1942 Windsor by-election

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The Windsor by-election, 1942, was a by-election held for the British House of Commons constituency of Windsor in Berkshire on 30 June 1942. The by-election was won by the Conservative candidate Charles Mott-Radclyffe.

A by-election, also spelled bye-election, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections.

United Kingdom constituencies electoral area in the UK (do not use in P31; use subclasses of this instead)

In the United Kingdom (UK), each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one member to the House of Commons.

Windsor (UK Parliament constituency) Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1997 onwards

Windsor /ˈwɪnzə/ is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2005 by Adam Afriyie of the Conservative Party.

Contents

Vacancy

The Conservative MP Annesley Somerville had died on 15 May 1942, aged 84. He had held the seat since the 1922 general election and had been returned unopposed in 1931 and 1935.

Sir Annesley Ashworth Somerville was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom.

1922 United Kingdom general election

The 1922 United Kingdom general election was held on Wednesday 15 November 1922. It was the first general election held after most of Ireland left the United Kingdom to form the Irish Free State, and was won by the Conservatives led by Bonar Law, who gained an overall majority over Labour, led by J. R. Clynes, and a divided Liberal Party.

1931 United Kingdom general election

The 1931 United Kingdom general election was held on Tuesday 27 October 1931 and saw a landslide election victory for the National Government which had been formed two months previously after the collapse of the second Labour government. Collectively, the parties forming the National Government won 67% of the votes and 554 seats out of 615. The bulk of the National Government's support came from the Conservative Party, and the Conservatives won 470 seats. The Labour Party suffered its greatest defeat, losing four out of five seats compared with the previous election. The Liberal Party, split into three factions, continued to shrink and the Liberal National faction never reunited. Ivor Bulmer-Thomas said the results "were the most astonishing in the history of the British party system". It is the most recent election where one party received an absolute majority of the votes cast and the last UK general election not to take place on a Thursday, and would be the last election until 1997 in which a party won over 400 seats in the House of Commons.

Candidates

The Conservative candidate was 30-year-old Charles Mott-Radclyffe, who had not previously contested a parliamentary election.

Sir Charles Edward Mott-Radclyffe was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom.

During the Second World War, the political parties in the Coalition Government had agreed not to contest by-elections when a vacancy arose in any of the seats held by the other coalition parties. However, many by-elections were contested by independent or minor party candidates, and in Windsor William Douglas-Home, the younger brother of the future Prime Minister Alec Douglas-Home, stood as an "Independent Progressive" candidate, opposing Winston Churchill's war aim of an unconditional surrender by Germany. [1] Douglas-Home, a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Armoured Corps, had previously contested the Glasgow Cathcart by-election in April 1942. He had supported appeasement in the 1930s.

Alec Douglas-Home former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Baron Home of the Hirsel, was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1963 to October 1964. He was the last Prime Minister to hold office while a member of the House of Lords, before renouncing his peerage and taking up a seat in the House of Commons for the remainder of his premiership. His reputation, however, rests more on his two spells as Britain's foreign minister than on his brief premiership.

Winston Churchill Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during most of World War II

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill was a British politician, army officer, and writer. He was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945, when he led Britain to victory in the Second World War, and again from 1951 to 1955. Churchill represented five constituencies during his career as a Member of Parliament (MP). Ideologically an economic liberal and imperialist, for most of his career he was a member of the Conservative Party, which he led from 1940 to 1955, but from 1904 to 1924 was a member of the Liberal Party.

An unconditional surrender is a surrender in which no guarantees are given to the surrendering party. In modern times, unconditional surrenders most often include guarantees provided by international law. Announcing that only unconditional surrender is acceptable puts psychological pressure on a weaker adversary, but may also prolong hostilities. Perhaps the most notable unconditional surrender was by the Axis powers in World War II.

Both candidates were in the army and had been schoolfriends at Eton.

Result

On a low turnout, Mott-Radclyffe held the seat for the Conservatives, but with a majority of only 17%, a surprisingly good result for Douglas-Home. Mott-Radclyffe served as Windsor's MP until he retired from the House of Commons at the 1970 general election

1970 United Kingdom general election general election

The 1970 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 18 June 1970. It resulted in a surprise victory for the Conservative Party under leader Edward Heath, which defeated the governing Labour Party under Harold Wilson. The Liberal Party, under its new leader Jeremy Thorpe, lost half its seats. The Conservatives, including the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), secured a majority of 31 seats. This general election was the first in which people could vote from the age of 18, after passage of the Representation of the People Act the previous year.

Douglas-Home went on to contest the Clay Cross by-election in April 1944, where he came a poor third, and was later imprisoned for a year with hard labour after being court-martialled for refusing to fight in the attack on Le Havre after the allied forces had refused a German request to suspend hostilities to allow civilian evacuation. [1]

The Clay Cross by-election of 1944 was held on 14 April 1944. The byelection was held due to the death of the incumbent Labour MP, George Ridley. It was won by the Labour candidate Harold Neal.

A court-martial or court martial is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the armed forces subject to military law, and, if the defendant is found guilty, to decide upon punishment. In addition, courts-martial may be used to try prisoners of war for war crimes. The Geneva Convention requires that POWs who are on trial for war crimes be subject to the same procedures as would be the holding military's own forces. Finally, courts-martial can be convened for other purposes, such as dealing with violations of martial law, and can involve civilian defendants.

Le Havre Subprefecture and commune in Normandy, France

Le Havre is an urban French commune and city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northwestern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux. Le Havre is the most populous commune of Upper Normandy, although the total population of the greater Le Havre conurbation is smaller than that of Rouen. After Reims, it is also the second largest subprefecture in France. The name Le Havre means "the harbour" or "the port". Its inhabitants are known as Havrais or Havraises.

Votes

By-Election 30 June 1942: Windsor
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Conservative Charles Mott-Radclyffe 9,55758.37N/A
Independent Progressive William Douglas-Home 6,81741.63N/A
Majority2,74016.73N/A
Turnout 16,37427.88N/A
Conservative hold Swing N/A
Registered electors 58,726
General election 1935: Windsor
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Conservative Annesley Somerville UnopposedN/AN/A
Conservative hold Swing N/A

See also

Notes

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