Gateshead by-election, 1931

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

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 been Gateshead's MP since the 1929 general election, and had been Solicitor-General from 1929 to 1930.

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.

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.

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%.

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.

Votes

Gateshead by-election, 8th June 1931
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Herbert Evans	22,893	51.6	−1.0
	Conservative	Cuthbert Headlam	21,501	48.4	+26.9
Majority			1,392	3.2	−27.9
Turnout			44,394	60.8	−13.1
	Labour hold		Swing

References

Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

« 34th Parliament « By-elections to the 35th Parliament of the United Kingdom » 36th Parliament »

1929	July: Preston August: Leeds South East Twickenham September: Kilmarnock December: Tamworth Liverpool Scotland

1930	February: Sheffield Brightside May: Fulham West Nottingham Central June: Glasgow Shettleston July: North Norfolk September: Bromley October: Paddington South November: Shipley East Renfrewshire December: Whitechapel and St Georges

1931	January: Bristol East February: Liverpool East Toxteth Islington East Fareham March: Fermanagh and Tyrone Salisbury Pontypridd Westminster St George's Sunderland April: Woolwich East Ashton-under-Lyne May: Scarborough and Whitby Glasgow St Rollox Ogmore Rutherglen Stroud June: Gateshead Manchester Ardwick Liverpool Wavertree August: Guildford

Lists of UK by-elections 1801–1806 1806–1818 1818–1832 1832–1847 1847–1857 1857–1868 1868–1885 1885–1900 1900–1918 1918–1931 1931–1950 1950–1979 1979–2010 2010–present

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/24/2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.