Orkney and Shetland by-election, 1921

The Orkney and Shetland by-election, 1921 was a parliamentary by-election held for the British House of Commons constituency of Orkney and Shetland on 17 May 1921.

Vacancy

The by-election was caused by the death in London on 19 April 1921 of the sitting Coalition Liberal MP, Cathcart Wason. Wason had represented Orkney and Shetland since the 1900 general election. At the 1918 general election he had been returned unopposed, having been awarded the Coalition coupon. ^[1]

Candidates

The Coalition Liberals selected Sir Malcolm Smith, an ex-chief magistrate of Leith and a native of Shetland with large commercial interests in the islands. ^[2] The Unionists did not seek to oppose their Coalition allies, although there was a strong expectation that the Independent Liberals would put up a candidate. ^[2] There was no Labour Party tradition in the seat at that time. The Asquithian Liberals selected Sir Robert Hamilton, a judge in the East Africa Protectorate, as their candidate but he withdrew his candidature. ^[3]

Result

The field having been left free for Smith by the other parties, he was returned unopposed. However, Smith held the seat only until the 1922 general election when he did face a challenge from Hamilton who emerged the winner by a majority of 625 votes. ^[4]

Votes

Orkney and Shetland by-election, 1921
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Coalition Liberal	Sir Malcolm Smith	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Coalition Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

References

↑ The Times House of Commons, 1919; Politico’s Publishing 2004 p71
1 2 The Times, 21 April 1921 p10
↑ The Times, 3 May 1921 p7
↑ F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results, 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow, 1949 p641

« 30th Parliament « By-elections to the 31st Parliament of the United Kingdom » 32nd Parliament »

1919	February: Liverpool West Derby March: Leyton West North Londonderry Oxford University Hull Central April: Aberdeenshire and Kincardineshire Central May: East Antrim July: Swansea East Bothwell Dublin University August: Widnes September: Pontefract October: Manchester Rusholme November: Chester-le-Street Croydon South Isle of Thanet Plymouth Sutton December: St Albans Bromley Spen Valley

1920	January: Ashton-under-Lyne February: The Wrekin Paisley Horncastle March: Argyll Dartford Stockport Basingstoke Camberwell North West April: Northampton Edinburgh North Edinburgh South Sunderland June: Louth Nelson and Colne July: Ebbw Vale South Norfolk Woodbridge September: Ilford November: Hemel Hempstead The Wrekin Middleton and Prestwich December: Abertillery Rhondda West

1921	January: Hereford Dover February: Cardiganshire March: Woolwich East Dudley Birmingham Moseley Kirkcaldy Burghs Penistone Birmingham West April: Taunton Bristol West Glasgow Pollok East Dorset Bewdley Eddisbury Bedford Chichester May: Hastings Penrith and Cockermouth Abingdon Orkney and Shetland June: Belfast Duncairn Mid Armagh North Down West Down July: Mid Down Westminster St George's Heywood and Radcliffe Hertford August: Caerphilly Westminster Abbey South Londonderry September: Lewisham West Louth October: Westhoughton November: Hornsey December: Southwark South East

1922	January: Ludlow Tamworth South Londonderry February: West Down Manchester Clayton Camberwell North North Down Bodmin March: Wolverhampton West Liverpool Exchange Cambridge Inverness Chertsey Leicester East May: Wandsworth City of London June: North Londonderry Newbury Moray and Nairn Banbury Nottingham East July: Gower North Down Pontypridd August: Hackney South October: Newport

Lists of UK by-elections 1801–1806 1806–1818 1818–1832 1832–1847 1847–1857 1857–1868 1868–1885 1885–1900 1900–1918 1918–1931 1931–1950 1950–1979 1979–2010 2010–present

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 5/13/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.