1920 Cardiff City Council election

Cardiff County Borough Council had been created in 1889. Cardiff became a city in 1905. Elections to the local authority were held annually, though not all council seats were included in each contest, because the three councillors in each ward stood down for election in three-yearly rotation. Ten seats in ten electoral wards were up for election in November 1920.

The council consisted of 30 councillors who were elected by the town's voters and ten aldermen who were elected by the councillors.[1]

The previous all-Cardiff elections in 1919 had seen significant gains of seats for the Labour Party and Ex-Servicemen candidates.[2]

In November 1920 contests took place in eight of the ten Cardiff electoral wards. The two retiring Conservative Party councillors in the Central and South wards were elected unopposed.[3]

The Western Mail was partisan in South Wales, having campaigned for two months to stop the Labour "extremists" from repeating their successes of 1919.[3] In the Canton, Grangetown, Riverside, Roath and Splott wards the Conservative and Liberal parties came together to put forward a joint candidate, so as to not split the vote.[4]

The Liberal-Conservative Coalition candidates won by substantial majorities over Labour in four of the five wards in which they stood. In contrast, Labour's Herbert Hiles won against the Coalition candidate (who was the retiring member) in the Splott ward. The only other sitting candidate (a Liberal) to lose their seat was in the Park ward, where the Conservatives won the contest.[3]

Turnout was substantially up on 1919 (42.4%) with 55.1% turning up to vote in November 1920. Women voters often outnumbered men, in some wards by 2 to 1.[3]