1931 College Football All-Southern Team, Key
WA = selected by William Alexander, coach at Georgia Institute of Technology. It had a first, second, and third team.


1931 College Football All-Southern Team, Key
SH = selected by Clark Shaughnessy, coach at Tulane University.


1931 Colombian parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Colombia on 10 May 1931 to elect the Chamber of Representatives. The Liberal Party received the most votes.


1931 Colorado Agricultural Aggies football team
The 1931 Colorado Agricultural Aggies football team represented Colorado Agricultural College (now known as Colorado State University) in the Rocky Mountain Conference (RMC) during the 1931 college football season. In their 22nd season under head coach Harry W. Hughes, the Aggies compiled a 5–4 record (5–2 against conference opponents), tied for second place in the RMC, and were outscored by a total of 138 to 137.


1931 Colorado Silver and Gold football team
The 1931 Colorado Silver and Gold football team was an American football team that represented the University of Colorado during the 1931 college football season. Head coach Myron E. Witham led the team to a 3–2 mark in the Rocky Mountain Conference and 5–3 overall in his final season.


1931 Columbia Irish football team
The 1931 Columbia Irish football team was an American football team that represented Columbia University (later renamed the University of Portland) as an independent during the 1931 college football season. In its fifth year under head coach Gene Murphy, the team compiled a 2–5 record. The team played its home games at Multnomah Stadium in Portland, Oregon.


1931 Columbia Lions football team
The 1931 Columbia Lions football team was an American football team that represented Columbia University as an independent during the 1931 college football season. In its second season under head coach Lou Little, the team compiled a 7–1–1 record and outscored opponents 223 to 26, with six shutouts. The team played its home games at Baker Field in Upper Manhattan.


1931 Connecticut Aggies football team
The 1931 Connecticut Aggies football team represented Connecticut Agricultural College, now the University of Connecticut, in the 1931 college football season. The Aggies were led by ninth year head coach Sumner Dole, and completed the season with a record of 2–3–3.


1931 Constitution of Ethiopia
The 1931 Constitution of Ethiopia was the first modern constitution of the Ethiopian Empire, intended to officially replace the Fetha Nagast, which had been the supreme law since the Middle Ages. It was promulgated in "an impressive ceremony" held 16 July 1931 in the presence of Emperor Haile Selassie, who had long desired to proclaim one for his country. In the preface to his translation of this constitution into English, William Stern writes, "this was the first instance in history where an absolute ruler had sought voluntarily to share sovereign power with the subjects of his realm." This statement, however, is not completely accurate, as the adoption of a constitution was somewhat pressed by international opinion.


1931 Constitution of Ethiopia
In virtue of this constitution, Ethiopia, one of the last absolute monarchies still existing, began the process of constitutionalization of imperial institutions, grounding the Emperor's authority on more solid basis, but also allowing some initial forms of limitation and participation; this evolutive process would continue after World War II with a new constitution.


1931 Constitution of Ethiopia, Origins and creation
According to his own autobiography, while still Regent Haile Selassie had wanted Empress Zewditu to proclaim such a document, but "some of the great nobles, to whose advantage it was to rule the country without a constitution, had pretended that it would diminish the dignity and authority of Queen Zawditu if a constitution were set up." Once he became Emperor, Haile Selassie then appointed a commission to draft the document. The commission's leading members included the Europeans Gaston Jèze and Johannes Kolmodin, but most prominently Ethiopian intellectuals such as Tekle Hawariat Tekle Mariyam and Gedamu Woldegiorgis.


1931 Constitution of Ethiopia, Origins and creation
This constitution was based on the Meiji Constitution of Imperial Japan, a country that educated Ethiopians considered a model for its successful adoption of Western learning and technology to the framework of a non-Western culture. Unlike its Japanese model, the Ethiopian Constitution was a simple document of 55 articles arranged in seven chapters. It asserted the Emperor's own status, reserved imperial succession to the line of Haile Selassie, and declared that "the person of the Emperor is sacred, his dignity inviolable, and his power indisputable."


1931 Constitution of Ethiopia, Origins and creation
All power over central and local government, the legislature, the judiciary, and the military was vested in the emperor. The constitution was essentially an effort to provide a legal basis for replacing the traditional provincial rulers with appointees loyal to the emperor. It was not intended to be a representative democracy, as the Emperor alone had the power to designate senators.


1931 Constitution of Ethiopia, Origins and creation
According to Haile Selassie, the importance of this legal innovation was not understood "on the side of the officials and the people". To educate them on constitutional theory, he called the leading members of both groups to an assembly where its principal author, Tekle Hawariat, delivered a lengthy speech which not only described the contents of the document, but expounded a theory of constitutional law.


1931 Constitution of Ethiopia, Characteristics
The 1931 Constitution consists of the Decree proclaiming the constitution and seven chapters divided into 55 articles. The contents of the chapters are:


1931 Constitution of Ethiopia, Application
A few months later, on 3 November, the anniversary of the Emperor's own coronation, Haile Selassie convened the first parliament of the new constitution. Harold Marcus notes that Emperor Haile Selassie "hoped that the institution would stimulate nationalism and unity and that its members would popularize sociopolitical change in the provinces."


1931 Constitution of Ethiopia, Application
Following the restoration of Haile Selassie in 1941, he re-established the 1931 constitution, convening the parliament on 2 November 1942. This body included a chamber of deputies which was double its pre-war size, who were selected by a combination of an election, held on 9 March 1941, to elect a group of 20 for each of the 12 provinces, who would then meet at the provincial capitals to select five of their members to be deputies.


1931 Constitution of Ethiopia, Application
Despite the resurrection of the parliament, Haile Selassie promulgated a number of laws in the form of proclamations and decrees. It was not until his proclamation 34/1943 that the authority of the parliament was included. Laws were issued under the authority of the Emperor and the parliament until the end of February 1944, when the sole authority of the Emperor again was used, which continued until the beginning of November of that year, when the parliament was again in session.


1931 Constitution of Ethiopia, Application
The Constitution of 1931 was superseded at the time of Emperor Haile Selassie's Silver Jubilee in 1955, when a new constitution was promulgated.


1931 Copa Jockey Club Final
The 1931 Copa de Competencia Jockey Club was the final that decided the champion of the 16° edition of this National cup of Argentina. The final was held in All Boys stadium in Monte Castro, on 28 February 1932. As the match ended 1–1, a playoff was held at the stadium of Club Atlético Excursionistas in Belgrano, on March 3, 1932.


1931 Copa Jockey Club Final
Sportivo Balcarce beat Almagro 4–1 and won its first and only title in the top division of Argentine football.


1931 Copa Jockey Club Final, Overview
This edition was contested by 40 clubs from Primera División (first division) and Primera B (second division) plus one team, "Ferrocarriles del Estado" not belonging any of those divisions. Teams were grouped in six zones, North 1, North 2, South 1, South 2, South 3 and West.


1931 Copa Jockey Club Final, Overview
Sportivo Balcarce (in "North 2" group), played against General San Martín (3–0), Excursionistas, Porteño (unknown score in both cases), lost to Sportivo Palermo (0–4), and drew with Alvear de Caseros (3–3), and Ferrocarriles del Estado (1–1) in 7 rounds, qualifying for the second stage. In quarter finals, Balcarce beat Defensores de Belgrano (3–0) and then defeated Argentino de Quilmes in semifinals (unknown score).


1931 Copa Jockey Club Final, Overview
On the other side, Almagro (in "West" group) beat All Boys (3–1), Liberal Argentino (3–0), La Paternal (1–0), Estudiantil Porteño (3–0), drew with Palermo (1–1), and lost to Estudiantes (BA) (0–2), finishing first of the group with 13 points. In semifinals, Almagro beat Barracas Central in playoff 3–0 after the match had ended 1–1.


1931 Copa del Rey
The Republic's Cup 1931 was the 31st staging of the Copa del Rey, the Spanish football cup competition.


1931 Copa del Rey
With the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic on April 14, all teams with "Real" ("Royal") in their names, changed it due to anti-monarchic reasons. Real Sociedad changes to Donostia FC. Most of this changes were done between first and second legs of the first round.


1931 Copa del Rey
The competition started on April 12, 1931, and concluded on June 21, 1931, with the final, held at the Estadio Chamartín in Madrid. Athletic Bilbao won their 11th title, the second in a row.


1931 Copa del Rey, Round of 32
The first leg was played on April 12. The second leg was played on May 3.


1931 Copa del Rey, Round of 16
The first leg was played on May 10. The second leg was played on May 17.


1931 Copa del Rey, Quarter-finals
The first leg was played on May 24. The second leg was played on May 31.


1931 Copa del Rey, Semi-finals
The first leg was played on June 7. The second leg was played on June 14.


1931 Copa del Rey Final
The 1931 Copa del Rey Final was the 31st final of the Copa del Rey, the Spanish football cup competition. Athletic Bilbao beat Betis 3–2 and won their eleventh title, the second in a row.


1931 Cork Intermediate Hurling Championship
The 1931 Cork Intermediate Hurling Championship was the 22nd staging of the Cork Intermediate Hurling Championship since its establishment by the Cork County Board in 1909.


1931 Cork Intermediate Hurling Championship
Ballyhea won the championship following a 7-4 to 1-1 defeat of Bandon in the final. This was their first championship title in the grade.


1931 Cork Junior Hurling Championship
The 1931 Cork Junior Hurling Championship was the 35th staging of the Cork Junior Hurling Championship since its establishment by the Cork County Board.


1931 Cork Junior Hurling Championship
On 9 November 1931, Blackrock won the championship following a 3–07 to 1–01 defeat of Skibberreen in the final at Clonakilty Sportsfield. This was their fourth championship title overall and their first title since 1910.


1931 Cork Senior Football Championship
The 1931 Cork Senior Football Championship was the 43rd staging of the Cork Senior Football Championship since its establishment by the Cork County Board in 1887.


1931 Cork Senior Football Championship
On 4 October 1931, Macroom won the championship following a 2-06 to 2-02 defeat of Carbery in the final. This was their 7th championship title overall and their second title in succession.


1931 Cork Senior Hurling Championship
The 1931 Cork Senior Hurling Championship was the 43rd staging of the Cork Senior Hurling Championship since its establishment by the Cork County Board in 1887. The draw for the opening round fixtures took place at the Cork Convention on 25 January 1931. The championship began on 22 March 1931 and ended on 13 December 1931.


1931 Cork Senior Hurling Championship
On 13 December 1931, Blackrock won the championship following a 2-4 to 0-3 defeat of Éire Óg in the final. This was their 21st championship title overall and their third successive title.


