The 1947 Gravesend by-election was a by-election held on 26 November 1947 to fill the vacant British House of Commons seat of Gravesend . The vacancy arose when the sitting Member of Parliament (MP), Garry Allighan, was expelled from the House for making allegations of corruption.
The seat was considered a marginal, having been won at the 1945 general election from the Conservatives, who had held it since the 1924 general election.
Labour selected as its candidate Sir Richard Acland, a baronet and former Liberal MP for Barnstaple. He had left the Liberal Party in 1942 to found the socialist Common Wealth Party, which polled well in war-time by-elections, but won only one seat at the 1945 general election. After his own defeat in Putney, where he came third with only 8% of the votes, Acland had joined Labour.
The Conservative Party candidate was Frank K. Taylor. The Liberals, who had polled only 12% of the vote in 1945, did not contest the election.
Labour, who had not lost a seat at a by-election since the general election, had done badly in the recent local elections and were concerned that the unpopularity of their economic policies might cause a loss of the seat. Although their majority was slashed from 7,056 to 1,675 they were satisfied with the result.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Richard Acland | 24,692 | 51.8 | −0.7 | |
| Conservative | Frank K. Taylor | 23,017 | 48.2 | +12.9 | |
| Majority | 1,675 | 3.6 | −13.6 | ||
| Turnout | 47,709 | ||||
| Labour hold | Swing | −6.1 | |||
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