Monmouth by-election, 1939

Monmouth by-election, 1939

25 July 1939

The Monmouth by-election, 1939 was a by-election held for the British House of Commons constituency of Monmouth in Wales on 25 July 1939.

Previous MP

The Conservative MP John Arthur Herbert had resigned his seat on 1 July 1939, having been appointed as Governor of Bengal.^[1] Herbert had held the seat since a by-election in 1934.

Previous Result

General Election 1935: Monmouth
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Arthur Herbert	23,262	63.4	−1.6
	Labour	Michael Mackintosh Foot	13,454	36.6	+1.6
Majority			9,808	26.8	−3.2
Turnout				76.8	+7.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	−1.6

Candidates

The Conservative candidate was 55-year-old Leslie Pym, who had not had previously contested a parliamentary election.

The Labour Party candidate at the 1935 general election had been 22-year-old Michael Foot, who later became Leader of the Labour Party. Foot did not contest the by-election, when the Labour candidate was F.R. Hancock, who had been unsuccessful in Salisbury at the 1929 general election and at a by-election in 1931. He had also been an unsuccessful candidate in Lewes at the 1931 and 1935 general elections.^[1] He was also a Quaker and thus opposed to all war.

Result

On a slightly reduced turnout, Pym held the seat for the Conservatives, with a reduced but still large majority of 5,815.

Monmouth by-election, 1939
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Leslie Ruthven Pym	17,358	60.1	−3.3
	Labour	F. R. Hancock	11,543	39.9	+3.3
Majority			5,815	20.2	−6.6
Turnout			28,901	58.2	−18.6
	Conservative hold		Swing	−3.3

Aftermath

General Election July 1945: Monmouth
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Leslie Ruthven Pym	22,195	51.9	−8.2
	Labour	A. B. L. Oakley	20,543	48.1	+8.2
Majority			1,652	3.8	−16.4
Turnout			42,738	72.0	+13.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	−8.2

Pym was re-elected at the 1945 general election, but died five days later.

See also

• Monmouth (UK Parliament constituency)
• Monmouth
• Monmouth by-election, 1934
• Monmouth by-election, 1945
• Monmouth by-election, 1991
• List of United Kingdom by-elections (1931–1950)

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "M" (part 3)

1. Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.