1931 Cornell Big Red football team
The 1931 Cornell Big Red football team was an American football team that represented Cornell University during the 1931 college football season. In their 12th season under head coach Gil Dobie, the Big Red compiled a 7–1 record and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 239 to 20.


1931 Cornell Big Red football team
The traditional Thanksgiving game against Penn attracted reported crowd of 70,000 to Franklin Field. Cornell's 7-0 win earned a story on the front page of The Philadelphia Inquirer along with a detailed quarter-by-quarter description of the game in the newspaper.


1931 County Championship
The 1931 County Championship was the 38th officially organised running of the County Championship. Yorkshire County Cricket Club won the championship title.


1931 County Championship
The method of scoring points was changed again. Fifteen points were awarded for the side winning a match and both sides received 7.5 points for a tied match.


1931 Coupe de France Final
The 1931 Coupe de France Final was a football match held at Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes on May 3, 1931, that saw Club Français defeat SO Montpellier 3–0 thanks to a goal by Miklos Boros, Arthur Parkes and Robert Furois.


1931 Creighton Bluejays football team
The 1931 Creighton Bluejays football team was an American football team that represented Creighton University as a member of the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) during the 1931 college football season. In its second season under head coach Arthur R. Stark, the team compiled a 4–5 record (2–2 against MVC opponents) and was outscored by a total of 107 to 83. The team played its home games at Creighton Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska.


1931 Cuba census
The 1931 Cuba census was the twelfth national population census held in the Republic of Cuba. The day used for the census was 21 September 1931. The census revealed a total population of 3,962,344, - an overall increase of 1,073,340 people, 2.61% over the 1919 census figure.


1931 Cuba census, Population, Birthplace
The number of people living in Cuba who were foreign-born continued to climb in absolute numbers but slightly declined by percentage from the previous census. In 1931, 436,897 people (11.0 percent) were born outside of Cuba.


1931 Cyprus revolt
The 1931 Cyprus revolt or October Events (Greek: Οκτωβριανά, Oktovriana) was a revolt against British colonial rule that took place in Cyprus, then a British crown colony, between 21 October and early November 1931. The revolt was spearheaded by Greek Cypriot nationalists who advocated the Enosis (Union) of the island with Greece. The defeat of the rebels led to a period of autocratic British rule known as "Palmerocracy" (Παλμεροκρατία), that would last until the beginning of World War II.


1931 Cyprus revolt, Background
At the outbreak of the First World War, Cyprus was nominally a part of the Ottoman Empire, while in fact being administered by the British Empire as agreed in the Cyprus Convention of 1878. On 5 November 1914, the Ottomans entered the conflict on the side of the Central Powers, prompting Britain to void the Cyprus Convention and annex the island as the two states were now at war. In 1915, Britain offered Cyprus to Greece in exchange for the Greek intervention into World War I on the side of the Triple Entente.


1931 Cyprus revolt, Background
The Greek government refused the offer as at the time it was embroiled in a deep internal crisis known as the National Schism. Cyprus had already been described as a bargaining chip for negotiating with the Greeks when it was offered in exchange for the deep water port of Argostoli in 1912.


1931 Cyprus revolt, Background
Following the end of the war Britain received international recognition of its claims to the island at the 1923 Conference of Lausanne. Greece was the only country that could potentially contest the decision, based on the fact that four fifths of its population were ethnically Greek. However at the time Greece faced economic ruin and diplomatic isolation as a result of a disastrous defeat in the Greko-Turkish War, thus Greek envoys made no mention of Cyprus at the conference.


1931 Cyprus revolt, Background
Cyprus then attained the status of a crown colony and the number of the Cypriot Legislative Council members was increased in favor of British officials. The aforementioned setbacks did not put a halt to the spread of the Megali Idea (Great Idea) and the closely related Enosis (Union) ideologies, the ultimate goal of which was the incorporation of all areas populated by Greeks into an independent Greek state. The November 1926 appointment of Ronald Storrs (a philhellene) as the new governor of Cyprus, fostered the idea among Greek Cypriot nationalists that British rule would be a stepping stone for the eventual union with Greece.


1931 Cyprus revolt, Background
Their relationship was to sour in 1928, when Greek Cypriots refused to take part in the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the establishment of British rule on Cyprus. Greece once again appealed for calm, limiting the spread of anti-British articles in Greek Cypriot newspapers. Education became another arena of conflict with the passage of the Education Act, which sought to curtail Greek influence in the Cypriot school curricula. The Church of Cyprus which at the time played an important role in the social and political life of the island became one of the bastions of Greek nationalism.


1931 Cyprus revolt, Background
Cypriots also lamented the supposedly preferential treatment of Malta and Egypt at the expense of Cyprus. Relations worsened further when the colonial authorities unilaterally passed a new penal code which permitted among other things the usage of torture. In 1929, Legislative Council members Archbishop of Kition Nikodemos and Stavros Stavrinakis arrived in London, presenting a memorandum to the secretary of colonies Lord Passfield which contained demands for Enosis. As with previous such attempts the answer was negative.


1931 Cyprus revolt, Conflict
In September 1931, Storrs blocked a Legislative Council decision to halt tax hikes that were to cover a local budget deficit. Greek Cypriot MPs reacted by resigning from their positions. Furthermore, on 18 October, Archbishop of Kition Nikodemos called Greek Cypriots to engage in acts of civil disobedience until their demands for Enosis were fulfilled.


1931 Cyprus revolt, Conflict
On 21 October, 5,000 Greek Cypriots, mostly students, priests and city notables rallied in the streets of Nicosia while chanting pro–Enosis slogans. The crowd besieged Government House, following three hours of stone throwing the building was set on fire. The rioters were eventually dispersed by police. At the same time British flags were stripped from public offices across the country, often being substituted with Greek ones. Order was restored by the beginning of November. The British accused the Greek general counsel in Nicosia Alexis Kyrou (a Greek nationalist of Cypriot descent) of instigating the revolt.


1931 Cyprus revolt, Conflict
Kyrou had indeed worked behind the scenes to create a united opposition front against the British prior to the revolt, in direct disobedience to the orders he received from Athens. A total of seven protesters were killed, thirty were injured, ten were exiled for life, while 2,606 received various punishments ranging from prison terms to fines on account of seditious activities.


1931 Cyprus revolt, Aftermath
The revolt led to the dismissal of Kyrou whose actions had inadvertently damaged both the Enotic cause and the Anglo–Hellenic relations. The revolt also dealt a blow to Storrs' career, he was soon transferred to the post of Governor of Northern Rhodesia. The Legislative Council and municipal elections were abolished, the appointment of village authorities and district judges was relegated to the governor of the island. Propagating Enotic ideas and flying foreign flags was banned as was the assembly of more than 5 people. The new measures were aimed at suppressing the operation of the Orthodox church and communist organizations.


1931 Cyprus revolt, Aftermath
Censorship had a severe effect on the operation of newspapers especially those associated with left wing politics. Cyprus thus entered a period of autocratic rule known as Palmerokratia (Παλμεροκρατία, "Palmerocracy"), named after governor Richmond Palmer, which started shortly before the revolt and would last until the beginning of World War II. The revolt has been described as the most intense rebellion that Britain faced in the interwar period. The revolt is known in Cypriot historiography as Oktovriana (October Events).


1931 Cyprus revolt, Aftermath
Monuments commemorating the October Events were erected in Strovolos and Pissouri in November 2007 and October 2016 respectively.


1931 Dartmouth Indians football team
The 1931 Dartmouth Indians football team was an American football team that represented Dartmouth College as an independent during the 1931 college football season. In their fifth season under head coach Jackson Cannell, the Indians compiled a 5–3–1 record. Stanley Yudicky was the team captain.


1931 Dartmouth Indians football team
Bill McCall was the team's leading scorer, with 90 points, from 15 touchdowns.


1931 Dartmouth Indians football team
Dartmouth played its home games at Memorial Field on the college campus in Hanover, New Hampshire.


1931 Dayton Flyers football team
The 1931 Dayton Flyers football team was an American football team that represented the University of Dayton as a member of the Ohio Athletic Conference during the 1931 college football season. In its ninth season under head coach Harry Baujan, the team compiled a 5–3–2 record.


1931 DePaul Blue Demons football team
The 1931 DePaul Blue Demons football team was an American football team that represented DePaul University as an independent during the 1931 college football season. In its seventh and final season under head coach Eddie Anderson, the team compiled a 6–3 record and outscored opponents by a total of 176 to 121.


1931 DePaul Blue Demons football team
Anderson went on to coach at Holy Cross and Iowa and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1971.


1931 Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football team
The 1931 Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football team was an American football team that represented the University of Delaware in the 1931 college football season. In its first season under head coach Charles Rogers, the team compiled a 5–1–2 record and outscored opponents by a total of 118 to 25.


1931 Delaware State Hornets football team
The 1931 Delaware State Hornets football team represented Delaware State University as an independent during the 1931 college football season. The team was coached by John L. McKinley, who came to Delaware State from New York City. Delaware State complied a record of 2–2–1 on the season.


1931 Denver Pioneers football team
The 1931 Denver Pioneers football team was an American football team that represented the University of Denver in the Rocky Mountain Conference (RMC) during the 1931 college football season. In its third and final season under head coach Jeff Cravath, the team compiled a 4–6 record (3–5 against RMC opponents), finished eighth in the conference, and was outscored by a total of 143 to 104.


1931 Detroit City College Tartars football team
The 1931 Detroit City College Tartars football team represented Detroit City College (later renamed Wayne State University) as an independent during the 1931 college football season. In its third and final season under head coach Norman G. Wann, the team compiled a 0–6–1 record.


1931 Detroit City College Tartars football team
In January 1932, Sy Berent, a member of the team, led a petition drive in support of coach Norman Wann. The petition asserted that  the team's mediocre performance in recent years was the result of high academic standards, the school's lack of appeal as an athletic center, and "indifference and lack of support by the student body." Wann was nevertheless replaced as the head football coach by Joe Gembis. Wann remained on the school's faculty as a teacher of physical education.


1931 Detroit Tigers season
The 1931 Detroit Tigers season was a season in American baseball. The team finished seventh in the American League with a record of 61–93, 47 games behind the Philadelphia Athletics.


1931 Detroit Tigers season, Player stats, Batting, Starters by position
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in


1931 Detroit Tigers season, Player stats, Batting, Other batters
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in


1931 Detroit Tigers season, Player stats, Pitching, Starting pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts


1931 Detroit Tigers season, Player stats, Pitching, Other pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts


1931 Detroit Tigers season, Player stats, Pitching, Relief pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts


1931 Detroit Titans football team
The 1931 Detroit Titans football team represented the University of Detroit in the 1931 college football season. Detroit outscored opponents by a combined total of 112 to 71 and finished with a 7–2–1 record in their seventh year under head coach and College Football Hall of Fame inductee, Gus Dorais. Significant games included victories over Iowa State (20–0), West Virginia (9–7), and Michigan State (20–13), losses to DePaul (12–0) and Fordham(39–9), and a scoreless tie with Villanova.


1931 Dissolution Honours
The 1931 Dissolution Honours List was issued on 17 November 1931 at the advice of the Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald.


1931 Dogger Bank earthquake
The Dogger Bank earthquake of 1931 was the strongest earthquake recorded in the United Kingdom since measurements began. It had a magnitude of 6.1 on the Richter magnitude scale, and it caused a shaking intensity of VI (strong) to VII (very strong) on the Mercalli intensity scale. The location of the earthquake in the North Sea meant that damage was significantly less than it would have been had the epicentre been on the British mainland.


1931 Dogger Bank earthquake, Earthquake
The tremor began at around 1:30 am on 7 June 1931 with its epicentre located at the Dogger Bank, 60 miles (97 km) off the Yorkshire coast in the North Sea. The effects were felt throughout Great Britain as well as in Belgium and France. The earthquake resulted in damage at locations throughout eastern England. The coastal town of Filey in Yorkshire was worst hit, with the spire of a church being twisted by the tremor. Chimneys collapsed in Hull, Beverley and Bridlington, and Flamborough Head suffered crumbling of parts of its cliffs. It was also reported that a Hull woman died as a result of a heart attack caused by the quake. In London the head of the waxwork of Dr Crippen at Madame Tussauds fell off.


1931 Dogger Bank earthquake, Tsunami
A small nondestructive tsunami wave was reported to have hit the east coast of England and other countries around the North Sea.


1931 Dominican general election, Electoral system
The Legislative Council had 13 members, with the Administrator as President, six 'official' members (civil servants), four elected members and two appointed members. Candidacy for the elected seats was limited to people with an annual income of at least £200 or owning property valued at £500 or more.


1931 Dominican general election, Results
The appointed members were Geoffrey Francis Ashpitel and J.R.H. Bridgewater. Bridgewater died on 10 October 1931 and was replaced by Cecil Rawle.


1931 Dominican general election, Aftermath
All four elected members resigned on 15 February 1932 and the two nominated members resigned on 21 June the same year. By-elections were scheduled for October, but no nominations were received. The two nominated members were replaced by William James Ross Stebbings and Norman Keith Lockhart in October. Lockhart resigned the following month and was replaced by Rawle.


1931 Drake Bulldogs football team
The 1931 Drake Bulldogs football team was an American football team that represented Drake University in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) during the 1931 college football season. In its 11th season under head coach Ossie Solem, the team compiled a 5–6 record (3–0 against MVC opponents), won the MVC championship, and was outscored by a total of 226 to 130.


1931 Drexel Dragons football team
1931 Drexel Dragons football team represented Drexel Institute—now known as Drexel University—in the 1931 college football season. Led by Walter Halas in his fifth season as head coach, the team compiled a record of 7–1.


1931 Duke Blue Devils football team
The 1931 Duke Blue Devils football team was an American football team that represented Duke University during the 1931 Southern Conference football season. In its first season under head coach Wallace Wade, the team compiled a 5–3–2 record (3–3–1 against conference opponents), shut out seven opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 74 to 46. Kidd Brewer was the team captain. The team played its home games at Duke Stadium in Durham, North Carolina.


1931 Duquesne Dukes football team
The 1931 Duquesne Dukes football team was an American football team that represented Duquesne University as an independent during the 1931 college football season. In its fifth season under head coach Elmer Layden, Duquesne compiled a 3–5–3 record and was outscored by a total of 85 to 56. The team played its home games at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.


1931 Dutch East Indies Volksraad election
Elections to the Volksraad were held in the Dutch East Indies in 1931.


1931 Dutch East Indies Volksraad election, Electoral system
The Volksraad had a total of 60 members, 38 of which were elected and 22 appointed. Seats were also assigned to ethnic groups, with 25 for the Dutch population (15 elected, 10 appointed), 30 for the native population (20 elected, 10 appointed) and five for the Chinese population (3 elected, 2 appointed).


1931 East Sydney by-election
A by-election was held for the Australian House of Representatives seat of East Sydney on 7 March 1931. This was triggered by the death of Labor MP John West.


1931 East Sydney by-election
The by-election was won by Labor candidate Eddie Ward, who was associated with New South Wales Premier Jack Lang's wing of the party.


1931 East Sydney by-election
This was the last by-election contested by the Nationalist Party as it would be replaced by the United Australia Party later that year.


1931 East Tennessee State Teachers football team
The 1931 East Tennessee State Teachers football team was an American football team that East Tennessee State Teacher's College, Johnson City—now known as East Tennessee State University (ETSU)—as a member of the Smoky Mountain Conference in the 1931 college football season. They were led by second-year head coach Jack S. Batey, who was a graduate of Middle Tennessee State Normal School (B.S.) and University of Tennessee (M.S.). He coached football and basketball for two years and baseball for six years and taught physical education and agriculture from 1930 to 1935 at the school. It was Batey's final year of coaching football at the school.


1931 Eastern Suburbs season
The 1931 Eastern Suburbs season was the 24th in the club's history. They competed in the New South Wales Rugby Football League's 1931 season.


1931 Ecuadorian presidential election
Presidential elections were held in Ecuador on 20 and 21 October 1931. The result was a victory for Neptali Bonifaz, who received 45.3% of the vote. However, he was disqualified by Congress the following year as he had held Peruvian citizenship, and fresh elections were held in October 1932.


1931 Edmonton municipal election
The 1931 municipal election was held November 11, 1931 to elect a mayor and five aldermen to sit on Edmonton City Council and four trustees to sit on the public school board, while four trustees were acclaimed to the separate school board.


1931 Edmonton municipal election
There were ten aldermen on city council, but five of the positions were already filled: James Collisson, Charles Gibbs, Frederick Keillor (SS), Donald Lake, and Charles Gerald O'Connor were all elected to two-year terms in 1930 and were still in office.


1931 Edmonton municipal election
There were seven trustees on the public school board, but three of the positions were already filled: Samuel Barnes, Frederick Casselman, and Mrs. W D Ferris had all been elected to two-year terms in 1930 and were still in office. The same was true of the separate school board, where A J Crowe (SS), J O Pilon, and W D Trainor were continuing.


1931 Edmonton municipal election, Voter turnout
There were 22,583 ballots cast out of 42,753 eligible voters, for a voter turnout of 52.8%.


1931 Edmonton municipal election, Results, Public school trustees
(The figures above were those from the initial count. Upon completion of a recount, Bowcott was found to have received more votes than Cushing and was therefore elected.)


1931 Edmonton municipal election, Results, Separate (Catholic) school trustees
Charles Gariepy, Thomas Magee, T Malone, and J Tansey (SS) were acclaimed.


1931 Ekstraklasa, Overview
It was contested by 12 teams, and Garbarnia Kraków won the championship.


1931 Emperor's Cup, Overview
It was contested by 7 teams, and Imperial University of Tokyo LB won the championship.


1931 Emperor's Cup Final
This is the current revision of this page, as edited by Monkbot (talk | contribs) at 00:16, 8 January 2020 (→top: Task 15:  language icon template(s) replaced (1×);). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this version.


1931 Emperor's Cup Final
1931 Emperor's Cup Final was the 11th final of the Emperor's Cup competition. The final was played at Meiji Jingu Gaien Stadium in Tokyo on October 31, 1931. Tokyo Imperial University LB won the championship.


1931 Emperor's Cup Final, Overview
Tokyo Imperial University LB won their 1st title, by defeating Kobun Junior High School 5–1.


1931 English Greyhound Derby
The 1931 Greyhound Derby took place during June with the final being held on 27 June 1931 at White City Stadium. The winner Seldom Led received a first prize of £1,050 after the final was re-run.


1931 English Greyhound Derby, Final result, Distances
4, 1, 1, 1 (lengths)The distances between the greyhounds are in finishing order and shown in lengths. From 1927-1950 one length was equal to 0.06 of one second but race times are shown as 0.08 as per modern day calculations.


1931 English Greyhound Derby, Review
Mick the Miller's unprecedented attempt to win a third Greyhound Derby started with the first round exit of Maidens Boy trained by Young. According to his connections the highly fancied runner had been 'got at' after the greyhound came out of his kennels ill and received veterinary treatment for two days before his heat. Micks Fancy, son of Mick the Miller's brother Macoma provided a shock in round one by beating Mick the Miller.


1931 English Greyhound Derby, Review
In the second round an Irish greyhound Ryland R broke the track record when winning in 29.69 beating Mick the Miller in the process. Unfortunately Ryland R had suffered a toe injury in the victory and his trainer Arthur 'Doc' Callanan had to treat the dog. Callanan was the same person responsible for saving Mick the Miller's life back a few years previously.


1931 English Greyhound Derby, Review
A rematch in the semi-final once again saw Ryland R defeat Mick the Miller but this time just by half a length.


1931 English Greyhound Derby, Review
A crowd of 70,000 watched the final and as the race progressed Ryland R built up a clear lead from first bend until halfway when Seldom Lad then began to challenge. Mick the Miller used his usual track craft to also come into contention and Golden Hammer also began to run on. Around the final bend Mick the Miller and Golden Hammer took the lead because Ryland R and Seldom Led had swung off wide. Mick the Miller prevailed by a head but the klaxon sounded before he crossed the winning line.


1931 English Greyhound Derby, Review
The rules in force at the time stated that if a greyhound fought and ruined the result of a race that a re-run would be required. The stewards claimed that Ryland R had attacked Seldom Lad on the fourth bend which accounted for the pair moving off wide. A re-run was ordered without the offender Ryland R. Thirty minuted later Seldom Lad ran on strongly to prevail by 4 lengths, with Golden Hammer holding on for second and Mick's Fancy running on into third. Mick the Miller was never a force and came home fourth. Seldom Lad had been a £5 purchase for his owners H Hammond and J Fleming.


1931 English Greyhound Derby, Review
The re-run clearly affected Mick because of his age, with several believing that the race should not have been re-run. However it was Seldom Led that was leading the original race when he was attacked by Ryland R, so justice could be seen as being served. It is a well-known fact within the industry that ungenuine greyhounds can move wide on the fourth bend and run-in to fight.


1931 English cricket season
1931 was the 38th season of County Championship cricket in England. New Zealand played their first Test series in England, the hosts winning 1–0. Yorkshire won the championship.


1931 English cricket season, Test series, New Zealand tour
England defeated the first New Zealand tourists 1–0 with two matches drawn.


