Month: January 2022

Abbey (3 seats)

Candidate	Party	Votes
*Evan Thomas Evans	Conservative	632
*Ronald Stansfield	Conservative	594
*Joan Salkeld	Conservative	485
Edgar Emerson	Labour	231
Aubrey Walters	Labour	212
Mrs M. McClellan	Labour	210
T. Thompson	Liberal	179
Mrs R. Hertz	Liberal	165
K. Hatwood	Liberal	139

Borrowell (3 seats)

Candidate	Party	Votes
Kenneth Rawnsley	Conservative	595
Victor Chance	Conservative	590
Edward Player	Conservative	571
Helen Dore	Liberal	496
Dennis Archer	Liberal	334
Peter Thompson	Liberal	309
Derek Sharrock	Labour	159

Park Hill (3 seats)

Candidate	Party	Votes
Harry Potts	Conservative	615
Bernice Gardner	Conservative	584
Spencer Harrison	Conservative	543
L. Nixon	Liberal	299
Jan Mokrzycki	Liberal	288
Mrs V. Billet	Liberal	267
Anthony Diggins	Labour	231
Mrs E. Tidy	Labour	223
Mrs S. Harris	Labour	222

Castle (3 seats)

Candidate	Party	Votes
*Leonard Smalley	Conservative	810
Anthony Whittaker	Conservative	770
*Bill Whiteman	Conservative	747
Peter Smith	Liberal	329
Dora Greenway	Liberal	319
Edward Flint	Liberal	209

Windy Arbour (3 seats)

+new ward+

Candidate	Party	Votes
*Florence Adcock	Conservative	926
Derek Moore	Conservative	840
Richard Watson	Conservative	840
Robert Butler	Liberal	529
Haydn Thomas	Liberal	510
Mrs N. Tyrell	Liberal	486

St John’s (3 seats)

+new ward+

Candidate	Party	Votes
*Jack Cox	Conservative	597
Eric Bernard Smith	Conservative	476
*Christopher Webster	Labour	458
Michael Coker	Conservative	420
Dennis Jakeman	Liberal	364
Thomas Caswell	Labour	332
Bill Wozencroft	Labour	307
Mrs H. Eggins	Liberal	205
James Cook	Liberal	192

*denotes retiring member

NEW WARDS – BUT ‘PARTY’ ROW BEFORE ELECTION

Just before the election there was a bit of a rumpus between the Liberals and Tories. Liberal agent, Peter Thompson, who was standing in Borrowell ward, was threatening legal action against the tories regarding a ‘Ale and Cheese’ party that the Kenilworth Conservative Association were hosting. Mr Thompson claimed that the party, for which electors could attend and meet their candidates, is an offence under the Representation of the People Act. Apparently, penalties for contravening this act could be a £200 fine, six months imprisonment, a five year ban from voting or in the case of a candidate, disqualification from contesting an election for ten years. He added; “With this event the Conservatives are sailing very close to the wind”. But Mrs Dixon, treasurer of the Warwick, Leamington and Kenilworth Conservative Association, replied; “We are not contravening the act because people who are coming will be paying 5 shillings a ticket and they will have to buy their own drinks”.

Due to the increase in the town’s population this was the first KUDC election which would return 18 members instead of the long established number of 12. At the time of the election the council was down to only 10 members due to recent resignations.

To accommodate the six extra councillors, two new wards were introduced, Windy Arbour and St John’s. This meant redrawing the boundaries of all the old wards. As in previous elections three members would be elected from each ward.

With these extra wards, 46 candidates contested the election, 19 Liberals, 18 Conservatives and 9 Labour.

Labour’s Chris Webster who switched from Borrowell to the new St John’s ward, prevented the Conservatives from ‘sweeping the board’.

Now with 18 seats and based on the the old wards the Conservatives gained two seats in Borrowell and two from the Indepenents in Castle.

Conservative candidate, Leonard Smalley, topped the poll in Castle Ward. He had previously sat as an Independent (or unattached) for more than 30 years. But possibly fearing that the ‘Independent movement’ had now run its course, decided to stand on a tory ticket.

Florence Adcock headed the poll in Windy Arbour with 926 votes, the most by any candidate in the election.

Public Meetings Changed

Space at the council house in Southbank road was now considered too small to accomodate the extra councillors, officials and members of the public at monthly meetings. So it was decided to hold those meetings in the guardroom at the castle gatehouse. But committee meetings would still continue at Wilton House. This arrangement to use the gatehouse continued until 2005 when English Heritage decided to convert the room into a museum, so it was back to the council house for meetings.

