The election was called due to the sudden death of member Lieutenant-Colonel Joynson, of the Firs, who died at the age of just 51. He had been elected to the council only two years ago.
The two polling stations used were both at St. Nicholas School in School Lane.
Winner, John Percival Nelson, is a manufacturer by trade and lives at Fern Bank in Lower Ladies Hill. Defeated candidate Mr. Woods of Clarendon Street is the current manager of the Tannery in Warwick Road. He had previously been on the council from 1894 to 1896 but failed by eleven votes at the annual election earlier this year.
After the declaration by returning officer was Mr. J. J. Willington-Wilmshurst, Mr Nelson yelled out to his supporters: “I had a good gallop for the seat”.
KUDC Councillors
6 Conservatives (W. Holmes, W. Pears, M. Francis, E. Bourne, J. Nelson, W. Middleton)
4 Liberals (J. Jackson, H. Street, W. James, J. Murdock)
With four seats available, three of the present members put themselves forward for re-election, messrs; Hodges, Nelson and Bourne. One other, Margetts, replaced Middleton who was leaving the council but he came bottom of the poll. All the above candidates were supported by the complicated ‘compromise agreement’ between the Unionists and Liberal Associations.
However, not all candidates agreed with the compromise. John Welsh was a staunch Conservative and Edward Lee, a Liberal, so both stood as Independents, along with Richard Eykyn, whose political views where un-known. For the voters it was a very confusing, indeed.
Influenza in the town, plus the political shenanigans, were the possible causes of the lower than expected poll. But a turnout of 65% wasn’t too bad.
Polling lasted for 12 hours between 8am and 8pm. Results were declared at around 11pm by acting returning officer, Mr. J. J. Willington-Wilmshurst.
There was very little excitement or interest towards this election until after 6 o’clock in the evening. It was then that the workmen were bought along in many types of contraptions to register their votes. Up until then voters were strolling up in half hour intervals.
Liberal, Joseph Murdock, was standing for re-election and it’s probable that he was re-elected due to his good work on the sewage farm in Dalehouse Lane. Strangely though, he polled 58 fewer votes than in 1897, when he failed to get elected. The other three elected members: Smith, Stringer and Weetman are new to the council.
One noticeable absentee on the KUDC will be the late Henry Street who died in October last year. He was 75-years-old. He had been on the council since its inception and had been a member of the Local Board before that. Cllrs Holmes and Pears did not seek re-election, both having been on the council for the past three years.
On the following day, outside the council house in Upper Rosemary Hill, the declaration was made at 11.45am by Acting returning officer, Mr J. J. Willington-Wilmshurst, in front of about 50 people.
At the first meeting of the new council on 24th April, two names were put forward as chairman for the forthcoming year, Kemp-Bourne and Jackson. Kemp-Bourne was duly elected by 6 votes to 4.
Normally, only four councillors were required to stand down for an annual election, but in this case it turned out that five members would need to be elected. This was due to the resignation of councillor, John Nelson (Conservative) who was off to South Africa to serve in the Boar war with the Warwickshire Volunteers. He was first elected to the council in October 1898.
Of the four members who put themselves forward for re-election, two were returned, Gee and Bostock, who had switched to the Conservatives (from Independents) but the two Liberals, James and Jackson were not re-elected.
It was found that Keartland and Jackson (both Liberals) had tied for fifth place on 312 votes. But the strangest thing happened. Firstly, Jackson, not wishing to give trouble to a re-count offered to give way to Keartland. But the returning officer Mr J. J. Willington-Wilmshurst, would not allow this informal method of settlement. What he should have done next was to exercise his power of a casting vote, but he chose not to do so. So instead, he decided to ‘draw lots’ for the fifth place, which went in favour of Keartland.
After the poll had finished at 8pm, the ballot boxes were taken to the council house and counting was quickly concluded by 9 o’clock. The declaration came at 11.15pm outside the council house, in front of about 100 people.
James Jackson regained his seat following the ‘drawing of lots’ against fellow Liberal Keartland in last year’s election. Ironically, Keartland lost his seat this time around.
Holmes (Con) was re-elected after two years away from the council. Independent member Welsh did not seek re-election, who was first elected back in 1894.
The polling was reported to have been unusually slow for most of the day but the total number of voters was about normal. There was only one spoilt ballot paper. A large crowd had congregated outside the council house when the declaration came at 11pm. The results were read out by Acting returning officer Mr. J. J. Willington-Wilmshurst.