1931 English cricket season, Leading batsmen
Herbert Sutcliffe topped the averages with 3006 runs @ 96.96


1931 English cricket season, Leading bowlers
Harold Larwood topped the averages with 129 wickets @ 12.03


1931 Estonian Football Championship
1931 Estonian Football Championship was the 11th official football league season in Estonia. Six teams, four from Tallinn and two from Narva, took part in the league. VS Sport Tallinn won their seventh title.


1931 Eureka Red Devils football team
The 1931 Eureka Red Devis football team was an American football team that represented Eureka College in the Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) during the 1931 college football season. In its 11th season under head coach Ralph McKinzie, the team compiled a 3–4–1 record, 2–4–1 against conference opponents.


1931 Eureka Red Devils football team, Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan, who later served as the 40th President of the United States, was a member of the team. Coach McKinzie recalled Reagan as "just a fellow who wanted to play football but didn't have too much talent." Reagan became a starter at the guard position as a junior in 1930 and remained a starter as a senior in 1931. McKinzie added: "He had determination, oh yes. He was a team player, very definitely."


1931 Eureka Red Devils football team, Ronald Reagan
In his biography of Reagan, Edmund Morris wrote that "he remained a slow, half-blind, yet fanatically dedicated player through the end of his last season. He prayed before every game, then walked onto the grid scared enough to piss himself His bladder eased as soon as play began, and for the next hour he would hurl himself at bigger bodies without flinching."


1931 Eureka Red Devils football team, Ronald Reagan
Reagan also served as captain and coach of the school's swim team during his senior year.


1931 Eureka Red Devils football team, Ronald Reagan, Reagan-Burghardt relationship
Franklin Burghardt was an African-American who was the team's starting center. While playing a road game against Elmhurst College, a hotel refused to allow Burghardt and the team's other black player, Jim Rattan, to stay. The coach was angry and decided that the whole team would sleep on the bus. Reagan, Burghardt later recalled, worried that this would cause the team's performance to suffer and thus humiliate the black players and harm their morale, and suggested instead that the coach tell the team that the hotel did not have enough rooms. Coach McKinzie gave him fare for a taxi for Reagan, Bughardt, and Rattan to Dixon, Illinois, to stay with his parents, Jack and Nelle Reagan, who welcomed them "like Amos 'n' Andy."


1931 Eureka Red Devils football team, Ronald Reagan, Reagan-Burghardt relationship
In Reagan's 1986 autobiography, Where's the Rest of Me?, he told a story about a racist player on an opposing team who was "filled with hatred and prejudice" and "played dirty" while targeting Burghardt. Though Burghardt was injured, he refused to play dirty and astounded the other team with his strength and skill. At the end of the game, the defeated player turned around to shake Burghardt's hand, telling him he was the greatest human being he had ever met. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1986, President Reagan shared the same story at a school in Washington, D.C. Reagan and Burghardt remained friends, many decades later.


1931 European Aquatics Championships
The 1931 LEN European Aquatics Championships were held from 23 to 30 August in Paris, France.


1931 European Figure Skating Championships
The 1931 European Figure Skating Championships were held in Vienna, Austria. Elite senior-level figure skaters from European ISU member nations competed for the title of European Champion in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, and pair skating.


1931 European Rowing Championships
The 1931 European Rowing Championships were rowing championships held on the Seine in the French capital city of Paris in the suburb of Suresnes. The competition was for men only and they competed in all seven Olympic boat classes (M1x, M2x, M2-, M2+, M4-, M4+, M8+).


1931 FA Charity Shield
The 1931 FA Charity Shield was the 18th FA Charity Shield, a football match between the winners of the previous season's First Division and FA Cup competitions. The match was contested by league champions Arsenal and FA Cup winners West Bromwich Albion, and was played at Villa Park, the home ground of Aston Villa. Arsenal won the game, 1–0.


1931 FA Cup Final
The 1931 FA Cup Final was a football match between West Bromwich Albion and Birmingham, played on 25 April 1931 at the original Wembley Stadium in London. The showpiece event was the final match of the 1930–31 staging of English football's primary cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup (better known as the FA Cup). The match was the 56th FA Cup Final, the ninth to be played at Wembley.


1931 FA Cup Final
West Bromwich Albion were appearing in their seventh final, having won the cup on two previous occasions, whereas Birmingham were playing in the final for the first time. Albion won the match 2–1, with both of their goals scored by W. G. Richardson. Joe Bradford had equalised Richardson's opening goal, before Richardson put the Baggies ahead again sixty seconds later.


1931 FA Cup Final, Route to the final, West Bromwich Albion
Birmingham and West Bromwich Albion were playing in the First Division and Second Division respectively, thus both entered the competition at the third round stage.


1931 FA Cup Final, Route to the final, West Bromwich Albion
Albion began their cup campaign by drawing 2–2 at home against Charlton Athletic, with goals from Stan Wood and Teddy Sandford. The replay at The Valley also ended in a draw (1–1), and with extra time unable to separate the teams, a second replay was required at Villa Park, where goals from Joe Carter, Stan Wood and W. G. Richardson gave Albion a 3–1 victory.


1931 FA Cup Final, Route to the final, West Bromwich Albion
Wood also scored the only goal of the game in round four against Tottenham Hotspur to set up a fifth round tie with First Division Portsmouth, the only top division side that Albion faced en route to Wembley; W. G. Richardson's goal was enough to give Albion a 1–0 victory. The quarter-final stage saw Albion paired with local rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers, whom they had already beaten both home and away during the league season. After a 1–1 draw at The Hawthorns,  Albion won the replay at Molineux 2–1, thanks to goals from W. G. Richardson and Stan Wood.


1931 FA Cup Final, Route to the final, West Bromwich Albion
In the semi-final at Old Trafford, Albion faced Everton, who at that time were 13 points clear at the top of the Second Division. Everton dominated the first half but were unable to score from any of the chances they created, and it was Albion who broke the deadlock ten minutes into the second half. Albion captain Tommy Glidden played the ball into the Everton penalty area from near the halfway line, and aided by a gust of wind it sailed past Everton goalkeeper Billy Coggins and into the net. The match was played in front of 69,241 spectators, setting a new attendance record for Old Trafford.


1931 FA Cup Final, Route to the final, Birmingham
In the third round, Birmingham "won finely" at Anfield to defeat First Division opponents Liverpool 2–0, with goals from Ernie Curtis and Joe Bradford. In the fourth, they repeated the scoreline at home to Port Vale of the Second Division, both goals scored by Bradford, and went one better in the fifth, Bradford scoring once and Curtis, "in magnificent form", twice to eliminate Third Division South club Watford.


1931 FA Cup Final, Route to the final, Birmingham
Chelsea provided stiffer opposition for the Birmingham team, a number of whose players were still recovering from influenza, on a St Andrew's pitch treacherous after overnight sleet. The visitors had much the better of the first half. Alex Jackson gave them the lead, and, in blizzard conditions, George Mills appeared to have scored in a goalmouth scramble, only for the goal to be disallowed after the Birmingham players drew the referee's attention to his linesman who had flagged for the ball having gone out of play. Six minutes into the second half, the lead had changed hands.


1931 FA Cup Final, Route to the final, Birmingham
First George Briggs crossed for a Bradford header, then the same pair combined for Curtis to put Birmingham ahead. Birmingham's defence held out until a misplaced clearance by Bob Gregg allowed Jackie Crawford to equalise. The replay at Chelsea's Stamford Bridge attracted a crowd of 74,365, then a ground record, with 6,000 locked out; spectators broke through the barriers and sat round the edge of the pitch.


1931 FA Cup Final, Route to the final, Birmingham
Briggs, in front of an empty goal,  allowed a centre from Curtis to pass between his legs – "an amazing miss" – before Chelsea centre-half John Townrow sustained an injury which forced him to leave the field. Chelsea reorganised their personnel, but early in the second half, right-half Sid Bishop was hurt twice in quick succession, leaving him in a worse condition than Townrow and his team short of numbers – no substitutes were permitted – with players in unaccustomed positions. Though they held out well, a goal from Jack Firth and two from Bradford, the second of which scored from an offside position, gave Birmingham a 3–0 victory.


1931 FA Cup Final, Route to the final, Birmingham
Birmingham faced First Division Sunderland in the semi-final at Elland Road, Leeds. The Times predicted a "hard game" in which "the first goal ... may decide the result". After half an hour Birmingham took the lead via a powerful shot by Curtis. Sunderland's players appealed in vain for the award of a penalty for handling the ball, their forwards failed to take numerous chances, and Birmingham's England international goalkeeper Harry Hibbs – described by Sunderland's Bobby Gurney as playing "an absolute blinder" – made some fine saves. With three minutes left, Curtis's shot from a Bradford cross was blocked by Sunderland's goalkeeper, Bradford "rushed in to help his colleague and between them they scored the second goal".


1931 FA Cup Final, Build-up
Demand for cup final tickets far exceeded supply. West Bromwich Albion received 80,000 ticket applications from supporters but their allocation was only 7,500. Those who were successful travelled to Wembley on one of several excursion trains along the GWR and LMS routes, or else by road.


1931 FA Cup Final, Build-up
In the days leading up to the final, both teams made use of mid-week games to test players who were doubtful due to injury. Following Birmingham's reserve match against Huddersfield Town's reserves, George Briggs and Jimmy Cringan were pronounced fit to play in the final, but centre forward Joe Bradford's fitness was not decided until the Thursday morning. An injured knee had kept Bradford out of action since mid-March, and he played with the knee well bandaged during the match, which was played in front of "about 12,000" spectators at St Andrew's.


1931 FA Cup Final, Build-up
Full back Bert Trentham was a doubt for Albion, but came through the first half of their friendly against Headingly "quite satisfactorily". The Birmingham team prepared for the final at Bushey, while the West Bromwich Albion team were based in Harrow. Both teams visited The Cenotaph in the week before the final, in order to lay wreaths.


1931 FA Cup Final, Build-up
The clubs had met in the FA Cup on four previous occasions, with Albion victorious each time. The first meeting of the two teams in the competition was in the 1885–86 semi-final, which was the furthest that Birmingham had progressed prior to their first FA Cup final in 1931. Neither club had played a match at Wembley before, though Albion had experienced success in the FA Cup, having appeared in the final on six previous occasions and having won the cup twice, in 1888 and 1892. The two goalkeepers for the 1931 final, Harold Pearson and Harry Hibbs, were cousins.


