1973 Aberdeen Corporation election

Local election in Scotland in 1973

← 1972

May 1, 1973 (1973-05-01)

1974 →

12 out of 36 seats of City of Aberdeen Council
19 seats needed for a majority

	First party	Second party	Third party

Party	Labour	Conservative	Liberal
Seats won	6	5	1
Seats after	23	12	1
Seat change	1	1	1
Popular vote	20,117	13,257	2,617
Percentage	54.6%	36.0%	7.1%

	Fourth party	Fifth party	Sixth party

Party	Communist	Independent	Scottish National
Seats won	0	0	0
Seats after	0	0	0
Seat change	0	1	0
Popular vote	415	265	203
Percentage	1.1%	0.7%	0.6%

Composition of Corporation after the election

An election to the Aberdeen Corporation was held on 1 May 1973, alongside municipal elections across Scotland. 12 of the corporation's 36 seats were up for election.^[1]^[2]

The election saw Labour remain in control of the corporation, winning 6 seats, giving them a total of 23. The Conservatives won 5 seats, including one gained from 89-year-old Independent councillor George Roberts, contributing to a total of 12 after the election. Nigel Lindsay caused a major upset when he became the first ever Liberal to be elected to the corporation, unseating the Labour group's leader Thomas Paine in St Machar ward.^[1]

Ward results

Ferryhill
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Cecil H. Clevitt	2,782	63.5
	Conservative	John Watt	1,602	36.5
Majority			1,108
Turnout				30.8
	Labour hold

Holburn
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Richard Gallagher	1,538	49.7
	Labour	Dr. Alexander F. McDonald	1,090	35.2
	Independent	George Roberts	265	8.6
	Scottish National	George Rodger	203	6.5
Majority			448
Turnout				35.4
	Conservative gain from Independent

Mastrick
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Robert S. Lennox	2,705	81.1
	Conservative	Sheila M. Walker	474	14.2
	Communist	William R. Henderson	131	3.9
Majority			2,231
Turnout				21.3
	Labour hold

Northfield
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Margaret Farquhar	1,577	85.8
	Conservative	Alexander Stewart Kidd	164	8.9
	Communist	Andrew L. Smith	97	5.3
Majority			1,413
Turnout				15.6
	Labour hold

Rosemount
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	John C. Anderson	1,990	53.1
	Labour	June Lamond	1,344	35.9
	Liberal	Louise Windebank	413	11.0
Majority			646
Turnout				33.4
	Conservative hold

Rubislaw
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Ronald M. Muir	2,633	77.1
	Labour	Jean M. Mackintosh	784	22.9
Majority			1849
Turnout				31.6
	Conservative hold

Ruthrieston
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Alexander Bremner	2,483	61.6
	Labour	Howard G. Lovell	1,547	38.4
Majority			936
Turnout				32.7
	Conservative hold

St. Clements
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Alexander C. Collie (incumbent)	1,263	82.0
	Conservative	Kenneth Watmough	222	14.4
	Communist	George C. Thomson	56	3.6
Majority			1041
Turnout				21.4
	Labour hold

St. Machar
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Nigel Lindsay	2,204	47.8
	Labour	Thomas Paine	2,114	45.9
	Conservative	Hugh S. Birse	211	4.6
	Communist	Christopher Ramsey	79	1.7
Majority			90
Turnout				32.3
	Liberal gain from Labour

St. Nicholas
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	William P. Craig	1,097	67.3
	Conservative	Bernard Morrison	533	32.7
Majority			564
Turnout				23.6
	Labour hold

Torry
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Ellen Williamson	2,052	83.7
	Conservative	Gordon Adams	400	16.3
Majority			1652
Turnout				22.4
	Labour hold

Woodside
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Harold Selbie	1,762	62.5
	Conservative	Robert Anderson	1,007	35.7
	Communist	Norman Williamson	52	1.8
Majority			755
Turnout				29.8
	Labour hold

^[2]^[3]

References

^ ^a ^b "Labour on top in day of record low polling". The Glasgow Herald. 2 May 1973. p. 1. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
^ ^a ^b Ware, L.; Rallings, C.; Thrasher, M. (2006). "British Local Election Database, 1889-2003". beta.ukdataservice.ac.uk. doi:10.5255/ukda-sn-5319-1. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
^ "Liberal Lindsay Wins in St Machar". The Press and Journal. 2 May 1973. p. 1. Retrieved 6 December 2023.

