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1931 Sunderland by-election

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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]

General election 1929: Sunderland[3] Electorate 101,875
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Green tickYMarion Phillips 31,794 19.5 +0.2
Labour Green tickYAlfred Smith 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
1931 Sunderland by-election[3] Electorate 103,363
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

[edit]
  1. ^ a b The Times House of Commons 1929. London: The Times Office. 1929. p. 62.
  2. ^ The Times House of Commons 1931. London: The Times Office. 1931. p. 58.
  3. ^ a b British parliamentary election results 1918-1949, Craig, F.W.S.