1920 Rathmines and Rathgar Urban District Council election

An election to the urban district council of Rathmines and Rathgar took place on Thursday, 15 January 1920 as part of the 1920 Irish local elections. The Local Government (Ireland) Act 1919 had changed the electoral system for local government in Ireland from first-past-the-post to single transferable vote.

The election saw Unionists reduced to a majority of 1 on the council. Prior to the election the Rathmines and Rathgar council had been composed almost entirely of Unionists.

Following the election, Robert Benson (Unionist) was elected chairman, and William Ireland (Unionist) was elected as vice-chairman. Mary Kettle, the only Irish Party representative, did not vote for a chairman; however, she voted for Áine Ceannt for vice-chairman. Ceannt lost to Ireland by a single vote.

Results by party

Party		Seats	±	First Pref. votes	FPv%	±%
	Irish Unionist	11		4,589	45.83
	Sinn Féin	9		3,952	39.46
	Irish Nationalist	1		987	9.86
	Independent	0		486	4.85
Totals		21		10,014	100.00	—

Results by local electoral area

No. 1 West Ward

No. 1 West Ward: 5 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Sinn Féin	William Sears MP	30.28	678
	Irish Unionist	George Metcalfe (incumbent)	22.42	502
	Irish Unionist	J. J. McKenzie	13.26	297	377
	Sinn Féin	Sean Doyle	10.94	245	-	-	337	340	407
	Irish Nationalist	J. J. Kiernan	8.04	180	-	-	186	283	283
	Sinn Féin	Madeleine ffrench-Mullen	5.94	133	-	-	234	234	356
	Irish Unionist	A. A. O'Malley	4.96	111	-	-	164
	Sinn Féin	George Irvine	4.15	93	-	-	196	196
Electorate: 3,158   Valid: 2,239   Spoilt: 30   Quota: 374   Turnout: 2,269

No. 2 West Ward

No. 2 West Ward: 5 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1
	Irish Unionist	Robert Benson (incumbent)		508
	Sinn Féin	Robert Brennan		499
	Irish Unionist	Mrs M. K. Dixon		392
	Irish Unionist	William Ireland (incumbent)		256
	Irish Nationalist	P. J. Munden		244
	Independent	C. B. W. Boyle		226
	Sinn Féin	Mrs M. J. Mulcahy		205
	Irish Unionist	S. G. Slater		130
	Sinn Féin	Archibald J. Nicolls		116
	Irish Unionist	F. W. Giddings		78
Electorate: 3,585   Valid: 2,654   Spoilt: 34   Quota: 433   Turnout: 2,688

No. 1 East Ward

No. 1 East Ward: 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1
	Irish Unionist	Mr. Carruthers		494
	Sinn Féin	Dr. Kathleen Lynn		427
	Sinn Féin	James Dwyer		382	383	410
	Irish Unionist	John Russell		221
	Irish Nationalist	Patrick Moore		202
	Irish Unionist	William M. Hatte		117
	Sinn Féin	Thomas O'Conner		83
Electorate: 2,673   Valid: 1,926   Spoilt: 48   Quota: 386   Turnout: 1,974

No. 2 East Ward

No. 2 East Ward saw the return of republican activist Áine Ceannt, Mary Kettle (daughter of David Sheehy and widow of Thomas Kettle), along with the abstentionist Sinn Féin MP Joseph MacDonagh.

Ceannt's husband, Éamonn (left) had died fighting for the Irish Republican Brotherhood during the Easter Rising four years prior. Kettle's husband, Tom (right), a Home Ruler and former MP for East Tyrone, had died the same year fighting in the Battle of the Somme.

No. 2 East Ward: 7 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1
	Sinn Féin	Joseph MacDonagh MP		549
	Irish Unionist	John Sibthorpe		456
	Irish Unionist	J. C. Anderson		422
	Sinn Féin	Frances Ceannt		363	449
	Irish Nationalist	Mary Kettle		361
	Irish Unionist	David Jackson M.D.		267
	Independent	Thomas Saul		260
	Irish Unionist	H. B. Goulding		235
	Sinn Féin	Thomas Cullen M.R.I.A.		127
	Irish Unionist	R. D. Bolton		103
	Sinn Féin	George Daly		52
Electorate: 4,435   Valid: 3,195   Spoilt: 48   Quota: 400   Turnout: 3,243