1955 Torquay by-election

UK Parliamentary by-election August 2019 August 2019 The 1955 Torquay by-election of 15 December 1955 was held after the death of Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Charles Williams:http://by-elections.co.uk/ Archived copy 23 August 2019 https://web.archive.org/web/20050129033257/http://by-elections.co.uk/ 29 January 2005 dead Electoral history The seat was safe, having been won by Williams at the 1955 general election with a majority of over 17,000 votesElection results https://web.archive.org/web/20110811165803/http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge55/i11.htm 11 August 2011 PoliticsResources.net The seat had been Conservative since Williams gained the seat from the Liberals in 1924. At the 1955 general election, the Labour Party had come second, as it had done at every election since 1945. General election 1955: Torquay Conservative Party (UK) Charles Williams 29,777 60.36 Labour Party (UK) Robert Briscoe 12,547 25.43 Liberal Party (UK) Peter Bessell 7,012 14.21 17,230 34.93 49,336 75.49 Conservative Party (UK) Candidates Frederic Bennett was the Conservative candidate selected to hold the seat. He was the former MP for Reading North, who had lost his seat at the 1955 general election. His father had been an MP for both the Liberal and Labour parties. William Hamling was the new Labour candidate. He defeated Thomas Ponsonby (grandson of the Lord Ponsonby who lead the Labour Party in the House of Lords in the early 1930s) and C. B. Attlee (nephew of the former Labour leader and Prime Minister, Clement Attlee).Labour Short List for Torquay By-election 11 November 1945 The Times Peter Bessell had been selected at the last minute to be the Liberal candidate at the 1955 general election and was re-selected for the by-election. Result The Conservative Party held the seat with a reduced majority. Torquay by-election, 15 December 1955 Conservative Party (UK) Frederic Bennett 20,964 50.98 -9.38 Labour Party (UK) William Hamling 10,383 25.25 -0.18 Liberal Party (UK) Peter Bessell 9,775 23.77 +9.56 10,581 25.73 -9.20 41,122 Conservative Party (UK) References Category:1955 elections in the United Kingdom Category:1955 in England Category:1950s in Devon Category:December 1955 in the United Kingdom By-election, 1955 Category:By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Devon constituencies