though he faced a Labour challenge.

Outcome

Labour gained seven seats and lost only one, establishing a firm majority on the County Council.

Results

Aberaman

Rose Davies captured a seat previously held by a Liberal and became the first woman elected to the County Council.

Aberaman 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Labour	Florence Rose Davies	1,989
	Independent	Joseph Martin	1,786
Majority			203
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing

Aberavon

Aberavon 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Edward Lewis Hare*	Unopposed
	Labour hold		Swing

Abercynon

Abercynon 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Labour	Johnson Dicks	2,158
	Liberal	Dr J. Llewelyn Morris*	1,975
Majority			183
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing

Aberdare Town

Aberdare Town 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Thomas**	Unopposed
	Liberal hold		Swing

Bargoed

Bargoed 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Labour	W.H. Hopkins	1,284
	Independent	Dr B.H.E. McCrae*	1,136
Majority			148
	Labour gain from Independent		Swing

Barry

Alderman D.H. Williams, chair of the Central Welsh Board of Education, comfortably won the seat but this was technically a Liberal gain from Labour who had held the seat since a by-election after Williams was re-elected as alderman in 1919.

Barry 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	Rev D.H. Williams**	2,216
	Labour	B.B. Bembridge	734
Majority			1,482
	Liberal gain from Labour		Swing

Barry Dock

Barry Dock 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	W.M. Davies*	Unopposed
Majority
	Liberal hold		Swing

Blaengwawr

Blaengwawr 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Labour	William J. Edwards	1,189
	Independent	H. Cowen	787
Majority			402
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing

Bridgend

Bridgend 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Dapho Llewellyn Powell**	Unopposed
	Independent hold		Swing

Briton Ferry

Briton Ferry 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Labour	G. Gethin	1,800
	Conservative	M.G. Roberts*	1,562
Majority			243
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Cadoxton

Cadoxton 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	J.R. Llewellyn*	Unopposed
Majority
	Conservative hold		Swing

Caerphilly

Alderman Joseph Howells won the seat after the sitting Independent councillor withdrew in his favour.

Caerphilly 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	Joseph Howells**	2,067
	Labour	Evan Phillips	1,477
Majority			610
	Liberal gain from Independent		Swing

Cilfynydd

Cilfynydd 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Dan Rees*	Unopposed
	Labour hold		Swing

Coedffranc

W.T. Jenkins had previously stood as an Independent but now declared himself a Labour supporter.^[4]

Coedffranc 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Labour	W. Phillip Jenkins	2,007
	Independent	Ogley L. David	1,893
Majority			114
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Cowbridge

Cowbridge 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Colonel H.R. Homfray*	2,139
	Labour	Johnson Miles	639
Majority			1,500
	Conservative hold		Swing

Cwm Aber

Cwm Aber 1922
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Labour	Hubert Jenkins*	Unopposed
Majority
	Labour hold		Swing

Cwmavon

Cwmavon 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Labour	John Jones Edwards*	Unopposed
Majority
	Labour hold		Swing

Cymmer

Cymmer 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Watts-Morgan*	Unopposed
	Labour hold

Dinas Powys

Dinas Powys 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Claude D. Thompson*	Unopposed
	Conservative hold		Swing

Dulais Valley

Alderman Daniel Daniels of Crynant, chairman of the County Council, was returned unopposed after the sitting Labour councillor did not contest the seat. This was technically a Liberal gain.

Dulais Valley 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Daniel Daniels**	Unopposed
	Liberal gain from Labour		Swing

Ferndale

Ferndale 1922
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Labour	Jabez Davies*	Unopposed
Majority
	Labour hold		Swing

Gadlys

Gadlys 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	T. Marchant Harries*	Unopposed
	Liberal hold		Swing

Glyncorrwg

Glyncorrwg 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William Jenkins**	Unopposed
	Labour hold

Gower

Gower 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Independent	Frederick W. Davies*	1,634
	Labour	William Henry Davies**	1,441
Majority			193
	Independent hold		Swing

Hengoed

Hengoed 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	Edward Richards*	1,216
	Labour	E. Jenkins	995
Majority			221
	Liberal hold		Swing

Hopkinstown

Hopkinstown 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	E.H. Fleming**	Unopposed
	Labour hold		Swing

Kibbor

Henry Lewis again returned after many years.

Kibbor 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Henry Lewis*	1,035
	Liberal	D. Morgan Rees	379
Majority			656
	Conservative hold		Swing

Llandaff

Llandaff 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Lewis Lougher*	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

Llandeilo Talybont

Llandeilo Talybont 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Labour	Caradog Jones	1,190
	Independent	Llewellyn Davies	957
Majority			233
	Labour hold		Swing

Llanfabon

Llanfabon 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Labour	John Phillips*	1,360
	Liberal	Arthur Hopkins	1,175
Majority			185
	Labour hold		Swing

Llwydcoed

Llwydcoed 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Morgan Llewellyn*	Unopposed
	Liberal hold		Swing

Llwynypia and Clydach

James Evans, grocer, elected following Richard Lewis's election as alderman in 1901, was returned unopposed.

