1939 Hythe by-election

1939 UK parliamentary by-election April 2022 1939 Hythe by-election parliamentary United Kingdom Constituency of Hythe no 1935 United Kingdom general election 1935 1945 United Kingdom general election 1945 20 July 1939 Rupert Brabner x160px Conservative Party (UK) 12,016 54.2% 9.7% Frank Ongley Darvall Lib Liberal Party (UK) 9,577 43.2% 7.1% MP Philip Sassoon Conservative Party (UK) Rupert Brabner Conservative Party (UK) 62.4% ( 5.9%)The 1939 Hythe by-election was a parliamentary by-election held on 20 July 1939 for the British House of Commons constituency of Hythe. Previous MP The vacancy was caused by the death of the Conservative MP, Sir Philip Sassoon, 3rd Baronet. Previous result General election, 14 November 1935British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig Electorate: 35,205 Conservative Party (UK) Philip Sassoon 15,359 63.9 -21.0 Liberal Party (UK) Richard Hathaway Ellis 8,688 36.1 New 6,671 27.8 -42.0 24,047 68.3 -3.5 Conservative Party (UK) Candidates The Conservatives selected a London County Councillor, Rupert Brabner, to defend the seat. Hythe was not one of the Liberal Party's better prospects. They drafted a new candidate for the by-election: 33-year-old Frank Darvall, who had been selected as the prospective candidate for the more winnable Dorset East. He had been the Liberal candidate for the Ipswich Division of Suffolk at the 1929 general election and for the King's Lynn Division of Norfolk at the 1935 general election. He was President of the National Union of Students from 1927 to 1929. As in the 1935 general election campaign, the Hythe Labour Party chose not to run a candidate. However, a former Labour party member did contest the election: St John Philby stood as a candidate for the newly formed British People's Party, a right-wing anti-war party that broke away from the British Union of Fascists. Result The Conservative Party held the seat with a reduced majority. Hythe by-election, 1939 Electorate 35,535 Conservative Party (UK) Rupert Brabner 12,016 54.2 -9.7 Liberal Party (UK) Frank Ongley Darvall 9,577 43.2 +7.1 British People's Party (1939) St John Philby 576 2.6 New 2,439 11.0 -16.8 22,169 62.4 -5.9 Conservative Party (UK) -8.4 Aftermath Rupert Brabner served as a junior Government Minister. He died on active service with the RNVR early in 1945. Frank Darvall had planned to contest Hythe at a 1939 or 1940 general election, but never stood for Parliament again. St. John Philby also disappeared from the electoral scene along with the British People's Party, which never contested an election again. General election, 5 July 1945 Electorate 23,575 Conservative Party (UK) Harry Mackeson 8,048 46.5 -7.7 Labour Party (UK) David Graham Widdiscombe 6,091 35.2 New Liberal Party (UK) Arthur Dyke Beauchamp James 3,152 18.2 -25.0 1,957 11.3 +0.3 17,291 73.3 +10.9 Conservative Party (UK) References Category:1939 elections in the United Kingdom Category:1939 in England Category:By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Kent constituencies Category:Folkestone and Hythe District Category:1930s in Kent Category:July 1939 in the United Kingdom