Election Results
- LAB 319 Gains 20 Losses 1
- TORY 276 Gains 2 Losses 22
- LIB 13 Gains 1 Losses 3
- OTHERS 27 Gains 6 Losses 3
LAB 11,468,646 TORY 10,429,020 LIB 5,345,271 OTHERS 1,944,700
Labour overall 3. Norfolk North including Drayton HOWELL Tory 33,312, Labour Mason 22,191, Moore Lib 13, 776. In the pm Ethel went to Norwich.
Lynda & Peter were coming from London when they had an accident at Royston. Another man brought them to Drayton.
Notes
General Election – National Results
Grandad’s diary entry was devoted mainly to the results of the previous day’s election. He noted the national results including the number of seats each party won, the number of seats each party gained and lost and the total number of votes cast for each party. The numbers do not quite tally with those recorded in Wikipedia which gave the Conservatives 277 seats including the Speaker, Selwyn Lloyd. The number of seats for the Liberals does not quite tally with the number of 14 seats won in February 1974. According to Wikipedia, the Liberals suffered a net loss of one. In terms of votes, according to Wikipedia, Labour got 11,457,079, Conservatives 10,462,565 and the Liberals 5,346,704. Overall, Labour had a majority of three, see Chapter 112.
Local Results
Grandad also noted local results. In grandma and grandad’s constituency of North Norfolk, the sitting MP Ralph Howell got 33,312 for the Conservatives, D M Mason 22,191 for Labour and Richard Moore 13,776 for the Liberals. This meant that Ralph Howell was re-elected but with a slightly reduced majority of 11,121.
A Note on My Grandmother
Ethel refers to my grandmother Ethel May Cecilia Parkin.
A Car Accident
Below his diary entry for Saturday 12 October, grandad made another entry concerning a car accident that had happened the previous day, on Friday. Lynda refers to Linda Bell. While grandad sometimes spelled her name with a “y“, her birth record appears to spell it with an “i“.
Her parents, Ken and Irene, lived next-door-but-one to grandma and grandad at 162 Drayton High Road. I am not entirely sure who Peter was but presumably a friend of Linda’s, possibly a boyfriend. I did find a record of a Lynda R Bell marrying a Peter Denmead in Norwich Outer in 1981. So, this could be him but I am not sure.
Linda was hurt in the accident and was seen by the doctor a couple of days later and also attended the hospital a few days after that, see Chapter 100.