1973 Guildford Borough Council election

The first ever Guildford Borough Council full-council elections were held on 7 June 1973. The Conservatives won control of the council with a majority of 16, winning 29 of the 42 seats.

The Local Government Act 1972 decreed that a new Guildford Borough Council was to replace the previous two councils for the area, namely the town council, Guildford Municipal Borough Council, and the council for the rural area surrounding Guildford, Guildford Rural District Council. The wards used for this election were largely based on the previously wards used by Guildford Municipal Borough Council and the parish boundaries of Guildford Rural District Council.

There was some alteration to the wards in the run up to the election, but full scale rewarding would only be implemented in time for the 1976 council elections. Changes included Friary ward and St Nicolas ward being merged with 3 councillors for the new joint ward; they had previously been separate wards with 3 councillors each on Guildford Municipal Borough Council. Holy Trinity ward and Stoughton ward each saw the number of councillors represent them reduce from 3 to 2. Merrow and Burpham ward, which at this point included much of what was from 1976 onwards to become the Christchurch ward, saw its representation increase from 3 to 5 councillors.[1]

The new council was initially to be elected once every 3 years (this was to change to once every 4 years from 1979 onwards). This replaced the annual elections, where one third of councillors were elected each year, which had previously been used for elections to Guildford Municipal Borough Council.

Going into the election the councillors[2] for the town wards under the old Guildford Municipal Borough Council were as follows - Friary (2 Lib, 1 Lab), St Nicolas (2 Lib, 1 Con), Stoke (3 Lab), Westborough (3 Lab), Holy Trinity (3 Con), Merrow & Burpham (3 Con), Onslow (3 Con), Stoughton (3 Con). Thus Friary & St Nicolas was predominately Liberal, Stoke and Westborough were Labour plus Holy Trinity, Merrow & Burpham, Onslow and Stoughton were Conservative going into the election. With one exception those allegiances were maintained in the 1973 council elections.

The Liberals took all 3 councillors for the new Friary & St Nicolas ward. Labour retained all 6 councillors in its two strongholds Stoke and Westborough. The Conservatives won all the seats in Merrow & Burpham, Onslow and Stoughton wards. However, in Holy Trinity ward a change to previous voting behaviour occurred in that an official Liberal Party candidate[3] took a seat for the first time in Holy Trinity's history; the ward having been created in 1899. This resulted in Holy Trinity ward being split 1 Conservative, 1 Liberal.[4]

All bar 3 of the councillors elected for wards within the area formerly covered by Guildford Rural District Council were Conservatives. The three exceptions were 2 Independents were returned for Albury, Shere & St Martha's, plus one of the three councillors elected for East Clandon, West Clandon, East Horsley & West Horsley was a Liberal, the other two being Conservatives.

Overall the election results were Conservatives 29, Labour 6, Liberals 5, Independents 2.

Results

Albury, Shere & St Martha's (top 2 candidates elected)
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Independent	Mrs M Elston	990
	Independent	G Witheridge	847
	Conservative	W Whiting	805
	Conservative	Mrs Dent	768
Majority			42
Turnout

Artington, Compton, Puttenham, Seale and Tongham, Shackleford & Wanborough (top 2 candidate elected)
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	LR Gillingham	962
	Conservative	JP Moore	897
	Independent	Mrs DM Bond	560
	Independent	Miss ND Fox	323
	Labour	Mrs DF Saunders	230
	Labour	K Horne	227
Majority			337
Turnout

Ash (top 5 candidates elected)
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Mrs IF Towler	1644
	Conservative	JG Ades	1550
	Conservative	Mrs RC Hall	1550
	Conservative	SA Lunn	1547
	Conservative	RN Renton	1435
	Labour	Mrs J Curwell	883
	Labour	PA Hawthorne	832
	Labour	GB Smith	789
	Labour	AR Roberts	775
	Liberal	RJ Leigh	755
	Labour	BC Winter	717
	Independent Conservative	PH Cody	518
Majority			552
Turnout