1931 FA Cup Final, Build-up
Pearson's father and Hibbs' uncle, Hubert Pearson, had kept goal for Albion during their last appearance in the final in 1912. Birmingham outside forward Ernie Curtis had already gained a cup winners medal with Cardiff City in 1927, while the club's trainer Archie Taylor had played in the Barnsley team that defeated West Bromwich Albion in the 1912 final.


1931 FA Cup Final, Build-up
Typical of the era was that the final had little effect on the weekend's Football League fixtures. Although the scheduled league matches of both finalists had been postponed, there were still nine First Division games and ten Second Division games played on the day of the final, as well as a full programme of matches in the Third Division North and South.


1931 FA Cup Final, Build-up
Prior to kickoff, T. P. Ratcliff led the crowd in community singing, backed by the band of His Majesty's Welsh Guards. Songs included "Daisy Bell", "John Brown's Body" and "Poor Old Joe".


1931 FA Cup Final, Match, Summary
Both teams employed the formation typical of the era: two full backs, three half backs, comprising one centre-half and two wing-halves, and five forwards, comprising two outside forwards, two inside forwards and a centre-forward.


1931 FA Cup Final, Match, Summary
In the sixth minute, Bob Gregg headed Jimmy Cringan's free kick past the stranded West Bromwich Albion goalkeeper, but the linesman flagged Gregg offside and the goal was disallowed; newspaper reports suggest the decision was incorrect. Albion took the lead after 24 minutes when Joe Carter received the ball from Tommy Glidden and took it almost to the by-line before crossing it. As W. G. Richardson attempted a shot he fell, but Birmingham's Ned Barkas inadvertently touched the ball back to him and away from his goalkeeper, and Richardson was able to recover sufficiently to steer it home. Joe Bradford and Johnny Crosbie both missed good chances for Birmingham before half-time.


1931 FA Cup Final, Match, Summary
In the second half, after Albion had failed to take several chances, Birmingham equalised. Bradford controlled a long ball, pivoted and shot past Pearson from 25 yards. But the lead did not last. Straight from the restart, Carter, W. G. Richardson and Teddy Sandford took the ball directly down the field. George Liddell sliced his attempted clearance, which left the ball at Richardson's feet, and the forward had an easy task to beat Hibbs from close range.


1931 FA Cup Final, Post-match
The match was reported in that evening's Sports Argus, which was produced in a special run on blue paper in place of the normal pink. Copies of the newspaper were flown down to the London hotels of both teams after the match.


1931 FA Cup Final, Post-match
Birmingham's players, together with their wives, club officials, civic representatives and survivors of the 1886 semi-final, attended a dinner at the Russell Hotel after the match. Speaking afterwards, Archie Taylor admitted that the better side had won, that Albion set out to play the game properly, and that "our boys never settled down; they found the ball red-hot and could not hold it".


1931 FA Cup Final, Post-match
The following day players and wives took a coach trip to the seaside at Brighton, and on Monday afternoon returned to Birmingham by train, to be met by the Lord Mayor and by cheering crowds lining the roads from the station up to the Council House. Albion's players visited Madame Tussauds, where waxworks of the two captains were on display, and some took their wives shopping, before taking the train home.


1931 FA Cup Final, Post-match
Trains arrived from London every quarter-hour until 5 a.m., to be met by buses which ran all night to various parts of the city, to make the journey home as easy as possible for the estimated 28,000 travelling supporters. The Birmingham Mail was impressed by their behaviour: "in a great local clash, in which one set of supporters had necessarily to face disappointment, there appeared to be no frayed tempers and little evidence of over-indulgence."


1931 FA Cup Final, Post-match
The Mail's editorial highlighted the Birmingham players' reaction to the disallowed goal as illustrative of the sportsmanship of both sets of players: "there was no swarming round the official in the clamorous and excited manner so often seen in League games, but just a quiet and philosophic acceptance of the ruling and the position."


1931 FA Cup Final, Post-match
In the week following their victory in the final, West Bromwich Albion still had two remaining league fixtures to complete. They beat Stoke City 1–0 away in mid-week before a 3–2 win at home to Charlton Athletic on the following Saturday confirmed the club's promotion to the First Division. The "double" of winning the FA Cup and promotion in the same season has not been achieved before or since.


1931 FA Cup Final, Post-match
This would be the last time the FA Cup was won by a team from outside the top flight of English football until 42 years later when Sunderland beat Leeds in the 1973 FA Cup Final.


1931 FA Cup Final, Post-match
Teddy Sandford, who played on the winning side, is believed to have been the last surviving player from the game when he died in May 1995 at the age of 84.


1931 Fareham by-election
The Fareham by-election of 1931 was held on 20 February 1931. The by-election was held due to the resignation of the incumbent Conservative MP, John Davidson. It was won by the Conservative candidate Thomas Inskip.


1931 Fermanagh and Tyrone by-election
The Fermanagh and Tyrone by-election of 1931 was held on 7 March 1931. It was held due to the death of the incumbent Nationalist MP Thomas Harbison. Harbison had first been elected to parliament in 1918 as the member for East Tyrone. He had been returned unopposed for this two-member constituency, along with fellow Nationalist Joseph Devlin, at the previous general election. The by-election was won unopposed by the Nationalist (NI) candidate Cahir Healy. Healy had previously been one of the representatives for the constituency from 1922 until 1924.


1931 Fermanagh and Tyrone by-election
At the general election a few months later both Healy and Devlin were re-elected.


1931 Finnish presidential election
Two-stage presidential elections were held in Finland in 1931. On 15 and 16 January the public elected presidential electors to an electoral college. They in turn elected the President. The result was a victory for Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, who won on the third ballot by just two votes. The turnout for the popular vote was 47.3%.


1931 Finnish presidential election, Background
This presidential election was held during an ideologically, politically, socially and economically tense time. The Great Depression was impoverishing many Finnish farmers and workers. The far-right Lapua Movement had not settled for the ban of the Communist Party and its affiliated organizations in the autumn of 1930. It wanted to help elect a President who would also strongly oppose the Social Democrats and moderate bourgeois parties, such as the Progressives. Although Svinhufvud disapproved of the Lapua Movement's violent kidnappings of left-wing politicians and other illegal acts, he was their preferred presidential candidate.


1931 Finnish presidential election, Background
Former President K.J. Ståhlberg, a champion of democracy, parliamentarism and the rule of law, had been briefly kidnapped by some activists of the Lapua Movement with his wife in October 1930. He was chosen as the Progressive presidential candidate. Speaker of the Finnish Parliament, Kyösti Kallio, held ideals similar to those of Ståhlberg, and he became the Agrarian presidential candidate.


1931 Finnish presidential election, Background
The outgoing President, Lauri Kristian Relander, had lost the Agrarian presidential candidacy to Kallio, because he did not condemn the Lapua Movement as strongly as Kallio did, and a sufficient number of Agrarians believed that Kallio could control the Lapua Movement's extremists more effectively than Relander. Right-wing Finns and some centrists, such as a prominent Agrarian parliamentarian, Juho Niukkanen, were concerned that Ståhlberg's re-election (after a six-year break) as the Finnish President would escalate political tensions in Finland.


1931 Finnish presidential election, Background
The Commander-in-Chief of the Civil Guards (a bourgeois voluntary defence organization), Major General Lauri Malmberg, announced in the Finnish Parliament that he would not guarantee order among the Civil Guards, if Ståhlberg was elected president. Svinhufvud's razor-thin victory required Niukkanen's arm-twisting tactics, whereby he pressured all the Agrarian presidential electors to support Svinhufvud. This 69-year-old and slightly ailing conservative politician was considered by his supporters as a sufficiently bold, solid and patriotic man to re-unite the ideologically divided Finns. His pro-democracy supporters hoped that he could keep both right-wing extremists and left-wing extremists in check.


1931 Finnish prohibition referendum
A referendum on prohibition was held in Finland on 29 and 30 December 1931. Voters were asked whether they approved of the continuation of the prohibition law passed in 1919. Of the three options presented, the complete abolition of prohibition was backed by 70.5% of voters with a turnout of only 44.4%.


1931 Finnish prohibition referendum
Support for prohibition was stronger among women than men, and stronger in rural areas than in cities. Turnout for men (53%) was significantly higher than for women (37%), while turnout in cities (54%) was higher than in rural areas (42%). The ballots used by men and women were different colours.


1931 Five Nations Championship
The 1931 Five Nations Championship was the seventeenth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship following the inclusion of France into the Home Nations Championship. Including the previous Home Nations Championships, this was the forty-fourth series of the annual northern hemisphere rugby union championship. Ten matches were played between 1 January and 6 April. It was contested by England, France, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.


1931 Five Nations Championship
Shortly after the tournament, France was expelled from the competition amid allegations of professionalism in the domestic game (rugby union was officially an amateur sport until 1995) and perceived administrative deficiencies. France remained expelled through the 1939 competition. They were readmitted later in 1939, but the outbreak of World War II in Europe halted international rugby until 1947.


1931 Florida Gators football team
The 1931 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida during the 1931 college football season. The season was the fourth of Charlie Bachman as the head coach of the Florida Gators football team. Bachman's 1931 Florida Gators finished with an overall record of 2–6–2 and a Southern Conference record of 2–4–2, placing fifteenth of twenty-three teams in the conference standings—Bachman's second worst conference record in five seasons.


1931 Florida Gators football team
The season's highlights included the Gators' only victories over the North Carolina State (31–0) in Raleigh, North Carolina and the Auburn Tigers (13–12) in Jacksonville, Florida, both of which were fellow Southern Conference members. Tom McEwen relays "The handwriting was on the wall during that dismal 1931 season. The Gators lost five of their last six games, tying the other. During that streak the Florida offense – three years earlier the best in the country—managed only two touchdowns and a safety."


1931 Florida Gators football team, Before the season
Captain-elect Monk Dorsett did not return. The next captain-elect Carlos Proctor was expelled. The team's captain was then end Ed Parnell.


1931 Florida Gators football team, Before the season
The Gators lost both Ben Clemons and Frank Clark. "Scabby" Pheil was one promising newcomer. Florida was to have a tough schedule.


1931 Florida Gators football team, Season summary, North Carolina State
The season opened with a 31–0  win over the NC State Wolfpack in Raleigh. The team surprised coach Bachman.


1931 Florida Gators football team, Season summary, North Carolina
In the second week of play, the Gators played the North Carolina Tar Heels to a scoreless tie. The Tar Heels were twice at the 1-yard line.


1931 Florida Gators football team, Season summary, Auburn
The season's lone highlight after opening week, Florida defeated Auburn by a point, 13–12. Jimmy Hitchcock missed the tying extra point.


1931 Florida Gators football team, Season summary, Georgia
The rival Georgia Bulldogs beat coach Bachman for the first time, 33–6. Both Florida governor Doyle E. Carlton and Georgia governor Richard B. Russell attended the game. Florida scored when Scabby Phiel blocked a punt.


