1928 St Ives by-election

UK parliamentary by-election December 2017 December 2017 1928 St Ives by-election presidential United Kingdom St Ives (UK Parliament constituency)#Elections in the 1920s 1924 St Ives (UK Parliament constituency)#Elections in the 1920s 1929 6 March 1928 Runciman 65px Liberal Party (UK) 10,241 42.6% Caird Unionist Party (UK) 9,478 39.4% Hopkins Labour Party (UK) 4,343 18.0% File:1928 St Ives - South West England.png 250px MP Subsequent MP Anthony Hawke Unionist Party (UK) Walter Runciman Liberal Party (UK) The 1928 St Ives by-election was a by-election held on 6 March 1928 for the British House of Commons constituency of St Ives in Cornwall. Vacancy The by-election was caused by the resignation of the sitting Unionist Party Member of Parliament (MP) Anthony Hawke on his appointment to be a High Court judge. Electoral history Hawke had first won the seat at the 1922 general election. He lost it to the Liberal candidate Sir Clifford Cory at the 1923 general election when there was also a Labour candidate in the field but won it back from Cory in a straight fight in 1924. General Election 1924: St IvesBritish parliamentary election results 1918-1949, Craig Unionist Party (UK) Anthony Hawke 11,159 53.0 +12.4 Liberal Party (UK) Clifford Cory 9,912 47.0 +0.5 1,247 6.0 N/A 21,071 69.1 -2.3 Unionist Party (UK) Liberal Party (UK) +6.0 Candidates The Unionists picked Sir Andrew Caird (1870-1956) one of Lord Northcliffe’s newspaper editors and directors The Times, 17 December 1956 to defend the seat. The Liberal Party challenger was Hilda Runciman, the wife of leading Liberal MP, Rt Hon. Walter Runciman. The Reverend Frederick Jesse Hopkins, intervened for the Labour Party. Campaign The by-election was a three-cornered contest, though given the electoral history of the seat it was always regarded as a two-horse race between Unionist and Liberal. The circumstances in which Hilda Runciman came to be selected as Liberal candidate were an issue in the by-election. Her husband, Walter, who was Liberal MP for Swansea West, had decided to transfer to St Ives at the next general election. When the by-election was caused by Hawke’s resignation, Hilda was adopted as Liberal candidate to keep the seat warm for her husband. Liberal party leader David Lloyd George did not approve of Hilda’s candidacy; the Liberal Council, a band of Liberal politicians which Walter led, had voted to oppose Lloyd George's Yellow Book, which set out many of his key positions. Runciman refused to have Lloyd George speak on her behalf during the campaignJohn Ault John Ault The Inter-War Cornish By-Elections: Microcosm of 'Rebellion'? Cornish Studies 1 May 2012 20 1 241–259 10.1386/corn.20.1.226_1 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263726899 10 September 2021 However, Deputy Leader Sir Herbert Samuel did travel to the constituency to speak on her behalf.Pamela Brookes, Women at Westminster; Peter Davies Publishing, 1967 p65 The use of Hilda to keep the seat warm for her husband attracted Tory derision, and became a campaign issue.Roy Douglas, Liberals: The History of the Liberal and Liberal Democrat Parties; Hambledon and London, 2005 p215 Result The result was a victory for Mrs Runciman, who overturned Hawke’s majority of 1,247 to win by a majority of 763 votes. St Ives by-election, 1928British parliamentary election results 1918-1949, Craig Liberal Party (UK) Hilda Runciman 10,241 42.6 -4.4 Unionist Party (UK) Andrew Caird 9,478 39.4 -13.6 Labour Party (UK) Frederick Jesse Hopkins 4,343 18.0 New 763 3.2 N/A 24,062 77.4 +8.3 Liberal Party (UK) Unionist Party (UK) +4.6 Runciman was the third woman parliamentary candidate ever to be elected for the Liberal Party, after Margaret Wintringham and Vera Terrington. On election she joined her husband in the House of Commons, the first married couple to sit in the House together.Brookes, op cit p65 She was the first female Cornish MP and the only Cornish Liberal MP at the time (though the Liberals won all five Cornish seats in the general election the next year). Aftermath Runciman duly stood down in her husband’s favour at the 1929 general election and he held the seat for the Liberal Party, again defeating Caird. General Election 1929: St IvesBritish parliamentary election results 1918-1949, Craig Liberal Party (UK) Walter Runciman 12,433 43.2 +0.6 Unionist Party (UK) Andrew Caird 11,411 39.7 +0.3 Labour Party (UK) W E Arnold-Forster 4,920 17.1 -0.9 1,032 3.5 +0.3 28,764 76.5 -0.9 Liberal Party (UK) +0.15 Runciman sought re-election at the General Election of 1929 at the Unionist held seat of Tavistock, but finished second. Hopkins also moved to contest Penryn & Falmouth and again finished third. This was seen as one of the two ‘warming pan’ by-elections in the 1924-1929 Parliament, alongside Hugh Dalton's wife successfully contesting the 1929 Bishop Auckland by-election with her husband contesting it at the 1929 general election.Brookes, op cit p65-66 References Craig F. W. S. F. W. S. Craig British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 1969 1st 1969 Parliamentary Research Services Glasgow 0-900178-01-9 registration https://archive.org/details/britishparliamen0000crai February 2012 See also Cornwall List of United Kingdom by-elections (1918–1931) Politics of Cornwall Category:By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Cornish constituencies Category:1928 in England Category:1928 elections in the United Kingdom Category:St Ives, Cornwall Category:1920s in Cornwall Category:March 1928 in the United Kingdom