East Clandon, West Clandon, East Horsley & West Horsley (top 3 candidates elected)
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	Mrs PM Iliff[5]	1811
	Conservative	J Skene-Brown	1562
	Conservative	D May	1493
	Conservative	D Blackstone	1250
	Liberal	W Pearson	1226
	Liberal	E Oxford	1100
	Labour	Mrs J Haimes	214
	Labour	Mrs J Henmand	151
Majority			243
Turnout

Effingham (only 1 candidate elected)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	BP Tyrwhitt-Drake	unopposed

Friary & St. Nicolas (top 3 candidates elected)
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	Dr RE Blundell	1235
	Liberal	RG Marks	1159
	Liberal	Mrs M Bateman	1107
	Conservative	G Stuart-Hill	721
	Conservative	BJ Gibbs	712
	Conservative	Mrs FM Puttock	705
	Labour	F Adams	369
	Labour	Mrs CA Rogers	294
	Labour	CP Gale	288
Majority			386
Turnout

Holy Trinity (top 2 candidates elected)
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	CJK Boyce	858
	Liberal	BAH Banks	766
	Conservative	DJA Morgan	732
	Liberal	PJ Stokoe	581
	Independent	Mrs E Nicklin	478
	Labour	BO Lloyd	191
Majority			26
Turnout

Merrow & Burpham (top 5 candidates elected)
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Mrs MM Walls	2276
	Conservative	RH Beatrip	1963
	Conservative	SR Brearley	1900
	Conservative	JP Twining	1887
	Conservative	SN Trusty	1800
	Liberal	Mrs GM Oldfield	1173
	Liberal	Mrs MA Walton	1145
	Liberal	RM Wilson	1063
	Liberal	BRM Avery	1062
	Liberal	AR Dakers	1045
	Labour	P Henderson	523
	Labour	MP Hill	490
	Labour	G Hall	470
	Labour	RSL Rees	438
	Labour	Mrs GCD Lines	423
Majority			627
Turnout

Normandy (only 1 candidate elected)
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	AA Cook	499
	Labour	PJ Dyson	344
Majority			155
Turnout

Onslow (top 3 candidates elected)
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Mrs PE Harding	1118
	Conservative	RM Hardy	1090
	Conservative	DE Steer	963
	Liberal	R Symes-Schutzmann	816
	Liberal	Mrs B Harris	800
	Liberal	Dr S Harris	797
	Labour	RT Rogers	685
	Labour	BA Naish	616
	Labour	Mrs PM Coyle	597
Majority			147
Turnout

Pirbright (only 1 candidate elected)
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	D Gibbs	310
	Independent	CJ Hendon	258
Majority			52
Turnout

Ripley, Wisley & Ockham (only 1 candidate elected)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	RHA Amis	unopposed

Send (top 2 candidates elected)
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Mrs MH Sanger	793
	Conservative	SE Roberts	721
	Liberal	Mrs GM Blundell	589
	Liberal	Mrs JM Copeland	444
	Labour	J Cox	123
Majority			132
Turnout

Shalford (only 1 candidate elected)
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Mrs ECS Stewart	603
	Independent	GA Goulty	471
	Labour	J Fahy	201
Majority			132
Turnout

Stoke (top 3 candidates elected)
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Labour	GR Bellerby[6]	1790
	Labour	RGK Burgess	1521
	Labour	Mrs E Pullan	1397
	Conservative	AJE Hodges	1166
	Conservative	WR Jordan	1146
	Conservative	FH Nicholson	1124
Majority			231
Turnout

Stoughton (top 2 candidates elected)
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	LJ May	1061
	Conservative	RE Price	1003
	Labour	OJE Sefton	554
	[7]	Mrs LM Harper	546
Majority			449
Turnout