1931 Florida Gators football team, Season summary, Alabama
Alabama and new head coach Frank Thomas shut out the Gators with a  41–0 victory. After a scoreless first quarter, Alabama scored a pair of second-quarter touchdowns on short runs by Johnny Cain and Leon Long to take a 14–0 halftime lead. The Crimson Tide then scored four second half touchdowns on runs by Long and Hillman Holley in the third and on runs by Howard Chappell and Erskine Walker in the fourth to make the final score 41–0.


1931 Florida Gators football team, Season summary, South Carolina
The starting lineup was Williamson (left end), McClellan (left tackle), Bernhart (left guard), Spiers (Center), Osgood (right guard), Simpson (right tackle), Goodyear (right end), Culler (quarterback), Davis (left halfback), Emmelhainz (right halfback), Silsby (fullback).


1931 Florida Gators football team, Season summary, Georgia Tech
Coach Bill Alexander's Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets beat Florida 23–0. The second half opened with an 86-yard kickoff return by Pat Barron, and a subsequent goal line stand.


1931 Florida Gators football team, Season summary, Georgia Tech
The starting lineup was Parnell (left end), Phiel (left tackle), Bernhard (left guard), Perrazzi (Center), Osgood (right guard), Jenkins (right tackle), Ball (right end), Culler (quarterback), Davis (left halfback), McClellan (right halfback), Silsby (fullback).


1931 Florida Gators football team, Season summary, UCLA
The Gators traveled to Los Angeles and lost to the UCLA Bruins 13–0. The Gators stopped in Albuquerque, New Mexico on the way back.


1931 Florida Gators football team, Season summary, Kentucky
A frustrating season ended with a 7–2 loss to Kentucky.


1931 Florida Gators football team, Postseason
The Gators traveled 6,586 miles. Former Gator end Dutch Stanley was hired to coach the ends next season.


1931 Fordham Rams football team
The 1931 Fordham Rams football team was an American football team that represented Fordham University as an independent during the 1931 college football season. In its fifth year under head coach Frank Cavanaugh, Fordham compiled a 6–1–2 record, shut out five of nine opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 205 to 36.


1931 Frankford Yellow Jackets season
The 1931 Frankford Yellow Jackets season was their eighth and final in the National Football League. The team failed to improve on their previous season's record of 4–13–1, winning only one league game. The team has the dubious distinction of winning only a single NFL game by a single point, and was held scoreless in seven of their eight league games, including the first five of the season.


1931 Frankford Yellow Jackets season
On July 27, 1931, the team's home, Frankford Stadium, was severely damaged by fire, forcing the team to divide its 1931 home games between Municipal Stadium and the Baker Bowl.


1931 Frankford Yellow Jackets season, Standings
Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.


1931 French Championships (tennis)
The 1931 French Championships (now known as the French Open) was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor clay courts at the Stade Roland-Garros in Paris, France. The tournament ran from 22 May until 31 May. It was the 36th staging of the French Championships and the second Grand Slam tournament of the year. Jean Borotra and Cilly Aussem won the singles titles.


1931 French Championships (tennis), Finals, Men's Doubles
George Lott  /  John Van Ryn defeated  Vernon Kirby  /  Norman Farquharson  6–4, 6–3, 6–4


1931 French Championships (tennis), Finals, Women's Doubles
Eileen Bennett Whittingstall  /  Betty Nuthall defeated  Cilly Aussem  /  Elizabeth Ryan 9–7, 6–2


1931 French Championships (tennis), Finals, Mixed Doubles
Betty Nuthall  /  Patrick Spence defeated  Dorothy Shepherd Barron /  Bunny Austin 6–3, 5–7, 6–3


1931 French Championships – Men's Singles
First-seeded Jean Borotra defeated Christian Boussus 2–6, 6–4, 7–5, 6–4 in the final to win the Men's Singles tennis title at the 1931 French Championships.


1931 French Championships – Men's Singles, Seeds
The seeded players are listed below. Jean Borotra is the champion; others show the round in which they were eliminated.


1931 French Championships – Women's Singles
Cilly Aussem defeated Betty Nuthall 8–6, 6–1 in the final to win the Women's Singles tennis title at the 1931 French Championships.


1931 French Championships – Women's Singles, Seeds
The seeded players are listed below. Cilly Aussem is the champion; others show the round in which they were eliminated.


1931 French Grand Prix
The 1931 French Grand Prix (formally the XXV Grand Prix de l'A.C.F.) was a Grand Prix motor race held at Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry on 21 June 1931. As with the other two races in the 1931 AIACR European Championship, this race was held over 10 hours, not over a fixed distance. As a result, most cars had two drivers.


1931 French Grand Prix
The race was won by Louis Chiron and Achille Varzi driving a factory entered Bugatti T51, who after early race battles lead more than eight hours of the race


1931 Fresno State Bulldogs football team
The 1931 Fresno State Bulldogs football team represented Fresno State Normal School during the 1931 college football season.


1931 Fresno State Bulldogs football team
Fresno State competed in the Far Western Conference (FWC). The 1931 team was led by third-year head coach Stanley Borleske and played home games at Fresno State College Stadium on the campus of Fresno City College in Fresno, California. They finished the season with a record of four wins and six losses (4–6, 3–2 FWC). The Bulldogs were outscored by their opponents 98–123 for the season.


1931 Fuyun earthquake
The 1931 Fuyun earthquake (富蕴地震) occurred on August 10 at 21:18 UTC. The epicenter was near Fuyun County of northern Xinjiang, China. It was a Mw 8.0 earthquake and had a surface rupture of 171 km with a maximal horizontal displacement of 14 m along the Koktokay-Ertai fault zone (可可托海-二台断裂带). The Koktokay-Ertai fault has a slip rate of 4±2 mm per year. The rupture of this earthquake was caused by right-lateral strike-slip movement with normal component. The rupture is well preserved and becomes one of the main features of the Koktokay National Geopark (可可托海国家地质公园) located in Koktokay.


1931 Gateshead by-election
The Gateshead by-election, 1931 was a parliamentary by-election held on 8 June 1931 for the British House of Commons constituency of Gateshead.


1931 Gateshead by-election, Previous MP
The seat had become vacant on when the constituency's Labour Member of Parliament (MP), Sir James Melville, had died on 1 May, aged 46. He had been Gateshead's MP since the 1929 general election, and had been Solicitor-General from 1929 to 1930.


1931 Gateshead by-election, Candidates
The Conservative Party candidate was Cuthbert Headlam, who had been MP for Barnard Castle from 1924 until his defeat in 1929. Labour selected Herbert Evans, who had stood unsuccessfully at the 1929 election in the Maldon constituency in Essex.


1931 Gateshead by-election, Candidates
In 1929, there had been both a Liberal and an independent candidate in Gateshead, but the by-election was a two-way contest between Labour and Conservative.


1931 Gateshead by-election, Results
The result was a narrow victory for Evans. His 51.6% share of the votes was only a small fall from his predecessor's result in 1929, but Headlam picked up the votes which had previously gone to Liberal and independent candidates, and cut the Labour majority from a safe 31.1% to a precarious 3.2%.


1931 Gateshead by-election, Results
However, Evans did not live to defend the seat; he died on 7 October 1931, the day on which Parliament was dissolved for the 1931 general election. The Gateshead seat was then won by the National Liberal Party candidate, Thomas Magnay, and Headlam was re-elected in Barnard Castle.


1931 George Washington Colonials football team
The 1931 George Washington Colonials football team was an American football team that represented George Washington University as an independent during the 1931 college football season. In its third season under head coach Jim Pixlee, the team compiled a 5–2–2 record. The December 12 game against Alabama alumni was a 10-minute game played as part of a fundraiser for the poor during which the Alabama alumni played three short games against teams from the District of Columbia.


1931 Georgetown Hoyas football team
The 1931 Georgetown Hoyas football team represented Georgetown University during the 1931 college football season. Led by Tommy Mills in his second season as head coach, the team went 4–5–1.


1931 Georgia Bulldogs football team
The 1931 Georgia Bulldogs football team represented the Georgia Bulldogs of the University of Georgia during the 1931 Southern Conference football season. Members of the Southern Conference, the Bulldogs completed the season with an 8–2 record (6–1 SoCon). The two losses were to the Rose Bowl and national champion USC Trojans, and to SoCon champion and the team defeated by USC in the Rose Bowl, the Tulane Green Wave.


1931 Georgia Bulldogs football team, Before the season
Georgia's team was led by a group of veterans in end Catfish Smith, fullback Jack "The Ripper" Roberts and captain and quarterback Austin Downes. Buster Mott was a promising sophomore.


1931 Georgia Bulldogs football team, Season summary, Yale
For the third straight year, Georgia's Bulldogs triumphed over "superstar" Hall of Famer Albie Booth and Yale's Bulldogs 26–7. Yale once had the ball on its own 45-yard line. "Tommy Taylor dropped back to pass. Catfish Smith hit Taylor as he released the ball and the wobbly toss was grabbed by guard Red Leathers of Georgia, who proceeded to dash 40 yards to the touchdown." Before the first half was over, Homer Key ran for a 74-yard touchdown, starting through right and cutting back. "He was surrounded by blue-clad players. He shuttled in and out like a white needle in haystack of blue, and finally he shout out and streaked for the goal."


1931 Georgia Bulldogs football team, Season summary, Yale
In the fourth quarter, after a short punt, Austin Downes connected with Key on a 27-yard touchdown pass. Later, Dickens intercepted Booth's pass at the 29-yard line, and Georgia drove it in with Gilmore finally going over to end the scoring.


1931 Georgia Bulldogs football team, Season summary, Yale
The starting lineup was Crenshaw (left end), Townsend (left tackle), Patterson (left guard), Batchelder (center), Maddux (right guard), Cooper (right tackle), Wilson (right end), Downes (quarterback), Chandler (left halfback), Mott (right halfback) White (fullback).


1931 Georgia Bulldogs football team, Season summary, Florida
The Bulldogs beat Charlie Bachman at Florida for the first time 33–6. Both Florida governor Doyle E. Carlton and Georgia governor Richard B. Russell attended the game. Florida scored when Scabby Phiel blocked a punt. Georgia scored in every period.


1931 Georgia Bulldogs football team, Season summary, Tulane
Georgia lost to the eventual SIAA champion Tulane Green Wave 20–7. Tulane scored first on a 33-yard pass from Don Zimmerman to Vernon Haynes. Nollie Felts plunged in from the 1-yard line for the next touchdown. A pass from Georgia's Homey Key to Buster Mott netted 60 yards and a touchdown. After a botched punt, a double pass play led to Payne sprinting around left end for Tulane's final score.


1931 Georgia Bulldogs football team, Season summary, USC
Georgia was beaten by the national champion USC Trojans 60–0.


1931 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team
The 1931 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team represented the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets of the Georgia Institute of Technology during the 1931 college football season.


1931 German Grand Prix
The 1931 German Grand Prix was a Grand Prix motor race held at the Nürburgring on 19 July 1931. There were two races held simultaneously, Class I for Grand Prix cars over 1100cc over 22 laps, and Class II for cars and cyclecars with capacity 500–1100cc over 18 laps. The race distances were chosen to make both races take approximately the same amount of time, but there were no prizes for outright positions, only for class results.


1931 German Ice Hockey Championship
The 1931 German Ice Hockey Championship was the 15th season of the German Ice Hockey Championship, the national championship of Germany. Berliner Schlittschuhclub won the championship by defeating VfB Konigsberg in the final.


1931 German football championship
The 1931 German football championship, the 24th edition of the competition, was won by Hertha BSC, defeating TSV 1860 München 3–2 in the final.


1931 German football championship
For Hertha it was the sixth consecutive final the club played in and the second national championship, having won the previous edition. Hertha thereby became only the second club after 1. FC Nürnberg to defend its title. It marked however the end of Hertha's most successful era, with the club never again playing in another German championship final after 1931, as it did for clubs from Berlin, as no other club from the German capital would ever reach another German championship final again. For TSV 1860 it was the only championship final the club ever played in, having to wait until the Bundesliga era to win a championship. The following season the club's rival, FC Bayern Munich, would take out the only national championship for the city of Munich during the pre-Bundesliga era.


1931 German football championship
Hertha's Willi Kirsei was the top scorer of the 1931 championship with seven goals.


1931 German football championship
Sixteen club qualified for the knock-out competition, two from each of the regional federations plus an additional third club from the South and West. In all cases the regional champions qualified and almost all of the runners-up, except in Central Germany where the second spot went to the regional cup winner. In the West the third spot went to the third placed team of the championship while, in the South, the third spot was determined in a separate qualifying competition for runners-up and third placed teams.


1931 German football championship, Competition, Round of 16
The round of 16, played between 10 and 17 May 1931:


1931 Giro d'Italia
The 1931 Giro d'Italia was the 19th edition of the Giro d'Italia, a cycling race organized and sponsored by the newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport. The race began on 10 May in Milan with a stage that stretched 206 km (128 mi) to Mantua, finishing back in Milan on 31 May after a 263 km (163 mi) stage and a total distance covered of 3,012 km (1,872 mi). The race was won by the Francesco Camusso of the Gloria team. Second and third respectively were the Italian riders Luigi Giacobbe and Luigi Marchisio.


1931 Giro d'Italia
It was the first edition in which the leader used the pink jersey (maglia rosa) for the leader of the general classification. The first cyclist to wear it was Learco Guerra.


1931 Giro d'Italia, Participants
Of the 109 riders that began the Giro d'Italia on 10 May, 65 of them made it to the finish in Milan on 31 May. Riders were allowed to ride on their own or as a member of a team. There were seven teams that competed in the race: Bianchi-Pirelli, Ganna-Dunlop, Gloria-Hutchinson, Legnano-Hutchinson, Maino-Clément, Touring-Pirelli, and Olympia-Spiga.


1931 Giro d'Italia, Participants
The peloton was primarily composed of Italians. The field featured three former Giro d'Italia champions in four-time winner Alfredo Binda, single-time winner Gaetano Belloni, and reigning champion Luigi Marchisio. Other notable Italian riders that started the race included Learco Guerra, Michele Mara, Felice Gremo, and Domenico Piemontesi. Frenchman Antonin Magne — who would go on to win the Tour de France twice — competed in the race, as well as future world champion, Belgian rider Jean Aerts. This race also saw the first Spanish riders compete with Mariano Cañardo and Ricardo Montero.


1931 Giro d'Italia, Final standings, General classification
There were 65 cyclists who had completed all fifteen stages. For these cyclists, the times they had needed in each stage was added up for the general classification. The cyclist with the least accumulated time was the winner. Aristide Cavallini won the prize for best ranked isolati rider in the general classification.


1931 Giro di Lombardia
The 1931 Giro di Lombardia was the 27th edition of the Giro di Lombardia cycle race and was held on 25 October 1931. The race started and finished in Milan. The race was won by Alfredo Binda.


1931 Glamorgan County Council election
The fourteenth election to Glamorgan County Council, south Wales, took place in March 1931. It was preceded by the 1928 election and followed by the 1934 election.


1931 Glamorgan County Council election, Overview of the Result
Labour was defending a secure majority in an election where they faced opposition from the left in the form of the Communist Party, as well as more traditional opponents. The result showed little change from previous years.


1931 Glamorgan County Council election, Outcome
Labour retains their majority. The party won some additional seats, such as Pentre in the Rhondda where T.A. Thomas had held on against several previous Labour challenges.


1931 Glamorgan County Council election, Outcome
In the Cymmer ward, David Thomas, who had failed to hold the seat in 1928 after David Watts-Morgan was elected alderman, was successful after the sitting Independent stood down.


1931 Glamorgan County Council election, Results, Bargoed
The sitting member had been elected as the official Labour candidate in 1928.


1931 Glamorgan County Council election, Results, Gower
W.H. Davies had won the seat in 1919, and was elected alderman. He failed to be re-elected in 1925 and 1928.


1931 Glamorgan County Council election, Results, Pencoed
The sitting member, W.A. Howell, switched to contest the Porthcawl ward and Labour won the seat.


1931 Glamorgan County Council election, Election of Aldermen
In addition to the 66 councillors the council consisted of 22 county aldermen. Aldermen were elected by the council, and served a six-year term. Following the 1931 election, there were eleven Aldermanic vacancies, and the retiring aldermen were all re-elected.


1931 Glasgow St Rollox by-election
The Glasgow St Rollox by-election of 1931 was held on 7 May 1931 due to the death of the incumbent Labour MP, James Stewart. It was retained by the Labour candidate William Leonard.


1931 Gold Coast general election, Electoral system
The Legislative Council had 30 members, of which 16 were 'official' members (civil servants) and 14 'unofficial' members. Of the 14 unofficial members, three were Europeans appointed by the Governor to represent banking, mercantile and shipping interests, and two were Europeans elected by the Chamber of Commerce and Chamber of Mines. The remaining nine unofficial members were Africans, six of which were elected by the Provincial Councils (three by the Eastern Province Council, two by the Central Province Council and one by the Western Province Council) and three directly-elected members representing the municipalities of Accra, Cape Coast and Sekondi.


1931 Gold Coast general election, Campaign
Incumbent MLC for Accra John Glover Addo declined to run for a second term. The Accra Ratepayers Association had several potential candidates, including F. V. Nanka-Bruce, Emmanuel Charles Quist and Akilagpa Sawyerr, eventually settling on Nanka-Bruce. Quist claimed he had been the initial choice, but then rejected when it was revealed that he was not a member of the Association. Although this was denied by the Association, Quist formed the Ga Democratic Party to contest the elections. Quist's candidacy split the vote in the educated elite, with several prominent citizens (including J. B. Danquah and Augustus Molade Akiwumi) calling for his election.


1931 Gold Coast general election, Results
In Accra, Frederick Nanka-Bruce of the Accra Ratepayers' Association was elected with 806 votes, defeating A. W. Kojo Thompson of the Manbii Party (558 votes) and Quist (343 votes) on a 69% turnout. Kobina Arku Korsah was re-elected in Cape Coast and George James Christian re-elected in Sekondi.


1931 Gonzaga Bulldogs football team
The 1931 Gonzaga Bulldogs football team was an American football team that represented Gonzaga University as an independent during the 1931 college football season. In their first year under head coach Mike Pecarovich, the Bulldogs compiled a 3–4 record and outscored opponents by a total of 116 to 59.


1931 Grand National
The 1931 Grand National was the 90th renewal of the world-famous Grand National horse race that took place at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool, England, on 27 March 1931.


1931 Grand National
The steeplechase was won by Grakle, at odds of 100/6. The nine-year-old was ridden by jockey Bob Lyall and trained by Tom Coulthwaite for owner Cecil Taylor, who collected the £9,310 prize.


1931 Grand National
Gregalach, winner in 1929, finished in second place; Annandale was third and Rhyticere fourth. Forty-three horses ran and all but two returned safely to the stables. Swift Roland was fatally injured at Becher's Brook when another faller landed on him, and Drin was euthanised after incurring a leg fracture at Valentine's Brook.


1931 Grand Prix season
The 1931 Grand Prix season was a watershed year, with the advent of the AIACR European Championship. After several years of Grand Prix racing in the doldrums with little technical development, 1931 saw new models come from all three main manufacturers: Bugatti, Maserati and Alfa Romeo.


1931 Grand Prix season
The AIACR regulations were to Formula Libre (open formula) rules for the cars, but the race-format chosen was to run the Grands Prix over a marathon ten hours each with two drivers per car. The pair had to be the same for all three races otherwise only the lead driver would score points. The championship was won by Ferdinando Minoia, driving for the Alfa Corse works team. He was tied on points with his team-mate Giuseppe Campari after the three races.


1931 Grand Prix season
Despite not having won any of the races, his consistency gave him the tiebreaker by covering a greater distance across the combined 30 hours of racing. However, the endurance format of the series was exhausting and unpopular with the drivers, and became processional and boring for the spectators and would not be repeated.


1931 Grand Prix season
In the other major races of the season, the new Bugatti Type 51 won its first event, at Tunis, and dominated the French circuits in the early half of the season. The Italian Championship regularly drew the best drivers and gave close racing between Alfa Romeo, Bugatti and Maserati. At the end of the season, the championship was awarded to Alfa Romeo driver Campari, on a tie-breaker countback. With both major titles in their cabinet, Alfa Romeo finished the season strongly.


1931 Grand Prix season, European Championship Grands Prix, Other Grand Épreuves
A grey background indicates the race was not held this year. Sources:


1931 Grand Prix season, Major Races
Multiple classes are mentioned when they were divided and run to different race lengths.


1931 Grand Prix season, Major Races
Note: *Race mistakenly flagged by officials after only 99 laps, not the full 100 as scheduled


1931 Grand Prix season, Regulations and Technical
In October 1930, the CSI regulatory body of the AIACR met to draft up rules for a new championship. The racing bodies of Belgium, France, Italy and Spain would hold events lasting ten hours, with the results merged as a single race- the International Grand Prix. Each body would contribute 150000 francs, and the driver covering the farthest distance over the four races would collect half a million francs. However, that idea was deemed impractical and instead the races should be discrete, individual events. As all the races took place in Europe it was renamed the European Automobile Championship.


