1937 Chertsey by-election

Last updated
1937 Chertsey by-election
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg
  1935 2 July 1937 1945  

Constituency of Chertsey
Turnout39.2% (Decrease2.svg21.0%)
 First partySecond party
  Arthur Marsden (3x4 crop).jpg
Lib
Candidate Arthur Marsden Ernest Ronald Haylor
Party Conservative Liberal
Popular vote19,76710,722
Percentage64.8%35.2%
SwingDecrease2.svg6.6%Increase2.svg6.6%

MP before election

Archibald Boyd-Carpenter
Conservative

Subsequent MP

Arthur Marsden
Conservative

The 1937 Chertsey by-election was held on 2 July 1937. The by-election was held due to the death of the incumbent Conservative MP, Archibald Boyd-Carpenter.

Contents

Candidates

The Liberal Party selected Ronald Haylor, a Buckingham Gate Barrister. He was educated at the Leys and Trinity College, Oxford. He played hockey for Oxford University and rugby union for a leading London club. [1] He was Liberal Party candidate at Windsor in the 1929 general election and at Totnes for the general elections of 1931 and 1935. [2] There were growing moves for a Popular Front, where parties of the left came together to oppose fascism and Nazi appeasement. In Chertsey, a local Popular Front was formed, which hoped to see the Liberal and Labour parties support a progressive candidate. They launched a charter in February 1937. [3] Haylor was given the backing of the Chertsey Popular Front and added the suffix of 'Progressive' to the party label. [4]

At first, a three-cornered contest had been expected between the Conservative candidate, the retired naval officer Arthur Marsden, Haylor and Mr F. J. Tompsett, a City rubber broker, who was to have stood as an Independent and anti-Communist. However, Tompsett decided to withdraw in favour of Marsden. [5]

Result and votes

The Conservative Party held the seat with a reduced majority.

Chertsey by-election, 1937 [6]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Arthur Marsden 19,767 64.8 −6.6
Liberal Ernest Ronald Haylor10,72235.2+6.6
Majority9,04529.6−13.2
Turnout 30,48939.2−21.0
Conservative hold Swing

References

  1. The Times House of Commons, 1929
  2. The Times House of Commons, 1935
  3. The Liberal Magazine, 1937
  4. The Scotsman 5 Jun 1937
  5. "CHERTSEY FIGHT" . Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette. British Newspaper Archive. 24 June 1937. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  6. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig