The 1964 Tower Hamlets Council election took place on 7 May 1964 to elect members of

Tower Hamlets London Borough Council Tower Hamlets London Borough Council, also known as Tower Hamlets Council, is the local authority for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London. The council has been under ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England. The whole council was up for election and the Labour party won control.

Background

These elections were the first to the newly formed borough council. Previously elections had taken place in the

Metropolitan Borough of Bethnal Green Bethnal Green was a Civil parishes in England, civil parish and a Metropolitan boroughs of the County of London, metropolitan borough of the County of London between 1899 and 1965, when it was merged with the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney and t ...

Metropolitan Borough of Poplar Poplar was a local government district in the metropolitan area of London, England. It was formed as a District (Metropolis), district of the Metropolis in 1855 and became a Metropolitan boroughs of the County of London, metropolitan borough in ...

and

Metropolitan Borough of Stepney The Metropolitan Borough of Stepney was a Metropolitan borough in the County of London created in 1900. In 1965, it became part of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Formation and boundaries The borough was formed from thirteen civil parishes ...

. These boroughs were joined to form the new London Borough of Tower Hamlets by the

London Government Act 1963 The London Government Act 1963 (c. 33) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which created Greater London and a new local government structure within it. The Act significantly reduced the number of local government districts in the ...

. A total of 115 candidates stood for the 60 seats, across 20 wards. 6 seats in two wards were uncontested. The Labour party fielded a full slate of candidates, while the Liberal and Conservative parties stood 19 and 17 respectively. Other candidates included 13 Communists, 2 Residents, 2 Union Movement, 1 Independent and 1 Independent Labour Party. There were 14 three-seat wards, 3 four-seat wards and 3 two-seat wards. This election had

aldermen An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking membe ...

as well as directly elected

councillors A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or regi ...

. Labour got all 10 aldermen. The Council was elected in 1964 as a "shadow authority" but did not start operations until 1 April 1965.

Election result

The results saw Labour win 55 of the 60 seats, Communists 3 and Residents 2. Conservative and Liberal candidates failed to win any seats. Overall turnout in the election was 16.9%. This turnout included 197

postal votes Postal voting is voting in an election where ballot papers are distributed to electors (and typically returned) by post, in contrast to electors voting in person at a polling station or electronically via an electronic voting system. In an ele ...

Ward results

Bethnal Green Central

Bethnal Green East

Bethnal Green North

Bethnal Green South

Bethnal Green West

Bow North

Bow South

Bromley

Holy Trinity

Limehouse

Poplar East

Poplar Millwall

Poplar South

Poplar West

Redcoat

St Dunstan's

St Katherine's

St Mary's

Shadwell

Spitalfields

References

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

1964 London Borough council elections 20th century in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Long stubs with short prose {{England-election-stub