Four councillors had been nominated for ‘retirement’, these being: Smith, Stringer, Murdock and Weetman. However, Murdock was leaving Kenilworth and Smith did not want to offer himself for re-election.
But with only the two vacancies to fill it was considered by both Parties that an election might be avoided if each party selected a candidate to fill the two seats. This resulted in Herbert and Knight being co-opted. It was also agreed that present members, Weetman and Stringer would be elected unopposed. This agreement would not alter the political make-up of the council and with the triennial elections returning next year they decided this was a convenient arrangement for this year.
Richard Knight was first elected at the inaugural KUDC election in 1894, being one of the ‘Liberal/Separatist Eight’ but on seeking re-election in 1897, he lost his seat. Co-opted member, Alfred Herbert is new to the council.
In late October 1962, the manageress of the Bear & Ragged Staff Hotel, Mrs Doris Harley, informed Kenilworth Police about a theft from the premises. Brain Painter a barman, aged 24, from Cheshire, who had worked at the ‘Bear’ for about two months, had disappeared along with around £370 from the safe, and a car belonging to one of the guests.
The Bear & Ragged Staff Hotel in c1963 (Photo courtesy of Graham Gould, Kenilworth In Camera)
Mrs Harley told the police, that Painter was on his own while working in Kenilworth, but he made frequent phone calls to his wife in Conway, North Wales. She was apparently, pregnant. The next report of him was on Thursday 25th October, when he turned up in France.
Painter had contacted the British Embassy saying that while visiting the Eiffel Tower he had been robbed of his passport and wallet, which contained money and travellers cheques. He was issued with some money and emergency travel documents to get him back to England, and told them he would be travelling back on Friday – but he never did.
Body Found In Troyes
The next time anything was heard of him, was when his body was found in a remote forest near Troyes, eastern France, close to the Luxembourg border, which was about 100 miles from Paris. His body was reported to have been found slumped over the wheel of a stolen french car, which had Paris number-plates. Newspaper reports indicated that empty sachets of Aspirin were found next to his body. Police enquires led them to questioning a hostess at a Paris night club, but this didn’t lead to anything useful.
Body Taken To Paris – Conflicting Evidence
His body was taken to Paris for a post-mortem. The medical examiner indicated that in his opinion an overdose of Aspirin did not kill him. Internal organs were examined, which revealed that he had died from carbon monoxide poisioning. This led to the theory that his death was due to exposure from exhaust fumes, but this could not be confirmed.
The French police disclosed that his body and head were wrapped in a waterproof sheet, so concluded he could not have killed himself. On this evidence it looks like murder – what else? But nothing was ever reported in the UK press in the weeks and months following his death, and it quickly turned into a cold-case.
The Death Certificate
Strangley, on the British version of his death certificate, it does not list the cause of death, but it does say a ‘Local death certificate produced’, which presumably would confirm the possible/probable cause of death. The date of his death was recorded as ‘About the 28th October’.
So, in very mysterious circumstances the ‘Bear barman’, had come to a lonely end, in a french forest – but was it suicide or was it murder?
This was the first triennial election of the KUDC since the inaugural poll of 1894. Up until this point, the council was using the annual election system, where one-third of councillors needed to retire and seek re-election. But the suggestion of adopting triennial elections permanently had been discussed by the council back in 1901, at which time it was voted through unanimously. But it took three years to sort out the details (with the County Council) and revert back to it permanently. Several reasons were put forward for the change. Money would be saved from not having elections every year and it would also stop the ill-feeling and friction that always seemed to happen during annual elections. Plus the fact that the electorate were getting fed-up with having to vote every year.
Liberal Richard Knight, who was elected back onto the council un-opposed at last years annual election surprisingly lost his seat. But fellow Liberal, William Riley was returned, having previously served between 1894-1898. Conservatives, Alfred Herbert and Capt Stringer who were elected onto the council last year in the annual election, did not seek re-election.
The counting took place at 9am the following day. The result was declared by returning officer Mr. J. J. Willington-Wilmshurst, outside the council house in Upper Rosemary Hill at 1.10pm. Despite the inclement weather a decent crowd had gathered to hear the results.
A local newspaper stated; “The rain in the evening prevented anything like any demonstration, which is usual at the close of the poll, neither was there any disturbance during the day so the police had a quiet time”.
