Birmingham Edgbaston by-election, 1940

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The Birmingham Edgbaston by-election, 1940 was a parliamentary by-election held for the British House of Commons constituency of Birmingham Edgbaston on 18 December 1940. The seat had become vacant when Neville Chamberlain, the constituency's Conservative Party Member of Parliament had died from stomach cancer on 9 November. Chamberlain had been Prime Minister until May 1940, and had held the Edgbaston seat since the 1929 general election.

By-elections, also spelled bye-elections, are used to fill elected offices that have 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 elect one member to a parliament or assembly, with the exception of European Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly constituencies which are multi member constituencies.

Birmingham Edgbaston (UK Parliament constituency) Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom

Birmingham, Edgbaston is a constituency, created in 1885, in the Edgbaston area of Birmingham represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Preet Gill MP of Labour Co-operative.

The Conservative candidate, Peter Bennett, was returned unopposed.[ citation needed ] During World War II, unopposed by-elections were common, since the major parties had agreed not to contest by-elections when vacancies arose in seats held by the other parties; contests occurred only when independent candidates or minor parties chose to stand, and the Common Wealth Party was formed in 1942 with the specific aim of contesting war-time by-elections.

Peter Frederick Blaker Bennett, 1st Baron Bennett of Edgbaston, OBE, JP, known as Sir Peter Bennett, between 1941 and 1953, was a British businessman and Conservative Party politician.

World War II 1939–1945 global war

World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.

See also

Edgbaston area in the city of Birmingham, England

Edgbaston is an affluent suburban area of central Birmingham, England, curved around the southwest of the city centre. It is bordered by Moseley to the south east and by Smethwick and Winson Green to the north west.

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References

Frederick Walter Scott Craig was a Scottish psephologist and compiler of the standard reference books covering United Kingdom Parliamentary election results. He originally worked in public relations, compiling election results in his spare time which were published by the Scottish Unionist Party. In the late 1960s he launched his own business as a publisher of reference books, and also compiled various other statistics concerning British politics.

International Standard Book Number Unique numeric book identifier

The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier which is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency.