1923 Anglesey by-election

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1923 Anglesey by-election
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg
  1922 7 April 1923 1923  
  Robert Thomas.jpg E.T. John crop.jpg
Candidate Thomas John Roberts
Party Liberal Labour Unionist
Popular vote11,1166,3683,385
Percentage53.3%30.5%16.2%

YnysMon2007Constituency.svg

MP before election

Owen Thomas
Independent Labour

Subsequent MP

Robert Thomas
Liberal

The 1923 Anglesey by-election was a parliamentary by-election for the British House of Commons constituency of Anglesey on 7 April 1923.

Contents

Vacancy

The by-election was caused by the death of the sitting Labour MP, Sir Owen Thomas on 17 January 1923. He had been MP here since winning the seat in 1918.

Election history

Anglesey had been won by either the Liberal Party or the Whigs at every election since 1784, until Thomas surprisingly gained it as an independent Labour candidate in 1918. He held onto it at the 1922 general election, standing as an Independent. The result at the last General Election was as follows;

Owen Thomas Sir Owen Thomas.jpg
Owen Thomas
General election 1922: Anglesey [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Independent Labour Owen Thomas 11,929 54.2 +3.8
National Liberal Robert Thomas 10,06745.8−3.8
Majority1,8628.4+7.6
Turnout 21,99680.5+11.1
Registered electors 27,320
Independent Labour hold Swing +3.8

Candidates

Campaign

Labour's campaign was supported by visits from national figures such as Arthur Henderson, and a host of Labour MPs from south Wales such as David Watts Morgan, Tom Griffiths, David Grenfell and T. I. Mardy Jones, as well as prominent Welsh nationalist figures such as future Liberal MP William John Gruffydd and Principal Thomas Rees. John called for Welsh Home Rule, even though it was not Labour Party policy.

Result

The Liberal party gained the seat from Labour and the Unionists trailed a poor third;

Robert Thomas Sir Robert Thomas.jpg
Robert Thomas
1923 Anglesey by-election [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Robert Thomas 11,116 53.3 +7.5
Labour Edward John 6,36830.5−23.7
Unionist Richard Owen Roberts3,38516.2N/A
Majority4,74822.8N/A
Turnout 20,86976.4−4.1
Registered electors 27,320
Liberal gain from Independent Labour Swing +15.6

The good Liberal result spurred moves towards Liberal reunion at a national level. Within days, the two Liberal groups in the House of Lords decided to accept Viscount Grey as their leader in the Lords.

Aftermath

Sir Robert Thomas sat for the constituency until retiring in 1929. The Liberal Party held the constituency until 1951. The result at the following General election;

General election 1923: Anglesey [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Robert Thomas Unopposed
Registered electors 28,135
Liberal hold

John did not stand again. Roberts did not stand again and became a County Court Judge in 1924.

See also

Notes and references

  1. 1 2 3 Craig, F. W. S. (1969). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (1 ed.). Glasgow: Political Reference Publications. ISBN   0-900178-019. Page 547

Further reading