1938 Kinross and Western Perthshire by-election

1938 Kinross and Western Perthshire by-election

←  1935 21 December 1938 1945  →
Constituency of Kinross and Western Perthshire
Turnout	66.6% (6.7%)
First party Second party   UP Candidate William McNair Snadden Katharine Stewart-Murray Party Unionist Independent Popular vote 11,808 10,495 Percentage 52.94% 47.06% Swing 8.3% N/A
MP before election Katharine Stewart-Murray Unionist Subsequent MP William McNair Snadden Unionist

The 1938 Kinross and Western Perthshire by-election was held on 21 December 1938. The by-election was held due to the resignation of the incumbent Unionist member of parliament Katharine Stewart-Murray, Duchess of Atholl, who resigned the Conservative and Unionist whip at Westminster as a protest against the National government led by Neville Chamberlain and his European policy of appeasement of the fascist dictators Hitler and Mussolini, seeking re-election as an Independent. However, the seat was regained for the Unionists by William McNair Snadden. ^[1]

Result

Kinross and Western Perthshire by-election, 1938

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	William McNair Snadden	11,808	52.94	−8.3
	Independent	Katharine Stewart-Murray	10,495	47.06	N/A
Majority			1,313	5.88	−14.5
Turnout			22,303	66.6	−6.7
	Unionist hold		Swing

See also

• 1963 Kinross and Western Perthshire by-election
• Ball, Stuart, ‘The politics of appeasement: the fall of the Duchess of Atholl and the Kinross and West Perth by-election, December 1938’, Scottish Historical Review, vol. 69, no. 1 (1990), pp. 49-83.
• Hetherington, Sheila, Katharine Atholl 1874-1960: Against the Tide (Aberdeen University Press, 1989)

References

1. "House of Commons". www.leighrayment.com. Archived from the original on 7 June 2008.