1930 Shipley by-election

UK parliamentary by-election November 2019 The 1930 Shipley by-election was a parliamentary by-election for the British House of Commons constituency of Shipley on 6 November 1930. Vacancy The by-election was caused by the death of the sitting Labour MP, William Mackinder on 8 September 1930. He had been MP here since winning the seat from the Liberal Party in 1923. Election history The result at the last General election was 1929 general electionF W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949 Electorate 51,838 Labour Party (UK) William Mackinder 18,654 42.3 +6.3 Unionist Party (UK) Robert Clough 13,693 31.1 -3.1 Liberal Party (UK) Francis Wrigley Hirst 11,712 26.6 -3.2 4,961 11.2 +9.4 44,059 85.0 -1.4 Labour Party (UK) +4.7 Candidates The constituency Labour Party selected as their candidate to defend the seat William Albert Robinson from Liverpool. He had contested Liverpool Exchange at the 1929 general election. He was the political secretary of the National Union of Distributive and Allied Workers. The local Conservative Association chose as their candidate, 42-year-old James Horace Lockwood. He was a strong advocate of safeguarding for the textile industry. He had not stood for parliament before. The local Liberals put forward as their candidate, Arthur Davy. He had contested Shipley for the Liberal Party at the 1922 general election when he polled 22% of the vote, finishing third behind the victorious National Liberal candidate. The Communist Party decided to intervene in the election and fielded 49-year-old Willie Gallacher from Scotland. He had previously stood at Dundee in 1922 and 1923 and West Fife in 1929. Campaign Polling day was set for 6 November 1930, nearly two months after the death of the previous MP, allowing for an unusually long campaign. Result The Conservative Party, which had never before won Shipley, gained the seat from Labour; Shipley by-election, 1930 Electorate F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949 52,856 Conservative Party (UK) James Lockwood 15,238 36.0 +4.9 Labour Party (UK) William Albert Robinson 13,537 32.1 -10.2 Liberal Party (UK) Arthur Davy 12,785 30.2 +3.6 Communist Party of Great Britain Willie Gallacher 701 1.7 New 1,665 3.9 N/A 42,261 80.0 -5.0 Conservative Party (UK) Labour Party (UK) +7.5 Aftermath Lockwood was re-elected at the 1931 general election, but the local Conservative Association did not re-adopt him as their candidate for the 1935 election. He stood instead as an Independent Conservative, but lost his seat, finishing last of 4 candidates with only 13.5% of the votes. Robinson challenged again in 1931 before being elected for St Helens in 1935. Gallacher returned to Scotland and was eventually elected to represent West Fife in 1935. Davy did not stand again. The result at the following General election; 1931 general electionF W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949 Electorate Conservative Party (UK) James Lockwood 27,304 64.0 +32.9 Labour Party (UK) William Albert Robinson 14,725 34.5 -7.8 New Party (UK) W.J. Leaper 601 1.4 N/A 12,579 29.5 +18.3 42,630 79.7 -5.3 Conservative Party (UK) See also List of United Kingdom by-elections United Kingdom by-election records References Shipley by-election Shipley by-election Shipley by-election By-election, 1930 Category:By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Bradford constituencies Shipley by-election, 1930