Westborough (top 3 candidates elected)
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Labour	Mrs DW Bellerby	1434
	Labour	JRG Dale	1296
	Labour	JB Patrick	1159
	Liberal	KG Briggs	868
	Liberal	PW Tidy	803
	Liberal	PA Toovey	771
	Conservative	DJ Puttock	478
	Conservative	Mrs PC Jenner	451
	Conservative	Mrs BM Woodhatch	445
Majority			291
Turnout

Worplesdon (top 2 candidates elected)
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Mrs SE Simkins	825
	Conservative	JC Henderson	755
	Independent	H Carter	663
Majority			92
Turnout

References

See "Guildford Borough Council - A Compendium of Municipal Election Results 1835 to 1974" by Roger Ottewill
Prior to the local government reforms of the early 1970s, councils consisted of 3/4 coucillors who were directly elected by the local populace and 1/4 aldermen who were indirectly elected by their fellow councillors. The reference here refers purely to the directly elected councillors.
The reference to "official Liberal Party candidate" is to differentiate from candidates who were members of the Liberal Party but had stood as "independents".
For further information see "Guildford Borough Council - A Compendium of Municipal Election Results 1835 to 1974" by Roger Ottewill.
Initials from 1976 results as published in Surrey Advertiser.
GR Bellerby was more commonly known as Bill Bellerby. He appears in every Surrey Advertiser summary of Guildford BC election results from 1973 to 1991 as either B Bellerby or Bill Bellerby. For example both the 1973 and 1976 results list all other candidates in all the wards in Guildford by initials except one who they list as 'Bill Bellerby'. "Guildford Borough Council - A Compendium of Municipal Election results 1835 to 1974" by Roger Ottewill repeated lists his initials as 'GR Bellerby' and that form is used herein.
The Surrey Advertiser omitted any political description off this candidate from its results published on 8 June 1973

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] See "Guildford Borough Council - A Compendium of Municipal Election Results 1835 to 1974" by Roger Ottewill

[2] Prior to the local government reforms of the early 1970s, councils consisted of 3/4 coucillors who were directly elected by the local populace and 1/4 aldermen who were indirectly elected by their fellow councillors. The reference here refers purely to the directly elected councillors.

[3] The reference to "official Liberal Party candidate" is to differentiate from candidates who were members of the Liberal Party but had stood as "independents".

[4] For further information see "Guildford Borough Council - A Compendium of Municipal Election Results 1835 to 1974" by Roger Ottewill.

[5] Initials from 1976 results as published in Surrey Advertiser.

[6] GR Bellerby was more commonly known as Bill Bellerby. He appears in every Surrey Advertiser summary of Guildford BC election results from 1973 to 1991 as either B Bellerby or Bill Bellerby. For example both the 1973 and 1976 results list all other candidates in all the wards in Guildford by initials except one who they list as 'Bill Bellerby'. "Guildford Borough Council - A Compendium of Municipal Election results 1835 to 1974" by Roger Ottewill repeated lists his initials as 'GR Bellerby' and that form is used herein.

[7] The Surrey Advertiser omitted any political description off this candidate from its results published on 8 June 1973

Council elections in Surrey
Surrey CC	1889 1892 1895 1898 1901 1904 1907 1910 1913 1919 1922 1925 1928 1931 1934 1937 1946 1949 1952 1955 1958 1961 1964 1967 1970 1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013 2017 2021
Elmbridge BC	1973 1976 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016 2018 2019
Epsom and Ewell BC	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019
Guildford BC	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019
Mole Valley DC	1973 1976 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016 2018 2019
Reigate and Banstead BC	1973 1976 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016 2018 2019
Runnymede BC	1973 1976 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016 2018 2019
Spelthorne BC	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019
Surrey Heath BC	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019
Tandridge DC	1973 1976 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016 2018 2019
Waverley BC	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019
Woking BC	1973 1976 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016 2018 2019
See also: Wards Boundary changes Middlesex County Council elections (1889–1965)

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