Llwynypia and Clydach 1904
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	James Evans*	unopposed

Loughor

The sitting member had been elected as a Liberal in 1922.

Loughor 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Independent	Thomas J. Thomas*	1,582
	Labour	William Evans	1,534
Majority			48
	Independent hold		Swing

Maesteg, Caerau and Nantyffyllon

Maesteg, Caerau and Nantyffyllon 1922
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Evans*	Unopposed
	Labour hold		Swing

Maesteg, East and West

Maesteg East and West 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Independent	Thomas E. Hopkins*	1,881
	Labour	E. Barnett	1,026
Majority			855
	Independent hold		Swing

Mountain Ash

Mountain Ash 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Lord Aberdare*	Unopposed
	Liberal hold		Swing

Neath (North)

Neath (North) 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	David Griffith Davies*	Unopposed
	Liberal hold		Swing

Neath (South)

Neath (South) 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Frederick William Gibbins*	Unopposed
	Liberal hold

Newcastle

Newcastle 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	E.H. Mole*	Unopposed
	Labour hold		Swing

Ogmore Valley

Ogmore Valley 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David J. Thomas*	Unopposed
	Labour hold		Swing

Penarth North

Penarth North 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Walter Hallett	655
	Labour	Peter Freeman	646
Majority			9
	Conservative hold		Swing

Penarth South

Penarth South 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Samuel Thomas*	Unopposed
	Conservative hold		Swing

Pencoed

Pencoed 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	W.A. Howell**	Unopposed
	Independent hold		Swing

Penrhiwceiber

Penrhiwceiber 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Labour	E.O. James	2,740
	Liberal	Dr. Ben Phillips-Jones*	2,289
Majority			451
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing

Pentre

Pentre 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	Thomas Alfred Thomas*	1,542
	Labour	T.T. Andrews	1,076
Majority			486
	Liberal hold		Swing

Pontardawe

Pontardawe 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Daniel Davies*	Unopposed
	Labour hold		Swing

Pontyclun

Pontyclun 1922
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Thomas Jenkins*	1,718
	Labour	D. Harris	623
Majority			1,095
	Conservative hold		Swing

Port Talbot East

Port Talbot East 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Thomas*	Unopposed
	Labour hold		Swing

Port Talbot West

Port Talbot West 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Llewelyn David**
	Independent hold		Swing

Porthcawl

Porthcawl 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Independent	Sir Thomas Jones*	1,644
	Labour	Thomas Woods	1,340
Majority			255
	Independent hold		Swing

Pontlottyn

Pontlottyn 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	William Hammond*	Unopposed
Majority
	Liberal hold		Swing

Pontycymmer

Pontycymmer 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Independent	Jonathan Maddocks	1,654
	Labour	J. Jones	1,610
Majority			44
	Independent gain from Labour		Swing

Pontypridd

Pontypridd 1904
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Labour	Fleming	602
	Liberal	James Roberts*	398
	Conservative	H.M. Gregory	383
Majority			204
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing

Penygraig

Penygraig 1922
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Nefydd Thomas	Unopposed
	Labour hold		Swing

Porth

Porth 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	William Evans*	Unopposed
Majority
	Liberal hold		Swing

Swansea Valley

Swansea Valley 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Independent	Richard Thomas*	2,300
	Labour	J.L. Rees	1,622
Majority			678
	Independent hold		Swing

Tonyrefail and Gilfach Goch

Tonyrefail and Gilfach Goch 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Labour	William Arthur Jones*	1,496
	Independent	Morgan Lloyd Griffiths	882
	Independent	Levi Morgan	191
Majority			614
	Labour hold		Swing

Treforest

Trealaw 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Labour	Enoch Treharne	Unopposed
Majority
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing

Treforest

The sitting member had been elected as a Liberal in 1922.

Treforest 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Labour	Arthur James Chick	1,488
	Independent	John Thomas Rees*	1,164
Majority			324
	Labour gain from Independent		Swing

Treherbert

Enoch Davies, returned in 1901 following William Morgan's re-election as alderman, was elected unopposed.

Treherbert 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Enoch Davies*	unopposed
	Liberal hold		Swing

Treorchy

Thomas Jones, Co-operative stores manager, was returned unopposed.

Treorchy 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Jones*	unopposed
	Liberal hold		Swing

Tylorstown

Tylorstown 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Dr T.H. Morris*	Unopposed
	Liberal hold		Swing

Vale of Neath

Vale of Neath 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	D.H. Jones*	Unopposed
	Independent hold		Swing

Ynyshir

Ynyshir 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Labour	George Dalling*	996
	Independent Labour	William Thomas	985
	Liberal	D. Lewis Daniel	715
Majority			11
	Liberal hold		Swing

Ystalyfera

D.W. Davies regained the seat he lost three years previously.

