1889 London County Council election

(Redirected from London County Council election, 1889)

17 January 1889

	First party	Second party

Party	Progressive	Moderate
Seats won	72	46
Percentage	47.1%	36.4%

The first election to the County Council of London took place on 17 January 1889. The council was elected by First Past the Post with each elector having two votes in the two-member seats. Although the election was not contested on a party political basis, soon after the election, the majority of councillors formed the Progressive Party.

Campaign

The council replaced the Metropolitan Board of Works, which was not a directly elected body. The London Municipal Reform League, a mixture of liberals and socialists, had long called for the establishment of an elected council for the city. Many of the candidates in the 1889 election were supporters of the league, while a second grouping were opponents of the league. This was a similar arrangement to that on the London School Board. Some candidates stood as independent of either grouping, many of whom were supported by local Conservative Party associations. In total, 32 candidates admitted to being sponsored by the Conservative Party or Liberal Party.

Some candidates proposed sweeping reforms, which fell outside the powers of the new council. Others, including Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, argued that voters should elect the most competent candidates. The Times agreed with this assessment, but complained that many candidates were insufficiently well-known that voters could assess their competence. The paper also argued that "in no case can it be right to give support to a socialist".

Results

The majority of successful candidates were supporters of the London Municipal Reform League, and after the election, they formed the Progressive Party. Their opponents did not form a political party, but did collaborate on the council as the Moderates, to the extent of having a whip. However, the groupings were initially not rigid, and many votes were conducted according to individual's consciences.

29 candidates had been members of the Metropolitan Board of Works, but only six of them won election.

It was not initially clear whether women were eligible to serve on the council. Two were elected; however, Margaret Mansfield, Baroness Sandhurst's election was overturned on petition from a losing candidate, Beresford Hope. Jane Cobden avoided participating in council business for the first year, in the hope that this would prevent her election from being challenged. In 1890, she began participating, and was then taken to court by Walter De Souza, and fined for acting while disqualified. She remained a council member, alongside the alderman Emma Cons, and attended meetings, but neither took any further part in votes.

On 5 February, 19 aldermen were elected, to also join the council. 18 of them were supported by the Progressive Party, and only 4 by the Moderates (three being on both party lists).

Party		Votes			Seats
Party		Number	%	Stood	Seats	%
	Progressive	118,700	47.1		71	60.17
	Moderate	91,726	36.4		43	36.44
	Independent and Other	40,079	15.9		4	3.39
	Socialist	1,699	0.7		0	0.00

References

^ Saint, Andrew (1989). Politics and People of London. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9781852850296.
"London, Thursday, January 10, 1889". The Times. 10 January 1889.
"". Manchester Guardian. 19 January 1889.
"London County Council". Manchester Guardian. 6 February 1889.
Council. "London County Council Elections 1889 – 1961" (PDF). p. 1. Retrieved 12 May 2019.

v t e London County Council
Elections	1889 1892 1895 1898 1901 1904 1907 1910 1913 1919 1922 1925 1928 1931 1934 1937 1946 1949 1952 1955 1958 1961
Members	Chairmen Members 1889-1919 Members 1919-1937 Members 1937-1949 Members 1949-1965
Constituencies (1889–1919)	Battersea Bermondsey Bethnal Green North East Bethnal Green South West Bow and Bromley Brixton Camberwell North Chelsea City of London Clapham Deptford Dulwich Finsbury Central Finsbury East Fulham Greenwich Hackney Central Hackney North Hackney South Haggerston Hammersmith Hampstead Holborn Hoxton Islington East Islington North Islington South Islington West Kennington Kensington North Kensington South Lambeth North Lewisham Limehouse Marylebone East Marylebone West Mile End Newington West Norwood Paddington North Paddington South Peckham Poplar Rotherhithe St George's Hanover Square St George St Pancras East St Pancras North St Pancras South St Pancras West Southwark West Stepney Strand Walworth Wandsworth Westminster Whitechapel Woolwich
Constituencies (1919–1949)	Balham and Tooting Battersea North Battersea South Bermondsey West Bethnal Green North East Bethnal Green South West Bow and Bromley Brixton Camberwell North Camberwell North West Chelsea City of London Clapham Deptford Dulwich Finsbury Fulham East Fulham West Greenwich Hackney Central Hackney North Hackney South Hammersmith North Hammersmith South Hampstead Holborn Islington East Islington North Islington South Islington West Kennington Kensington North Kensington South Lambeth North Lewisham East Lewisham West Limehouse Mile End Norwood Paddington North Paddington South Peckham Poplar South Putney Rotherhithe St Marylebone St Pancras North St Pancras South East St Pancras South West Shoreditch Southwark Central Southwark North Southwark South East Stoke Newington Streatham Wandsworth Central Westminster Abbey Westminster St George's Whitechapel and St George's Woolwich East Woolwich West
Constituencies (1949–1964)	Barons Court (1955–1964) Battersea North Battersea South Bermondsey Bethnal Green Brixton Chelsea Cities of London and Westminster Clapham Deptford Dulwich Fulham (1955–1965) Fulham East (1949–1955) Fulham West (1949–1955) Greenwich Hackney Central (1955–1964) Hackney South (1949–1955) Hammersmith North Hammersmith South (1949–1955) Hampstead Holborn and St Pancras South Islington East Islington North Islington South West Kensington North Kensington South Lewisham North Lewisham South Lewisham West Norwood Paddington North Paddington South Peckham Poplar Putney St Marylebone St Pancras North Shoreditch and Finsbury Southwark Stepney Stoke Newington and Hackney North Streatham Vauxhall Wandsworth Central Woolwich East Woolwich West
Other topics	Tramways Coat of Arms County Hall

v t e Elections and referendums in London
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