KUDC Councillors

17 Conservatives (Evans, Stansfield, Salkeld, Adcock, Gardener, Rawnsley, Chance, Player, Potts, Harrison, Smalley, Whittaker, Whiteman, Moore, Watson, Cox, Smith)

1 Labour (Webster)

Chairman

Chairmans Chain of Office – Courtesy of Warwickshire County Records Office. (ref. PH (N) 600/147/3)

Abbey (3 seats)

Candidate	Party	Votes
*E. Thomas Evans	Conservative	657
*Ronald Stansfield	Conservative	609
*Joan Salkeld	Conservative	570
David Walters	Labour	299
Mrs D. Davies	Labour	292
Reginald Smith	Labour	283

43.5% Turnout

Windy Arbour (3 seats)

Candidate	Party	Votes
*Florence Adcock	Conservative	1020
*Derek Moore	Conservative	949
Thomas Robinson	Conservative	923
Haydn Thomas	Liberal	461

48% Turnout

Borrowell (3 seats)

Candidate	Party	Votes
*Kenneth Rawnsley	Conservative	823
Helen Dore	Liberal	530
J. Wiles	Conservative	504
Kenneth Hogarth	Conservative	496
Peter Thompson	Liberal	434
Mrs E. Twyman	Liberal	380

50% Turnout

Castle (3 seats)

Candidate	Party	Votes
*Leonard Smalley	Conservative	740
*Bill Whiteman	Conservative	657
D. Charlton	Conservative	644
Dora Greenway	Liberal	392
Ronald Scott	Liberal	369
Mrs P. Smith	Liberal	368

41.5% Turnout

St John’s (3 seats)

Candidate	Party	Votes
*Chris Webster	Labour	596
*Jack Cox	Conservative	552
Thomas Litterick	Labour	521
William Wozencroft	Labour	491
*Eric Bernard Smith	Conservative	453
Robert Butler	Liberal	438
S. Perry	Conservative	415

56% Turnout

Park Hill (3 seats)

Candidate	Party	Votes
*Harry Potts	Conservative	771
*Bernice Gardner	Conservative	754
*Spencer Harrison	Conservative	716
William Clarke	Labour	317
Kenneth Beard	Labour	307

43% Turnout

*denotes retiring councillors

STILL A TORY STRONGHOLD

Although their majority dropped from 16 to 13, Kenilworth still holds a strong Tory electorate.

Labour only stood in three wards but managed to get two candidates elected, both in St. John’s. Chris Webster, who had been on the council since 1964, was the only non-Tory, and had been the chairman for the previous 12 months. A bench close to the ford was later dedicated in his memory, along with his wife Irene.

Thomas Litterick of Quarry Road, was the other labour candidate elected. He was just beginning his political career, which would eventually take him as far as the House of Commons. He became MP for Selly Oak in Birmingham at the October 1974 General Election. This made him the only Kenilworth resident to ever become an MP.

Eric Bernard Smith, who was first elected in 1946, lost his seat in St John’s. Although he did not contest the 1964 election, he served for a total of 18 years, mainly in Borrowell ward. He was Chairman, twice, 1959-60 and 1960-61.

With restructuring of local government looming, this turned out to be the last ever KUDC election.

KUDC Councillors

15 Conservatives (Florence Adcock, Bernice Gardner, Joan Salkeld, Potts, Harrison, Cox, Smalley, Whiteman, Charlton, Wiles, Rawnsley, Evans, Stansfield, Moore, Robinson)

2 Labour (Litterick, Webster)

1 Liberal (Helen Dore)

Chairman

Chairmans Chain of Office – Courtesy of Warwickshire County Records Office. (ref. PH (N) 600/147/3)

Park Hill Ward

Candidate	Party	Votes
Kenneth Hogarth	Conservative	533
Jan Mokrzycki	Liberal	337
William Clarke	Labour	322

46% Turnout

HOGARTH RETAINS SEAT FOR TORIES

A vacancy became available following the resignation of conservative, Bernice Gardner who had been on the council since 1967. Three candidates put themselves forward.

The Tories chose Kenneth Hogarth of Brookside Ave. He is the Chief Sales Executive for the Post Office Telephones, in the Coventry area.

William John Clarke of Crackley Hill stood for the Labour party. His occupation is an Instructional Officier for the Department of Employment at a training centre in Coventry.

Jan Mokrzycki of Windy Arbour was selected by the Liberals who is a dentist, and runs his own practice in Coventry.

All three candidates had contested KUDC elections before without success. Kenneth Hogarth would go on to become the chairman of the KUDC, and later the Mayor of Kenilworth Town Council.