1931 Sunderland by-election
The 1931 Sunderland by-election was held on 26 March 1931. The by-election was held due to the death of the incumbent Labour MP, Alfred Smith. Smith and his Labour colleague Dr Marion Phillips had gained the two-member seat at the last general election from the Conservatives Luke Thompson and Walter Raine, who had first won it in 1922[1] Another defeated candidate in 1929 was the Liberal Dr Betty Morgan, then aged 24.[1] Both Thompson and Morgan contested the by-election.
The by-election saw Luke Thompson narrowly regain the seat he had lost in 1929 for the Conservatives. At the general election held later in the year, Thompson was returned with a greatly increased majority of over 23,000 votes, and his fellow Conservative Samuel Storey was also comfortably elected as the seat's second member.[2]
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | ![]() |
31,794 | 19.5 | +0.2 | |
Labour | ![]() |
31,085 | 19.0 | N/A | |
Conservative | Walter Raine | 29,180 | 17.9 | −7.4 | |
Conservative | Luke Thompson | 28,937 | 17.7 | −7.7 | |
Liberal | Betty Morgan | 21,300 | 13.0 | −4.8 | |
Liberal | John Pratt | 21,142 | 12.9 | +0.7 | |
Majority | 1,905 | 1.1 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 163,438 | 81.1 | −3.5 | ||
Labour gain from Conservative | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Luke Thompson | 30,497 | 40.3 | +3.7 | |
Labour | James Thomas Brownlie | 30,074 | 39.8 | +1.3 | |
Liberal | Betty Morgan | 15,020 | 19.9 | −6.0 | |
Majority | 423 | 0.5 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 75,591 | 73.1 | −8.0 | ||
Conservative gain from Labour | Swing |
References
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