| Election Name: | 1937 Carmarthenshire County Council election |
| Country: | Wales |
| Type: | Parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Party Colour: | yes |
| Majority Seats: | 29 |
| Seats1: | 0/57 |
| Party2: | Conservative Party (UK) |
| Seats2: | 0/57 |
| Party3: | Labour Party (UK) |
| Seats3: | 0/57 |
| Party4: | Independent |
| Seats4: | 0/57 |
| Party5: | Liberal Unionist |
| Seats5: | 0/57 |
| Council control | |
| Posttitle: | Council control after election |
An election to the Carmarthenshire County Council was held in March 1937. It was preceded by the 1934 election. Due to the Second World War no elections were held in 1940 and 1943 therefore the 1937 election was followed by the 1946 election.
As in all previous inter-war elections, the Independent group won a majority of the seats and this majority was bolstered by holding the majority of the aldermanic seats also. By 1937 the Labour Party held almost all the seats in the industrial eastern part of the county.
There were a number of boundary changes at this election. In Carmarthen town the boundaries were redrawn, reducing the number of wards from four to three. In Llanelli, in contrast, the number of wards were increased from eight to nine following a similar process. An additional ward was also created in Ammanford and new wards at Pontyberem and Trimsaran.[1]
Other wards were renamed or had their boundaries slightly altered.
Around half the wards were uncontested, mainly in the rural areas. At Kidwelly, Sir Alfred Stephens, a member of the Council since 1898 (apart from a short interval between 1907 and 1910) decided to retire.[2]
A similar number of contests took place compared with 1934. This included contests in rural areas between rival Independent candidates. Overall, Labour gained four seats, including three of the newly created wards.
In the Llanelli area, six Labour candidates were returned unopposed including for the new Llanelly Division 7 and Pontyberem wards.[3] The owner of the Llanelly Star, Brinley Jones, was defeated by a Labour candidate, and Labour gained another seat in Burry Port. In Llanelly Ward 3, Haddon Jones was displaced by another Independent, Jim Jones, while in Ward 4, Martin Edwards, a member of Llanelly Borough Council won the seat previously held by the late Tom Charles. In Ward 8, W. Powell Rees, who had lost his borough council seat to Communist Brin James in 1935, now faced the same oppoenent in the county election. On this occasion, however, Rees won very comfortably. Much attention was also focused on Lady Howard Stepney's successful campaign in Pembrey ward.
Boundary Change.
Boundary Change.
Boundary Change.
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Boundary Change
In addition to the 57 councillors the council included an aldermanic bench amounting to a third of the number of elected councillors. Following the creation of additional wards an extra aldermanic seat was created. Aldermen were elected by the council, and served a six-year term.
Following the elections the ten retiring aldermen were re-elected and Gwendoline Trubshaw, the new chairman of the Council, elected to the additional aldermanic seat created as a result of redistribution.[4]
A by-election was held in May due to the elevation of Gwendoline Trubshaw, the current chair of Carmarthenshire County Council, to the aldermanic bench. TheLabour candidate secured a narrow victory over a former long-serving member of the Llanelly Borough Council.[5]