Talk:1913 London County Council election

Labour Candidates/Councillors

• There is an accuracy issue with this article of which I was aware. Many historical records that summarise the party representation following the 1913 elections state that Labour had 2 councillors. However all the historical records I consulted that described an election candidate by party label only prescribed one Labour candidate (Susan Lawrence) as elected. This either means that there is one erronous description that has been consistently duplicated or that one successful candidate changed their party following their election. There is another possibility that all the summarising record books are wrong and there was only one Labour councillor after the 1913 elections, though this seems unlikely.
• Having researched the biographies of the successful Progressive candidates, the following might have been mis-desribed/changed parties;

• George Gillett (Finsbury East): He had not contested a parliamentary election until he was a Labour candidate at the 1922 General Election. Wikipedia articles reveal him being described as a Progressive appointee as Alderman in 1922 just after the election.
• Harry Gosling (St George's in the East): He had been one of the Trade Unionists who chose not to join the Labour Party in 1909 and contested the December 1910 General Election as a Liberal Party candidate. He contested the 1918 General Election as a Labour Party candidate, so changed national party allegiance sometime between 1911 and 1918.
• Charles Mathew (St George's in the East): He had not contested a parliamentary election until he was a Labour candidate at the 1922 General Election.

Wikipedia articles reveal Mathew being described as a Progressive appointee as Alderman in 1919 just after the elections in which Gosling stood as a Labour candidate. Therefore it would most likely be Gosling who was either mis-described or switched after the election.Graemp (talk) 13:16, 3 November 2013 (UTC)