Ystalyfera 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Independent	D.W. Davies	1,527
	Labour	Daniel T. Jones*	1,153
Majority			374
	Independent gain from Labour		Swing

Ystrad

Ystrad 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	Dr W.E. Thomas*	1,818
	Labour	J. Davies	1,183
Majority			635
	Liberal hold		Swing

Election of Aldermen

In addition to the 66 councillors the council consisted of 22 county aldermen. Aldermen were elected by the council, and served a six-year term. Following the 1925 election, there were eleven Aldermanic vacancies, all of which were filled by Labour nominees (including one long-serving Liberal).^[5] These included the first woman elected to the Council, Rose Davies (Aberaman).

The following retiring aldermen were re-elected:

E.H. Fleming (Lab, Hopkinstown)
William Jenkins (Lab, Glyncorrwg)
David Lewis (Lab, Tylorstown)
Rev D.H. Williams (Lib, Barry)

In addition, the following seven new aldermen were elected:

David Daniel Davies (Lab, Pontardawe)
Rose Davies (Lab, Aberaman)
John Evans (Lan, Maesteg)
Johnson Dicks (Lab, Abercynon)
Caradoc Jones (Lab, Llandeilo Talybont)
John Phillips (Lab, Llanfabon)
John Thomas (Lab, Port Talbot)

The following retiring aldermen were re-elected as members of the Council but were not re-elected as aldermen:

Llewellyn David (Ind, Port Talbot)
Daniel Daniels (Lib, Dulais Valley)
Joseph Howells (Lib, Caerphilly)
William Thomas (Lib, Aberdare)

By-elections

Eleven vacancies were caused by the election of aldermen.

Aberaman by-election


Party		Votes
	Labour
	Independent
Majority
	Labour gain from Independent	Swing

Abercynon by-election


Party		Votes
	Labour
	Independent
Majority
	Labour gain from Independent	Swing

Barry by-election


Party		Votes
	Labour
	Independent
Majority
	Labour gain from Independent	Swing

Glyncorrwg by-election


Party		Votes
	Labour
	Independent
Majority
	Labour gain from Independent	Swing

Hopkinstown by-election


Party		Votes
	Labour
	Independent
Majority
	Labour gain from Independent	Swing

Llandeilo Talybont by-election

Llandeilo Talybont
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Independent	Llewellyn Davies	1,501
	Labour	J. Powell	1,378
Majority
	Independent gain from Labour		Swing

Llanfabon by-election

Llanfabon
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Labour	William Bowen	1,338
	Independent	William Hopkins	1,189
Majority			149
	Labour hold		Swing

Maesteg by-election


Party		Votes
	Labour
	Independent
Majority
	Labour gain from Independent	Swing

Pontardawe by-election

Pontardawe by-election 1925
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Charles Williams	Unopposed
	Labour hold		Swing

Port Talbot by-election


Party		Votes
	Labour
	Independent
Majority
	Labour gain from Independent	Swing

Tylorstown by-election


Party		Votes
	Labour
	Independent
Majority
	Labour gain from Independent	Swing

References

^ "Seven Seats Won. Supremacy Regained After Three Years". Western Mail. 7 March 1925. p. 11. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
^ "County Council Elections. Unopposed Returns in Glamorgan". Western Mail. 26 February 1925. p. 14. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
^ "Welsh County Elections. Polling Somewhat Featureless. Labour Gains". Western Mail. 6 March 1925. p. 11. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
^ "Other Glamorgan Results". Western Mail. 7 March 1925. p. 7. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
^ "County Council Honours. Chairman and Vice-Chairman Re-elected. Labour Aldermen". Western Mail. 13 March 1925. p. 6. Retrieved 29 January 2021.

Bibliography

Williams, Chris (1996). Democratic Rhondda: Politics and society 1885-1951. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.

[WM_7-3-25-1] "Seven Seats Won. Supremacy Regained After Three Years". Western Mail. 7 March 1925. p. 11. Retrieved 22 January 2021.

[WM_26-2-25-2] "County Council Elections. Unopposed Returns in Glamorgan". Western Mail. 26 February 1925. p. 14. Retrieved 20 January 2021.

[WM_6-3-25-3] "Welsh County Elections. Polling Somewhat Featureless. Labour Gains". Western Mail. 6 March 1925. p. 11. Retrieved 22 January 2021.

[WM_7-3-25res-4] "Other Glamorgan Results". Western Mail. 7 March 1925. p. 7. Retrieved 26 January 2021.

[WM_13-3-25-5] "County Council Honours. Chairman and Vice-Chairman Re-elected. Labour Aldermen". Western Mail. 13 March 1925. p. 6. Retrieved 29 January 2021.

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