1931 Grand Prix season, Regulations and Technical
The media soon spotted major issues with the proposal – after the abortive Manufacturer's Championship, just a few years earlier. If the field was whittled down after three or four hours, what was to be gained if only a half-dozen cars raced for the latter half of the race? They protested that it would bore the spectators, and drive them away well before the end of the races. However, the CSI was not swayed and confirmed the format in March.


1931 Grand Prix season, Regulations and Technical
The Italian GP was moved from its traditional September to May to be able to run in good daylight and the Spanish GP was dropped from the list. Now the overall winner would receive 150000 francs. The two drivers had to be paired together for all three races and would only score points in the car they had been nominated for. In case of a tie, the driver(s) who had covered the greatest total distance would win the tie-break. The cars would otherwise not be limited, running to Formula Libre. A proposal to run a gasoline/benzole mixture was discarded as Italy had no benzole.


1931 Grand Prix season, Regulations and Technical, Technical Innovation
After a lethargic period of years with only incremental development, 1931 saw a good range of new models and innovation from all three main manufacturers. At his son's insistence, Ettore Bugatti had swapped the Millers of American Leon Duray for a trio of Type 43 sports cars in 1929. Examination of the advanced engineering of the Miller engine led to the developed of the Bugatti Type 51. Essentially the same as the Type 35B, still using two valves per cylinder and a single carburettor, it was now fitted with twin overhead camshafts and put out 180 bhp.


1931 Grand Prix season, Regulations and Technical, Technical Innovation
At the fast Monza Grand Prix, Bugatti also entered the new Type 54 (purportedly produced in only 13 days), with the 5-litre engine of the Type 50 sports car. But despite developing an enormous 300 bhp, raw power on paper was no key to success. Front-heavy, it handled poorly and was terrible on its tyres.


1931 Grand Prix season, Regulations and Technical, Technical Innovation
Maserati had led the way forward the previous year with the 8C-2500 engine in the Tipo 26M. The brothers further developed the engine, boring it out to 2.8-litres, also introduced at the Monza race. The team continued to run that model through this season, as well as the mighty, twin-engined V4 on the open fast circuits. Voiturette racing was increasing in popularity again, with over a dozen races scheduled for the season. After his success the previous year, Alfieri felt encouraged to develop the 1.5-litre 26C. The new 1.1-litre twin-cam 4-cylinder model – either the 4CS sports car or 4CM (monoposto) single-seater - would soon dominate the small classes, and earn good money for Maserati in both prizemoney and privateer sales.


1931 Grand Prix season, Regulations and Technical, Technical Innovation
With the final retirement of the Alfa Romeo P2 from front-line racing, Vittorio Jano produced two quite different models for the new Championship. The 8C 2300 was a development from the 6C 1750 sports car. Jano put a pair of 4-cylinder engines back-to-back with a common gear-train linking the two camshafts. Being centrally mounted it minimised the engine torque and vibration. It came in two variants – the long-wheelbase version was the sports car, while the nimbler, short-wheelbase model entered Grand Prix races.


1931 Grand Prix season, Regulations and Technical, Technical Innovation
To take on the big-engined Mercedes, Jano built the Tipo A. Taking two complete engines of the 6C 1750, and mounting them side by side. The mirror-image arrangement improved traction because of the equal and opposite torque of the engines. Alfa's (and Europe's) first monoposto, the driver sat centrally, over the two driveshafts in a deep, streamlined cockpit. Unlike the twin-engined Bugatti and Maserati, each engine of the Tipo A kept its own power-train with crankcase and driveshaft. A single gear lever controlled both gearboxes with an overrunning clutch. Only four were built.


1931 Grand Prix season, Teams and drivers
The AIACR Championship regulations stipulated that each nominated driver-combination had to compete together in all three races to keep scoring points. Therefore, at the start of the season, at the Italian Grand Prix, the works teams declared these as their driver combinations:


1931 Grand Prix season, Teams and drivers
These tables only intend to cover entries in the major races, using the key above. It includes all starters in the Championship races. Sources:


1931 Grand Prix season, Teams and drivers, Significant Privateer drivers
Note: * raced in event as a relief driver, ♠ Works driver raced as a privateer. Those in brackets show, although entered, the driver did not raceNote: † driver killed during this racing season


1931 Grand Prix season, Season review, Start of the season
The start of the year saw the first Winter Grand Prix. The Swedish Automobile Club had regularly run a road-race from Stockholm to Gothenburg. This year they mapped out a 50km course on the narrow roads through the woods near Lake Rämen. The pits and grandstands were built near the local railway station by the lake and oversaw a 2km stretch on the frozen lake. The 20 starters were mainly made up of local drivers with a diverse range of cars.


1931 Grand Prix season, Season review, Start of the season
These included a number of big-engined American stock cars, as well as a 1.5-litre Bugatti Type 37 and a 1.6-litre four-wheel drive Tracta. Two Finnish drivers, Karl Ebb and "Baron" Johan Ramsay travelled across but the big draw-card was German champion Rudi Caracciola driving his Mercedes SSK. Another SSK was entered by young Swede Per-Victor Widengren, returning from studies in the US and Germany. On race-day, trains bought 30000 spectators to the track. Forty minutes after the start, Ebb’s Auburn came by leading the first lap from Widengren, Olsson and Caracciola.


1931 Grand Prix season, Season review, Start of the season
On the second lap, Ebb slid into a snowbank blocking the road. Olsson and Widengren had to stop and help push him clear to get past. Ebb waved Widengren through to take the lead. But both Mercedes retired at the halfway point with mechanical issues. When Olsson lost twenty minutes after sliding into a ditch, it gave Ebb a comfortable lead he held to the end. Ramsay made it a Finnish 1-2 coming home almost a quarter hour behind, both having used studded tyres, rather than chains, through the snow.


1931 Grand Prix season, Season review, Start of the season
The Tunis Grand Prix was the culmination of a week of festivities celebrating the 50th anniversary of being a French protectorate, with the French president in attendance. With a dozen main class and seventeen voiturettes, it attracted a good field, led by the four-car Maserati works team. Luigi Fagioli and new team-driver René Dreyfus had the proven 26M, Clemente Biondetti the big V4, while Ernesto Maserati ran one of the original 1.5-litre Tipo 26 in the junior class. Achille Varzi arrived as a privateer with the brand new Bugatti Type 51.


1931 Grand Prix season, Season review, Start of the season
Algerian Marcel Lehoux and German Heinrich-Joachim von Morgen ran the older Type 35B, while Philippe Étancelin and Polish émigré Count Stanisław Czaykowski had 2-litre Type 35C’s. This year, the race was held on a new triangular circuit outside the ancient city of Carthage. Strangely von Morgen's car was sabotaged on the ship from Europe when someone fed a piece of sacking into the fuel tank which then dissolved into the engine. Though Fagioli led the first lap, Varzi soon passed him and started building a lead, with Lehoux in third.


1931 Grand Prix season, Season review, Start of the season
When Fagioli had plug issues and Varzi a puncture, Lehoux was able to move into second. Despite having to stop for another puncture, Varzi gave the Type 51 a win on debut. An exciting duel for second lasted most of the race, with Fagioli's Maserati beating home Lehoux by just fifteen seconds. Maserati comfortably won the "voiturette" class finishing eighth overall, and over ten minutes ahead of Pierre Veyron’s Bugatti.


1931 Grand Prix season, Season review, Monaco
The next major race was the lucrative Monaco Grand Prix. With 100000 francs prizemoney for the winner, it was already establishing itself as one of the glamour events on the calendar. The organisers had an invitation list that attracted a top-class field. The Maserati team and the top French drivers were back from Africa. The Bugatti works team arrived in force with Varzi joined by Louis Chiron, Albert Divo and Guy Bouriat running the new Type 51.


1931 Grand Prix season, Season review, Monaco
The English Earl Howe was the first buyer of the new model (repainted in British racing green), leading a flotilla of privateer Bugattis, along with von Morgen's full German Bugatti Team. The Alfa Romeo works team gave Tazio Nuvolari the new 8C-2300. Luigi Arcangeli and Baconin Borzacchini had the 6C-1750GS, as did Goffredo Zehender driving for the Scuderia Ferrari. On such a tight track, the three big sports cars were quite incongruous: Caracciola now had the new lightweight Mercedes SSKL, fresh from a great win in the Mille Miglia the week before.


1931 Grand Prix season, Season review, Monaco
Count Boris Ivanowski ran Caracciola's former SSK and French veteran André Boillot ran a 7-year old Peugeot 174. Being a street circuit, the one-hour practice had to be held at 6am on Thursday and Friday mornings. Notable absentees were the Alfa Romeo team, whose Pirelli tyres had proven very poor in the Mille Miglia. Ivanowski only arrived on Saturday night after all practice had finished and was denied entry. René Dreyfus had drawn pole position and led the first few laps. “Williams” barged past but lost his engine on only the sixth lap.


1931 Grand Prix season, Season review, Monaco
By the tenth lap, the top six were barely ten seconds apart with Varzi now just ahead of Dreyfus, Lehoux, Fagioli, Chiron and Caracciola. On lap 29, Varzi came into the pits on three wheels after smashing the other one on a curbstone. The repairs cost him four minutes and dropped him to sixth. With Dreyfus, Divo and Lehoux also experiencing issues, it was Chiron and Fagioli now setting the pace.


1931 Grand Prix season, Season review, Monaco
After 50 laps, at the half-way point, only five of the remaining fifteen runners were still on the lead lap: Chiron forty seconds ahead of Fagioli, then Bouriat, Caracciola and Varzi. Howe was sixth, two laps back. Soon after, Caracciola crawled into the pits with his clutch broken. Bouriat took second place from Fagioli, who was having fuel-pressure problems, and having to navigate the twisty circuit one-handed while simultaneously pumping fuel with the other.


1931 Grand Prix season, Season review, Monaco
Chiron was not slowing down, and put in the fastest lap of the race on lap 80, which Fagioli matched four laps later despite his fuel-flow issues. Bouriat had a late stop to change sparkplugs that dropped him to fifth. But no-one could catch Chiron, who took the flag a comfortable three minutes ahead of Fagioli and Varzi, winning his home Grand Prix. In a timekeeping blunder, the officials miscounted and dropped the flag a lap early. The crowds then poured onto the track and stopped the other finishers. Boillot and his Peugeot tourer came in sixth, behind Bouriat (Bugatti) and Zehender (Ferrari) after not having to stop during the race.