(1972 ←)

1973 United Kingdom local elections (→ 1974)

County councils
(England)

Avon
Bedfordshire
Berkshire
Buckinghamshire
Cambridgeshire
Cheshire
Cleveland
Cornwall
Cumbria
Derbyshire
Devon
Dorset
Durham
East Sussex
Essex
Gloucestershire
Greater Manchester
Hampshire
Hereford and Worcester
Hertfordshire
Humberside
Isle of Wight
Kent
Lancashire
Leicestershire
Lincolnshire
Luton
Merseyside
Norfolk
North Yorkshire
Northamptonshire
Northumberland
Nottinghamshire
Oxfordshire
Salop
Somerset
South Yorkshire
Staffordshire
Suffolk
Surrey
Tyne and Wear
Warwickshire
West Midlands
West Sussex
West Yorkshire
Wiltshire

County councils
(Wales)

County councils
(Scotland)

Aberdeenshire
Angus
Argyll
Ayrshire
Banffshire
Berwickshire
Buteshire
Caithness
Clackmannanshire
Dumfriesshire
Dunbartonshire
East Lothian
Fife
Inverness-shire
Kincardineshire
Kinross-shire
Kirkcudbrightshire
Lanarkshire
Midlothian
Moray
Nairnshire
Orkney
Peeblesshire
Perthshire
Renfrewshire
Ross and Cromarty
Roxburghshire
Selkirkshire
Stirlingshire
Sutherland
West Lothian
Wigtownshire
Zetland

Unicameral area

Greater London

Metropolitan
boroughs

Barnsley
Birmingham
Bradford
Bolton
Bury
Calderdale
Coventry
Doncaster
Dudley
Gateshead
Kirklees
Knowsley
Leeds
Liverpool
Manchester
Newcastle upon Tyne
North Tyneside
Oldham
Rochdale
Rotherham
Salford
Sandwell
Sefton
Sheffield
Solihull
South Tyneside
St Helens
Stockport
Sunderland
Tameside
Trafford
Wakefield
Walsall
Wigan
Wirral
Wolverhampton

City corporations

District councils
(England)

