Kilmarnock by-election, 1933

The Kilmarnock by-election, 1933 was a by-election held on 2 November 1933 for the British House of Commons constituency of Kilmarnock in Ayrshire.

Vacancy

The vacancy had arisen when Scotland's second most senior judge, the Lord Justice Clerk, Lord Alness, retired. It was a long-standing convention that when a vacancy arose in this office (or in the most senior judicial office, that of Lord President), the Lord Advocate (head of the Scottish criminal justice system) of the day would be appointed to fill the vacancy. The Lord Advocate in 1933 was Sir Craigie Mason Aitchison, K.C., M.P., and so he was appointed to the bench, automatically resigning his seat.

Aitchison had been elected as a member of the Labour Party in a 1929 by-election following the death of Robert Climie. In 1931, the Labour Government had split, with a handful of Labour MPs, including Aitchison, following Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald into a coalition National Government with the Conservatives. These MPs were expelled from the Labour Party and called themselves National Labour.

Candidates

The National Labour candidate was 37-year-old Kenneth Lindsay, who had contested the 1924 and 1929 elections as a Labour Party candidate in English constituencies.

The parties in the National Government did not contest by-elections when vacancies arose in seats held by other paties in the government, so the Unionist Party and the National Liberals did not field candidates.

The Labour Party candidate in Kilmarnock was Rev J. Barr, hoping to regain the seat which Labour had won in 1929.

J. Pollock stood for the Independent Labour Party, and Sir A. M. MacEwain represented both the National Party of Scotland and the Scottish Party (the two parties united the following year to form the Scottish National Party).

Result

With the Labour vote split three ways, the result was a victory for Lindsay, who was elected with less than 35% of the vote, one of the smallest vote shares ever for a by-election winner.^[1] He held the seat until the 1945 general election, when he was elected as an independent MP for the Combined English Universities.

Votes

Kilmarnock by-election, 2 November 1933
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Labour	Kenneth Lindsay	12,577	34.8	−24.8
	Labour	James Barr	9,924	27.4	N/A
	Ind. Labour Party	John Pollock	7,575	20.9	−19.5
	Scottish Party	Sir Alexander MacEwen	6,098	16.9	N/A
Majority			2,653	7.4	−11.8
Turnout				77.3	−2.2
	National Labour hold		Swing	N/A

General Election, October 1931: Kilmarnock
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Labour	Craigie Aitchison	21,803	59.6	N/A
	Ind. Labour Party	John Pollock	14,767	40.4	N/A
Majority			7,036	19.2	+3.6
Turnout			36,580	79.5	+7.8
	National Labour hold		Swing	N/A

References

↑ See United Kingdom by-election records

Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

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1932	February: Croydon South New Forest and Christchurch Henley March: Dunbartonshire April: Richmond-upon-Thames Wakefield Eastbourne St Marylebone June: Dulwich Montrose Burghs July: Westminster Abbey North Cornwall Wednesbury September: Twickenham Cardiganshire

1933	January Liverpool Exchange February: East Fife Rotherham March: Ashford Rhondda East May: Normanton June: Hitchin Altrincham September: Clay Cross October: Fulham East November: Kilmarnock Skipton Manchester Rusholme Rutland and Stamford Harborough December: Wentworth

1934	February: Cambridge Lowestoft Portsmouth North March: Combined Scottish Universities April: Basingstoke Hammersmith North May:West Ham Upton Hemsworth June: Merthyr Monmouth Twickenham Weston-super-Mare Fermanagh and Tyrone July: Rushcliffe October: Lambeth North Swindon November: Putney

1935	February: Liverpool Wavertree Cambridge University March: Norwood Eastbourne April: Perth May: Edinburgh West Tamworth Aberdeen South June: Combined Scottish Universities City of London July: Liverpool West Derby Liverpool West Toxteth Sevenoaks September: Dumfriesshire

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