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Turnout | 65.4% (14.0%) | |||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1944 West Derbyshire by-election was held on 17 February 1944. The by-election was held due to the resignation of the incumbent Conservative MP, Henry Hunloke. Hunloke was the brother-in-law of Edward Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire, who had held the seat from 1923 until 1938, when he succeeded to his title and was replaced by Hunloke. The seat had been held previously by Hunloke's father-in-law (1891-1908, before becoming the 9th Duke), and by the 9th Duke's brother-in-law, the future 6th Marquess of Lansdowne (1908-1918).
This control by the Cavendish family had been interrupted in 1918-1923 by Charles Frederick White, who was elected as a Liberal. White died in 1923. His son, also Charles Frederick White, had stood for the seat in the 1938 by-election as a Labour candidate, but lost to Hunloke by 5,500 votes.
The resignation of Hunloke was due to the imminent collapse of his marriage (he was divorced from his Cavendish wife the next year and remarried immediately). The Conservative Party then selected the Marquess of Hartington, the 10th Duke's eldest son and heir, as their candidate.
The major parties had formed a national unity government during World War II and agreed that no by-elections would be contested during the war. In contravention of this agreement, Charles Frederick White stood in the by-election as an Independent Labour candidate. [1]
In an acrimonious campaign, White pressed for social change, securing the support of local Labour activists. [2] [3] [4] White won, defeating Cavendish by over 4,000 votes, a swing of 9,000 from 1938. [5]
Once in Parliament, White took the official Labour whip.
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Independent Labour | Charles Frederick White | 16,336 | 57.7 | N/A | |
Conservative | Marquess of Hartington | 11,775 | 41.5 | N/A | |
Agriculturalist | Robert Goodall | 233 | 0.8 | New | |
Majority | 4,561 | 16.2 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 28,344 | 65.4 | N/A | ||
Independent Labour gain from Conservative | Swing |
Duke of Devonshire is a title in the Peerage of England held by members of the Cavendish family. This branch of the Cavendish family has been one of the wealthiest British aristocratic families since the 16th century and has been rivalled in political influence perhaps only by the Marquesses of Salisbury and the Earls of Derby.
Spencer Compton Cavendish, 8th Duke of Devonshire,, styled Lord Cavendish of Keighley between 1834 and 1858 and Marquess of Hartington between 1858 and 1891, was a British statesman. He has the distinction of having held leading positions in three political parties: leading the Liberal Party, the Liberal Unionist Party and the Conservative Party in either the House of Commons or the House of Lords. After 1886 he increasingly voted with the Conservatives. He declined to become prime minister on three occasions, because the circumstances were never right. Historian and politician Roy Jenkins said he was "too easy-going and too little of a party man." He held some passions, but he rarely displayed them regarding the most controversial issues of the day.
Victor Christian William Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire, known as Victor Cavendish until 1908, was a British peer and politician who served as Governor General of Canada.
Edward William Spencer Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire,, known as the Marquess of Hartington from 1908 to 1938, was a British politician. He was the head of the Devonshire branch of the House of Cavendish. He had careers with the army and in politics and was a senior freemason. His sudden death, apparently of a heart attack at the age of fifty-five, occurred in the presence of the suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams.
Earl of Portland is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of England, firstly in 1633 and secondly in 1689. What proved to be a long co-held title, Duke of Portland, was created in 1716 and became extinct in 1990 upon the death of the ninth Duke, at which point the earldom passed to the most senior agnatic cousin, namely one of the 6th degree.
William John Robert Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington was a British politician and British Army officer. He was the elder son of Edward Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire, and therefore the heir to the dukedom. He was killed in action in the Second World War during fighting in the Low Countries in September 1944 whilst leading a company of the Coldstream Guards.
William Henry Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck, 4th Duke of Portland,, styled Marquess of Titchfield until 1809, was a British politician who served in various positions in the governments of George Canning and Lord Goderich.
This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Derbyshire. Since 1689, all the Lord Lieutenants have also been Custos Rotulorum of Derbyshire.
West Derbyshire was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. From 1885, until it was replaced by the Derbyshire Dales constituency in the 2010 general election, it elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post voting system. It was a safe Conservative seat for most of its existence.
Mary Alice Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, was a British courtier who served as Mistress of the Robes to Queen Elizabeth II from 1953 to 1967. She was the granddaughter of Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury.
Evelyn Emily Mary Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire,, was the wife of Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire. She was the elder daughter of politician and diplomat Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne, and grew up amidst public life. Evelyn's marriage to Cavendish, nephew and heir presumptive of Spencer Cavendish, 8th Duke of Devonshire, led to her becoming Duchess of Devonshire in 1908. With her position, she oversaw the reorganisation of the Devonshire estates and presided over four English houses and one Irish castle.
Alexander Victor Edward Paulet Montagu, known as Viscount Hinchingbrooke from 1916 to 1962, as the Earl of Sandwich from 1962 to 1964 and as Victor Montagu from 1964 to 1995, was a British Conservative Member of Parliament (MP). He was usually known to family and friends as 'Hinch Hinchingbrooke' or 'Hinch Sandwich' or, later, as 'Hinch Montagu'. In 2015, it was revealed that he was cautioned for indecently assaulting a child for a period of two years between 31 December 1970 and January 1972.
Parliamentary by-elections in the United Kingdom occur when a Member of Parliament (MP) vacates a House of Commons seat during the course of a parliament.
Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Philip Hunloke TD was a British Conservative politician.
Charles Frederick White was an English boot and shoemaker and Liberal Party politician. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for the Western Division of Derbyshire from 1918 to 1923.
Charles Frederick White CBE was a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for the Western Division of Derbyshire firstly from 1944 to 1945 as an Independent Labour candidate and subsequently from 1945 to 1950 as the official Labour Party candidate. He was the son of Charles Frederick White, who had represented the same constituency for the Liberal Party from 1918 to 1923.
The 1891 West Derbyshire by-election was a parliamentary by-election held for the British House of Commons constituency of West Derbyshire on 2 June 1891.
The 1938 West Derbyshire by-election was held on 2 June 1938. The by-election was held due to the succession to the peerage of the incumbent Conservative MP, Edward Cavendish. It was won by the Conservative candidate Henry Hunloke.
St Peter's Church, Edensor, is a Grade I listed church in Edensor, Derbyshire. St Peter's is the closest parish church in the Church of England to Chatsworth House, home of the Dukes of Devonshire, most of whom are buried in the churchyard. St Peter's is in a joint parish with St Anne's Church, Beeley.