Adur
Allerdale
Alnwick
Amber Valley
Arun
Ashfield
Ashford
Aylesbury Vale
Babergh
Barrow-in-Furness
Basildon
Basingstoke
Bassetlaw
Bath
Beaconsfield
Bedford
Berwick-upon-Tweed
Beverley
Blaby
Blackburn
Blackpool
Blyth Valley
Bolsover
Boothferry
Boston
Bosworth
Bournemouth
Bracknell
Braintree
Breckland
Brentwood
Bridgnorth
Brighton
Bristol
Broadland
Bromsgrove
Broxbourne
Broxtowe
Burnley
Cambridge
Cannock Chase
Canterbury
Caradon
Carlisle
Carrick
Castle Morpeth
Castle Point
Charnwood
Chelmsford
Cheltenham
Cherwell
Chesterfield
Chester-le-Street
Chester
Chichester
Chiltern
Chorley
Christchurch
Cleethorpes
Colchester
Congleton
Copeland
Corby
Cotswold
Craven
Crawley
Crewe
Dacorum
Darlington
Dartford
Daventry
Derby
Derwentside
Dover
Durham
Easington
East Cambridgeshire
East Devon
East Hertfordshire
East Lindsey
East Northamptonshire
East Staffordshire
Eastbourne
Eastleigh
Eden
Ellesmere Port
Elmbridge
Epping Forest
Epsom and Ewell
Erewash
Exeter
Fareham
Fenland
Forest Heath
Forest of Dean
Fylde
Gedling
Gillingham
Glanford
Gloucester
Gosport
Gravesham
Great Yarmouth
Grimsby
Guildford
Halton
Hambleton
Harborough
Harlow
Harrogate
Hartlepool
Hartley Wintney
Hastings
Havant
Hereford
Hertsmere
High Peak
Holderness
Horsham
Hove
Hull
Huntingdon
Hyndburn
Ipswich
Kennet
Kerrier
Kettering
Kingswood
Lancaster
Langbaurgh
Leicester
Leominster
Lewes
Lichfield
Lincoln
Macclesfield
Maidstone
Maldon
Malvern Hills
Mansfield
Medina
Medway
Melton
Mendip
Mid Bedfordshire
Mid Suffolk
Mid Sussex
Middlesbrough
Milton Keynes
Mole Valley
New Forest
Newark
Newbury
Newcastle-under-Lyme
North Cornwall
North Devon
North Dorset
North East Derbyshire
North Hertfordshire
North Kesteven
North Shropshire
North Warwickshire
North West Leicestershire
North Wiltshire
North Wolds
Northampton
Northavon
Norwich
Nottingham
Nuneaton
Oadby and Wigston
Oswestry
Oxford
Pastonacres
Pendle
Penwith
Peterborough
Petersfield
Plymouth
Poole
Portsmouth
Preston
Purbeck
Reading
Redditch
Reigate and Banstead
Restormel
Ribble Valley
Richmondshire
Rochford
Rossendale
Rother
Rugby
Runnymede
Rushcliffe
Rushmoor
Rutland
Ryedale
Salisbury
Scarborough
Scunthorpe
Sedgefield
Sedgemoor
Selby
Sevenoaks
Shepway
Shrewsbury
Slough
Spelthorne
South Bedfordshire
South Cambridgeshire
South Derbyshire
South Hams
South Herefordshire
South Holland
South Kesteven
South Lakeland
South Norfolk
South Northamptonshire
South Ribble
South Shropshire
South Staffordshire
South Wight
Southampton
Southend-on-Sea
St Albans
St Edmundsbury
Stafford
Staffordshire Moorlands
Stevenage
Stockton-on-Tees
Stoke-on-Trent
Stratford-on-Avon
Stroud
Suffolk Coastal
Surrey Heath
Swale
Tamworth
Tandridge
Taunton Deane
Teesdale
Teignbridge
Tendring
Test Valley
Tewkesbury
Thamesdown
Thanet
Three Rivers
Thurrock
Tiverton
Tonbridge and Malling
Torbay
Torridge
Tunbridge Wells
Tynedale
Uttlesford
Vale of White Horse
Vale Royal
Wallingford
Wansbeck
Wansdyke
Warrington
Warwick
Watford
Waveney
Waverley
Wealden
Wear Valley
Wellingborough
Welwyn Hatfield
West Derbyshire
West Devon
West Dorset
West Lancashire
West Lindsey
West Norfolk
West Oxfordshire
West Somerset
West Wiltshire
Weymouth and Portland
Wimborne
Windsor and Maidenhead
Winchester
Woking
Wokingham
Woodspring
Worcester
Worthing
Wrekin
Wychavon
Wycombe
Wyre
Wyre Forest
Yeovil
York

District councils
(Wales)

Aberconwy
Afan
Alyn and Deeside
Anglesey - Ynys Môn
Arfon
Blaenau Gwent
Brecknock
Cardiff
Carmarthen
Ceredigion
Colwyn
Cynon Valley
Delyn
Dinefwr
Dwyfor
Glyndŵr
Islwyn
Llanelli
Lliw Valley
Meirionnydd
Merthyr Tydfil
Monmouth
Montgomery
Neath
Newport
Ogwr
Preseli
Radnor
Rhondda
Rhuddlan
Rhymney Valley
South Pembrokeshire
Swansea
Taff-Ely
Torfaen
Vale of Glamorgan
Wrexham Maelor

District councils
(Northern Ireland)

Town councils

Airdrie
Arbroath
Ayr
Clydebank
Coatbridge
Dunfermline
Dumfries
East Kilbride
Falkirk
Greenock
Hamilton
Inverness
Kilmarnock
Motherwell and Wishaw
Paisley
Perth
Port Glasgow

Sui generis

Isles of Scilly

v t e Council elections in Aberdeen
Aberdeen Corporation	1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1945 1946 1947 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973
Aberdeen City Council	1974 1977 1980 1984 1988 1992 1995 1999 2003 2007 2012 2017 2022
Grampian Regional Council	1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 Abolished