1912 Hythe by-election

The 1912 Hythe by-election was a Parliamentary by-election held on 11 June 1912. ^[1] The constituency, in Kent, returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system. The by-election was occaisioned by the death of the sitting MP, Edward Sassoon

Electoral history

Edward Sassoon was returned unopposed at the previous election. The previous election to that was contested and the result was as follows;

General election January 1910: Hythe ^[2] electorate 6,541

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edward Sassoon	3,746	65.7	+7.7
	Liberal	W Clarke Hall	1,954	34.3	−7.7
Majority			1,792	31.4	+15.4
Turnout			5,700	87.1	+1.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	+7.7

General election December 1910: Hythe ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edward Sassoon	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

Result

Philip Sassoon held the seat - for the Unionists, however compared with his father's January 1910 election result, the majority dropped slightly;

1912 Hythe by-election ^[4] electorate 6,964

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Philip Sassoon	3,722	65.0	−0.7
	Liberal	S Moorhouse	2,004	35.0	+0.7
Majority			1,718	30.0	−1.4
Turnout			5,726	82.2	−4.9
	Unionist hold		Swing	-0.7

Aftermath

A General Election was due to take place by the end of 1915. By the autumn of 1914, the following candidates had been adopted to contest that election;

• Unionist: Philip Sassoon
• Liberal: William Deedes

Due to the outbreak of war, the election didn't take place until 1918;

General election 14 December 1918: Hythe ^[5] electorate 19,896

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	*Philip Sassoon	8,809	72.0	N/A
	Labour	Robert William Forsyth	3,427	28.0	New
Majority			5,382	44.0	N/A
Turnout			12,236	61.6	N/A
	Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

• Sassoon was the endorsed candidate of the Coalition Government.

References

1. Craig, F. W. S. (1987). Chronology of British Parliamentary By-elections 1833–1987. Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 107.
2. British parliamentary election results 1885-1918, F. W. S. Craig
3. Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1916
4. British parliamentary election results 1885-1918, F. W. S. Craig
5. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949, F. W. S. Craig