1943 St Albans by-election

UK by-election November 2019 The 1943 St Albans by-election was a parliamentary by-election held in England in October 1943 for the UK House of Commons constituency of St Albans in Hertfordshire. The by-election was held to fill the vacancy caused when the town's Conservative Party Member of Parliament (MP), Sir Francis Fremantle, died suddenly at home on 26 August, aged 71.Deaths, The Times, 28 August 1943, page 1 Fremantle had held the seat since a by-election in 1919.Craig F. W. S. F. W. S. Craig British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 1969 3rd 1983 Parliamentary Research Services Chichester 0-900178-06-X 375 Candidates The Conservative Party nominated as its candidate 31-year-old John Grimston, who was then serving in the Royal Air Force.St. Albans By-Election 27 September 1943 The Times 2 Grimston was the son and heir of the 4th Earl of Verulam, and a cousin of the Assistant Postmaster-General Robert Grimston MP.Political Notes: Four By-Elections Pending, The Times, Tuesday 28 September 1943, page 2 In accordance with an electoral truce between the parties in the wartime coalition government,Rallings Colin Thrasher Michael British Electoral Facts 2006 Total Politics London 978-1-907278-03-7 157 neither the Liberal nor Labour parties nominated a candidate. However, the dramatist William Douglas-Home, who was then an officer of the Royal Armoured Corps and an opponent of the policy of requiring the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany, announced that he would stand as an independent candidate. Polling day (if a vote was needed) was set for 14 October. Nominations closed on 5 October, when Douglas-Home abandoned his plans to stand, because the necessary permission from the Army Council had not been received, despite an application having been made on 22 September.Nominations At St. Albans: Would-Be Candidate And Army Council, The Times, Tuesday 5 October 1943, page 2 However, a statement from the Army Council said that permission had been granted that afternoon, and blamed the delay on Douglas-Home not marking the application as urgent. Douglas-Home's agent R. T. A. Cornwell was unable to contact the would-be candidate to let him know that permission had finally been granted, because Douglas-Home was away on "some protracted military exercise". He had come up to London in a torn battledress in the morning, and had left after announcing his withdrawal. Result As the only candidate, Grimston was returned unopposed.s 1 March 2012New M.P. For St. Albans, The Times, Wednesday 6 October 1943; page 2 He held the seat for only two years, until his defeat at the 1945 general election by the Labour candidate Cyril Dumpleton. However, he regained the seat in 1950,http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge50/i17.htm UK General Election results February 1950 Richard Kimber's political science resources 13 August 2010 https://web.archive.org/web/20150402144351/http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge50/i17.htm 2 April 2015 dead and held it until he retired from the House of Commons at the 1959 general election. He succeeded to the peerage the following year as the 6th Earl of Verulam on the death of his elder brother. See also List of United Kingdom by-elections St Albans constituency 1919 St Albans by-election 1904 St Albans by-election References St Albans by-election St Albans by-election Category:20th century in Hertfordshire Category:Unopposed by-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in English constituencies Category:By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Hertfordshire constituencies Category:Politics of St Albans Category:History of St Albans St Albans by-election